Well it turns out that my friend did not write the story about the rocket powered car. It was something he found on the Internet. So since it was on the Internet once I guess that it will be again. Starting tomorrow I will post a chapter at a time. For your reading pleasure. I would start today but I don't have access to my electronic copy from here. So watch this space for the "real" story of the Rocket Powered Car from the Darwin Awards. I will not take credit for the tale though I wish I had the talent.
Randy
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
Micheal's Story
Micheal is a fellow I work with, whom I would like to consider a friend. He is also an amateur author. He writes short science fiction stories. The kind of thing that would have been published in Asimov Magazine. Although I had heard about his stories I had not yet read one. Until today that is. He emailed me a story about a fellow who takes responsibility for the urban myth of a rocket powered car. You all have heard or read the story but Micheal's version is very good. Not exactly Buck Rogers and Captain Kirk science fiction but a good entertaining tale.
It is an entertaining read. It reminded me of Stephen King's story "The Body" which was made into the movie "Stand By Me". It is a reminiscence about an adventure in the narrator's youth. Not exactly a "coming of age story" but very good (in my opinion) none the less. It's also little like Max Braithwait's "The Night we Stole the Mountie's Car" or Kinsella's "Fence Post Chronicles". When I was reading it I could just picture Micheal sitting back ands telling this tale. He is a very good story teller. And this tale is quite funny. It was just the thing to read on a quiet Good Friday morning. Maybe knowing the author added to the appreciation but I hope that it stands on its own as well as I think it does. (As the old saying goes I may not know literature but I know what I like.)
I think it would make a very good set of posts on my blog. It is broken out into chapters so I could post a chapter a day if I can get his permission. I will ask him when I am back at work on Tuesday. I hope that he will let me post it. It would make a good change from my usual drivel and I could leave you all hanging at the end of the chapter waiting for the next post. (A sadistic little pleasure that I could enjoy.) It would be like the old serials. I have read that Charles Dickens published many of his novels as serial pieces in the paper and that there were near riots in the streets of London when a new chapter came out. I don't imagine that would be the out come with this but it is still a good yarn.
My sister in law is working on the great Canadian novel too. But I have not seen any of her work though I have heard of it for the past 25 years. I guess she is waiting for the great unveiling. I like Micheal's approach better. Turning out short stories and tales. I hope I can get his permission to post this one and the opportunity to read more. Then maybe we can all say we knew him when...
Keep your fingers crossed...
Randy
It is an entertaining read. It reminded me of Stephen King's story "The Body" which was made into the movie "Stand By Me". It is a reminiscence about an adventure in the narrator's youth. Not exactly a "coming of age story" but very good (in my opinion) none the less. It's also little like Max Braithwait's "The Night we Stole the Mountie's Car" or Kinsella's "Fence Post Chronicles". When I was reading it I could just picture Micheal sitting back ands telling this tale. He is a very good story teller. And this tale is quite funny. It was just the thing to read on a quiet Good Friday morning. Maybe knowing the author added to the appreciation but I hope that it stands on its own as well as I think it does. (As the old saying goes I may not know literature but I know what I like.)
I think it would make a very good set of posts on my blog. It is broken out into chapters so I could post a chapter a day if I can get his permission. I will ask him when I am back at work on Tuesday. I hope that he will let me post it. It would make a good change from my usual drivel and I could leave you all hanging at the end of the chapter waiting for the next post. (A sadistic little pleasure that I could enjoy.) It would be like the old serials. I have read that Charles Dickens published many of his novels as serial pieces in the paper and that there were near riots in the streets of London when a new chapter came out. I don't imagine that would be the out come with this but it is still a good yarn.
My sister in law is working on the great Canadian novel too. But I have not seen any of her work though I have heard of it for the past 25 years. I guess she is waiting for the great unveiling. I like Micheal's approach better. Turning out short stories and tales. I hope I can get his permission to post this one and the opportunity to read more. Then maybe we can all say we knew him when...
Keep your fingers crossed...
Randy
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Back at the Project
Well it's getting closer, the desk that is. The door and drawer fronts have been kerffed to make them look like a bank of drawers. Something that I would have had the devil of a time doing on the table saw but was very straight forward not to mention upright with the Radial Arm Saw. The saw is mounted above the work on a radial arm so you can see what you are cutting. Unlike a table saw that cuts from the bottom. When you are just cutting a groove you are flying blind with a table saw.
