My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 15, 2023

Having a customer for over 30 years is something that I should be super happy about (and for the most part, I am), but in August like clockwork it is a trigger for me that it is the end of summer and the beginning of a new printing year, at least with the Greater Akron Audubon Society.

When I first started my printing business in 1987 (with the building purchased above and more photos at the bottom), one of my early customers (eventually became personal friends – Susan and Allen Dooley, Clyde Witt and Joyce and Wolfgang Pelz)  inquired about publishing a monthly newsletter for the local Audubon Society. I was already publishing short run conference books and manuals for people at Kent and Akron, and was ambitiously focused on starting a business, remodeling a building and even heavily marketing the printing newsletters nationally (how crazy is that?) 

Several of these professors talented writers so they could easily put together birding articles along with the monthly meetings and itinerary … and seemed to enjoy working with me (yes I did get involved and even “played” board member — conflict of interest?). Over time this 9 issue/year newsletter grew into adding my companies web hosting services, etc. Of course technology doesn’t stand still, people don’t live forever, and eventually budgets dictated fewer “printed and mailed” newsletters. All of this changed the ink on paper business as yes, 🎶 the times they are a changin’ 🎶. Nearly everything shifted to digital over time (although it now seemed to have happened quicker) and only a few items like postcards, yearly meeting schedules and birdseed sale flyers continued. I still appreciate them coming back to me.

Consolidated Printing and Publishing also evolved from ink on paper to more web hosting. Not that I minded making the shift — it reduced overhead, the need for skilled press and bindery employees and all the capital intensive printing equipment … as well the building. Unfortunately the overall amount of business, the margins and overall profit disappeared.

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Category: Business, History, Memories, Music, Nature, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: akron audubon, bob dylan, Business, cpp, cppnet.com, customer, printing, publishing

Posted By RichC on August 14, 2023

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel, Video, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, birthday, brenda, claire corbett, cousins, dairy queen, drew, ellerie, family, herbie, katelyn, michigan, posey lake, ron corbett, uncle sonny

Posted By RichC on August 14, 2023

Although the “new wave” music genre isn’t something I generally listen to or know much about, hearing the 1982 song “I Melt With You” as aTV business news segment change did catch my ear. I think I said something like, “I like that. Perhaps a song from the band Modern English would make for a great Music Monday post?”

So without much more introduction, here’s a music video from their independent record label 4AD on YouTube.
 

Category: Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: band, british, modern english, music monday, musicmonday, new wave, youtube

Posted By RichC on August 13, 2023

As mentioned previously, I ordered an inexpensive “knockoff brand” Dust Deputy cyclone gizmo to use primarily with my router table and DeWalt planer. I “cheaply” updated the lift mechanism so that I could continue to use my OLD heavy duty 3HP Ryobi router BUT adjust it quickly and accurately. The scissor-lift works amazingly well with the addition of an epoxy added Jerry Rigged crank handle.

 So far so good with the largest plastic bucket that I have … and a little more compact than the one I posted in 2021. I’ll be anxious to try this gadget out when it is time to plane some lumber. Although it works just fine with my small basement Vacmaster 5-gallon BEAST (it has A LOT of airflow and suction).  

Category: Gadget, Productivity, Shopping, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: beast epic, cyclone, dewalt, dust collector, dust deputy, jerry rig, planer, router table, ryobi, scissor lift, vacmaster

Posted By RichC on August 13, 2023

It is late in the summer grass cutting season to be buying a new piece of lawn equipment, but keeping my favorite weedwacker going has finally gotten the best of me. If it were a normal lawn season and turning dry by August, this might not be a problem … but the regular rains this year have keep the grass growing and me busy. 

So since I’m a Ridgid cordless tool guy, and because Ridgid has stood behind their LSA twice for me so far (one and two), I decided to buy a Ridgid 18V Brushless 14 in. Cordless Battery String Trimmer from Home Depot. I can’t vouch for the power, battery life or durability so far, but with a 4Ah battery and a quick trim around the pool and back patios … it works just fine. I’ve yet to load new .095 string on the spool or clear a wrapped weed, etc from the cutting head, but the power seems find and balance pretty good. It will be great if I don’t have to mess with fuel lines, carburetors and starting problems all the time! 

