It will be lumber

About a month ago, on the road where I live, there was a pile of cut logs by the side of the road:  the local road crews leave piles of branches and/or logs when they cut down trees that are in danger of interfering with the power lines, and a few days later they come by with the chippers and pick up the branches.

So, I saved two of the larger pieces.  I didn't have time immediately to split them into blanks -- to prevent them from cracking while they dried.  So, I stuck them in my kids' wading pool. 

A few weekends later, I split one of the logs into blanks -- each about 1/8 of the circle.  And two weekends after that -- which was last weekend -- I split the other one.

Here's what they look like at the moment (I need to find a better place than "on the edge of the kids' trampoline"):

I realize that at the moment it's indistinguishable from firewood.  But in a few years the moisture content will have reached equilibrium -- and then I can saw it to my desired thickness, handplane it smooth, and make something useful out of it -- probably some sort of storage box.

Something more useful -- and interesting -- than the mulch that it would have otherwise become.  ;)



--GG

Swing like an American

Yesterday our Krav Maga instructor held a special session on defenses against stick attacks.

One of the defenses we learned was against a club, baseball bat, or other swung object.  We got into groups of two, and one person swung a thick dowel (about the diameter of a broomstick) at the other person, horizontally, as if he were trying to really whack the other person -- and then the other person would defend.

Most of the other guys (none of the females in the group attended) faced their opponent at about a 45 degree angle, and held their hands close together on the stick.  The instructor, as he walked around giving suggestions and making corrections, commented that it was obvious who was the American in the group (me!) -- as I was the only one swinging the stick in an effective manner.

I hadn't thought about it, but I had just done what came naturally if I was trying to whack the heck out of someone, with a stick:  feet apart, left hip towards my opponent, elbows out, hands a fist's-width apart.  Classic baseball batter position.


Apparently not a lot of Australians play baseball. And the cricket batting position is pretty different: you're swinging a plank with a handle -- underhand.


--GG

Could have stayed home

A few days ago I had asked my manager permission to leave mid-afternoon, for a dental appointment. 

So, when I showed up today, she expressed surprise at seeing me.  For some reason, she had thought that my dental appointment would be an all-day activity.

I **offered** to go back home – if she advised it as my manager – but she said, “No, no…” ;)


--GG

Another tiny apartment

Another tiny, clever apartment.



Pretty neat.  Although:  hardly any food in the 'fridge or the cupboard; he doesn't have enough room to keep really anything relating to a hobby or collection:  LPs, books, DVDs...


(Thanks to Clever Building Woman for this video.)


--GG

Movie review - Safety not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed – Takes place in Seattle (yay!).  A female magazine intern gets assigned to a story based on an unusual personals ad in the paper, where a man has advertised for a travelling companion for his time machine.

Through the whole movie, it's ambiguous as to whether the guy is just a nut, or whether he really has built a time machine.

I found the ending satisfying.

Not a top-rated movie, but quietly satisfying. However, the two sub-plots with the two males who came with her (they work at the same magazine) seemed extraneous:  except for adding to the run time, there didn't seem much point to those sub-plots.  Eh.

A few swear words and some mention of sex; no nudity or particular violence.

Worth seeing once -- although not everyone will enjoy it. I thought it was "pretty good".

The main character is “Julie” from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, for what it's worth.  


--GG

I wish

I had loaded some Beatles songs onto the kids' mp3 players. I had also loaded some of the songs that I wrote and recorded. 

Boy #2  asked me who did “Yellow Submarine”. I told him that it was by the Beatles.

A little while later one of my songs came on. He asked me, “Are you part of the Beatles band?”

I wish.:)


--GG

How I spent New Year's Eve day

New Year's Eve was spent quietly, with the family: the kids actually managed to stay awake until midnight -- even B2, who usually wanders off and falls asleep before everyone else.

But the day of New Year's Eve, I spent puttering about with a "marble maze" kit -- or rather, three of them combined -- experimenting with binomial distributions.

Because, you know -- that's what you do on vacation.




Note that I make some comments in there that alludes to OCD-ness.  If I was **truly** OCD, then I would've done more than five iterations.  ;)


--GG