I also constructed the wire box, a chase for the computer wiring that connects the pedestals. It has a hinged front and holes in either end to let you pass wires easily through. It also helps keep them up off the floor and out of sight also a great idea.
Right now I would be working on attaching the door and drawer fronts but the battery on the cordless drill conked out and the spare must have been put away dead too. Note to self "DON'T DO THAT!" So here I am waiting for the batteries to recharge. I have a drill with a cord but it is a big 1/2 inch and it doesn't fit in where I need to drill. Well it fits but you can't hold on to it when its in there. Also the charger is plugged in where I need to plug the drill in. I would unplug the freezer for a minute or two but then if I forgot to plug it back in I would have a lovely mess in a few days. And you know that "sometimers" (like Alzheimer's only less permanent and intermittent) would kick in right about then. You see the basement has never been finished and there is a distinct shortage of circuits. Since we never used to use the basement it was not a problem but it looks like it is something that I will have to rectify and soon if I want to keep using the basement as a workshop.
Guess I could take the dog for a walk while I wait.
Belle want to go for a walk? As if I couldn't guess...
Randy
I also constructed the wire box, a chase for the computer wiring that connects the pedestals. It has a hinged front and holes in either end to let you pass wires easily through. It also helps keep them up off the floor and out of sight also a great idea.
Right now I would be working on attaching the door and drawer fronts but the battery on the cordless drill conked out and the spare must have been put away dead too. Note to self "DON'T DO THAT!" So here I am waiting for the batteries to recharge. I have a drill with a cord but it is a big 1/2 inch and it doesn't fit in where I need to drill. Well it fits but you can't hold on to it when its in there. Also the charger is plugged in where I need to plug the drill in. I would unplug the freezer for a minute or two but then if I forgot to plug it back in I would have a lovely mess in a few days. And you know that "sometimers" (like Alzheimer's only less permanent and intermittent) would kick in right about then. You see the basement has never been finished and there is a distinct shortage of circuits. Since we never used to use the basement it was not a problem but it looks like it is something that I will have to rectify and soon if I want to keep using the basement as a workshop.
Guess I could take the dog for a walk while I wait.
Belle want to go for a walk? As if I couldn't guess...
Randy
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Quick Note
Just a quick note today. I have not forgotten everyone its just that we have had company for the past week and I am only now getting back to the desk project.
My mother in law was in town for a couple of weeks and she stayed with us last week so we were kind of busy. She was in from Prince Albert Saskatchewan and arrived just in time to experience a full on Calgary Chinook. There was nearly a foot of snow lying around when she arrived and it was brown when she left. The one day it rained in the morning was warm and sunny in the afternoon and snowing at night. Calgary weather. If you don't like what you have wait 20 minutes.
I am back on the desk again. Just little things. Trim around the pedestals installed. Yesterday I made up the parts for the wire box that connects them. I'll put that together on the weekend along with finishing up the false drawer fronts and door and the keyboard drawer. Then all I will have left is the top to finish. The breadboard edge is making me nervous. I don't want to make any mistakes there. Keep your fingers crossed.
Still down in the basement...
Randy
My mother in law was in town for a couple of weeks and she stayed with us last week so we were kind of busy. She was in from Prince Albert Saskatchewan and arrived just in time to experience a full on Calgary Chinook. There was nearly a foot of snow lying around when she arrived and it was brown when she left. The one day it rained in the morning was warm and sunny in the afternoon and snowing at night. Calgary weather. If you don't like what you have wait 20 minutes.
I am back on the desk again. Just little things. Trim around the pedestals installed. Yesterday I made up the parts for the wire box that connects them. I'll put that together on the weekend along with finishing up the false drawer fronts and door and the keyboard drawer. Then all I will have left is the top to finish. The breadboard edge is making me nervous. I don't want to make any mistakes there. Keep your fingers crossed.
Still down in the basement...
Randy
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Why I did not write.
I've been away from the desk project and from posting for couple of weeks. We had a little excitement on the medical front this last week. My wife had a cancer test. And as it turned out she is fine. The doctor told her to come back in five years and they will check again. That means that she has by his estimate at least a 5 year shelf life. Where as I can't necessarily make that claim. She will out live me of that I am sure. Women live longer than men, any stand up comic will tell you, because after putting up with women men do not want to live any more. Bada-boom!
