Easy parking

Usually I intentionally park a few blocks away from the train station -- just for the extra walk.  But it's also because by the time I drop the kids off at school, the early risers have taken all the parking spaces at the train station parking lot.

In Australia -- unlike in the U.S. or Canada -- December is also summer... and therefore school vacation.  This means that it's the main time for families to take a vacation together:  Christmas and New Years around this time; the weather is warm; and the kids are out of school.  Construction basically shuts down during December -- and the offices are half empty during December and the first few weeks of January.

So:  this is what the train station parking lot -- usually full by this time -- looks like on January 2nd, at 8:54am on a weekday.


--GG

Excess office donation

This is for the kids, to read someday.  I think they're too young to fully appreciate it now.


Whenever there's a "gift collection" at work for a birthday, retirement, illness, or whatever -- I always put in about three(?) times what "normal" people put in.  (I have a standard amount.)

My reasoning is that my excess donation inflates the total, which then gives the recipient the impression of a greater number of supportive people.  This, presumably, makes the recipient happier, and/or feel more cared for.  This is a good thing.

I'm willing to spend a bit extra, if it makes someone happy.


--GG

Wood on my desk

The Lady got back from a conference in Tasmania a week or two ago.  During her visit, she browsed through the local flea market and picked up some offcuts from a guy with a "wooden things" stand (I think he made cutting boards).

I sanded them smooth, oiled them, and brought them in to work.  I keep them on my desk, partly to remind me of how much I enjoy woodworking (and nice wood), and partly to remind me of the considerate nature of The Lady.


--GG

Still using the knife

A while ago I posted a blog entry of the pocketknife that Old Roommate gave me during my last trip (June of this year) to the U.S.

Yep -- I'm still using it, every day at work.

As pictured.


--GG

My necktie of the day

The kids have a school concert tonight.  Parents are supposed to dress in black and white.

Rather than wear a different necktie at work and in the evening, I just wore the pictured necktie.

I kinda like how the grey (silver?) in the necktie matches the grey (silver?) in my hair.


--GG

Whirling peas of doom

I went to use the microwave at work today, but a co-worker (LegoMan) already had his frozen peas in there.




I might use that line -- or the looped audio -- as a backing for some techno-ish song.


--GG

Blue Stata t-shirt

Today was "Casual Friday" at work -- so I got to wear my new Stata t-shirt!!!

The photos aren't terribly high resolution -- I have a cheap phone -- but they're good enough.

Regular

Bold

 

The back

Stata is, of course, the statistical software that we use at work.

"Thanks", of course, to Natalie down at Survey Design and Analysis Services (the Australian distributor of Stata), down in the Australian Capital Territory.   :)


--GG

What I prefer

For most of this last week, I was editing and revising a document that a co-worker had drafted, about the best way to measure reoffending (based on our data holdings).  Kind of technical, as you might infer.

It was interesting enough -- and a change of pace from my usual thing, which is writing scripts in Stata to perform analyses, then making tables and graphs to present those results -- and maybe a few sentences to highlight the important patterns.

But on Thursday and Friday, I got to muck around with data (i.e. writing the scripts) -- and that was a lot better!  I was a pig in slop.

That was just a further reinforcement that I don't want to go into management:  in management -- at least around my place -- you write about what other folks do.  As a worker bee, you do it.  :)


--GG

A momentous year

On the bus ride home tonight, I realized that this year (2015) -- or alternatively, my current age -- has been the most tranformative year in my life, so far.

-More than going to graduate school

-More than my younger sister dying

-More than getting married

-More than moving to Australia

-More than becoming a father


All of those events changed me, to be sure.  But each of them occurred in separate years, and most had two years between them.

In contrast, I had three fairly eventful things happen this year.  And I'm pretty sure that the cumulative total of this year's events has changed my outlook and my personality more than the events of any one of those items.


The three things are (cryptically):

-The thing at work

-The other thing

-Breaking my shoulder (which was the second fairly stupid thing I'd done this year)


Here's hoping that I never have as "influential" year as this one, ever again.  ;)


--GG

Cross-applied woodworking skills

My co-worker had been trying various solutions for removing the window glare from his computer monitors.  Early in this recent week -- maybe on Monday? -- another co-worker scavenged sheets of that paperboard honeycomb-cell packing sheets from a box in the hall (waiting to be recycled).

My co-worker gave me the basic concept, then left it to me to design and implement the specific solution.  My solution is below:  I used my hand-tool woodworking skills -- plus a box knife and a 30-60-90 triangle -- to create cross-lap joints to create a freestanding partition.

I would've liked to have had a trysquare and a marking gauge as well -- but, nope.

