One year ago today: February 6, 2023, unfair to minorities???
Five years ago today: February 6, 2019, arriving 11,491 days late.
Nine years ago today: February 6, 2015, holy paralyzed penguins!
Random years ago today: February 6, 2009, my ID appears on-line.
Still a bit in the doldrums, I took a closer look at the latest JeePee box, shown here. I chose this compound photo because it shows the sum of my frustrations along with the progress of my changing build stytle. I still prefer butt and miter joints for simplicity, yet that is misleading. Even the easy joinery still eludes me. Let’s step through this example. This is the solid box, the lid has not been cut yet, which involves careful planning to ensure the lid pieces are fastened yet there are no screws in the cut path. This is rough pallet lumber but I still should by now be able to do a better job.
Soon as the fog cleared, I was out ther for hours. No clock, but I can hear the church bells. Doing chores, which included laundry, moving the birdfeeder, cutting somE pvc, fixing the neighbor’s garage door, staining two boxes, and installing the hinges on the box shown here. It’s now got a cherry stain because I have lots of cherry stain. I confirmed we are on for Festus Tuesday. I finished the siding on the lean-to and got to thinking, there has to be a more efficient way to flatten PVC.
On-line they got weird advice like put it in the oven at 350°F but don’t tell you about the aroma and what happens to your oven if you let any of it melt too much. Didn’t I see one of those breakfast warming trays at the Thrift? I’ve been using a heat-gun but that’s now feasible for anything but tiny pieces, maybe 4 Inches on a side.
This news just in, Toby Keith died, stomach cancer. A complete shock to me because other than music, I don’t follow any of the stars or their lifestyles. It’s that these days 62 is pretty young. I only ever learned one of his tunes but admire how he went about things.
Abandoned American house, Oklahoma.
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The Festus Festival today was the episode the doctor took over and did some brain surgery. All the shoot-em-up westerns are watched and what’s left are a lot of the weaker themes with ever less. For me, I prefer the gunfight on Main Street. It’s all a good visit and conversation. We may have to switch to more Wagon Train, Have Gun, and in desperation, Bonanza. I have a reply from the insurance company on the Civic. They want the old find three comparable cars. Normally I would tell them to pay me to do the work, but their counter-offer is suspiciously close to my original claim, so I’ll play along. But only because that cash is slated for Caltier over the course of 2024. Here’s the first car I found. Almost an identical match priced at $14,900.
I dropped in to see who would be working tomorrow and partially to make sure if there is any talk, that everybody knows in advance we are not taking over from Keith. Turns out he is quite popular and a bit of a good old boy so I’m not stepping on any toes. On duty will be the new blonde lady who is kind of weird by my books, but quite standard by most. This is only my opinion but she is kind of opposite to getting things done by design, I’ll explain. Most people facing life situations will consider a few options and pick the best one. Other people exclusively choose the “emotional” way out and stick with it even past the point of common sense.
That’s dandy, until you need to deal with the real world. She’s nice, I like her, but could never trust her to do the right thing over the cute thing. Remember, I was raised around people whose primary concern was appearing nice to strangers, so I recognize all forms of this behavior. The abrasion occurs when her type, often unwitting but often enough not, becomes a barrier and that barrier has to get crossed.
Anybody who thinks this is, for me, just a jam session has not been paying attention. This is a foot in the door to the circuit, an amazingly tough call in central Florida. My duo cannot and does not compete with the recording stars and show bands that saturate the Tampa-Orlando corridor. And brother, they overwhelm everything. There are about a dozen topics [that are] taboo in this blog and other bands is one of them. I do not blog every occasion when I audition, jam, stand-in, or chum with them and even then rarely by name. It’s a courtesy, since my hope is to compete in other ways and my life would get difficult if they were more aware of that. Put it this way, it is important in this trade that the masses think you just got lucky.
So how could there be a clash with the blonde lady? Siimple, I know better than to change something like the gig schedule without getting the okay from the club. The management can only be reached via the bartender so it is really her call. For instance, playing until 10:30PM means the band would not be following the local rule of ending one hour before last call. But this has no “emotional” side so she won’t input an answer. She knows by now that I know she won’t answer, yet permission was still asked. I learned this trick at the phone company. The ball is in her court. Anyway, you see the clash. Same planet, different worlds.
ADDENDUM
Shown here is me holding one of the plastic cloverleaf elements. That is an LED inside there and these have ten of these per string. And come with their own switched battery clip, you’ll have to wait to see that. Maybe later today but more likely later this week. All for $1.25, such a deal.
I bought half the tray and the tray itself, which had one of those “try me” buttons. Here’s a picture of the gadget, return tomorrow for a dissected view. Picking up a few extra for Wilford, I remind the reader that electronics is not a cheap hobby in the sense that there are few substitutes for the components you will need. Wilford and I plan to construct a single 8 x 8 matrix or array of lights controlled by an Arduino. We started at 10 x 10, but most of the parts are designed around 8. As usual, I will be doing 90% of the work.
Say, that reminds me. Wilford has a pal who hangs around the club. He’s trustworthy to give messages and gear if Wilford isn’t in. While quickly giving a demo of the lights, a stranger walks up who knows they are no longer just lights. Turns out his wife formerly taught robotics in elementary school. She apparently has expressed disappointment at how few robotics enthusiasts exist, much less two in one town. He knows Wilford, so I advised him to have her talk to him, he’s a born salesman. Wow, that was a sentnce full of pronouns for you. And they say English is easy. (Um, Tyler & Josh, that’s real pronouns, not your other kind.)
[Author's note: yes, my ID info appeared on-line in 2009, not the actual certificates. It has since been removed.]
