My Gorram Frakking Blog

New Garage Workbench

Not sure if I’m just procrastinating, but as I was working on the eBike’s carbs this week, I realized I really needed a workbench in the garage. I’d been planning to put one in, something that went along part of the back wall, around the corner, and down the side a bit. Tired of hunching over the carbs on the floor, I finally decided I should build something this weekend.

The vision is something like this (although I may not bother with the upper cabinets; we’ll see):

I realize what you’ll see below doesn’t look anything like that, but it will. Someday.

I spent a good five hours (and $280) at Sawdust Shop cutting the pieces for the carcasses of 1.5 workbench-cabinets. I’ve partially assembled one of them tonight, but I’m done for the day. I’ll finish it in the morning, and hopefully make some real progress on the carbs.

Here’s a wide shot of the left half of my garage. You can see the beginning of the pedestal near the back wall.

The completed pedestal. I was originally going to just hang the cabinet-workbench from the wall, but the expert at Sawdust Shop convinced me to build a pedestal. This will support much more weight more effectively:

Here the three walls have been screwed in:

A closer view of the pocket screws:

The rear nail strip is fasten to the carcass with pocket screws:

Here’s more detail on how the pedestal sits under the cabinet. The floor is pretty heavily sloped, so I will have to shim things up. The wall seems to be plumb, though, which is good.

I rested the top nail strips and work surface on top. Tomorrow I’ll glue and fasten them down properly, but this gives you an idea of how it’ll look.

Watermelon…surprise

Between the packing, and the commuting to work, and the general funk, I’ve been ignoring the watermelon halves in the kitchen. I go in there maybe once a day, and otherwise the door is always closed to keep the noisy-ass refrigerator out of mind.

Anyway, I’ve been noticing the little civilization growing on the watermelon the last couple of days, but was stunned to see how it has evolved in the last 24 (48?) hours. The grey-green puddle of toxic sludge is the most fascinating. At least now I know what fermented watermelon smells like…

Fun Fact about Air

If you put a cylinder around the Eiffel Tower just big enough to enclose it, the air inside the cylinder (from the surface to the “edge” of the atmosphere) will weigh more than the tower.

Busted the Cat!

My cat knows better than to walk on my desk. But, because the office is so messy, that’s her preferred way to get to the window sill.

So, I’m sitting in the living room, and she comes over, so I pick her up and turn her upside down, as I’m prone to do. I notice a little piece of paper stuck to her belly. It’s the “activate this card” sticker from a credit card I just got, which I had left smack dab in the middle of my desk.

Busted!

Why Blog?

Is Big Brother Listening? I Have a Conversation for Him

Minigwen

Acronym Wars

I’m chatting with my friend Amanda, describing my sudden Haiku kick. She makes me laugh. You probably had to be there, and since you weren’t you probably won’t laugh. Here’s a transcript anyway:

Haiku #1

I should be studying for an upcoming EE128 midterm. Instead I’m working on office code.

Code streams from fingers

As iTunes plays The Police

My grades slowly drop

I need lots of practice…

My TV is almost here!

A week ago today I ordered a Sony KDF-E42A10 42", three-lcd, high-def TV from Crutchfield. They said they’d get it here in 5-7 days. Well, this is day 7. At least Eagle Global Logistics is showing that it’s in SFO. Hopefully tomorrow they’ll call to arrange a time to drop it off here.

I suppose I can’t really complain. $500 cheaper than the local Good Guys, no tax, and free shipping. Add to that 18 months of interest-free financing, how could I say no?

Isn’t a consumer-oriented society great?