Thomas the Train Shipwreck Rails Troubleshooting Guide

My son got this really cool Thomas the Train TrackMaster Shipwreck Rails Set. The blue, battery powered Thomas the Tank engine train climbs a lightly supported track over three feet in the air before falling into a catch-wagon that spirals down a forty-five degree drop where it releases Thomas to continue safely on his way. Really, a genius little toy. It was really fun to watch and worked great at first, that is until he accidentally knocked it over a few times. Then the catch-wagon mechanism stopped working. Being the good dad and engineer that I am, I decided to crack open the toy to see what it looked inside. If I could figure out how the Shipwreck Rails set worked, I could try to fix it myself.

After removing the plastic mast from the base and unscrewing the thirteen screws, the mast popped open into two pieces. Unfortunately, the components inside all shifted so I wasn’t able to see exactly how it was put together before. I would have to figure it out myself with a little trial and error.




The main problem with why the Shipwreck Rails Set wasn’t working propoerly is as I thought - the rope that connects the catch-wagon to the spring had jumped the pulley at the top of the mast. All I had to do was put the string back through the pulley and then figure out exactly how the string looped over the top and bottom pulleys. Easier said than done.

I can’t find any instructions or manuals on the internet of how to fix the mast and strings so I created my own video to help other dads out. Check it out below:



I hope this guide has taught you potentially how to fix your Trackmaster shipwreck rails set. Buy your own set here. I can’t wait to see what future Thomas Trackmaster sets they come out with next.

Printable Super Bowl Squares 2016

Match-ups for the 50th Super Bowl are set which means it's time to download your Super Bowl Squares 2016 Excel template for office pools. Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will play the Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, February 7th at 6:30pm. To make the big game even more fun start a football office pool using our printable Super Bowl spreadsheet. Fill in the squares, watch the game, laugh at the commercials, and see who wins and maybe make a little money at the same time, or help. If you’re a fan of a team that like mine (the Factory of Sadness) that will never make it to the championship (or playoffs for that matter), then playing Super Bowl Squares will make watching the game more exciting and gives you something to actually root for. Others may be torn between cheering for their favorite team and cheering for their squares.

Download the Super Bowl spreadsheet for free, simply click the link below.
http://excelspreadsheetshelp.blogspot.com/2016/01/super-bowl-squares-2016-excel-template.html

2014 NCAA Tournament Bracket in Excel

It's time to get your 2014 NCAA Tournament Brackets! March Madness is here and I've got the perfect Excel brackets for you to use. Instructions are included but they're pretty straightforward and easy to use. The pool manager has a really awesome macro that loads in all the brackets automatically.

Get the 2014 March Madness Excel brackets here.
Who do you have in the Final Four on your spreadsheet?

The 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters Ever Built

Despite this being the busiest I've ever been in my life with the least amount of free time I've still been able to finish and publish two books (with two more in the works). Earlier I finished Once I was Adopted, a children's picture book about adopting our dog Conan told through fun rhymes. Now I've published The 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters Ever Built. From initial idea to publication was about four weeks. I used an Excel spreadsheet, macro, and outsourced work to a virtual assistant in order to complete it so quickly.

So what's it about? Mega roller coasters of today reach heights of over 400 feet and speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Roller coasters towering taller than a certain height are terrifying for many individuals but it would be boring to simply make a list of the world’s tallest coasters. As a result, most of the bone-chilling machines in this list do not use sheer height to terrify, but instead prey on our fears and emotions in other, more creative ways. One element alone may not make a ride terrifying but the sum of all of its parts does. What factors make a roller coaster terrifying? Height, speed, inversions, backwards segments, unique track elements, darkness, and unexpected surprises all contribute to making your head spin and your knees tremble.

What are my next book ideas? One is about Excel spreadsheets and the other focuses on a specific theme park attraction.

