I got six messages from her before I could peck out “Do you want me to bring it to you now or later?”.

Which finally irritated me enough to get a new fancy smart phone. I went to AT&T and got a Samsung Captivate. A fancy Android based phone.

After a few days of using it, I’m impressed. The text entry system called Swype takes as little getting used to, but it is amazingly quick once you do.

Finally, I got home and coerced Margo into helping to make the shop workable. The garage was a storage area for the moving process. So we boxed and sorted and moved to the attic stuff for long term storage. We consolidated chemicals, got clear storage bins from Ikea to put in existing shelving units. And that led to the shop being workable.

It still has latticework were I want there to be walls, no climate control, lights or electricity… but it is moving slowly.

Part of the process of getting there is getting stands and carts for my tools so I’m not lifting them on and off of the Workmate as I need them.

So the first thing I built was a stand for my Jointer/Planer.

When you make furniture, you want the wood to be square, flat and to the proper thickness. That is what the Jointer and planer are for. In a small shop like mine, it is easier and cheaper to buy a multifunction tool that does both. The top part joints the board and makes one side flat. After that, I send it through the bottom of the machine that makes the opposite side coplanar.

I want to put shelves in the unit. I just haven’t gotten that far yet.

After that, I found some plans on the internet and made a stand for my scroll saw.

The scroll saw is for cutting intricate curves. It is sturdy and the carpet should cut down on the vibrations. It is made from 2×4 and 4×4 material.

Which brings me to my first project in the completed shop.

We used to use a cardboard box to hold kitchen supplies like Ziplocs:

Which looked bad, never worked right and mostly was a pain. So Margo got out a lengthometer and drew up a quick plan for me.

I got some 1/4″ and 1/2″ birch plywood from Lowes and some edge veneer to hide the plywood edges. And finished my day with this:

I’m not sure if I can justify the 650 dollars at this point. I need a new reciever first.

I contacted Ogio and apparently, the lifetime warranty covers the lifetime of something other than me or the bag. The helpful Ogio lady did offer me 50% off on my next Ogio bag purchase. But I don’t know if I want to do that. I’m disappointed in the way this one has turned out.

Sadly, I can’t find a single company that makes a gadget backpack. Most are school bags with a laptop compartment.

I spent today assembling it. It is larger has more features and slightly more powerful than the little Black & Decker unit I have.

Yesterday, I was flipping through a woodworking catalog and saw an ad for the Dogwood Institute School of Fine Woodworking. I wasn’t too sure about signing up for it because the price, but I did. The closest time to me was canceled, but there is another one coming up in June that I am signed up. I think it will be fun.

I still like to see train layouts and sometimes think about getting some, but I don’t think I have room for it at this point. I think I appreciate the hard work and attention to detail more than I would actually want to do it. Still, N scale is pretty small and cheap.

My barber has a train in his barbershop. But I’ve never seen it work.

The next grill was a 20 dollar Target grill. It lasted about 30 dollars. Eventually, the bit that held the legs rusted out and the whole thing collapsed.

With summer coming, we thought it would be nice to get another grill. I wanted propane powered for ease of use and clean burning. Plus, it is in my personal interests to consume as many hydrocarbons as possible.

I built a doorstopper and wanted to put something on the bottom of it to prevent it from hurting the wood floor. At Ace Hardware buying some felt for the bottom of them, I noticed a few decent looking pits. Today I went to Home Depot and noticed this guy for 200 dollars. A saving of 300 to 400 dollars depending on the vendor.

Awesome. I also had to get a propane tank and a cover for the grill to help protect it against the weather.

I’ve been looking at computer controlled systems like Shopbot, Plasmacam or Mechmate.  All cost about the same. Between 7,000 and 20,000 dollars depends on the options. I like the Mechmate the most because it has a DIY aspect to it and is a little cheaper and beefier. There was also a few little ones, But once I started pricing them out, the price difference for the added functionality of the larger units isn’t that bad.

I  just purchased a large bulk of the bits for the Mechmate that need to be pre-formed and precision cut. I’ve taken the first step into a much larger world.

I’m getting a little disappointed with the Kindle service. When it started, they said all books would be 9.99 or less. Now it has changed to 9.99 unless marked otherwise. And they do this lame thing where they compare the price of the Kindle version to the Hardback, so in some cases it is more expensive then the paperback.

I blame the copyright holders. Some of the Authors are reluctant to publish in an E-Format, but the publishers seem to not really understand that the format doesn’t matter.