Friday Update

Photo From Here

This is what I need to make for the VW - Just need a month's worth of 30 hour days to get caught up

Tailstock Repair

Today's the end of the nine weeks grading period and we have one more week until Spring Break, after which, even the good students turn worthless. The weather has been record breaking warm and it looks like that will continue for a few more days. I'm glad to see it. I need to be outside getting a few things done and my mental health needs the renewal of life and promise of hope that Spring brings with it. Last year at this time it was off to Italy, this year it's off to the dentist, chores around the shack and boxing.

The Golden Gloves started last night in Indy but we didn't have anyone scheduled. We're having a fundraising show tonight at the gym to defray our expenses of taking guys down there in the following weeks.  We've got eight bouts on the card tonight - should be a good show. Jimmy will be fighting on the 30th. It looks to be his last pro fight. That's been a fun ride. I was with him from the start and I'll be there at the end. It's been a lot of work on his part, but chasing your dream typically is. He's done well and I'm happy to have been a part of it.

I've been fixing things right and left at school. I've got the wood lathes mostly tuned up. A couple of the tailstocks wouldn't lock in place. The locking rod had a groove worn in them from the "U" bolt that rides around the outside of the rod. Simple fix. Weld up the groove, grind, file, reassemble and adjust. Not hard, just another thing that needed to be done. The biggest irritation is the fact that the previous teachers could have easily taken them apart and brought them down to me for repair rather than letting them go. As an "Old School" shop teacher, equipment maintenance is just a fact of life and something most of us old guys prided ourselves on. It seems the new "Technology Educators" aren't quite as tuned in to repair. I know they don't teach that sort of thing in college but it's your shop, maintain it. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the shop classes in the next few years.

Our school looks to be switching to the Career Pathways approach, which will be what used to be referred to as vocational. The students will also have the Project Lead the Way option, which is focused on engineering. I like the idea of having real craftsmen in the shops. When I first started I taught at a comprehensive high school that had several vocational programs. I was blessed to work with some really good "mechanics". The Machine Trades instructor was an exceptionally good craftsman and school teacher - I really learned a lot from that guy. Potentially, the Career Pathways could make things more like they used to be. At our school that could be a good thing. The students will have lots of options if they don't flunk their English and math classes like many of them do. It's hard to take many good electives when you're retaking the required's.

Warm weather ahead - get out and enjoy it. Almost time to get the garden started around here.

A Few Comments -

on comments.

I got a comment from a Ms. A on my last post - two actually. Ms. A and Mr. B have started the blog Indiana Teacher Project to allow teachers to sound off about some of the negative things we encounter without having to worry about reprisals. It'll be interesting to see how that goes. I've got a few things I'd like to say but I don't care for the idea of anyone making statements anonymously. I know that if I had posted some of the stupid things that went on at my previous employer online, I would have had hell to pay. Believe it or not, I really don't have much to complain about right now. Unless of course you consider the idiot politicians and policy makers that are doing their best to destroy public education by ramming a bunch of reforms down our throats that don't address the real issues. Maybe there is something to anonymous posting after all.

The second of Ms. A's comments allowed me to identified her so I thought it prudent to eliminate that one in light of her mission with the Teacher Project. While taking care of that little detail I came across a few other comments that I hadn't read yet or replied to. I should probably check back a few more posts than what I normally do, it would appear.

Frankie Flood sent me the link to the Tradesman movie. Thanks to him for that. I've watched the first half and was a little disappointed. The plumbers act like some of my knuckleheads on the job and what I was hoping for was a little more of the art that the title alludes to. Someone finally made a movie to tell the story of what craftsman do and it just didn't click with me. I've been trying to put it into words and haven't been able to do that to my satisfaction either.  If you check the Handverker link you can see some of the art side of the trades that Mr. Flood is involved in and if you go back here you'll see a commercial for Danner boots that's more like what I thought the movie should have been.

Chris commented about an old post that had a photo of a cool Honda 50 powered bicycle. I looked back and couldn't find the original posting of the photo either. No help there, I'm afraid.

Sarah commented back in January on the barn project. Thanks for the kind words.

So that's all the comments in regards to the comments. I appreciate everyone reading and commenting.

The Missus and I are celebrating our 41st year of wedded bliss today. You can believe after 40 years of marriage there have been some interesting comments passed between us but we're pushing forward and plan to until death do us part.

Things are greening up and Spring is in the air. Have a good week.

