Spring Break With My Go-Kart

"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."

Charlie Chaplin

When building a go-kart from scratch or from a kit from online you will mess up a lot. At the beginning of this year (January) I was surprised with a go kart kit I figured that out as soon as I put my go-kart in my house. When my dad and I started to work on the kart we already had several problems. Being very inexperienced as one can be I had many mistakes, but many included bolts and parts that needed tightening. From day one with my dad I knew we would have a lot more work to do than we expected, because we both have little knowledge of what everything is and how it goes. After we broke a pump and a pair of pliers we got everything within our power and supplies done on the kart. Granted, we still have ways to go before the kart is functional, but now it is down to mounting the engine, fixing the brakes, and pumping up the tires. This process has helped me learn how to use a socket wrench and to plan for everything related to my go-kart, like persistence, scale modeling, and much more. This will help me when my car breaks down, if I become an architect, or to just get through a tough spot in school or life.  Here are two pictures of the kart at its' current stage, and a picture that shows where I started from.

It has been a long unfinished journey to get this kart where it is today, but I am proud that I kept going through the beginning part of this project. Soon I will be ready to ride, and I can't wait.

Go Kart Update

HELLLOOOOO, viewers!!! I am super excited about my go-kart because the whole thing is starting to come together. What I mean by that is I bought my engine (also first Craigslist deal), and I primed my frame and it is ready for me to paint. I bought a nearly new 3.5 horsepower engine that was bought for the same purpose as mine but was never used other than to see if it worked. My dad and I had to drive to Lawerceville on Saturday to get it. My dad thought it was going to be in a shady part of town, but  it was in a wealthy neighborhood and the man was just as nice.
The I primed the frame on Friday with the assistance of my dad. He gave me some tips to reduce painting errors, and I am proud to say there are no paint runs (An area where there is so much paint it starts to trickle down). I did about ninety percent of the painting, but I will paint it myself only with the green paint I received. Once I paint the frame and let it dry I will be ready to start building the systems onto the frame.

My Predator 99cc 3.5 HP engine 

The primed frame next to my engine 

SEM

I have some crazy news! Starting this September I will be attending Wyoming Seminary in the Wyoming Valley in northern Pennsylvania. I am so excited and can't wait to go. The reason I am going to SEM is mostly because of wrestling, but I also wanted hard academics and SEM defiantly has them by being a college preparatory school. I already received text messages from some of the wrestling team, and it sounds like they are just as excited as me. The only struggle now is to get up to 106 pounds from 92, but I know I can do it in six months. I will have to work hard this summer to gain the weight, but I am ready for the challenge. Also they said that by my sophomore year (I think) they would have a brand new wrestling facility.
I have wanted to go to a boarding school since I thought of where I have wanted to attend high school. Before I visited the school I thought that I wanted to go to Blair Academy in Blairstown New Jersey. It had a bigger campus and it was number one ranked in high school. Also one of my friends is attending Blair, so it would seem that Blair would be the better choice, But when my dad and I arrived at SEM I changed my mind instantly. It is kinda of in the middle of an old town, and it has a homey feeling to it. I knew right away that it was the school for me.
My dad and I sat through a seminar about the school, and it was very interesting. The people doing the seminar told us about campus life, school work, classes, and athletics. After the seminar all of the students attending the visit got paired up with a senior from the school for a shadowing day. I went with my student tour guide to two of his classes, so I could get a feel of how the classes worked. We went to Civil War history and drama. In history we had the "strictest" teacher in the school, but even after hearing that I enjoyed my time in his class. After that it was off to drama, and I wasn't sure I would that class. As soon as we started the class I loved it, and it was mostly because of the hilarious teacher. We were reading a script from a book that was definitely not suited for younger children. The teacher was constantly over explaining the love related scenes in a funny way that made the class almost die laughing. I had a ball on my tour, and I really liked the smaller school. I believe that those are the main reasons I chose SEM not because it was better on paper, but that it was better for me.

Thank you for viewing my blog.

Polish Polish Polish

Guess what? I finally got all of my Polish recipes. First off, what am I doing? Our school is doing a national food week for each of our countries, and I am doing Poland. Why did I pick such an odd country? The reason is Julie, my wonderful step-mother, is Polish and Italian. One of our other students, green house girl, was already going to do Italy, so I did Poland. It sounds like Julie will be doing all the work, but that is the exact opposite of what is going to happen. I have recipes and tips from Julie, now it is up to me to cook our school of 7, including the teachers, lunch.  

For an appetizer, we have Kielbasa sausage. What I am going to do is simply make the sausage, cut it into small pieces, and use ketchup, barbecue sauce, and/or make honey mustard as a sauce. 