My co-worker likes the solution because it indeed eliminates the window glare.  **I** like it because it completely obscures me from the aisle:  I like the extra privacy.

However, it shows me how often I spin around in my chair and ask him questions (or bounce ideas off of him).  Every time I do this, I now face a brown wall:  so we have to stand up and discuss the idea, then sit back down.

Of course:  standing up from our chairs every once in a while is a good thing.


Our co-workers in the same pod liked the idea, so on Friday -- upon request --  I created a similar wall for them.

This mini-project turned out really well -- and also reinforced something I'd noticed about handtool woodworking:  with power tools, you use a tape measure a lot; with handtool woodworking, you tend to just fit one piece to the other, then cut to the line -- that is, no actual measuring.


--GG

Lapping chisels at work

Like a lot of hobbyist woodworkers, I don't seem to get enough "shop time".  And, because I have a family (wife, kids), and because my shop doesn't have electricity (a long story), I'm basically limited to daylight hours, on the weekends.

And, when I do spend time in the shop, it's more interesting to build things than to perform tool maintenance.

Meanwhile, at work -- I have an "office job" -- we're required to clock out for lunch for at least 30 minutes every day.  Sometimes I go for a walk; sometimes I run errands.  Sometimes I wander off to the library, for lack of anything better to do.

Some co-workers check e-mail and surf the web (mostly news sites) -- but because I spend all day sitting and typing, I really don't want to spend my lunch break... sitting and typing.


So:  sometime in late April -- I forgot to record the date -- I started lapping chisels during my lunch break.  "Lapping" basically means "to flatten":  to get chisels (and handplane blades) truly sharp, they need to be super-flat on the back.  It's also good to have the back of chisels flat because the chisel back serves as a reference surface when paring.

I have a bunch of old chisels that I bought at garage sales, and most of them need "tuning up" in this way -- so that I can sharpen them properly.

It is now mid-June, and earlier this week was my ninth time lapping chisels at work:  this works out to an average of once a week.  Although, technically, two of the days were sharpening kitchen knifes for a co-worker.  Also, I brought in a block plane that I got from my paternal grandfather -- so I'll probably lap the blade and the plane sole, as well.


Here's my kit, closed.  I keep this under my desk at work, next to my electric guitar and amplifier (because, you know -- just in case).

Here's the kit, open.  The coarse-grit Japanese waterstone goes in the gap along the back:  in this photo I've already taken it out of the box.

The green masking tape lets me mark how far back along the blade I want to flatten:  there's no need to flatten it all the way back to the handle.  Also, once I've finished lapping the chisel, I wrap the tip in masking tape so I can take it home safely.

The plastic sandwich bag, at the left end of the toolbox, has a small rag that's saturated with baby oil:  I use this to wipe down the chisels after I'm done, to prevent rust (the Japanese stones use water; wet chisels lead to rust).

Here's a picture of my set-up, in the Men's room on my floor.  It's between the two sinks -- which is handy, since the Japanese stone requires a drizzle of water now and again.

At this point, most of the guys on my floor know that I do this:  they walk in to use the bathroom, and see me with my toolkit.  Even the Grand High Director has seen me do this.  We had a nice little chat out of this:  it seems that he was a Carpenter's Assistant in his youth...

This is a closer look at my setup:  usually I have the stone running left-to-right, and that's how I run my chisels.   I use the white rag to wipe the slurry off the chisel every once in a while, to see how I'm doing.

Here's kind of an "action shot".  However, my other hand is holding the camera:  normally I would have the fingertips of my right hand where I've drawn the red dot.  I would drag the chisel left and right along the stone.

At the end of my session I flatten my Japanese stone against a reference tile, which I rescued from a construction dumpster near where I park my car by the train station.

Then I rinse off the stone, and the reference tile, in the sink on the left; dry everything off; pack everything away; and put my little "kit" back under my desk.


Cleaning up my chisels is not a very exciting thing to do during my lunch break.  But, it's kind of "zen" to do it for a half hour or so.  And it lets me do some "tool maintenance" without eating into my "real" shop time.


--GG

Basement rocker

As most office workers do, I keep a cheap electric guitar, a small practice amp, and a small toolbox with guitar gear, under my desk at work.

I occasionally -- by which I mean "once, since bringing it to work six months ago" -- go down the the lowest parking garage level under my building at work and play my guitar.  There's a concrete pillar that has a power outlet -- so I can plug in my amp.  Next to the pillar is a space between some bike racks which is protected by railings -- so I can set up and be safe from getting squished by cars. 

I point my amplifier away from me, to maximize the amount of natural reverb compared to the direct sound -- and I noodle away during my lunch break.