Friday

It's been a busy but productive week. We had our visit from the AdvanceEd group to evaluate our school. From the remarks made by the group chairperson at the exit meeting, we're looking pretty good. I think everyone in the building when asked about our weaknesses mentioned the dismal state of our technology. Hopefully that will help bring about some changes in that department. So now that the inspection team has left, we can gather the Red Cross blankets and the ping pong balls back up and store them until the next visit.

The top photo shows the trolley beam all painted up along with a uniform rack and a stool for the new Middle School - made the rack, repaired the stool. While I was waiting to have my interview with the AdvanceEd team yesterday, the boss cornered me and wants me to make some stanchions for crowd control in the cafeteria. I made some when I first started here but apparently the principal of the new school  took them. They had four, now they'll have six.

Got a little work done on the boat this week. Just what the doctor ordered. I've been in a funk lately and the boat building seems to be loosening up the Vise Grip on my mental health.The oars for the boat came in the other day, so that was all it took to get me back on the path to righteous redemption. I'd like to have everything pretty well set on the sides before Spring Break. If not done, at least well along the way. Then I can turn it over and work on finishing it up during the break. I've got something going on just about every night until then, however. I might start showing up to work a little earlier every day to get a little time in on it. 

As always, lots of other little jobs sprinkled in with some actual school teaching - worked on welding symbols this week. Need some time on deciphering the new CNC manual. Maybe see about a little of that this weekend. The Woodshop boys are about finished with their little boxes. We'll be working on the lathe and something else next week. Not sure what but I'll think of something.

Have a good weekend and don't forget to stop and count your blessings.

Cycling Days Are Coming

I got the new elk hide on the handle bars as mentioned in the previous post. Pretty straight forward job. I put the bars in the vise, turned on the radio and sewed them up. There's some sticky tape on the inside of the hide which helps hold it in place while you're sewing. The bars look pretty sexy with the new wrap and the custom end plugs. I need to get some hoods for the brake levers. I've got new white cables that I'll throw on when I put the hoods on. I'm heading towards the bike shop next weekend, I think. They probably won't have any in stock but the guy will order anything I need. Nice little shop with pleasant and helpful people. I took the bike for a little spin after I got it home. I sure don't have the legs I did a couple of years ago but I'm planning on riding to work a couple days a week at least starting real soon. My cardio isn't too bad, so as long as I can get the back/chest under control I'll be riding again. I was talking to my nephew last week and he's doing some cycling now. I'd like to get back into shape and maybe he and I can do a metric century or something together this summer. 

Have a good week.

Update

Raring To Go

I got the new CNC plasma pretty well ready to go. I'm going to pick up a couple of wire holder downers or whatever they're called to fasten the wires coming from the control box onto the wall to neaten that up a little but otherwise it's ready. There's a water table coming as part of a rebate deal, so as soon as that shows up it should be all systems go. As long as I'm ready, that is. The instruction manual for the software is 195 pages long - lots to digest there. It has a tutorial and when I opened it up a dialogue box popped up and told me there were a couple of errors in the tutorial. I'll call them next week and see what the story is on that. Even without the table I can do an offline run to develop my programming skills. 

Crank Ring Repair

Bar End Plugs

Put a little time in as Bicycle Repairman as the old Monty Python skit went. One of the students brought me his bike with the big chain ring bent pretty severely. I took it off the bike and was able to massage it back to pert near straight. It still has a little run-out but it shouldn't be noticeable when riding. I'm working on my touring bike a little as well. The bar end plugs in the photo are sporting a logo from an outfit that used to make furniture and cabinets. I'm supposed to be related to them somewhere way back when. I blanked out several pairs a couple of years ago, figured out the coordinates of everything and my pal Kevin wrote the CNC program and machined the logo in for me. I put them in the handlebars and put my new elk hide bar wrap on last night. I couldn't find any brown bar tape to match the color of the bike frame when I was looking for it and instead of putting on new tape at least once every season, this stuff looks a whole bunch cooler and should last a few years. I'll post a photo of the finished job when I get the bars back on the bike.

I knocked out a couple of projects in the Woodshop this week as well. I got the new plywood on the scaffold planks and a couple of other piddly things done while the boys were working on the little boxes they're making. It seems to be going much better than the footstool project. I took a much different approach this time. I put drawings and the sequence of operations on the board and had sample pieces made up. They can't look at a drawing and figure out what they're supposed to make even on simple parts. Now that the year is about three quarters over, I've finally got a handle on how to get through to them - drawings, written instructions, demonstrations, sample parts and repeat all oral instructions at least six times. They're still making mistakes but not near as many. We're going to be starting the wood lathe pretty soon. That should make for some interesting/scary times.

I'm going to put a little more work in on the garage door openers this weekend. I had one of the boys make a couple of brackets I needed to hang the opener from the ceiling yesterday. Depending on the weather and what else comes up, I should have the second opener close to being finished this weekend. I've got a few other things I'd rather be working on like the boat and my 900 but I really need to stay with the barn project until I've got the electric done.

Hope all of you are coming through this crazy weather unscathed. A couple more little towns here in Indiana wiped off the map the last few days. Having a barn blow down was tough but nothing like having your whole town blown away. My heart goes out to them.

Brother Johnny

A personal indulgence:

I've got three brothers. They're kind of scattered about the country so I don't see any of them too often. Even though that's the case, I think about them. Often. We were very fortunate growing up. Traditional family - Mom stayed home and kept us pretty much on the straight and narrow. Pop went to work every day, at least until he got pissed off and drug up, then had to find a new job. We all made it out of the 60's and 70's in spite of the times, riding motorcycles and engaging in a little hooliganism. We all made something out of ourselves. We've got craftsmen and educators in the group. Myself, I'd say I fall into both camps. We range in age from 49 to 63 and we've all been suffering the usual aches and pains of growing old but still plugging along pretty well, until now.

Two weeks ago my brother, who is a couple of years younger than I, was diagnosed with cancer. He's a nurse now but was a carpenter before that. Obviously if you're involved in the medical field you know a little something about cancer and his is pretty serious. He underwent surgery Monday and they took a chunk of his colon out. I burned a sick day to see him before he was operated on and he was taking it all in stride like it was no big deal. Surgery went well and I scooted on home after getting the surgeon's report. He starts chemo in a couple of weeks.

I'm posting this not to look for sympathy. I'm posting this first of all, because I greatly admire and respect his attitude and strength with how he's dealing with this. He blogs on a regular basis and he started another one to deal with the medical journey he's now on. Secondly, maybe some cyberspace mojo sent his way will somehow help, and for me, writing about it is somehow therapeutic.

Spring is just around the corner. Heed the siren call of your garden and grow strong as do your plantings, Johnny. Take the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle and ride the roads both familiar and new.  They'll be some bad days ahead but you will prevail. Get well my brother. We're all pulling for you.

Daytona

Kenny Roberts at Daytona

I got a chance to see Roberts at Daytona quite a few years ago. The Missus and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by going to Florida and watching the races - quite the romantic, aren't I? On Saturday, the day before the 200, Roberts came out in the last practice session and I got a chance to see him come out of one corner and stand the bike up, shift a couple of times, set it back down just in time for the horseshoe, round the corner and then while still at about a 45 degree angle, stand it up again and ride off back to the garage. Pretty impressive. The bikes that race at the 200 have gone through some changes over the years. No more two-stroke TZ's. The focus shifted from pure racing machines to stock based bikes. Understandable, but not that much different than the bikes that were racing in the Superbike class. 

Most of the fiddling by sanctioning bodies seems to produce identical machines in order to control costs or speeds and to keep one marque from dominating the racing. Occasionally it borders on just plain silliness. Today is the 500 at Daytona, NASCAR's big day. They've been tinkering with things for the last fifteen years or so to the point I no longer watch them race. The last time I was going to watch a race was about ten years ago. I sat down to watch the 500 and after about 45 minutes of BS, which included a Bon Jovi song and the people in the audience participating in a commercial for a razor, I decided the racing had become secondary to the marketing and took the Missus to see the World's Fastest Indian at the cinema. Haven't seen them turn a wheel since. I did read in the paper the other day that next year the cars will once again be identifiable by brand. The Ford's will look like a Ford and the Chevy's will look like a Chevy instead of identical looking jelly beans covered with stickers. 

I understand trying to grow your brand but you should never forget where you came from. The good old boys from down south might not have been politically correct but they produced some great racing. According to Wikipedia, the Daytona 500 was carried live for the first time in 1979. That was the year Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison got together on the last lap with the resulting fight in the pits later. While I'm not advocating fist fighting among the drivers, swapping paint and close racing is what a race fan comes looking for, not pomp and circumstance. I remember watching that race and I watched just about every 500 after that until my boycott started. Maybe I'll give it another try next year when they have cars that look like what you and I drive. It is after all stock car racing.