Printable SuperBowl Squares 2014

If your favorite NFL team is a factory of sadness, run by the three stooges, or you just don't care about football, then you may not be looking forward to the Super Bowl. Well, you can make watching the big game more exciting by playing Super Bowl Squares. Learn how to play Super Bowl Squares by watching this quick video tutorial:

There are two versions of the game included in this spreadsheet. If you're old fashioned you can use the printable version, just print it off and write everything down with a pen, otherwise use the Excel version.

Download the 2014 Super Bowl Squares Template.

2013 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager Excel

I've created a 2013 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager Excel file that is now available to download for free. There are two files: the college bowl pool manager and the player entry form. The spreadsheet contains the complete 2013 NCAA CFB bowl schedule including the time and TV station for every single bowl game. I also added the football helmets for every team so those players who don’t really follow college football can pick a winner based on which helmet design they like better!

Check out the Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager here.

Best Breaking Bad Finale Tweets

Breaking Bad, the best show on television, has sadly come to an end. Here are some of the best Tweets, Facebook comments, and memes about the Breaking Bad series finale. (Spoiler alerts obviously).

• @deantrippe Not sure I should've let my son stay up for the Breaking Bad finale. He's loved the show so much, but he has kindergarten in the morning.
• @BadAstronomer I’m thinking about finally watching Breaking Bad. Is tonight a good night to start? Did I miss much?
• Friend 1: SPOILER ALERT: Walt turns himself in and has to do 100 hours of community service with the DARE program. So lame. 
• Friend 2 Reply: Even that ending would have been better than the dexter finale
• "Watching Breaking Bad finale is like saying goodbye to an old friend. A meth dealing, murdering, psycho old friend, but old friend anyway."
• Breaking Bad spoiler: TOO MANY COMMERCIALS
• I found someone who wasn't totally satisfied with the Breaking Bad finale. pic.twitter.com/HUMmP456gV
• @MrAlanSpencer “Breaking Bad” was basically about what happens if you underpay your teachers and don’t allow healthcare reform. #BreakingObama
• Granted that was the first Breaking Bad episode I've ever seen but I didn't think it was that funny
• I would start smoking crystal meth for another season of Breaking Bad
• The biggest thing left unanswered on Breaking Bad is why Jimmy Kimmel on Talking Bad
• Breaking Bad Spoiler: If you're not caught up on Breaking Bad it's your own fault if someone spoils it for you
• Skylar gets lung cancer from so much smoking, starts cooking meth. Breaking Bad 2: Skysenberg
• ‏@bobpowers1 We didn't see a doctor check Walt's pulse, look at someone in the room and shake his head no. GREAT, ANOTHER AMBIGUOUS ENDING.
• ‏I can't believe Breaking Bad ends with a big choreographed dance number featuring the whole cast I did not see that coming.
• The finale of #BreakingBad did what #DexterFinale couldn't do, ie. have an ending that wasn't absolutely retarded involving loggers.
• Walt didn't leave any money to Holly because she'd just put it in her mouth. She's a baby
• It was all a cautionary tale about artificial sweeteners

Best Cleveland Browns Tweets

In a shocking move (well kind-of but not really) the Cleveland Browns traded away their best player, 3rd round pick Trent Richardson, to the Colts, signaling they are already giving up on this season after an 0-2. Fans took to Twitter to vent their frustrations with the #factoryofsadness and below are my favorite funny Tweets about the Browns.

• @ESPN_Colin: The Browns offense, and this was inconceivable a day ago, just got less interesting.
• @_Happy_Gilmore: Cleveland Browns fall for the old "Trade us your best player and we'll give you the winning Powerball numbers" trick.
• @Kris10Guy: Being a Browns fan is like sticking your hand in a blender & hoping for the best when you already know the outcome
• @ShooterMcGavin: BREAKING: The remainder of Cleveland Browns games will be aired on Comedy Central
• @SportsNation: "HEY! We're still better than the Jaguars, you guys" - Browns management
• @TheFakeESPN: Willis McGahee hears Browns interested, calls Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad to see if he knows a guy that can help him disappear.
• @dmansworld474: Your move, Jacksonville. #browns #jags
• @HubbuchNYP: Great news, Browns fans! You’re going to have a lot of high picks in a deep draft. Horrible news, Browns fans! Mike Lombardi is picking.
• @TBone971: Guys who are still Browns: Oneil Cousins, Buster Skrine, Greg Little. Guys who aren't #Browns : Trent Richardson.
• @TheFakeESPN: Browns trade Trent Richardson to Colts, marking the biggest release from captivity in Cleveland since Amanda Berry.
• ‏@FunSkipBayless BREAKING: Trent Richardson just broke his own 40yrd dash record and all of Usain Bolt's world records, when he ran out of Browns facilities.
• @datageneral: The @Browns had to trade Trent Richardson because he didn't fit into their system of being terrible at football.
  @HJonesin: The browns just traded Joe Haden for a plate of nachos and a 2007 #witness tee shirt
  

  @Cole4X_mas21 Cleveland browns even clearing cap room to get Lebron in 2014!

  Download a 2013 NFL Helmet schedule spreadsheet

2013 NCAA Helmet Schedule Excel

I finished putting together the 2013 NCAA Helmet Schedule Excel file, just in time for the start of the college football season! All eleven of the conferences are accounted for including every team.

Download the 2013 NCAA Helmet Schedule Excel file here.

2013 NFL Schedule in Excel

On my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog I you can now download the 2013 NFL Schedule in Excel with helmet logos. This is a great spreadsheet for you fantasy football fans. Speaking of which, if you love fantasy football like I do, I thought I'd let you know about Fantasy Football Commissioner on CBSSports.com. It's where serious players go in order to step up the competition - and the fun.

CBSSports.com has been running fantasy leagues for almost 20 years, so you know it's reliable. Plus, the Commissioner game is jam-packed with over 1,000 customization options, in-depth news coverage and a top-notch mobile app. You don't just have to take my word for it. In the last couple years CBSSports.com has won awards for having the best fantasy game, league manager, mobile app and player rankings.

This is simply the best way to experience Fantasy Football with a group of your friends. Commissioner lets you easily setup a league and customize it anyway your league sees fit - the draft, schedule, scoring system, transaction rules, and just about anything else your league could ever want. Commissioner also gives your league incredible trash-talking tools including a league message board, a chat room, and even lets you post your own news stories with pictures and videos.

 

Since we're talking about football here, I'm also incredibly excited for Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition. I absolutely cannot wait for this to be released on August 27th, 2013! Each Anniversary Edition game includes a special code giving you the opportunity to unlock a special, 2013 regular season (17 weeks) trial of NFL Sunday Ticket on computer, tablet, and mobile devices. How cool is that? I’ve got mine pre-ordered - do you?

The Adventures of Our Suitcase

Our suitcase had quite the adventure when we went on our Disney cruise last month. If you don't know, when staying at a Disney resort they send you a ribbon in the mail to attach to your suitcase so you don't have to worry about picking it up at baggage claim in the airport. We checked our suitcase at the Columbus airport at 11:30am Wednesday morning (our flight was at 1:30pm). We didn’t see it again until two minutes after we entered our room at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge resort around 5:00pm. We had to wake up at 7:30am on Thursday because they picked up our suitcase at 8am to take to the cruise ship. The bus didn’t come to pick us up until 11:45am. We didn’t see our suitcase again until it appeared outside our stateroom on the boat at 5:00pm. We were a little bit worried because for this drop off because we had already set sail and still had not gotten our bag and it seemed as if every other room in our hallway had gotten theirs already. But the largest amount of time we would go without seeing our luggage was yet to come. We were informed we had to have our bag packed, tagged, and outside of our stateroom by 10:30pm on Saturday night. Our flight didn’t leave until 12:30 Sunday afternoon. We didn’t lay eyes on our suitcase again until standing at the baggage claim in Columbus at 5:30pm on Sunday night!

On one hand, it’s nice not to have to carry the suitcase everyone but on the other it is almost more stressful wondering if the bag is going to make it to the correct destination on time - there is almost no room for error in this system!

Disney Cruise Montage Video

We went on a cruise ot the Bahamas aboard the Disney Dream last week. Below is the video montage I put together. Would love to hear what you think about it!

Downloadable 2013 NIT Tournament Bracket

If you can’t get enough basketball, in addition to the 2013 March Madness Brackets I’ve also made a 2013 NIT bracket for free download. There is no Pool manager for the National Invitation Tournament (have you ever heard of anyone running an NIT office pool?) but if your favorite team was left out of the field of 68 and sent to the NIT you can use the bracket as a schedule for the NIT Tournament. I’ve included the dates, times, and TV coverage for each game.

Go to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog to download the 2013 NIT Bracket! Instructions are included within the spreadsheet.

2013 March Madness Bracket Download

Get your 2013 March Madness Brackets! It's time to try and predict the winners and losers, who will get upset and who will win it all?

Go to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog to download the 2013 March Madness bracket. Instructions are included within the spreadsheet.

Join my pool in Yahoo's Tourney Pick'em here.

My First Android Applications

I’ve recently completed and published my first Android applications! I’ve now made my own videos, blogs, websites, published books, and now created an app (what haven’t I done?). In reality though, these apps aren’t very complicated and it will be very interesting to see how well they are received and used. I wrote a short post on my CAD blog about Android Application Programming Basics.

My first app, which I programmed myself (and with lots of assistance from my brother), is essentially an index of roller coaster information including all of the interviews I’ve conducted over the years. Check it out for free here.

For fans of my Apartment Search Spreadsheet, my other new app is called Apartment Comparison. This app transforms my highly downloaded apartment search spreadsheet into an easy to use mobile app. I outsourced the main coding to a programmer in Singapore through oDesk.com and I got a logo and icons made from a designer using fiverr.com. I made some final tweaks to the code myself. Download Apartment Comparison from the Google Play store today.

I hope these apps are helpful and I would like to make back the $25 developer fee with the banner ads. As always, I welcome any and all feedback.

Albert Miller Model Train Display

I put together a short slideshow of the Miller Train Display, an amazing and detailed model train and city that my late grandfather built in his basement. Many of the structures and buildings were custom built by Albert and he named them after his children or grandchildren, like the Keegan Railroad company and the Weisenberger Mall.

I believe up to four Lionel trains could race around the track on different routes at one time. The longest route makes a giant loop around the entire perimeter of the table. Another route  just inside of the outer one goes up and down a hill. The mountain contains two tunnels on two different levels. A working waterfall feature was planned for the mountain but never built. The third route circles around the residential area while the other route stays in the industrial section of the display where the train cars could be loaded with logs, ice, cows, coal, grain, and milk. The layout included 29 track switches!

The train display had a little bit of everything. One cool feature hard to see in the pictures was the monorail/skyride (not sure what you call it) that rode along a wire above the train table. As you can see in the pictures the city included an airport (complete with runway lights), campground, mall, and more.

Using a CAD system and a free railroad layout creator software I found on the internet I was able to made a recreation of the train set. Pictured is the overhead view of the train’s layout I assembled based on the pictures and my memory.


Sadly, the train display no longer exists and all the train engines, cars, buildings, track, etc. were all sold and the table disassembled. I regret that this happened before I owned a video camera so these pictures are all we have left of this amazing display. Thanks for the memories grandpa.

Best PuppyBowl Tweets

Below are the best Puppybowl Tweets I saw today. I'm probably not going to be able to do one of these for the Superbowl so I thought I would do it for the other big "game" today.