So, I did this once, about a week after first bringing my gear in to work (the first week of November, 2014).  (Holy carp -- it's April 2015!  How'd that happen?)  And for the last month I've been meaning to play "basement guitar" again.

Well, today's workday was making me feel a little futile -- so I went "eh", and went down during my lunch break. 

I enjoyed it.  And I amused the security staff.  :)


In related news, I'm playing guitar more often than I have in a loooong while:  about once a week, maybe a little more.  I've been inspired by a co-worker who is playing nearly every night.  I figure:  I enjoy it; I should do it more often.

I'm being fairly non-instrumental (pun not intended) in my playing:  I'm not recording, or trying to come up with song ideas.  I'm just noodling around with different scales, expressing myself, and enjoying the experience.  And in the process, presumably getting better at playing the guitar.


Finally, a comment about the guitar (pictured) -- which is the guitar I have under my desk at work.  It's kind of quirky -- but, I like quirky.  I picked it up for AU$59 (about US$43), because (as you can see in the photo, before I repaired it) two of the grommets on the tuning pegs were missing:  I repaired this by fabricating wooden "sleeves" to take up the space.  Also, the tip of the pickup selector switch is missing, and the volume and tone knobs are different styles of knob.

But, again -- I like quirky guitars.  :)


--GG

E-mail thread

My co-worker CC'd me on a graph I'd made about a week ago.  Then we were witty.


======================================

Me:  Hey!  I remember that graph…!!!  :)


Bike Tragic:  “Fruits of your mastery” and all that.  :)


Me:  LOL!  :)

Better than being “Master of all Fruits”.   (Kind of like “Lord of the Jungle”, but with a horticultural spin.)


Bike Tragic:   Or “Fruity master of all”.


Me:  That would make an intriguing bumper sticker.


================

 

--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

I am on my break

Usually I run errands during my lunch break.  But, a few days ago I sat at my desk and checked e-mail.  To indicate I was on a break, I wore a hat.

A co-worker asked why I was wearing a hat:  was I cold?  Nope -- it symbolizes that I'm not slacking -- I'm off the clock.

He pointed out -- correctly -- that it doesn't successfully communicate that message, if no one knows what "wearing a hat" is supposed to mean.  Good point.

So, today, I used the power of language to clearly communicate my situation.

Curiously, three different co-workers took photos with their cell phones.  Lego Architect was kind enough to send me his copy.  :)


--GG

Basement guitared

So, this Thursday at lunchtime I finally did it.


A month or two ago I had the idea that I would bring in an extra guitar and guitar amp to work, and rock out during my lunch break.  Not every day -- just now and again.

I did some reconnisance.  Initially I had thought that I might play guitar at the first (top-most) level of the parking garage under our building.  But it turns out that a security person is posted there, to monitor the cars coming in and out.  And I didn't want to bother them.

So I decided to do it on the bottom-most level:  B3.  I looked around, and, yes -- some of the concrete pillars have electrical outlets.

And I found a location that was among a "zoned-off" area, where people park their bikes:  there were metal railings around this area, so I could set up there and be safe from cars.


But -- the international G20 meeting was coming up -- hosted downtown, near where I work -- so I didn't want to freak out the building security by doing things that were "unexpected".  So, I waited until it passed.


In the mean time, I ferried in the various components of my kit:  an electric guitar; a (very) small amplifier; an effects pedal or two, with their power adaptors; a guitar tuner; guitar cables; and an extension cord.  Also a GFI (see the postscript).


And then I waited a few days after the G20, because each lunch break I had an errand to attend to, instead of playing guitar.


But finally!  This last Thursday:  I loaded up; a co-worker (Lego Architect) was inspired to snap a photo (see above); and I headed down.


I stopped by the security person that monitored the entrance to the parking garage, to let her know what I was doing.  She didn't say "No".


Setting up only took a few minutes.  To emphasize the natural reverb, I pointed the amp away from me -- so that I'd get proportionately more "reflected" sound than "direct" sound.  And I cranked up the amp more than I usually do at home -- but then stood as far away as I could, given the length of my guitar cable.


And it sounded goooood...  :)


I rocked out for about a half hour, then packed up.  During the time that I was playing, a building maintenance guy stopped by and we chatted.  And he didn't say "No".  He was more intrigued than anything.


Once I packed up, I stopped by the security person at the entrance.  The shifts must have changed, because it was a different person.  And she didn't say "No".  In fact, she complimented me on my playing:  she said that she could hear it from where she was, and it sounded good.  She welcomed me back any time -- and she said that more people should do "random, individualistic" things.


