This Is Drivel

Category: hobby

  • the camping thing – progress 5/6/23

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    Every day I try to do at least one thing to make continual progress getting The Camping Thing ready for the season. Some days it doesn’t seem like much, but on a day like today when I can see what the end product is going to look like, the feeling of satisfaction is pretty great.… Read.

  • progress – the camping thing – 043023

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    Ah yes, the now-familiar photo of a nondescript plywood box propped on sawhorses in a spectacularly filthy garage. How predictable am I? Today’s goal was to unship the battery box from its position in the back of the van where it was bolted down; give the outside front and back a quick but reasonably good… Read.

  • camping thing progress 4/29/23

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    It’s all little steps these days. I had just two goals yesterday after work: put the bottoms in the two boxes I built last week, and cut a lid for the battery box. They weren’t big goals, so it’s no big surprise I managed to reach them both. That’s how I keep projects moving: break… Read.

  • progress 4/23/23

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    It looks like it’s just photos of boxes, one after the other, but honestly I’m making real progress now. Five out of five boxes built; two completed (although I might slap another coat of poly on them); two nearly completed (slapped a coat of poly on them today & will attach the lids on hinges… Read.

  • progress 4/19/23

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    The improvements I’m making to The Camping Thing are starting to look like real usable working stuff, as opposed to looking like lumber. Read.

  • work at home

    Pro tip: No matter how cold it gets in the garage, do not bring your project in to work on it on the dinner table, and particularly not if you’re going to be using power tools. This was a really stupid mistake. Actually, it was a series of stupid mistakes: I was drilling through a… Read.

  • The Camping Thing: The Rebirth

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    The Camping Thing needs a complete do-over. Time to get started on that. Read.

  • rite of passage

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    Adam Savage has been posting videos of his visits to the Smithsonian where he meets with conservator Lisa Young, who specializes in preserving historic objects connected to the U.S. space program. In this video she’s telling Adam how teams of women spent weeks and weeks building up the heat shield on the Apollo crew capsule… Read.

  • spaced

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    This is a terrific video, not because Adam Savage nerds out over the Mercury capsule behind him but because astronaut Cady Coleman talks about how it felt to go to space in a very small space ship and what it meant to her. She’s really great at communicating that feeling. Read.

  • lick the cat’s butt

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    Yes, there is a yoga pose that looks a lot like this. No, it’s not called “lick the cat’s butt.” But that’s what it SHOULD be called. Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend