October 11, 2007

           Here’s a shot of the partially reworked “lo-hat”. Mercy, what a hot day. Trust me, when I talk about weather, it is extreme. I keep thinking another year in Florida and I’ll get used to it, but no. The bright side is once I got back from the morning bike ride, I got lots done indoors. Which is good because I need to inject some new sparkle into my act, which means solving all the technical fun and games of altering a factory-made article.
           For example, the thread on the rod is 11/32”, one of the few dies I don’t have and I have nothing strong enough to clamp the rod in place while I thread it anyway. Oh, I found my drill bits. In the medicine cabinet, of course. Because I keep the small bits in an old vitamin pill bottle. It is amazing the conclusions some people leap to.
           The dog wig place is momentarily back in the news. Just as I figured, there was nobody keeping the books, which is the real reason I insisted a year ago that all the bills be paid by check. In case you missed that, it is because I didn’t want anybody coming up to me a year later and insinuating it was my fault the books were not done. That is almost what shaped up. As it turned out, my books are so beautifully done, there can be no question that I never had anything to do with the mess over there.
           I had to make a run over to Barnett’s Hardware for parts. I met the service guy who seemed impressed by my ability to visualize odd pieces that work for what I want. He caught on right away what I was doing and we got to talking. He’s a saxophone player but hasn’t played in “over twenty years”. I told him to bring it down on Friday. He’s missing two fingers on one hand, and anybody who gets around that is welcome to jam with me.
           Later, we have partial success. The goal was to lower the height of the cymbals by 15” and the best I can do is just over 11”. The mechanism that springs the pedal back upwards is complicated so I focused on lowering the length of the barrel around the shaft. You can see the battery clamp, which didn’t fit so I made it fit.
           Who remembers Big Al, one of my students from back in ’05? We have a standing arrangement to inform the other if we find any money-making ideas using computers. I was over hooking his equipment back up for a few hours. Sad to report that in all that time neither of us has found anything even close to a money-maker. He tried that liquidation business but it turns out the people buying want only items that are prepackaged and ready to sell in a dollar store.
           Nor have I been able to find anything worthwhile. I’ve researched this topic greatly over the years and except for running an on-line retail operation, there really is not much out there. I estimate most people wind up working [on a computer] by the hour, which is the very definition of getting paid for what you do, not what you know. The tradeoff is finding something that is not so complicated it is difficult to do, but not so easy that anybody can copy it. On-line “DIY” ebooks are still an attractive option.
           Which brings me to an idea I’ve been kicking around for a couple of days now. Yes, I would like some Chinese factory to hire me to write their manuals. Another yes, “For Dummies” series are [actually far] too complicated and expensive. Like a dummy is going to read a 330-page text on how to burn a CD with almost a hundred terms in the glossary. (Said glossary contains gems like “Joliet”, “Red Book” and “Scuzzy”.
           My thinking is, give me $20 and I’ll tell you the real way to do it. I would be re-writing the manuals in plain English with lots of pictures. To make money, the manuals would have to be very specific, such as “How to Burn a CD Using WinXP and Nero”. I certainly have nothing against writing things that are very specific.