Category: Archive, Shopping, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: cordless, homedepot, ridgid, string trimmer, tools, yardwork

Posted By RichC on August 12, 2023

Although by the time “we” get to these years, celebrating another birthday isn’t the same as it was when we were pinning tales on donkeys, wearing cone shaped hats and eating as much cake and ice cream as we wanted. I asked Brenda how she wanted to celebrate her birthday and it was more like … “let’s just let is quietly slip by.” 

That said, I’m not letting it go without at least a nice meal and a present. Nothing personal like the old days when it was jewelry or something creative … but a bike (mentioned before). We’ve talked about riding them together with our granddaughters and since I fixed up my old bike earlier this year, I figure it was time Brenda had one a little more her size. 
 

Category: Archive, Humor, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: bicycle, bike, birthday, brenda

Posted By RichC on August 11, 2023

As My Desultory Blog approaches 8000 posts, it has become increasingly clear that tags and categories are becoming worthless. Besides having too many, they are all too full and do little for me to find anything (or anyone else). The search feature has always been a problem and makes it difficult for even me to find something with words that I know are used in the post. Something needs to change.

Besides being cumbersome, the WordPress blog as it exists is severely outdated when it comes to layout and “theme.” The current Lunatic Fringe modified theme’s support was discontinued 15 years ago, but because everything has been formatted to fit the layout, I never switched to something else … just continued to customize the theme myself (bad idea).

A WordPress update to version 6.3 “Lionel” continued my thinking about this as besides the “theme” not updating … some of the plug-ins are no long going to function. I attempted a “quick and foolish” forced PHP upgrade last week and it completely crashed the site. In other words, a complete redesign is going to be needed before too long. Depressingly for me, there aren’t any WordPress themes that will keep things the same. What to do, what to do???

EDIT add: An if all this wasn’t enough tech maintenance to deal with, Twitter (now X) continues to mess with their API and it is truly dead for WP to Twitter posting.

Category: Blogs, Social Media, Software | No Comments »
Tags: api, blog, categories, change, php, plugins, tags, tech friday, techfriday, themes, twitter, updates, wordpress

Posted By RichC on August 10, 2023

My dad’s younger brother, my Uncle Sonny, passed away in his home on July 20, 2023. He lived a full life, had a loving family and enjoyed living on a small southern Michigan lake for much of his life. I remember him most clearly from when I was a boy as the energetic and high spirited uncle … especially when gathered at “what once was my grandparent’s cottage with an outhouse” on Posey Lake … eventually to become an actual house … and “home” for Uncle Sonny and Aunt Fran.

If there are regrets in my life, one of them might be not working harder to remain closer to my father’s family as the years passed and life got busier … although suspect I am not alone with these thoughts? For now, I’m looking forward to “celebrating his life” with his family on Sunday.

Earl D. Corbett, 90, of Hudson, Michigan passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family at his home on Posey Lake on July 20, 2023. He was born on October 10, 1932, in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Earl and Helen (Hirth) Corbett. He married the love of his life, Francine Sharrock, on December 8, 1952, in Toledo, Ohio.

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Category: Archive, Obituary, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: corbett, dadc, earl corbett, family, michigan, obit, Obituary, posey lake, uncle sonny

Posted By RichC on August 9, 2023

Fifteen years for a diesel mower in my book is not old, but it does seem to be about the time for parts to wear and repairs to start (or continue). Last week was the second time that I’ve had to replace the fuel pump on our Kubota ZD326s zero-turn mower. 

The Kubota has been a great addition since 2008 and a significant speed improvement over our nearly 40 year old John Deere 330 diesel (in need of some maintenance too). Besides the fuel pump, I replaced the two inline fuel filters (one before and one after the electric fuel pump), and since dust, dried grass, etc is a problem, I washed out the screens, cleaned the radiator and put in two new intake air filters. Normally I would have taken the opportunity to do an oil change, but I still have about 20 hours before changing oil (should have greased but didn’t). 

Category: Archive, Diesel, Misc, Repairs | No Comments »
Tags: blades, fuel pump, kubota, lawnmower, maintenance, zd326s

Posted By RichC on August 8, 2023

Archiving an article from last week’s Barron Magazine which highlighted what I’ve been noticing with homeowner insurance rates on our condo in Florida. When I called the agent about the increase last year, she commented that I should be thankful for the increase as it was on the lower side compared to most. Yikes .. this is going to impact things going forward.

Category: Archive, Financial, News, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: barrons, condo1718, florida, homeowner, inflation, insurance