me writing stuff about stuff that i make… and stuff.
I’ve finally had some time to work on the desk lately, and now it’s a functional piece of my office/studio.
I’ve still got some cable management to put in place, as well as adding a door to the cabinet, and shelves to the… shelves. But overall, I’m loving it.. it’s very big 
This photo is unrelated, but I liked it.
Here’s a problem I have, maybe you can relate, maybe not, but I don’t think I’ve ever written it down, and I’m trying to do that more these days, so here goes.
I’ve got too much that I want to do.
Seems like a smaller “problem” when I put it into one sentence, but it boils out to a lot more.
See, I’ve got lots of hobbies.. well, they’re not hobbies as much as interests… and most of those interests take a fair amount of time to explore and get to know before they can even become hobbies. Other than the interests, I’ve got some things that are hardwired in my head, things that I’m passionate about because I was built that way. Off the top of my head, those would be (not a complete list) music, and making stuff. (I’m intentionally leaving out things like family.. they’re my biggest priority, so for discussions sake, this is all concerning the time I’m NOT spending with them)
I’m a little envious of people who can dedicate their lives fully to something. People who live and breathe science, or art, or shoe making, or farming. Those people wake up and dedicate themselves to it until they have to sleep.. that’s amazing and very foreign to me. I also pity them a little.
They may never know what it’s like to wander into an interest that they have no business in.. to try to make write music and fail horribly, or plant vegetables in their backyard, or make a chair that’s barely safe enough to sit in. Ultimately, I’ve very glad that people are different in that way.. that we have torpedos AND frag grenades of productivity.
I’d count myself in the “frag grenade” camp.. someone who is interested (in at least trying) lots and lots of stuff. I realize that this will kind of make me a poser at all of those things.. jack of several trades, master of none. The problem with that is that I can’t fit it all in. I’m not sure the best way to fill what little time I have to fill. I also have a hard time fitting exploration of these things into the small pockets of time I have available.. it feels more realistic to me that I could understand robotics, if I had a week of uninterrupted focus on it, instead of 30 minutes here and there.
I may never get to it all, which is fine, and this isn’t even about the specific interests, it’s about priorities and passion. The things that we’re hardwired to love should come first. And the other stuff can fill in the gaps, or give us a distraction when we need it.
For me, that means postponing writing a book until the idea is fully formed, putting off building Arduino contraptions until I’ve got a good enough idea and focus on making music. Maybe they’ll actually help each other happen. Maybe the music will spark some writing ideas, or give me an idea of a new instrument to build, or maybe I can write a book about 6 months of failed music attempts.. we’ll see.
I’ve said it before, but I feel like I was made primarily to do 2 things, and I’m currently only doing one of those. I need to make music.
If you’re like me, with a list too long to actually accomplish, cut down the list to the things that have been there the longest.. those are the strong ideas, the important passions. Do those first, do those often, do those with all of your heart. And when you need a break, grab something else from the list.
PS. Incidentally, writing this post gave me an idea for an iPhone app, so I actually added something to my list today. Oh well, maybe I’ll write a song about it.
here’s a play kitchen I built for my kids for Christmas..
it’s been a while since I’d gotten to do any woodworking.. and who better to do it for than my favorite people in the world.
So, my wife, a fantastic jewelry artist (among other things) has started working from home, since we’ve had our first child, but up until we moved into our new home, she never had a space to call her own, it was always working on the dining room table, until we needed the space.
So now, we’ve got a guest bedroom with a good amount of space, so she asked me to build her a big workstation which would house all of her jewelry supplies and tools, along with her sewing machine and supplies (which includes a CRAZY amount of yarn) as well as books and a scrapbooking/letterwriting area.
The room has 2 walls covered with wallpaper (2 layers in fact) as well as a border all the way around the room.
For future reference, if you have to take down wallpaper, don’t bother with the chemicals… just rent a steamer for $30 a day from your home improvement store and do it that way.. MUCH BETTER, TRUST ME.
So I spent 3 full days (seriously) taking down wallpaper, 2 more days patching, sanding and painting the walls and updating electrical outlets and switches.. but the room looks like inew construction, so it was worth it.
Luckily, we had a good size space to work with.
She and I differ on approaches to decorating/building things, but this one is FOR HER, so I’m just building what she wants and trying not to force my own ideas in so that the space is really HERS.
So anyway, I made the 139″ desk out of a sheet of MDF, stripped down to a 24″ panel, attached end to end. It’s setting on a 2×4 that is mounted across the wall and 2 sets of shelves that I also build from MDF.
I used MDF because she wanted the whole thing painted, so it’s a very cheap solution for that amount of wood.
So, he’s the desk part installed..
since the photo, it has been primed and we got a good deal on some simple laminated cabinets to hang above it. There will be a 31″ space inbetween the cabinets, so I’ll build more MDF shelves to fill the gap.
We’re planning on putting up a combination of cork panels, and pegboard on the back wall between the desk and cabinets, as well as mounting a good deal of lighting to downlight the space.
More pics as I progress (which will hopefully be tomorrow)
So, I finally took a chance at making my own holds for the wall.. and after a very little bit of experimentation, they’re starting to come out great!!
There are several examples of how to do it online, so I’m not going to rehash.. but I used this stuff (all from Home Depot)
Poured molds..
and poured the holds..
More pics soon of the final products..
I think the biggest issue to overcome is the texturing.. still working on it, but it seems that using real rocks to create the surface texture works pretty well
I got the frame up in the back yard tonight and got some great new holds in from ebay..
Later this week will be plywood and holds.. then some climbing!!
