What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

[OverTheTop]

Played with cyanotype contact prints today. Jaquard emulsion on cheap watercolor paper. 2.5 - 3.5 minutes exposure in sunlight, then washed in water for five minutes.

I will get out to visit these people one day.
https://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au/
They work with a large range of emulsions.

 

[OverTheTop]

Friday the crane company came and moved my lathe, mill, and two heavy workbenches.




The mill will eventually move to a different location and free up some space.

Over the weekend I almost completed work at the old house. Last mow and trim. Last weeding. Workshop swept out. Patched the walls where the stager put hooks to hang things.

Will fix a break in the sprinkler system, and do the final paint touchups early this week. New owner takes possession on Thursday.

[Edit] Also fitted a drawer/shelf tower to a wardrobe in the new house. We salvaged it from the old house before demolition. It is part of my plan to eck out more floor space in the garage. Moving that saves about 4 sqft. I have another for the other wardrobe too.


And also completed installation of the quiet rangehood. It has the motor in the ceiling.

It has been a busy few days.

 

[prfesser]

(yesterday) spent the day sitting, lying down, napping, etc. Got COVID booster and flu vaccine on Friday. Pharmacist recommended not getting four vaccines at the same time. Good advice. Felt like ten pounds of crap on Saturday. Arm still hurts but am somewhat better. FWIW a single day of any cold I've ever had was worse than Saturday. So I go in a couple weeks for the RSV and shingles (Part Two).

If there's a vaccine for it, I'm getting it. Attempting to put the odds on my side.

 

[Hobie1dog]

It was nasty weather today so I watched YouTube videos

 

[Art Upton]

Well, sort of. To be strictly correct, we should not use the word voltage; the correct term is potential or potential difference. It's unit is the volt, after Signore Volta, just as the unit of current is the ampere after Monsieur Ampère. One occasionally hears people say amperage instead of current, and although that rubs me the wrong way, I use voltage just like everyone else.

I was told, EMF; Electro Motive Force by my high school industrial electronics instructor. He was an Air Force Man

 

[Antares JS]

Played the Lego set D&D module with the family.

 

[jqavins]

Cleaned about seven or eight gallons of ash out of the wood stove. Did laundry. Made some more ash in the wood stove out of some cardboard boxes that were cluttering up the place. Made supper for the family.

 

[tsmith1315]

One occasionally hears people say amperage instead of current, and although that rubs me the wrong way, I use voltage just like everyone else.

I've heard "ohmage" muttered before.

 

[Cape Byron]

Didn’t buy any of these. Motors auctioned separately…

 

[jqavins]

Didn’t buy any of these.

I'm proud of you.

 

[boatgeek]

It was a performing arts weekend. First up: a dance performance from a bunch of different groups under one umbrella. Some were very good, some were ... less so. The tap piece to an instrumental cover version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" played on what sounded like a synthesizer on the panpipe setting was remarkably good. Maybe that was just the cognitive dissonance of the music.

Yesterday was a performance of Love's Labor's Lost. It was quite good and somewhat silly. See the nerdy facts thread for some nerdy Shakespeare facts, some related to this play. Then we headed off to an urban stream which has a salmon run. It was getting dark, but we saw quite a few fish headed upstream. Then Thai food for dinner and home for an early birthday cake.

 

[Tech 68]

Got the outside kitty's shelters filled with fresh straw and struggled with making my arthritic fingers work on my restrung Ovation 335 clone. Are flat wound strings ever nice!

 

[NateB]

I broke a little toe some years ago. I didn't even tape it, just ice and naproxen sodium. When I told my doctor about it the next time I saw her, a couple of months later, she said all they'd have done was tape it to the two around it. "Oh, the little toe? Yeah, they wouldn't have done anything."

I'm terrible at seeking Healthcare for myself. Ive watched and stabilized broken ribs, broken toes, broken fingers myself. Tape, popsicle sticks, ice and ibuprofen all help. You don't always even need an xray. When I broke my arm at 15, my dad took me to the ER. The triage nurse asked what I needed, I told her I broke my arm. She asked how I knew that, so I stopped holding my forearm and showed her the extra bend between my elbow and wrist. She then looked at my Dad, handed me a phone and said I should probably call my mom.

