My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on April 11, 2020

The bookshelves have been on-again, off-again as the laborious painting and improved spring weather dictates my indoor verses outdoor activities. I did get a chance to finish the “art display area” in the center bookshelf section … and so far, so good.

My plan was to create a little depth perception by bring the art piece about 4-1/4” off the wall, thereby giving the framed (or unframed) artwork a shadow depth effect. It works , but the LED lighting has been challenging since it is either too bright – when the room is dark – or too dim if the room is bright. I could add a dimmer (and still might) but that would mean constantly adjusting the lighting which I doubt after the first few times will be worth it. Perhaps we will live with it as-is for a while and get some feedback our family and friends? Currently I’ve added it to the smarthome automation using the Amazon Alexa “sunset” and “goodnight” routines to switch it automatically. So far Brenda is very happy with the idea of rotating and accenting some of of the art we have collected. Each piece holds a special memory from at trip or time in our lives.

Since I pulled out the Lumix GX8 DSLR for the above photo, I decide to snap a couple spring flower snapshots as I seem to do every year. Below are the lilacs and phlox … after a 5-years-ago post (different camera) reminded me that those of us who enjoy photography should be taking photos with better cameras rather than our smartphones … at least once in a while!

(click photos for larger higher quality versions)

Category: Archive, Art, Nature, Personal, Photography, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: artwork, bookshelves, dslr, flowers, lighting, lilac, lumix, phlox, photography, project, spring

Posted By RichC on April 10, 2020

Last week my son Taylor and friend Jeff both sent me their “homemade” stand-up or propped up (with books) notebook computers while working from home. I suspect they aren’t the only COVID19 “stay-at-home” workers trying to come up with comfortable ways to do their jobs?

I know Jeff once had a stand-up desk at work with a prior company, but thought to myself, “I wonder if there might be a woodworking project (or fabricated aluminum) in this idea?”

Of course after he saw this … he now wants the “add-on” below the video!
  😊

(more…)

Category: Computer, Gadget, Ideas, Photos, Productivity, Video, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: aluminum, coronavirus, covid19, desk, idea, mp4, notebook, project, stand-up, tech friday, techfriday, woodworking, work

Posted By RichC on April 9, 2020

Last week while continuing to s-l-o-w-l-y work on the bookshelves and painting project, in-between outdoor yard cleanup and cutting the lawn for the first time in 2020, I also used the frame cutting miter jib previously mentioned. It is amazing just how much more accurate this set-up for my table saw crosscut sled is over my Hitachi sliding miter saw! I’ll still used the miter saw for “construction grade” projects and moldings, but when it comes to frames or the rails and stiles of a cabinet door or picture frame, this jig cuts them perfect. Here’s the YouTube clip where I picked up the information on how to use geometry to be sure the jig is perfect.

As for Throw Back Thursday #TBT, I need to work on my table saw hold down methods. I’ve used the “pinched wedge” method to hold down guides jigs or feather boards on my table saw for years. In fact, the “temporary” feather board (left) has been used in my shop for 35 years! It still works but is overdue for an upgrade.

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos, TBT, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: bookshelves, cabinetmaking, doors, featherboard, frames, hold down, jigs, paintings, panel, rails, stiles, table saw, tablesaw, tools, woodworking, workshop

Posted By RichC on April 8, 2020

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, drew, ellerie, family, grandchildren, katelyn, oostra, Photos, Travel, trips, vacation

Posted By RichC on April 7, 2020

Likely I’m not the only one needing to de-stress or at least fall back on a few techniques to “Keep Calm and Relax.”

Here’s a Navy Seal technique to beat stress. With a little practice, you can learn “box breathing” or four-square breathing as a way to reduce anxiety.

Here’s how it works:

1. Breathe in for four seconds.
2. Hold air in your lungs for four seconds.
3. Exhale for four seconds.
4. Hold your breath, lungs emptied, for four seconds.

Category: Advice, Health, Millitary, Video | No Comments »
Tags: anxiety, box breathing, breathing, navy, navy seal, seals, stress

Posted By RichC on April 6, 2020

Thought I would add a late day animated GIF to the blog … partially because these Canary alerts have become a normal annoyance by sending text message alerts and partially this cardinal is cute. Hopefully he will grow tired of “looking at himself” and find a female cardinal who he can impress!

Also while sending this to Twitter, I ran across an interesting piece of artwork or woodworking project idea. If Taylor ever has a need for a table in his apartment, this would be a great idea in using the city of Cincinnati’s skyline.

