I think it started with the squirrel

I just got home from a craft show in Covington, KY (may as well call it Cincinnati - that's where the show is normally held anyway).

Winterfair, why have you forsaken me? Okay, the Covington/Cincinnati show was a bomb for me. I barely made enough money to pay my December rent and only that because I was doing so poorly I let a $600 necklace, that took me a looong time to make, go for $300. I'm grateful for the money, but selling all that work for next to nothing was degrading and depressing.

What else went wrong? Well, besides the miserable sales, there was the injured finger that swelled up like a balloon, the lack of high-speed internet connectivity in my expensive Marriott hotel room (in spite of what they say on their web site), the daily headaches, the ongoing backache, the $12.99 phone call, the $13.58 breakfast, $1.50 vending machine sodas, limited cable TV, a worthless remote, the broken dolly wheel, the cart that tipped over, the wreck that added at least a half hour to my drive home, and the price of gas - that's the quick list that comes to mind. I think it all started with the squirrel. When I was driving home with the truck I borrowed to do the show, I had only been on the interstate for a minute when a squirrel did a suicide run in front of me. Crap! Thump! Damn, sorry little guy. I'm not superstitious, but when it happened I wondered if that might not be an omen.

Before I get any more depressed I'm going to have some affordable breakfast, buy a dolly wheel, and make some stuff that I will NOT sell at a reduced price.

At some point, when I have time and inclination I'll go into detail about the various misadventures above. For now, blarg!

I hate stupid, fucking football!

Why is a bunch of guys running around in funny pants, patting each other's butts, and playing a children's game with a ball such a big deal? It blasts over regular TV programming like it's an announcement of a nuclear (pronounced new-klee-er, for any stupid presidents out there) attack. "We interupt 60 fucking Minutes for this silly game."

Here I am, working on a Sunday, with a cold, and when I'm done I'm ready to watch Malcolm in the Middle and some stupid football game that was supposed to end a half hour ago is still on. No, wait, the game isn't even on, its a fucking recap! What the hell?! "Let's make sure the retarded football fans get to see this stupid crap TWICE instead of showing what's actually scheduled". Give me a fucking break! This shit is why Futurama is no longer on and that sucks. Arrrggghhhh!

Okay, I feel better now.

New section on site - Poetry

Seems everyone online is a poet, doesn't it? Well, me too. Some of my stuff is actually good though - at least I think so. Check it out:

A little site update

Captions and a few new photos added to the photography section of the site.

Sigh...

If it's not one thing, it's another. The Java trick to get my pages loaded in the framework, if directly linked, works great... except for blog pages other than the main one. Since the frame loading code is in my blog template it is written on each individual blog file which breaks their direct links when the page tries to load into the framework from an outside link (think search engine result) since individual blog entries are in various other folders that interrupt the path. Something else I have to figure out when I get the time. Seems there should be a way to modify the code to include a variable for sub-folders to get things back on track, but I don't know when I'll get time to start that bit of repair.

Speaking of repair, I'm proud of myself for successfully completing some tricky surgery on my 10 year old JVC CA-C55BK stereo to fix a problem with its design. There was a worm gear that had, over the years, become lose on its drive shaft. Eventually, with the action of the intermeshing gear it was pulled off the shaft resulting in the CD changer and tray not working properly. I had already "fixed" this problem a couple of months ago by gluing the worm gear back on the shaft. A tricky thing to do without a complete disassembly because of tight quarters, but I got the job done with a long brass rod and a rubber band. Unfortunately the glue bond broke and the gear slipped off again. Determined to fix it for good this time, I waded elbow deep into the stereo to lay hands and tools directly on the culprit. Many circuit board plugs and screws later I had the electronics and half the mechanical assembly removed and could see what I had to do to keep the gear in place. I decided I need to make a simple stop that I could anchor to the motor mount. A little stiff paper served to make a template and it was off to the studio to cut and bend some brass. Some slight adjustments and a good polishing on the side that might contact the gear when it tried to slip off and it was reassembly time. Now, it always seems like when one does something like this there's a piece left over and this was no exception. As I was moving the case to install the main circuit board, the last piece before the cover, I spotted a little plastic slab with some springs and a screw attached. Oh, brother! A little disassembly and some looking at shapes and I discovered where the piece belonged, but couldn't understand how it slipped out. Anyway, all back together but for the cover and I was ready for a power-on test. The result? Some unpleasant grinding noise. Sigh. Back apart it came and I turned the motor to see if, for whatever reason, the worm gear was binding on the metal stop, even though I thought I made it smooth enough that that shouldn't happen. Looked like my fix was good. It had to be something else. Now I wondered about that loose piece. It was a "floating" plastic bit that slid in a track. I assumed it would locate itself properly when it's parent part moved. On this I was right, as I discovered after more monkeying around. It turns out that somehow I had failed to get a guide rod back in it's slot AND had a close-tolerance moving part on the wrong side of a part of the CD magazine frame. D'oh! Anyway, all is well now and I can listen to a stack of 7 CDs on random once again without fear of the repetitive action "worming off" the worm gear. Much needed music to get me through the grind of making jewelry for my upcoming shows. The carpal tunnel, tendonitis, upper and lower backaches, eyestrain, headaches, and general fatigue are a little more bearable with some tunes playing. I just wish I had a muse to inspire me, monitor my progress, and crack the whip, when necessary, to keep me going. A back rub now and then would be nice too... Volunteers?

The affected area with my simple, homemade part shown.
Sometimes I feel like that gear, worked back and forth till I just fall down, useless.
All I need is some support to keep me going...

Slight improvements and slow "rush" delivery

I did some hair pulling before I finally got it working right but, with the exception of the jewelry catalog pages (which will take some more time), any page loaded outside the frame-set or in the wrong frame will reload in the right place within the proper framework. I also added some descriptive text to the decor section: http://www.handheadman.com/decor.htm (Wouldn't have been able to get there directly from a link and maintain the navigation frame before the fix.)

In other news; a couple of days ago I ordered some materials I was running short of (brass sheet, wire, pinbacks. etc.) from New Mexico and paid extra for UPS Blue Label shipping. According to the tracking, the package, which is due today, has been in Nashville since 6:25pm yesterday. Here it is after 5:30pm on the due date and no supplies. Come on "brown"! What are you waiting on???

Nooooo!

Four more years of that dangerously incompetent boob Bush? There should be some sort of competency test before one can register to vote if there isn't one to become president. I'm thouroughly disgusted with politics and the senselessness of the majority of the voting public.