This doctor is part of the same system as the hospital I went to following the car wreck I was in at the end of July. He had access to the CAT scans that were done back then. There were some areas of concern that we were able to look at closely. It was interesting to "see" my innards and get a look at my anatomy. Nothing that needs immediate attention, but will know what to do if any of the areas cause trouble.

Some of the trauma surgeons I work with like to talk about how many serious issues and lives they probably saved by finding things from CT scans done after relatively minor accidents. Yes, broken collar bones are painful but they heal and different cancers and other problem are have been caught early enough to make a good difference in treatment.

 

[NTP2]

When I broke my arm at 15, my dad took me to the ER. The triage nurse asked what I needed, I told her I broke my arm. She asked how I knew that, so I stopped holding my forearm and showed her the extra bend between my elbow and wrist. She then looked at my Dad, handed me a phone and said I should probably call my mom.

A born EMT…

 

[NateB]

A born EMT…

True story:

When I was 4 or 5, I used to keep a hot wheels ambulance on standby at with the rest of the racecars. I used watch watch episodes of Rescue 911 where William Shatner hosted reenactments of different 911 calls each week. I would tell people I wanted to work in a trauma center when I grew up. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when they brought the new helicopter ambulance to our school and showed it off. I thought it was so cool. That actual aircraft had an unfortunate incident, but it is the same program I work with now, and many of the same people who were at my school that day hired and trained me.

I spent a couple of years studying something I was told I was good at, but being a medic is in my blood. I have no regrets going back and sticking with something that was in my mind my whole life. I can't say I love everything about it, but I can say it has been what I am here to do. Now we just see if if my body has another 20 years of it in me.

 

[NTP2]

True story:

When I was 4 or 5, I used to keep a hot wheels ambulance on standby at with the rest of the racecars. I used watch watch episodes of Rescue 911 where William Shatner hosted reenactments of different 911 calls each week. I would tell people I wanted to work in a trauma center when I grew up. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when they brought the new helicopter ambulance to our school and showed it off. I thought it was so cool. That actual aircraft had an unfortunate incident, but it is the same program I work with now, and many of the same people who were at my school that day hired and trained me.

I spent a couple of years studying something I was told I was good at, but being a medic is in my blood. I have no regrets going back and sticking with something that was in my mind my whole life. I can't say I love everything about it, but I can say it has been what I am here to do. Now we just see if if my body has another 20 years of it in me.

What was the thing you were told you were good at?

 

[NateB]

What was the thing you were told you were good at?

Graphic design, which I started studying web design and programming and took a few game development classes. This industry took a massive shift at the time I was in college in 2000. Print media was dying and web media was really taking over, but the schools didn't know what to do about it. Program courses were always in limbo which was really frustrating.

I was nervous about embarking on a career that looked like it would involve a lot of freelance work. I initially went to EMT classes thinking I would have something secure and could still pursue web development on the side. The more I started working in EMS, the more I knew it was for me.

Of course, fast forward 20 years and I wish I had kept up studying coding. EMS is an extremely rewarding career, but it is hard on your body and requires a high amount of mental fortitude. Our options to utilize our license after an injury are pretty slim.

 

[NTP2]

Graphic design, which I started studying web design and programming and took a few game development classes. This industry took a massive shift at the time I was in college in 2000. Print media was dying and web media was really taking over, but the schools didn't know what to do about it. Program courses were always in limbo which was really frustrating.

I was nervous about embarking on a career that looked like it would involve a lot of freelance work. I initially went to EMT classes thinking I would have something secure and could still pursue web development on the side. The more I started working in EMS, the more I knew it was for me.

Of course, fast forward 20 years and I wish I had kept up studying coding. EMS is an extremely rewarding career, but it is hard on your body and requires a high amount of mental fortitude. Our options to utilize our license after an injury are pretty slim.

I’ll just say that you probably wouldn’t have liked graphic design, it’s competitive as all get out and doesn’t pay well very often.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Dentist, more money I owe them now.

 

[WillMarchant]

Helping out with the slow scan television transmission campaign from the ISS this week: https://ariss-usa.org/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

 

[prfesser]

Took Geniece to the ER around noon, just got back. She was okay the day after the huge kidney stone (2cm) was blasted, even better on Saturday, so-so on Sunday, horrible today. Pain level by my estimation was a 8-9/10. She wasn't screaming by the time they brought the dilaudid (which deserves its nickname, "hospital heroin") but ten minutes more and other patients would have been disturbed, I'm sure.