Category: Art, Ideas, Misc, Nature, Personal, Photos, Social Media, Technology, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: ani gif, animated, apartment, artwork, Cam, canary, cardinal, gif, idea, ideas, project, security, table

Posted By RichC on April 6, 2020

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Category: Entertainment, Memories, Music, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: chautauqua, cincinnati, classical, cleveland, corbett, elevator, henry mancini, mp3, Music, music monday, muzak, orchestra, pink panther, theme song, youtube

Posted By RichC on April 5, 2020

Snipped an idea for the woodworking workshop that I’m planning to add to my table saw crosscut sled .. nothing complicated, but a way to use geometry in order to make the perfect 45 degree jig for cutting frames. It is a way to use perfect squares to accurately cut the 45 degree jig. Check out the YouTube clip – it is interesting!

As for the painting and bookshelves projects, they are slowly coming along and until you’ve primed and painted A LOT of bookshelves, you do not realize how long it takes! UGH!

I’ve also been tinkering with the accent lighting above the bookshelves and making my own strip of LEDs with the leftover “tape” (currently way too many) that will highlight the artwork display area. If and when I head to the Home Depot to purchase some additional molding material, etc … the plan is to to add a shadow depth box to the art display area. In other words, the framed art will be off the wall 3 or 4 inches in order to create a little depth and shadow to the artwork … at least that’s my plan?

As for artwork, Brenda and I have collected paintings over the years. Some from our travel and others from a couple artists in our family. We are planning to rotate a few of the pieces we have hanging throughout the house in the Library/ Music room. Hopefully the highlighted viewing will make us re-appreciate each of the pieces again.

Category: Archive, Art, Personal, Photos, Tools, Video, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: Art, artwork, bookshelves, crosscut, jig, library, music room, paintings, project, sled, table saw, woodworking, workshop, youtube

Posted By RichC on April 4, 2020

In a business meeting decades ago, Brenda used the term “Catch-22” without giving the etymology much thought. After the meeting, a older senior executive came up to her and commented that he was surprised to hear a 30-year old using the term “Catch-22” … and then asked if she knew it’s history. She did no, so he proceeded to enlighten her (she was not really interested and his “reference to the military” explanation escaped her).

She used it again the other day and then paused to ask if I knew where it came from? I spieled off something about the 1961 Joseph Heller book called “Catch-22” and the 1970 movie about the “lunacy of military decision-making.” I guess I really didn’t know. Neither of us were aware IF the term was really used in the military or if it stemmed only from the novel? (Answer: link)

So for me, it was worth reading and blogging a bit more about the term … and decided to add the movie to our Amazon Prime movie list.

Although Heller uses several circular and repetitive formulations throughout his novel that revolve around a WW2 Air Squadron, here’s a civilian example of a “Catch-22:”

In needing experience to get a job…

"How can I get any experience until I get a job that gives me experience?"

– Brantley Foster in The Secret of My Success.

Category: Books, Millitary, Misc, Movies, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: brantley foster, brenda, catch-22, etymology, film, idiom, idioms, joseph heller, Movies, novel, terms, words, ww2

Posted By RichC on April 3, 2020

Above is a graphic sent by a friend, who knows of my long time Apple addiction … and it had me pondering the Steve Jobs vs Steve Wozniak struggle when trying to grow Apple Computer back in the early days (watch the Danny Boyle movie called Steve Jobs). One of the founders was an advocated for a closed system (Jobs) and the other, the engineer (Woz), believed that computer geeks wanted to be able to expand their computers. Both views had their merits.

Initially the early Apple computers were expandable, but by 1984 when the Apple Macintosh arrived, the slots were gone, the box (or unique all in one case) was buttoned up and Macintosh OS very restrictive. My first Mac was the SE with a 20MB hard drive and thankfully I found a way to “open it up” and install a Radius accelerator card and full page external display. In my opinion, that was still one of the greatest advancement in my computing life as it help my Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. along with software like Aldus Pagemaker grow and compete by “desktop publishing.” At the time others relied solely on typesetting companies and artboard oriented graphic artists to pasteup pages and flats … which we were doing too.

Although I can’t claim to have been an Apple II advocate back in the day, I did want one. At that time I was only familiar with mainframes, card decks and a borrowed TRS-80 Tandy with a cassette tape deck (when I took over classes at Miami University as a graduate teaching assistant for a professor on sabbatical). Eventually I did buy my first computer, a Compaq computer running MSDOS (which I still boots up).

All in all, it is interesting to have had a front row seat to personal computing history … thanks for the forwarded graphic, Jeff!      

Category: Apple, Archive, Computer, History, Memories, Personal, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: aldus, apple, compaq, Computer, computing, cpp, History, jeffp, macintosh, microsoft, pagemaker, radius, softcard, steve jobs, steve wozniak, tech friday, techfriday, word processor, wordstar, woz