Sit Rep: Current Status

It’s been a minute, so let’s get back to this:

  • Posts here have slowed because I’m putting much of my education-centered thinking into my newsletter. What?! You haven’t signed up yet? You best fix that here.
  • My shoe resole project went well- they’re back in heavy rotation and seem to be holding up well. In fact, embolden by this success, I went ahead and made some shoes for my eldest daughter from scratch. Those, too, have gone well. They’re roughly modeled after Tom’s shoes, so my daughter (and wife) call them her Tim’s. Cute.
  • Tons of work around the house done. Doors and windows, plumbing, deck, etc etc.
  • Refinishing a fiberglass shell chair. This has been going on f o r e v e r. I originally scored the chair on the side of the road with some nasty upholstery, but I stripped that off and cleaned it up- and it looked great. Then it broke (or, more accurately, the base came off the shell), and I took that as an opportunity to sand and refinish the whole shell, repaint the base, and generally improve the thing. Anyway, the base is painted and the shell is sanded and they’re back together (side note: steel reinforced epoxy is even more of a pain to work with than regular epoxy).  Now all that’s left is to seal the shell and she’s good to go.
  • I’ve grown dissatisfied with my backpacks. Most of them are larger (both because I’m tall, but also because I’ve needed to carry a lot in the past). Anyway, I’m in “need” of a smaller backpack. I built out a shoulder day bag for myself a while ago- it’s great and is holding up pretty well, but it’s just a tiny bit too small for days when I’ve more-than-average to haul. I’m not overly fond of the commercial options I’ve found, so… it’s build my own time. Much of the design is done, and it’s time to start sourcing fabric and hardware. And we’ll see if my sewing machine can keep up…
  • I’m on the latest & greatest social media too- Beme (pronounced “Beam”) which has come out of the brain of Casey Neistat. My username there is “nothingfuture” and you can feel free to add me. What is it? Ah. Um… ok. It’s like snapchat, in that you share video (and video only). But: there’s no preview of the video, all clips are 4 seconds long, there’s no edit, and there’s no likes. You can send reactions to videos as you watch them, and you get to watch any Beme once and it’s gone- including your own, strangely. It’s neat, though I’m not sure what sort of legs it will have.