what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[ls99]

I am up. Will spend the day figuring out what to postpone until whenever.

 

[MBAustin]

Checking e-mail before I left for yoga class this morning, I saw an e-mail from a former w*rk colleague asking me to give him a call regarding a lingering contract dispute with a former client. My blood pressure went up about 20 points immediately! Fortunately yoga calmed me back down. Called him back and will probably end up talking with mediation lawyers about this because the client is refusing to pay for the last 3 months of services rendered under the contract saying that we hadn't done some things we were supposed to several years earlier. Client manager is lying through his teeth, just like he did back in the day. That man took several years off my life, so I'm happy to dredge up some old memories to put him back in his place.

Wrote a letter to a prisoner as part of a letter-writing ministry. I always feel very grateful for all that I have when I do that. It's quite sad how many prisoners have no contact at all from family or friends while they are incarcerated - it's surprising any of them succeed at staying straight when they get out after that.

Just got some chicken out to defrost - think I'll make chicken curry for dinner. Oh wait a minute - DH is out to lunch with a friend and I think he said they were going for Indian food. Darn. Guess it'll be stir-fry.

 

[Walt34]

Do you think the stores would mind if I threw the furniture around a few times to see if it was durable ?

Might want to ask first just so they don't call the police on the "crazy lady" throwing furniture around.

 

[bbbamI]

DH returned home last night from a three week, 6700 mile m/c trip to the northwest and into Canada. This is his fourth 'epic journey' across America.

Next year he plans on visiting the few remaining states in the lower 48.

Here's a pic taken on his journey by one of his friends....

 

[Bestwifeever]

DH returned home last night from a three week, 6700 mile m/c trip to the northwest and into Canada. This is his fourth 'epic journey' across America.

Next year he plans on visiting the few remaining states in the lower 48.

Here's a pic taken on his journey by one of his friends....

Really nice photo of your handsome hubby! And those are some wide open spaces!

 

[Tailgate]

I can still remember when it was the Sam Houston Institute of Technology...

Good ole **** ... Went there myself



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[travelover]

Broke out my mothballed metal lathe today and made a part for my neighbor's truck. I bought the lathe 35 years ago and played with it a lot, then less and less over the years. My neighbor was stuck on a repair job and we designed a work around part and I machined it up for him. Fun while it lasted, now back into mothballs.

 

[seraphim]

Spent three hours in traffic for a two hour trip to Columbus to visit BS ( beloved son). While there, visited an old haunt - a used camera store - and got some nice prices on some used equipment. Staying overnight and will have breakfast with BS before heading home. Will stop somewhere semi- scenic to try out new lens.


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[bbbamI]

Really nice photo of your handsome hubby! And those are some wide open spaces!

Thanks...

He mostly stayed with friends, at hotels/cabins during his journey but occasionally would sleep in his tent. Here are a couple of pics in his [-]luxurious[/-] tiny tent...one is the view from his window and the other a view from his skylight....

 

[davemartin88]

Not sure if this is the right thread but this started with a photograph so will post it here. Used a photograph of my mom when she was a young lady and then converted it to a format so it could be carved in to a piece of 1/4" thick corian using a CNC router. The program to make the conversion from jpeg is called Photocarve (from Vectric Software)- this is my second try using the program after receiving a lot of tips from the Vectric forum. When lit from the back, the lithopane shows incredible detail.

Here's the corian after it was carved.

Here's the image using a desk lamp for a light source, not the best but shows the detail that is present in the carving.

It took nearly 4 hours for the image to carve and is about 1/8" deep in some places. The cutting is done with a series of over 1000 diagonal lines. As part of the carving to produce a lithopane, the light and dark areas of the original photo are reversed so that the lighter areas are cut more deeply- much more to learn but thought some might be interested.

 

[Walt34]

Wow. That is too cool!

 

[splitwdw]

Davemartin88, That is so cool.

 

[ls99]

Awesome, truly!

 

[Walt34]

Davemartin88, I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of putting the two photos together in the same frame in PS, but I have [-]a pure[/-] an ulterior motive. I want to show it to DW. If she likes the concept, and sees the potential for neat gifts, chances are good I'll end up with some cool new toys. Heh, heh.

 

[braumeister]

Astounding! Great idea.

 

[ls99]

Say, Walt34. The various endeavors of yours seem to require a tag line change. You are well beyond the call to do nothing.

 

[davemartin88]

Walt34, no problem with the change to the photos and good luck. Feel free to pm me if you'd like some websites with more info on the equipment and process. I'm already receiving requests from family to do a photo for them.

Thanks to,all for the nice comments.

 

[Ronstar]

Davemartin88 - that is simply incredible!

 

[Dreamer]

Very nice!

 

[traineeinvestor]

Back home after a holiday in northern Hokkaido - stunningly beautiful scenery and far to much good food and beer.

 

[pb4uski]

Back home last night after a two-day couples golf trip to Quebec with some friends. We has a lot of fun and some great food. A bit more alcohol than I am used to as they like to imbibe more than us but we had a lot of fun and laughs. Very nice getaway.

I played well the first day (one of my best outing of the year) and as a result had great expectations for the second day, but quickly came back to earth. No lost balls either day (36 holes) which is unusual for me.

Back to reality.

 

[braumeister]

Just had three huge ash trees taken down. They were close enough to the house that DW was worried about them coming down in a storm. Perfectly healthy two years ago, but perfectly dead now, thanks to the emerald ash borer.

Good service from the tree company. They were here just over four hours and cleaned up the yard pretty well. Left me the logs for what will probably be about five years worth in my fireplace.

Interesting process. I got four quotes. Threw out the high and low as being unrealistic, then picked one of the middle two (which also happened to be the biggest company) based on how soon they could do the job.

 

[Walt34]

As a result of Davemartin88's post I spent a good part of yesterday and today looking up stuff on CNC router machines. While they're not quite ready for the person not willing to spend considerable time learning to use one they're getting there. And while they're still a bit expensive for a hobbyist the prices are well below five figures. I saw several around $3k for what looked like solid, usable machines.

I can see why a serious woodworker hobbyist would want one in his shop. The examples I saw of elaborate and precise wood carving were in some cases beyond amazing and well into astonishing, stuff that would take years to do by hand.

And there are a number of places that will make your photo into an engraving on wood, granite, glass, or almost any other material you can think of for a reasonable price, usually around $50-$80 depending on size and material.

It's just interesting stuff to learn about.

 

[travelover]

Just had three huge ash trees taken down. ..........

Good call. We've been devastated by the ash borer and find the trees soon fall over, breaking right at the base or a few feet up. But in any case, very unstable once dead.

 

[MRG]

Good call. We've been devastated by the ash borer and find the trees soon fall over, breaking right at the base or a few feet up. But in any case, very unstable once dead.

We used to call dead trees, broken down limbs etc. "widow makers", for a very good reason. Be careful.

Good call on going with the bid process and with a larger operation. While I love smaller independent companies tree trimmers are 'special'. Takes a lot of nerve to do that job, lot of skill that can only be acquired by doing, lot of luck when it comes to long term survival. Many will opt to go without all the insurance they should have. Some have been known to not tell the truth.