State of the Shop

The New Year's resolution of getting out to the shop every day for a couple of hours has been paying off. The motorcycle carrier is all wired up. I'll get the aluminum ramp section and the hoop for the front wheel bolted on and it should be ready to go. I soldered all the splices on the wiring and used heat shrink tubing to insulate the splices so I shouldn't have any problems with the wiring down the road. I do need to make a trip to the hardware store. I want to get some brass screws for the ground connections so they won't rust and some hard bolts to hold the angles on the ends. However, I had everything I needed for the wiring on hand - that doesn't happen too often. I'm a welder not an electrician after all.

Much of my shop time has been spent working on bits and pieces for my side hustle. Some of the pieces are of a repetitive nature now but I'm still making one-off things. I like these. Some are a bit of a challenge, which is good for me. I need to keep using the old noggin. If you don't use it you lose it and all that. Plus, it's the kind of work I enjoy and when I'm working on those things I don't have to do some of the other more unpleasant tasks. Win-win.

I was typing this up while watching the State of the Union address last evening. For a conservative guy like myself from the mid-west he was hitting all the right notes. While I'm still not a big fan of the President's lack of decorum on many occasions and his use of facts that he occasionally pulls out of his ass, I do believe he's sincere in his love for the country and his mission. And just like last year, I found the behavior of some of the Democrats to be very disrespectful of the office of  the President. My dad taught me even if you don't like the man, respect the office.

Of all the things contained in his address last night, I was surprised to hear him state he was bringing back technical and vocational education to every high school in the country. Shop Teacher Bob says now you're talking! If you bring back shop classes, you just might make America great again.