For the main course, I will be making stuffed cabbage rolls or Galumpkis if you use the Polish name. I got this amazing picture from Designs by Pinky while looking for a yummy picture. This is similar to a stuffed pepper, but this has more of a crunch. The last time Julie made this my family ate every bit of it. 

Lastly, I will be making jam kolaches. It is basically a sugar cookie with jam, or preservatives wrapped up in the middle and baked. I want to use blackberry jelly to get a unique flavor of sour and sweet. It is optional to put powdered sugar onto your cookie. Julie and I made a batch with blueberry preservers topped with powder sugar, and they tasted amazing!

I can't wait till next week! 

Soda!

I have not been blogging lately,but that is about to change. Today, I was attempting to make the flavoring for the soda. It looks and smells awful. I never thought that oils could smell so bad. Here are some pics with captions of what they are, and why I posted them. Also, check out our new student: everyone go follow http://atticusconn.blogspot.com/.


Thats me with my oils and the flavoring in the bowl

The flavoring is not completly mixed in.

La Petite, Mrs. Kolbeck, and I went for a walk at the Kennesaw National Battlefield.

Me at the state tourney, and I won!!

Go-Kart Suspense & Super Bowl

HELLLLLOOO, VIEWERS! I wanted to tell you about my go kart frame that I received for working hard on my schematics. I sent the final draft of my persuasive business format letter to the owner of ACS of Georgia, the paint company, to ask for some paint. It took me over a week to get it to it's prime. Now, I know that you guys are probably thinking," What paint color are you going to do?" Well, that's the thing I don't even know, but even after I asked some people last time I still couldn't think of a good color for my paint job. I should get a reply sometime this week, so comment away with color choices.

I don't know about you but this years super bowl was pretty crazy. For the most part the game was better than most of the commercials, and the team I was pulling for the one and only, Baltimore Ravens,  won the game 34-31 of the San Franciso 49's. I wanted them to win becuase their Quarterback, Joe Flacco (#5), was before the game the most underrated QB in the league, but now no one can overlook the new Superbowl MVP. Also the Player from The Blind Side, Michael Oher (#74), was also on that team as an offensive tackle. Lastly, that was the last game Ray Lewis (right), Arguably one of the greatest defensive players ever to play the game, will ever play.

                          

Thanks and don't hesitate to comment I love them!

The Baylor School

I have some crazy news! I was visiting the Baylor School this past Tuesday to shadow a student athlete, and I loved it! I had to wake up at five thirty am to embark on a nearly two hour car ride to get to Baylor. After the long ride I arrived to meet one of the admission ladies. Her name was Virginia Ann Manson, and she helped Julie(step-mother) and I to get with the student that was going to give me a tour of the school. I walked around and went to all of the student's classes. It was a long tour with many twists and turns, but it was very fun. Then after my tour with the student I came back to Mrs. Manson's office to get a golf kart campus tour. It was very cold that day, so it was not the most fun thing to be in the back of a speeding kart. I really liked the campus, but some of it was flooded because of the past couple day's rain. I also got to visit a couple of dorm rooms, and it made me want to go on a cleaning spree. I was so tired after the tour, but I had so much fun with the Baylor School.
Thank you few people that actually view my blogs it is nice to have the support.

Go-Kart Ideas

Hello, people of earth. If you viewed my previous blog you would know that I will be receiving a go-kart kit soon. I found out that it will be in this Wednesday when I go to school, and I want it to look and perform like no other. I have an idea that since my dad works for a paint company I may be able to get some by writing a  persuasive letter. I would also have to ask for the labor too since I have very little skills in the paint field of work. I also am not sure what color I should make it, so I need some suggestions via comments.
I have one other problem that is very key to the kart. I don't have an engine for the kit go-kart and I don't exactly have the amount that I need. I am shooting for a 6 HP engine that is made for go-karts, or it runs horizontally. I would need somewhat of a financial boost to get me there, so please don't forget you can donate a amount small as five dollars to help get this show on the road literally.
Don't be scared to post a question, color for the kart, or anything else. Lastly please donate a little bit to the engine and my scratch build kart because I need every penny I can get.

Bright Side

Hello peeps, how are you? I am having mixed emotions about the re-entering of the school season, or for most of the adults there break is off too. It is time to get back into the rhythm of school/work and it kind of stinks. I understand that, but as my classmate, La Petite Maison, would sing," Always look on the bright side of life," and admit that you sang that in your head. My bright side is that I have a go-kart kit waiting for me this week, but remember your bright side can be smaller than that. I am also bright about how I may be completely done with all of my schematics for my build from scratch go-kart, and am close to the building process. I hope you had happy holidays.

Thanks for viewing the support really helps and don't be afraid of donating five dollars or more to help build the go-kart, and trust me it will go to good use.

