February 13, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 13, 2023, another government coincidence.
Five years ago today: February 13, 2019, an Arizona mystery.
Nine years ago today: February 13, 2015, the school as babysitter.
Random years ago today: February 13, 2016, it wasn’t Germany/

           We scored $259 in brand new 1x4s that now sell for around $9 each.for $77. Up with the birdies this morning, the yard is alive. Here are the boards stacked up on the side of the new saw shed, out of the rain. I’ll explain in a moment, but last week’s post on this shed was misleading. Yes, it take a year start to finish to put this together, but that does not mean the shed was non-functional the whole time. There was a temporary roof and siding so it was in constant use and forms a covered walkway to the big workshed. The one year is just how long it took to get the materials and time together to make it nice.

           The lumber was on sale because of a store policy they can’t move anything that has mold on it. And this has some surface mold that will sand right off. They put the entire lift on the cull cart. A lady had got there before me and bought 2/3rds of it. Of the remainder, I got these 27 straight pieces, which for my box-building hobby is around a year’s supply. Actually more, because the availablility of raw materials usually spurs me to build other projects. The immediate goal is not to see if I can build a set of two matching boxes and a saw sled. My original intention years ago was to build box joints but only recently have I gotten the use of a superior table saw.

           Shown here is part of the task, this is the lumber for the matching set not yet cut into lengths. For me, the easiest boxes are the JeePee style, the floating panel boxes , which are great for saving weight and material. They impose their own size limit because I would not trust them to hold valuable tools. I still have the lock miter bit that I’ve never quite got to work right. You see, I tried using it on pallet lumber which tends to be dry and brittle. Now I have real lumber to try again.
           Visible on the lumber here is the channels cut for the floating panels. Among other things, I’ve learned to scribe the wood and cut the kerf differently depending on if it is an end cut or not. Up to now, I’ve used hardwood for the panels. I would like to try using plywood, as I’ve found a source out near where my band rehearses. The dude who answered the phone says they burn it daily and does not mind if I pick out what I want. I’ll let you know how that turns out. I’ve discovered even on the roughest plywood, a piece small enough to use as panels can always be saw out of it, for that matter, sometimes I will leave a knot in for looks.
           Additionally, the plywood is stronger than the hardboard and I would like some way to cut down on the weight of an all-plank tool box. What’s stopped me before is I don’t have the technology to cut the channels for the thicker plywood. Now, with the table say, I can solve that issue.

           Because this blog is really a journal, I must record the following in keeping with my rule of tracking what is important to me. If things go right, I may be getting a significant rebate on some expenses going back to 2019. If so, Caltier is about to get richer by 6.2%, they can thank their good performance for getting it all. Meanwhile, conservative measures around here have worked well enough that I may be able to reach my entire investment goal of 2024 by the end of March. But this takes decades of experience that varies by the individual, so don’t ask me for advice. On the other hand, that’s not final, because it ain’t over yet.
           I’ve described how I began investing again despite the fact I’m too old to see the payoff. It’s because I’ve been given a reason to do it. And that reason was severely driven home by the pitbull attack last November. The Reb & the pets. They are not mine, but is that the point. I was appointed custodian of the pets in 2019, should disaster strike. Thus, I would invest even if it was only to make sure they always eat well when I’m in charge. Same thing you would do.
           There is something else. You recall Mitch, my lifelong pal from high school? He proofreads any material I write that gets technical. Just now I said I can’t give investment advice. But I can describe the situations that cause failure. One example is a four page (hand-written 8.5x11 sheets) treastise on how to make calculations based on a 2,000 hour work year. Have you ever sat down and mapped out the long term implications of that, along with how investment affects it? Well, I have and Mitch says I should publish before I’m ready to complete the whole work.

Picture of the day.
Abandoned California ski lodge.
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           While it does not constitute an incarnation of the old robot club, Wilford and I went over some recent projects and developments. He has a credit card, which I do not. Why? Because I refuse to lend or borrow money on any scale, yet find it amazing some people find fault with that. As if I’m a bad risk because I have no history of paying back money on time. Such people should take a look at my systematic approach to investing. The club budget is going to a vote on channeling the materials fund through his credit card, I have not looked but I think it is $50 per month. Part of the club experience is how to avoid buying expensive components.

