Tim Boyd's Blog

I needed some crossbars for my existing (factory) roof rack for my 2007 Chevy Uplander LT.  I went to the internet to buy some.  I had so much trouble finding any that were specifically made for my van.  So I decided to make my own.  The following are my pictures of how it all went down. I spent roughly $18 at Home Depot . 2 4ft lengths of electrical conduit 4 U-bolts 1 can black spray paint Strong drill bits The tools that I needed to have: Cordless drill Wrench (for the u-bolts) The rest is shown in the pictures.  It all looks pretty good, but I couldn't find any caps to put on the ends of the conduit.  I just grabbed some gorilla tape to seal them off.  When I was driving down the road with the ends not sealed I had a terrible whistling. Here is a link to the roof carrier that I purchased off of amazon for $50. Happy building!

So there we all were.  Well, we weren't all there.  We were all home.  Each child somewhere in the house doing something.  One on a phone.  One on a game.  One on the computer.  Occasionally they would interact.  They would rotate.  They would group up and go outside for some swimming, jumping on the trampoline, etc. And I sat there hoping we wouldn't lose this summer. Our Channel Our family will never again get a chance to live summer 2016.  The first summer with a teenager in our ranks.  The first summer with baby Wesley.  The last summer before middle school for one and the last summer before kindergarten for another.  It's a special summer.  Shouldn't we do something special? My wife and I talked about it for a few weeks.  Really, it's a conversation that is always ongoing though.  How do we "family?"  How do we create memories that will shape these kids?  How do we get everyone to build solid relationships with each other?  How do we use thi

So much tragedy in the news this week.  A lot of it centers around 3 very different, yet incredibly sad stories from Orlando.  Each one of the stories ends in death.  One ended in multiple deaths. Change needs to happen.  I'm sure we agree with that.  The problem with real change is that it takes a long time to come about and most of us just don't want to actually do anything helpful.  We want to get mad.  We want to use it as a platform for our own agenda or (just as bad) cash in on it either in cash, cause, or popularity.  We want to complain and blame.  I know that that is the temptation for me.  Complaining comes very naturally to me.  Helping does not.  Forgiving does not. Soon the news will find another story.  The politicians will find something else to talk about.  The world will have the Olympics and countless other stories.  If you follow the news in other countries and other continents you have already seen that there are terrible tragedies happening, lit