Go-Kart Surprise

Hey guys and gals. I am very excited for the holiday season, for what, EVERYTHING! I honestly love the Christmas season because of the good energy, and the only holiday that has its own songs that take over radio stations. I have recently heard that I will receive a "prize" if I finish all of my go-kart's system schematics by December 21. I have not a clue what it is, but I have been told multiple times that if I don't finish on time Mrs. Kolbeck will tell me what it is without giving it to me,and there is no way that will happen because I can just think about all the things it could be... I will be ready for it even if I have to work all night to get all of them done. I also feel saddened by the fact that one of our students, Monica is leaving to go back to Nicaragua this Friday. I may also have a good bye surprise for her. 

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and any other holiday this season. Thank you for viewing I really appreciate it.     

3 Days of Thanksgiving

Hello, viewers. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As you can see I had three more or less Thanksgiving meals. My first "Thanksgiving" meal was a clash of two birthday parties at my grandmothers house on Wednesday. Doo, my grandma, proclaimed to be her Thanksgiving meal. We had two different types of pasta and three types of french bread. It was my cousin's and my sister's birthday party, but it was really my cousin's birthday. On Thanksgiving day my family went to Tony's, a friend's house Thanksgiving meal. This was the traditional kind of meal with turkey, corn, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and much more. I enjoyed playing with his younger kids who loved to play with us. Lastly, my other grandparents from Illinois showed up for a surprise visit to our house. Julie, my stepmother, didn't know that they where coming, but her sister Amy kept the secret. Amy has four boys that I took to the park with my two sisters to play football. After a long game we all came home to eat. We had ambrosia, turkey, ham, and the best bread rolls ever. Julie made enough for twelve or so people to have about three rolls, but we ate them all. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Colorado

Hey viewers, this weekend I went to Colorado. I had a ball with my step-mother Julie. We drove to Estes Park, and did some sight seeing. When we got to Estes park we found this little town area with cool gift, toy, candy stores. Julie and I walked around for a while to look for some gifts for my sisters(Emma,and Grace) and my cousin, Victor. We found a shirt for Emma and Victor, and an awesome blown glass necklace for Grace. Victor's shirt is his birthday present, SHH! I also finished my book in Colorado, and if you knew me you would know that is an accomplishment. Here are some Colorado pictures.

Thank you viewers and followers.

Professional

Hey viewers, how are you. On Monday I went to Byrd Wielding & Fabricating to ask for professional advice for my go-kart plan as seen below. He told me that this wasn't even half of what he needed for the go-kart plan. He suggested that I made a side view of the kart to show more depth of the whole cart, and he though that I should make a lift area in the back for the reason of my engine would scrape the ground when I installed it and drove it. Also, he was thinking that I should get steering and brake kits. It would be very complicated for me to build a brake system with little knowledge of what I am doing. As a result of that feedback I looked around some websites to find kits for that kind of thing and came across SpiderCarts. I found some cool decently priced kits, but it was not exactly what I was looking for. If anyone is out there comment me a good go-kart parts website. I will be very thankful for that.

Halloween and Day Of The Dead

Happy late Halloween and early Day Of The Dead, viewers. I have some pictures to show you Quinn and I's Jack o' lanterns that are meme faces. We are also making sugar skulls, and I know you are jealous. Well, hope you got some candy, and had a happy Halloween.

My NO meme face 

Quinn's Genius Jack o' Lantern 

Lucy is cool with me 

The sugar skulls 

The "paint" icing 

Books and Schematics

Hello, viewers. just the other day I finished the book "World War Z" a post-apocalyptic oral history of the zombie war. I know what you are thinking,"Will finished a book, Please," but I really did. I also found out that there is a movie trailer out for WWZ. I am not sure if that is the real video or not, but it has the actors that are famous in it. I strongly suggest reading this book, but not before bed.

I have heard from some people,"Why is the blog's name Go Kart Go if I never blog about my go-kart." Well, today that is going to change. I have gotten down some pretty accurate schematics for the frame. I think with a little tweaking and good professional advice, I will be able to get on to the next step. I am also thinking that if I can get the frame done then I have something physical to work with, and being a tactile learner that helps a large amount.

New Students and Hydraulics

Hey guys and gals, check this out yesterday our school got two new students. We received Ella, a 11 year old girl, and our ten year old student Abrie aka Brie. Although I said that we got both of them yesterday, we didn't. We got Ella a day earlier than Brie, so it was the day before yesterday. The old HoneyFern had three students, but now we have five (Quinn, Monica, La petite, Bree, Ella, and Me).

Also, yesterday Ella, La petite, and I all attempted at building a hydraulic car made out of thicker popsicle sticks and hydraulics. What we did was got two syringes, a tube, and some hot glue for the hydraulics. For the base (the easier part) you would make a triangle and have supports for the axles each end. It took us a whole day to get some what close to finished, but it was very fun

Thank you viewers

MRI

Hello, viewers. I had my first MRI ever today, and it was weird. I had to get it for personal reasons, and obviously I am ok to blog this. I also had an IV put in which is pain in the butt. I had two sit in the Machine, and at  most stay still for five minutes for each test. I only came out to get my IV and to leave.