• ‏@zachbraffWhat's this other game happening the same day as the #PuppyBowl?
• @hashtagtrey The Chinese version of the Puppy Bowl pic.twitter.com/L2owHU4t
• @fivehundy I will force my dogs to watch Puppy Bowl while shaming them for not being better athletes when they were puppies.
• @duckfallasfans Everyone loves the puppy bowl now but crucified Vick when he was training for it, hypocrites 
• @lmerwinSo. Best part of #PuppyBowl? Turtleman and the crew from #FindingBigfoot! 
• @Austisum Just got word that the Oakland Raider scout team was at the Puppy Bowl looking for cornerbacks. 
• @Tommy_Pickles69 #PuppyBowl u ever see the same puppy from the previous year? no! cuz they all get injured and "too old" this sport chews u up & spits u out 
• @skirtsnhose After 2 minutes of Puppy Bowl IX, my wife said, "this is ridiculous." She went back to watching "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding" 
• @nickmoscato Guys, I heard one of these puppies stabbed another puppy after the Puppy Bowl a few years ago. 
• @nicknewt Ok, the puppy bowl won me over with the hedgehog cheerleaders and hamster blimp crew. 
• @LeanneBell1 two puppies from this year's puppy bowl admit to doping on Beggin' Strips. So sad.
• @AaronHaber Most people don't know this but the losing team in Puppybowl are put down. #puppybowl 
• @WriterAndrew Watching the Puppy Bowl made me realize that Animal Planet's brand is basically "cute YouTube videos, but on cable." 

The Chinese version of a puppy bowl

I hope you enjoyed reading some of these best Puppybowl Tweets.

2013 Superbowl Squares free download

Over at my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog I posted my 2013 Superbowl Squares free download. You can easily download and print it for free to use in your office pool. Download the Superbowl squares sheet here.

UPDATE: Printable 2014 Super Bowl Square template

Best Manti Teo Fake Girlfriend Tweets

Apparently, Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman trophy finalist has never seen an episode of MTV's Catfish, a show about online dating and how people create fake profiles. All the details have not been sorted on as of this posting so we don't have a really good picture of what exactly when on. What we do know, is that there are very hundreds of creative, funny, and insensitive people out there. Here are some of the best Manti Teo fake girlfriends Tweets:

• @Faux_TimTebow: Rex Ryan is in talks with Manti Te'o's girlfriend to become the Jets next QB.
• @NtwProductions: Teo got catfished! #mtv
• @EmilyNoonan:AJ McCarron's girlfriend will be featured in an SI Swimsuit issue. Manti Te'o's girlfriend will be featured on Myth Busters 
• @FauxJohnMaddenINSIDE THE NUMBERS: Manti Te'o's girlfriend won as many playoff games this season as Peyton Manning.  
• @QuesoS7: BREAKING: Manti Te'o's girlfriend was actually Chris Hansen the whole time. 
  
• @dsternsfI thought they taught the perils of premarital text at Notre Dame. Poor Manti Te'o 
• @FayaveliThe tooth fairy, my girlfriend and Manti Te'o's girlfriend all hangout on weekends.  
• @rmarmstrong88: If you think it's impressive that AJ McCarron's girlfriend was Miss Alabama 2012, Manti Te'o's girlfriend was Miss Narnia 2009, 2010 & 2011.  
• @PimpBillClinton: Good news. The Ghost Hunter guys found Manti Te'o's girlfriend." 
• @BScalabrine24: BREAKING: @ESPN to interview Manti Te'o's girlfriend:

BREAKING: ESPN to interview Manti Te'o's girlfriend.

There's also a great hashtag that's been created which has some great Tweets all on its own:

• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF WNBA fans  
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Penn State football from 1998-2011 
•  #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Finding Bigfoot
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF The replacement refs career in the NFL.
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Lebron James being straight. You can't tell me him and Wade don't have something going on... 
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF American values.

Download my free ebook on how to make supplemental income online. 

Flight

As my wife told me, I am a nerd because I do things like keep a spreadsheet log of every time I’ve flown in an airplane, which has been 32 individual flights in my lifetime (Six this past year). Some stats that may interest only me:

• Work related flights: 16 (out of 32) or 50% (with vacation being the other 16).
• Number of direct flights: 8
• Number of different airports: 15
• Most visited airport: Atlanta (followed by Detroit and Orlando)
• Most flights was in 2011 when I flew 14 times. 
• Year of first flight: 2006

Where will I fly to next? I have no idea at this point but hopefully somewhere sunny and warm!