Gye Greene's Thoughts

Gye Greene's Thoughts (w/ apologies to The Smithereens and their similarly-titled album!)

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Spreading the craft

A woodworker whose blog I follow said that he set up his woodshop in a storefront to expose passer-bys to traditional woodworking:  they could see his projects in-progress as they passed by, and see him working. 

I like that idea.  When I retire I want to get a booth at the local weekend flea market and just demonstrate handtool woodworking.  Maybe sell a few things -- but mostly just expose people to woodworking.  Let people ask questions, get them interested in the craft.




--GG

Labels: , ,

Friday, April 08, 2016

My review of the movie Learning to Drive

In the movie Learning to Drive, a recently-divorced woman in New York City – somewhat in denial over the divorce – decides that she needs to learn how to drive (a lot of people from New York never learn to drive, due to the availability of public transportation). She takes lessons from an Indian Sikh man, and they become friends.

This movie is one for the grown-ups – and not just for the occasional swearing, talk about sex, brief nudity, and the pretty obvious sex scene. Rather, I'm not sure that anyone who was under the age of 30, and who's never been married, would appreciate the discussions about the imperfections of marriage.

 I recommend it. Worth watching once.


--GG

Labels:

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Clever bike camper

I thought that this was well-designed and well-engineered.



--GG

Labels: , ,

Sunday, April 03, 2016

If I were a rich man

One of the great things about getting older (and older...) is having an ever-increasing sense of "self":  what you value, and who you are.

My job is the best job I have ever had:  interesting (usually!) work that is useful to society, with good co-workers, a good boss, and a good boss' boss.  I used to say that if I won the big lottery I'd still keep working half-time.

But, over the Easter weekend, I realized:  nah.  I have way too many things that I enjoy doing -- such that working half-time still wouldn't leave me enough time to accomplish everything that I'd want to.

On March 31st, I wrote this note to myself:  “I need to retire now, just to accomplish all my songwriting/recording/instrument-learning/woodworking/gardening/reading/exercising/martial arts goals!!!


If I had the time, and didn’t think my muscle memory would get confused, I’d take two martial arts a week: maybe a grappling style plus a striking-based style, to minimize the muscle memory overlap.

Oh:  and I'd take tap-dancing lessons.


Here's some preliminary planning -- in anticipation of winning the lottery.


Activities:

-Martial arts
-Woodworking
-Film/video shooting
-Recording songs
-Tap dance
-Learning instruments
-Weightlifting
-Yardwork
-Typing up my backlog of notes and such from over the years.


Most weekdays, here's my preliminary schedule:

-Take the kids to school, then drive back home
-A quick breakfast
-Practice instrument #1 for 15 mins
-Practice instrument #2 for 15 mins
-Spend 3 hrs 45 mins doing something creative (recording music or shooting and/or editing film or doing woodworking or writing a screenplay)
-About 15 mins cleaning up (e.g. showering, if I've been woodworking)
-A quick (late) lunch
-Go get the kids from school, bring them back home
-About 15 mins on the punching bag
-Evenings:  help w/ kids' homework some nights; martial arts classes other nights


It's actually a moderate drive to my kids' school -- so two days a week I'd just hang out in that neighborhood during the day, rather than making two round trips.

The plan would be:

-Drive the kids to school
-Borrow one of their music practice rooms (more like little booths) for a half hour and practice an instrument
-Put the instrument in the car and jog to the local gym
-Work out for about four hours
-Jog back to school
-Get the kids and bring them home (while sweating like a monkey)


Weekends:  mostly yardwork, plus errands


Anyhow -- that's the plan.  Now I just need to win the lottery...  ;)


--GG

Labels: , , , , , , ,