Still has a few small fragments according to the CAT scan. Hopefully they'll come out when they remove the stent. At least the MD's admonishment to take the d**n prescription pain med hit home. She doesn't like the way it makes her feel but that's too doggone bad, oh Wife Of Mine.

 

[OverTheTop]

Fixed the sprinkler system at the old house. The plumber has caused three leaks in it when he completed a drain a couple of weeks back.

That just leaves a few paint touchups to be done before handover on Thursday.

Reading Aerospace America magazine (published by the AIAA) for the first time this year. Thank goodness works on houses are backing off and I can do some recreational stuff.

 

[chrisudy]

Played with Monokote for the first time in about 5 years. My late 1980’s sealing iron gave up and I had to pull out my late grandfather’s 1974 model which still worked perfectly. Kind of appropriate since the kit I was covering is from 1981.

 

[jqavins]

Of course, fast forward 20 years and I wish I had kept up studying coding. EMS is an extremely rewarding career, but it is hard on your body and requires a high amount of mental fortitude. Our options to utilize our license after an injury are pretty slim.

It's not too late to learn the coding, web design, etc. You don't have to be young and fit for that, and there are many paths to learning it.

 

[NTP2]

You don't have to be young and fit for that,

physically, you don't have to be fit physically, you do need to pull all nighters with regularity while still being sharp enough to debug things.

ps caffeine overdose is your friend

 

[jqavins]

At least the MD's admonishment to take the d**n prescription pain med hit home. She doesn't like the way it makes her feel but that's too doggone bad, oh Wife Of Mine.

Here's a tip that may help; it's worked for me with a couple of painful recoveries, but no kidney stones.

In the morning, take a dose of the opioid, plus a dose (or slight overdose) of ibuprofen. Then take half doses of ibuprofen at half the standard interval. This way, the ibuprofen never even comes close to wearing off, and then I didn't need any more of the opioid. Ibuprofen alone won't do the trick, but once the opioid has the pain under control, it doesn't come back as long as you keep remembering to take more ibuprofen on schedule. Don't exceed the daily maximum dose. It all wears off overnight, so take another opioid in the morning, starting off. Forget the half dose once? Pain returns and you start over.

I thought of this and discovered it works after most of a week on percocet had me feeling mildly hung over all the time and I wanted to stop. So I tried this, and it worked great.

 

[jqavins]

physically, you don't have to be fit physically, you do need to pull all nighters with regularity while still being sharp enough to debug things.

ps caffeine overdose is your friend

He's been doing the EMT job for twenty years, so for a guess he's in his early forties. Don't write off people in their forties.

 

[NTP2]

He's been doing the EMT job for twenty years, so for a guess he's in his early forties. Don't write off people in their forties.

no of course not, just a warning that it's not a nice Simi retirement kind of job especially if you work for a big company. it can be calmer for smaller companies.

 

[NateB]

It's not too late to learn the coding, web design, etc. You don't have to be young and fit for that, and there are many paths to learning it.

Absolutely not. I've been reading books and relearning the programming brain making simple games in Unity and Godot. It's a slow process, but having learned the former stack of html/css/javascript/php/mysql it isn't starting from scratch. I have time, just need a backup plan.

physically, you don't have to be fit physically, you do need to pull all nighters with regularity while still being sharp enough to debug things.

ps caffeine overdose is your friend

I think I always have a measurable blood caffeine content. I seem to exist on 4 hours of sleep and coffee. The stereotype of firefighters and coffee is true.

He's been doing the EMT job for twenty years, so for a guess he's in his early forties. Don't write off people in their forties.

42. My body is mostly fine for now except for hearing loss and normal aches and pains.

no of course not, just a warning that it's not a nice Simi retirement kind of job especially if you work for a big company. it can be calmer for smaller companies.

Like I warn students, job preventing injuries can come quick. We need to be prepared for backup plan more than a semi-retirement plan. Although if you ask my son, he thinks I should quit to make games and open a chili and grilled cheese restaurant.

 

[NTP2]

Although if you ask my son, he thinks I should quit to make games and open a chili and grilled cheese restaurant.

now there's a plan