Score!

I scored an absolutely obscene amount of old skirting board, door frame, trim and coving today. It's all antique white with just the right amount of decay and chipping. Perfect for furniture making (LINK). Once again the Prospect Park neighborhood (LINK) where we used to live has blessed me. I'm very excited to dig through the pile and start figuring out what I can make. I now have an abundance of materials that should see me through the next three pieces at least. Everything is comin' up Milhouse! And while I'm feeling cocky I suppose I should share the fact that I made three strikes in a row at bowling this morning. They calls that a turkey they do. A feckin' good day. USA! USA! USA!

And now to celebrate... few beers, some Buck65, a few articles from American Craft magazine. Sad, I know, I'm fully aware of that. We all bear a cross.

Wood Pixels

I've wanted to get into the making of wooden pixel art for a few years. Now is as good a time as ever. I transplanted my woodworking operation to the basement of our house since the shed is now a freezer in which no honest man deserves to try and get stuff done. It's winter and it's cold. End of story.

The stairs down to the basement are steep and narrow thus limiting the size of projects that can be accomplished in that secret underground lair of tea and radio and dreaming. It is completely true that I have no clear idea of how I can make the leap from methodically cutting up scrap wood to a finished work. Sometimes the process is as enjoyable and important as the end result. I'm an engineer, not an artist. Striving for absolute uniformity as I cut the little squares imposes self discipline and I like that.

Helix

While working on a helix (LINK) related problem at work today I came across this definition:

"A helix is a curve for which the tangent makes a constant angle with a fixed line. The shortest path between two points on a cylinder (one not directly above the other) is a fractional turn of a helix, as can be seen by cutting the cylinder along one of its sides, flattening it out, and noting that a straight line connecting the points becomes helical upon re-wrapping. It is for this reason that squirrels chasing one another up and around tree trunks follow a helical path."
Wikipedia

The squirrel analogy is 100% true. We have millions of the little shit-monkeys in our back garden and I have often see them do the helical chase around the oak tree.

Squirrel-centric analogies are key to my survival in the modern workplace.

Popperville

Apparently there was some kind of election yesterday here in America. Who knew? St. Paul, my adopted home town, tends to be a bit of a quiet/sedate/unconscious/dead place to live and particularly so as we prepare for another long-drawn-out winter. Major world events often slip by St. Paul without much notice from those that serenely dwell within her leafy enclaves. There are times when I wake up believing that I live in the fictitious town of Popperville (LINK). I’m fine with that. In fact, I aspire to that. My universe is small (family, work, shed and drinking in that order) so I have little free time to keep up with what is going on two towns over, never mind further afield.

But in an effort to wise up and be an informed citizen I’ve done some post-election research on this Obama guy and I like what I see. These are indeed exciting times… if you live anywhere but St. Paul, Minnesota of course.

Crazy Kidz

There are times when I worry that my kids ((LINK), (LINK), (LINK)) are actually and officially insane. No, they just have imaginations sans corners. Must be nice.

The Polaroids are by Martha (LINK) of course.