• Title: The Adventures of SailorDad
• Address: sailordad.com
• Author: Thomas Permuy
• From: El Cajon
• Blogging since: September 2011

September 27, 2011: The Longest Week

We’re all just going through the motions, trying to pass the time until we get back to our homes and families. Today is Tuesday, and Friday seems like the single most unattainable goal in the world. On Friday, I get to leave this ship and not look back for two weeks.

September 28, 2011: [From Google Plus]

Building the prototype for my “Yard Spider” out of paper... First step, assemble a geodesic sphere from little paper triangles... even at 1:12 scale, this creation should be legendary…The biggest thing to resist this weekend will be waiting to go to Home Depot for the materials to begin construction...

September 30, 2011: Homecoming 2011

This has been the longest deployment I have ever experienced…This deployment, once completed, will cover 221 days. Of that time, we spent 108 days of it straight at sea without any port visits.

October 3, 2011: [From Google Plus]

Survived my first weekend home, up early on a Monday morning... Time to plan out the day and maximize all the time I have off…Today was a long day, but I accomplished everything that I wanted to, including the acquisition of the materials to build the “Yard Spider.”

October 23, 2011: Accessory Rental

In the last three weeks, since my return from deployment, I’ve done a fair bit of shopping. Some of the things I’ve needed, but mostly things that have caught my eye or something I lacked while on deployment. The problem that I’ve found, is that possibly 70% of the items I’ve bought have been returned for one typical reason: shoddy design.

October 23, 2011: Walmart and Home Depot

Typically, I prefer to shop at Lowe’s if I have to pick a home improvement store — for so many reasons. But for some reason, I find myself returning to Home Depot. Home Depot, for all intents and purposes, is the Walmart of home improvement. That, of course, makes Lowe’s the Target of home improvement. The evidence is right before you.

October 26, 2011: Yard Spider

Even before we bought our first house last year, I wanted to be able to do things for holidays, mainly Halloween. There’s a bush in the front of the house that is large and round, and when Halloween came around last year, it popped into my head to create a giant spider based off of that bush. I don’t remember the rest of the creative process, but it involved me going to Home Depot and getting a load of PVC piping, along with joints to create the legs. The rest of the body was crafted with black plastic tarp material and various sources of stuffing. The final touch was the giant inflatable globe that [served as] the head of the spider. It was awesome and it scared people, but it was very much a rough draft of what could have been even more awesome.

This year, I had the notion to use wood in [the spider’s] creation. I had to come up with a way to create the abdomen of the creature…After a lot of searching, I found Desert Domes, the best resource for creating geodesic domes on the internet. Three days before we returned to San Diego, I created the model, scaled to 1:12, crafted from paper, index cards and masking tape.

Two weeks of being at home, spending a few hundred at Home Depot, building and re-engineering the design (wood is hard to work with), and I’m finally finished. Well, mostly: I haven’t finished the head quite yet, and I need to stabilize one of the legs…Now it’s crunch time, and I need to push through to finish Yard Spider — not to mention my own Halloween costume!

October 31, 2011: [From Twitter]

Worst part about liquid latex? The overwhelming desire to tear it off your face right after it dries... #itsbeensixhourshelpme