One year ago today: June 6, 2013, my new diet, a failure.
Five years ago today: June 6, 2009.
I’m feeling lazy so today’s report is just what happens on a day off around here. I was doing some early morning bass practice when Agt. M shows up. He’s never heard me practice and was pretty floored when I showed him my technique for outplaying guitarists. He got the “Aha!” look, so that’s how I do it. Bass is not easy. We split over to the bakery for sandwiches, and in his case a package of biscuits, a cheese pocket and three cans of soda. How I long for the days I could eat like that.
We pulled up to the dock and it was that massive Empress, what’s the name of that monster ship? I don’t have time to look it up, but that’s the one. I jealous. My parents never took me on no giant boat when I was seven. I was on a cargo ship seasick as hell. Trivia, this is a repeat, but big ships like the cruise liners don’t roll with the ocean waves, so most people never even get queasy.
This is Agt. M with an iced tea at Quino’s. I directed him there from Port of Miami when JZ started phoning me but could not talk. He had no minutes on his phone. Alaine was on duty so we watched a slide show and JZ finally showed up. I got my messages crossed, it was not JZ who had the toothache, it was Alaine. And there I was chewing out JZ for not going to the dentist. So, we finally all met. That’s right, none of these people knew each other before, I was the sole party in common. To beat rush hour M and I took the freeway home and promptly saw a four-car pileup. An idiot changed lanes without signaling and totaled a hundred thousand in vehicles in a split second.
At this point we were driving his cousin’s van so we zipped over to the Pick N’ Pay, a self-serve auto junkyard. Agt. M is working on another car and we needed a hood. I got my exercise when we found out they rearranged the entire junkyard and it was a half-mile walk to the parts we needed. PLetny of exercise for my day off, since we forgot a prybar and had to wrestle an upper radiator support off the clunker by hand. In the heat and humidity. Rule number one: not all morons work at junkyards, but all junkyard workers are morons.
See the hood on that green car? Now it is over at the clubhouse. Good, because I’m right here at home and thank you, I’ll just find this comfy chair and see what there is to watch. As long as I don’t have to life another finger the rest of the day. Hey, I’ve been on my feet mostly since eight this morning and I’ve only had two cups of coffee. I appreciate keeping limbered up but at what point am I over-doing it? That’s easy, when I just want to plunk down and relax. My system tells me when it is shut-down time.
The problem is, this work has given me a tremendous appetite for ice cream. But, but, I don’t eat ice cream. Well, maybe once every other year. I don’t keep any in the house. So I’m looking through the curtains at that shimmering heat across the road I’d have to travel to the market. Then sink back here where it is so cool and quiet. Which do you think will win out? It’s ice cream vs. armchair. Let the games begin.
So what’s this? A DVD of “Left Behind” part two? Is it the type where I’m lost if I didn’t see part one? Doesn’t matter, I’ve got a good book in case it has any weak moments. And the book is on celestial navigation, though you probably guessed that. The good news is it turns out the sextant is the top quality brand of “plastic” models. And it has that LED for night readings, plus all the telescope accessories. They had been hidden under the foam padding. The original directions and tables were there also, so we got lucky this time. There was also a spare lanyard and an anti-theft lock. This makes sense because the unit honestly looks brand new, never used. It is a $300 Davis Mark 25 from Haywood, California, built in 1994. The material is a fiberglass type hardened material claimed to be stable in seawater. We got it for $80 and what a fascinating learning experience.
Trivia, we found out the marine tables are good for four years—providing you buy them right after a leap year. The extra day throws things out of whack. No, apparently you can’t just read back a single day and use them all over again. At least, that is what the marine table sellers are saying.
I’m finding “Dune” to be a so-so movie, though it would appeal to those with a cult mentality. No doubt choosing a primitive and superstitious race to inhabit these planets cuts down on the amount of imagination required by the author. Not to mention the movie budget, since there is likely a trunk or two of “mid-east” costumes in the wardrobe left over from the last Biblical epic. And have casting pick up a set of puppets. Even in the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the yokels love a puppet show and at last word, puppets don’t get paid scale.
Today I sketched out a DC motor test jig. We’ve accumulated a small box of motors with no identifying marks. DC equipment must operate at the voltage it is designed for so we have a problem. The initial setup will require the dedication of an expensive Arduino, I’ll explain. The sensor or dial that varies the motor speed is analog. But the series of pulses that drive the motor are digital. The two are not compatible except when converted by a micro-controller. And the only micro-controllers we have are the $35 Arudinos.
So there, can I take the rest of the day off? I’ve paid my dues. I promise to take it easy. If they'll let me. And "Tribulation"? After 24 minutes, I gave the disk back. Thanks but no thanks.
ADDENDUM
D-Day plus seventy, the last universally popular US military action. I received the set lists for this month’s booking and spent the evening polishing up some bass runs. Especially those Joe Cocker tunes that are played differently every time. I spent an hour on “Feelin’ Alright” to make my part sound cool (that’s the term, I didn’t make it up), while avoiding playing that difficult four-octave run during the verses. I altered the chorus run and it was instant cool. I may have to wear sunglasses on stage, that’s how cool.
Gentlemen, back to our sheep for this is the addendum and I’m supposed to talk about non-mainstream topics like celestial navigation. This artificial horizon gizmo is what the English call titillating. It is angled pieces of glass on a small tray. As near as I can figure out, you fill it with liquid so it reflects from a flat and level surface.
Anything else interesting? Yes. The artificial horizon has small glass plates set at 25°, because that is the angle above which refraction is negligible. And (although we have not done so yet), the best sextant reading is the eight minutes around local noon, as the sun appears to “hang” in the sky for that period.
Shown here is the assembled artificial horizon which has colored plates to dim the sun’s image, since you will be looking at it through a 3-power microscope. There are also clear plates for taking star readings and I suppose dawn and dusk readings. The literature says the least useful celestial object is the moon, as it varies in distance and apparent size. The entire assemble unfolds and fits into the box at that forms the base of the setup, which in turn fits into the sextant carrying box.
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