At any rate when we got through the test she is fine and off we go. The test took a year to schedule. That's right she booked it a full year ago. That is what they call the Alberta Heathcare Advantage. If there would have been a problem, by the time she got tested they could have found it in an autopsy. But one way or another they would have found it. The government's approach is that the autopsy is better because there are no repeat offenders and it frees up the hospital beds for those who are willing to pay. Conservative logic at its best. As you will have guessed I am no fan of our current right wing government. But what can we do when the majority elects a premier because he's a lush and that "makes him one of the guys!".
Enough politics.
I took a break from the desk just to get through the wife's test and because I was having a few problems that I had to resolve. They are done and now it is time to get back at it. The problems had to do with he trim for the pedestal base. I milled up the the stock I needed then when I went to mitre it one of the pieces chipped and there I was short of materiel. Then when I went to cut the "feet" my jig saw which was never a good one (I have had trouble with that thing since day one) failed me again. I may be the problem but I swear the tool hates me too. At any rate now I was short two pieces. I have purchased the stock again and I just have to re mill it. I also decided that I don't need to make the cut outs in the base trim as I found a system of adjustable feet that I can install under the pedestal if I need to later. The problem with the desk not sitting level will not be a problem because for now it will be set up on carpet which is self leveling more or less.
So now that I don't have to do anything fancy I am ready to start again except that this week was housekeeping. Cleaning the house took a half a day, we lost a day to the regular weekend errands and so it goes. Then there was another couple of hours going from one hardware store to another looking for stain and varathane, (Home Depot dropped the ball again being sold out of the stain I wanted, and only the color I wanted, so I went with their evil twin RONA). I don't even wonder any more why the progress is so slow I know that it is always two steps forward and one step back.
Finally when I went to write this post I could not get connected to the net. Telus was dropping the ball. I had to disconnect the whole system, modem, router, firewall and reconnect then it worked. It was not Telus's problem even though "they were experiencing a high volume of calls" . I guess when my router which regularly works fine decides to pack it in, it up and calls all it's buddies so everyone can have a router failure at the same time. I think that since the system started working on its own half way through Telus debugging the problem it must have been my equipment...NOT. It certainly would not have been their network. If you don't believe me just ask them.
Making less progress than I had intended...
Randy
At any rate when we got through the test she is fine and off we go. The test took a year to schedule. That's right she booked it a full year ago. That is what they call the Alberta Heathcare Advantage. If there would have been a problem, by the time she got tested they could have found it in an autopsy. But one way or another they would have found it. The government's approach is that the autopsy is better because there are no repeat offenders and it frees up the hospital beds for those who are willing to pay. Conservative logic at its best. As you will have guessed I am no fan of our current right wing government. But what can we do when the majority elects a premier because he's a lush and that "makes him one of the guys!".
Enough politics.
I took a break from the desk just to get through the wife's test and because I was having a few problems that I had to resolve. They are done and now it is time to get back at it. The problems had to do with he trim for the pedestal base. I milled up the the stock I needed then when I went to mitre it one of the pieces chipped and there I was short of materiel. Then when I went to cut the "feet" my jig saw which was never a good one (I have had trouble with that thing since day one) failed me again. I may be the problem but I swear the tool hates me too. At any rate now I was short two pieces. I have purchased the stock again and I just have to re mill it. I also decided that I don't need to make the cut outs in the base trim as I found a system of adjustable feet that I can install under the pedestal if I need to later. The problem with the desk not sitting level will not be a problem because for now it will be set up on carpet which is self leveling more or less.
So now that I don't have to do anything fancy I am ready to start again except that this week was housekeeping. Cleaning the house took a half a day, we lost a day to the regular weekend errands and so it goes. Then there was another couple of hours going from one hardware store to another looking for stain and varathane, (Home Depot dropped the ball again being sold out of the stain I wanted, and only the color I wanted, so I went with their evil twin RONA). I don't even wonder any more why the progress is so slow I know that it is always two steps forward and one step back.
Finally when I went to write this post I could not get connected to the net. Telus was dropping the ball. I had to disconnect the whole system, modem, router, firewall and reconnect then it worked. It was not Telus's problem even though "they were experiencing a high volume of calls" . I guess when my router which regularly works fine decides to pack it in, it up and calls all it's buddies so everyone can have a router failure at the same time. I think that since the system started working on its own half way through Telus debugging the problem it must have been my equipment...NOT. It certainly would not have been their network. If you don't believe me just ask them.
Making less progress than I had intended...
Randy
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