           Wilford is new at the robots game where everybody wants to invent the next big thing. He says I’m the one who talked him back down to earth. Good, because the club looks more at the components than the big boys who are more focused on what the components do. I went through that phase, building kits and such without much of a feel for how the parts worked at a fundamental level. All that taught me was that the vast majority of engineers out there don’t know this either, that is, they build stuff out of stuff without knowing how the stuff works.

           You can classify the quick meeting as the club again, since we went over three basic projects. One was a demo of a working PNP circuit. This is the one that I had to figure out worked by grounding because none of the instructional material actually told or said that simple needed fact. It’s breadboarded but will soon be placed a a working demo on a wooden pegboard with copper nails, which some around me find quite the novelty. The second project is the good old nail and wire electromagnet, but with a twist. Question, would you figure something that got looked at by 10,000 people to be kind of famous? I would. In that case, we have Florida’s most famous new magnet.
This magnet is destined to be controlled not by a switch, but by a microcontroller. This is the blog that dares to feature a dumb old magnet. Maybe I will, after all, get out to the shed and produce some iron filings in a salt-shaker. (If you are curious, the end design plans to use a rheostat input (analog), where an increase does not make the magnet stronger, rather changes the rate at which it switches off and on. See, I knew you’d like it.            The last arrangment we viewed was the PNP array mockup. Since we know the single circuit works, the next step is to control a 3x3 array. All larger arrays are little more than an expansion of the “three-by-three”. Here’s a simple question with an incredibly complicated answer, so don’t get down if it doesn’t make sense. Why go from a single circuit to a 3x3 instead of using a 2x2? Save time, save money, make it a 2x2. Don’t, you will get confusing and false results because, are you ready—two is the only even prime number.

           Whew, that’s intense, let’s talk music. We’ve added two Willie Nelson tunes, and neither of them is “Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain”. Not only is that slow music, it is an over-played standard. We have nothing aganst that, as long as it is your band playing it and not ours. The Prez has seen first-hand why fast music is where it is at, although he still has tendencies toward old favorites. The tunes we have are both drinking songs, “If You Got The Money” and “I Gotta Get” drunk with us each singing one in that order. From experience, I know this level of learning new music and a constantly evolving set list is light-years ahead of most bands. Recall the Hippie, whose set list has not change in, what, 44 years now.

           One that neither of us can sing is also on the list. “Rocky Top”. I showed him the trick of chanting on key instead of real singing and it turns out to be not a bad technique on that song. Will we do this on stage? Check in after Wednesday night jam. Say, let me give you the latest on that. Keith bills the time as 7-9PM, but that is his schedule, not ours. We are now more the 8-10PM band, that’s when the audience is there. Keith seems unable or unwilling to adapt, so let him play that first hour to an empty room, we’re not stopping him.
           But, last week it turns out some people arrived at 7:00PM and Keith wasn’t there. He had contacted the Prez (they have far more in common than with me) but not the club. Since the Prez & I had not invited anybody, we never gave a thought to who might be there, and thanks to traffic, we did not even arrive until ten to, and didn’t start until quarter after. The barmaid says the people waiting 40 minutes and just left. Hey, I had mentioned to her several days earlier we would not show for the first hour, so I don’t know why the people left. You can bet, however, news of that will reach management and my bands have NEVER missed a show. I’m just sayin’.

           Some might say I view the music trade as more harsh than it is. I prefer to say I suffer from fewer delusions on how it operates beneath the surface. People who make no money at it have nothing to lose by not showing up. Playing for free is fine at your neice’s fifth birthday party, not so at a downtown club that normally pays. Show biz is all smiles up front, such a fun game until you get out there yourself and find out who is starving and why. Except for the emergency in Tennessee, we are the only group that has showed up every week without fail, and tomorrow will be the 15th instance. The club knows damn well by now who they can count on. But so far, no offers. I admit, I have not pushed the issue, or even gone over to the Legion yet.

Last Laugh