It was very hard to stay still, but they only had to redo my last test. I was thinking before I got there," What am I going to do stare at the inside of the machine?" I later found out we could watch a movie by using mirrors to see the television. I watched the first bit of King Kong, the 2005 version, while being told to stay still. Last part about the MRI is that it, is, loud. The whole time it was buzzing and making weird noises. Half of the time I was inside of it I couldn't hear the movie.

Most of the machines are different, but this is sort of what mine looked like

Once I got out of the MRI I went to a little room for an IV. I had this older lady and she tried to get it in my hand, but I told her before to go in my left arm. She missed a couple times then pulled out the needle. It hurt for a little while, but I was ok after she put some gauze on it. She put the rubber band around my left arm and there pops up the vain. I secretly wanted to say," I told you so," but she had a needle. We finally got the IV in. It was ten minutes later that I would leave, and take out the needle again. 

Thank you for viewing and don't be afraid to comment something.

The Car Ride

Hello, viewers. I have had fun few days. In the recent days I have visited the Manvilles some dear friends of our family(In Lorton, Virginia. Right by Washington, D.C.), wrestled in the Tyrant Duels, and visited Wyoming Seminary. After a nine and a half hour drive with my dad in a tiny car where finally at the Manvilles house. Later, we were getting settled in I noticed that I forgot my wrestling bag at home, so I was laughed at by everybody for a day or so. A while later everyone got on the speed boat, and Carson, Pierson, and I went inter-tubing. Following a couple hours on the water we went to National Harbor, and got a snack. Then we had dinner and drove to the Tyrant duels.

The Tyrant duels where in Delaware, so we had another long drive. After weigh-ins and dinner that same day we finally got some rest. The next day our team met up on mat 9, and we stayed there all day. I wrestled very well, and went undefeated, winning seven matches. The best part of the whole trip was the voted best burger joint in Delaware, Two Fat Guys. It was the best burger I have ever had. I had the half pound blue cheese burger, and it was so rich I couldn't eat it all. 

Lastly, I visited Wyoming Seminary. It is a prep-school that I have been interested in for a while, but haven't had time to visit till now. I want to go to prep-school to get me ready for college academically and athletically. What we did was walk around the campus with a lady from the office, listened to people talk about the school, then tour the campus with a student going into his/her classes. I later went to practice with a top ten ranked wrestling team in the country. It was a hard, work your butt of kind of practice. We had three main parts, a jog and gymnastics workout, hard and fast drilling, then live goes. I "survived" and with that my dad and I where on our way home(Georgia).

After the tour, my dad surprised me with this sweater

The Future and Past Go-kart

Hello, viewers. I am super excited. The whole school is going to Mountasia. For the people that have never heard of it before, and the ones that forgot what it's about. It is a place where you can play put-put, arcade games, and the main reason we are going, go-karts. I can learn about the shape, build, and size to help me draw accurate blueprints for my kart. Not to mention an awesome afternoon of fun.

Just some go-karts at Mountasia 

My mom was in town this past weekend. She lives in Bellevue, Washington, and she can't always come across the country because of the airline prices. Anyway, she came in town to visit my sisters and me, but mainly to celebrate her mothers birthday. While at Petite Auberge, a French restaurant I remembered that my grandfather, a.k.a. Grampy, used to build go-karts and dirt track race cars. I was in shock thinking about why haven't I talked to him before. Today I am going to call him and see if he has any tips for my blueprints. Also, I hope that in the future he can help me with the building of the kart. 

Thank you viewers.      

Blood Work

Hello, viewers. A few days ago, I was in the doctor's office. I had to have my blood drawn for a test, so the nurse put me on an IV. I had to sit in a chair with my arm strait for two hours, but it is not that easy. After about two or so blood drawings, I started cramping up. It was super painful but I didn't want to show it, but the the kid in the next room was not holding his breakfast back. My dad was worried that I would react to the test like the other kid, because my friend, Jeremiah, had the same experience as that other kid I mentioned. Even though I made the whole thing sound terrible, but it wasn't that bad. I was sitting in a 5 year old La-Z-Boy watching watching my movies. Although I had my own movies they were scratched, and I had to skip key chapters in the movies. 

My "Battle Scar" two days later

After my blood work, Julie and I went to Old Navy to get my family jeans. We were soaking when we got inside the store. I got a pair of khaki pants and a pair of jeans for my sister. Julie and I kept looking around for anything that we wanted, and I found nothing. 

Although I did not find anything to wear I bought a bouncy ball in my sister's volleyball team colors. 

Thank you for viewing my blog.