So, yes:  I'll do this again.  :)


--GG


P.S.  For what it's worth:  used a no-name Flying V with humbuckers, into a $30 Aldi "Overdrive" pedal (which sounds much better than a $30 pedal).  

Used both the overdrive and some gain to further overdrive the solid-state "Falcon" brand amp which naturally overdrives from the get-go (no "Pre-" or "Gain" knob, just "Volume".  

The Falcon amp is oddly loud for such a small amp, and oddly full-range given the small speaker (although the cabinet is closed-back).


P.P.S. For safety, I used a Ground Fault Interruptor (GFI) -- what Aussies seem to call a "Residual Current Device" -- between my extension cord and the power outlet. 

A GFI differs from a circuit breaker (e.g. what's in most power strips):  a circuit breaker cuts off the electricity only when the current is past a certain threshhold -- that is, after you've already been electrocuted for a while.  In contrast, a GFI cuts the power when it senses that its losing power to ground (or "to 'earth' ", for the Australians) -- regardless of the amount.  So, a GFI is much safer. 

A lot of building codes now require GFIs in bathrooms -- for when people drop their hair driers into the sink.

Easier to go unnoticed

Last night I went to bed a bit late, due to my Krav Maga class:  got home, showered, put on some laundry, and etc.

So today, I was a bit tired.  My desk faces the main route that people walk along on our floor -- meaning that most people can't see under it.  So I crawled under my desk and took a nap during my lunch hour.

Since I was "clocked out" for lunch, it was a perfectly legitimate thing to do.  But to avoid questions, prior to my nap I shifted some things around to further shield myself from view.


Once of my co-workers said there was some precedent:  George from Seinfeld.



--GG

Humble brag

I heard the term ''humble brag'' on the t.v. show NCIS: LA.  It's when you complain about something, but really it's just a way of showing off:  on the t.v. show, it was something along the lines of "It's so annoying when I go to the gym, and even though I'm all sweaty and wearing ratty clothes, it's hard to finish my workout because people keep hitting on me."


So, here's mine:  I get clever ideas of interesting things to build, faster than I can build them.  And I keep writing songs faster than I can record them.

The implication is that I'm this genius, modern-day Leonardo DaVinci -- both mechanical and artistic (so is Guitar Cousin, BTW).


Many days while commuting to work on public transport, I design various things (in my notebook) I want to build out of wood.  It often takes me a few days to work out the details of the design -- but usually less than a week.

But, I only get two afternoons during the weekend of "shop time".  So I end up falling behind.

Last week, for example, I got an idea for a wooden tool tote (an open-topped toolbox).  So I started to build it over the weekend.  But then this week I came up with an idea for a wooden, stringed folk instrument.  So now I want to build that as well.


Similarly, I come up with a new song idea about once a month.  Usually I knock out the lyrics in a day, and have a pretty good sense of the arrangement and instrumentation as well.  So, all I need to do is record it. 

But at the moment I'm more in the mood to build things out of wood than to record songs.  Which is fine.  But now I have a lovely backlog of songs that I really need to just sit down and record.


The solution, of course, is to win the multi-million-dollar lottery, drop back to 40% time at work, and stay home doing interesting, creatively productive things the other three days.

I'll see what I can do about that.  :)


(Note:  the photo of the workshop isn't mine; nice, though.  It's from the Wikpedia page on "workshops".)


--GG

A coworker gave me worms

After wanting one for about eight years, I finally spring for a tumbling composter (Aldi had them on sale).

Even though worms aren't necessary for proper composting, I thought it might help the process.  But the local mega-hardware store wants $28 for 500 worms -- and I don't need 500 worms -- just a handful, and they will grow and multiply.

I sent around an e-mail at work to all the people I chat with, no one had any composting worms for me.  I wanted the hearty, red worms -- not the generic garden earthworms.

But then!  A co-worker who I rarely talk to (and thus, I didn't include in my e-mail) offered me some from her "worm farm" tower.  Brought it in today, and I took 'em home.

Happy little fellers.  They seem contented in their new home.


--GG

Saving the earth one banana at a time

For whatever reason, my 25-floor office building doesn't have a recycling program. So whenever I have a can of soft drink, I carry it down to the street during a break and toss it in of the city's recycling bin (which is paired, on the street, with a garbage can).

I realize that saving my cans is a little OCD -- but I figure it's good for the environment, and it doesn't take much extra effort.

A few days ago I took this concern for the environment to the next level:  I have a stash of plastic containers at work.  Whenever I -- or my co-workers! -- have fruit peelings or cores, I take them home.  Most of the things get composted (blue lid); the ones that the chickens like (e.g. apple cores) go to the chickens.

As with recycling, it's good for the environment -- and it doesn't take much extra effort.


--GG