20100120 - Team America Super Stunt Dirt Bike - GEDC1410 - bike, launcher, man

20100120 - Team America Super Stunt Dirt Bike - GEDC1410 - bike, launcher, man

Image by Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL)
The Team America Super Stunt Dirt Bike, my favorite childhood birthday present. I got it when I turned 7 on Jan 13, 1981, and still play with it 29 years later! The winder/launcher/crank eventually broke apart, but duct tape has held it together over the decades.

The internet barely mentions this toy as existing, and there are barely any pictures. When I posted a low-quality YouTube video of it in action, I eventually received requests to do a photo shoot of the toy, to prove that it existed. So here they are, world! Enjoy!

By the way, the plastic geras in the winding unit make a decent fingernail file. And the Rugrats sticker was added in 2010, simply because I like to put stickers on things and had a sticker laying around.

Rugrats sticker, Team America Super Stunt Dirt Bike, action figure, crank, duct tape, launcher, masking tape, motorcycle.


upstairs, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.

January 20, 2010.


... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com



...View low-quality video of our cats Oranjello and Lemonjello "playing" with Team America Super Stunt Dirtbike at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQGaTGDmhoA

07/11/2007 (Day 342) - The New Adventures Of Kaptain Kobold

Image by Kaptain Kobold
My Lego self leads a double life ...

PART 2
PART 3
PART 4

For other parts see the 'New Adventures Of Kaptain Kobold' set.



Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Talking in Languages 2.0

Image by zinjixmaggir
A new version of my Talking in Languages illustration, now in colour.

All kinds of people have used the B&W version in teaching, presentations, materials and blogs related to language, communication and education. Feel free to use it, just credit Markus Koljonen and preferably also my website iki.fi/markus.koljonen . When you do, I'd be happy to know so make it a favorite and/or leave a quick message below!

MyWeek_Sept_5_2007

Image by be OH be
Every year since I was a young boy my family has held a reunion over Labor Day Weekend. But I never really identified the annual gathering as a "reunion" until sometime in my teenage years because we always referred to it as The Cribbage Tournament. The adults play one-on-one cribbage matches competing for a small trophy and some cash. The children try to stay out of trouble.

Everyone in the tournament must wear a hat and at the end of it all we cast ballots for the most unique one. The winner receives the accumulated contents of the Cuss Jars, where quarters are deposited when one utters a curse word. Although the original idea was probably to curb such behavior and encourage a more family-friendly atmosphere, the winner this year walked away with about , which was more cash than the cribbage champion won. In recent years the number of people putting any effort into creating a hat has dwindled, with most people opting for a ball cap. So this year the committee, a revolving planning group that everyone eventually participates in, instituted the idea of a theme for the hats to encourage better participation. The theme was "child's play" and could include children's stories, cartoons, movies, etc.. The image above is of my hat during construction.

The park where we gather sits along the banks of the Ohio River just downstream from Pittsburgh, PA. During the weekend I had a chance to revisit an area where my girlfriend and I once lived which is also along the Ohio, though much closer to the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. We lived next to a cacophonous railroad bridge that we were quite fond of. We also lived next to a crackhead and a prostitute that we weren't as fond of.