Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Project Files: Everyday I'm At My Desk
So, my Mom practically lives at thrift stores / garage sales / estate auctions / etc.- one positive side effect of this is that if you need furniture, appliances, clothes, or just about anything else, she has it and will gladly give it to you. She buys stuff that's a bargain regardless of whether or not she needs it, because she knows she'll find a home for it eventually. Think of it as a combination of freecycling and karma.
The down side of her affliction is that all the stuff is in constant rotation, and sometimes she gives away valuable antiques, or family heirlooms even, for cheap or free. One of the items I was long concerned about was my childhood desk - I made it very clear, in no uncertain circumstances, that this was to be kept for me until I had room for it. Well, now that I've bought my own place the chickens are coming home to roost, because a load of my old crap shows up every time she visits. Last time she was giving us a freezer she came across, and loaded next to it on the trailer? Yep, my old desk.
I thought I would do a write-up of my first attempt at furniture refinishing, in the hopes it will inspire someone to rescue a nice piece of old furniture instead of buying more of that put-it-together-yourself-with-an-allen-wrench stuff. Besides, most of that flat-pack furniture is crap - It's usually slightly unsteady at best, the particle board shelves sag after a year, the plastic laminate on the edges peels off, and if you try to move it the camlocks warp or rip big hunks out of the particle board, rendering it useless. I constantly see beautiful pieces of furniture at thrift stores and garage sales, usually for under ten bucks. All they need is a few free evenings of work and $20 worth of materials.
Here is my starting point:
As I said, it's a basic desk that belonged to my father when he was a boy, and was used by me throughout elementary & high school, so it's at least 60 years old. You can see the surface is scarred by x-acto cuts & enamel paint (from my teenage model-building days), water rings, and lots of general wear. (This is why you don't give a piece of antique furniture to a teenage boy). Some of the cuts in the surface have had dirt ground down into them and will still be visible (unless I planed the top of the desk, which is beyond my skill / finances / motivation at this point). That doesn't really bother me, though - I just see them as "battle scars". The marks on the side are dirt/mildew from being stored in a basement for twenty years. I was told the desk was made of cherry, but I don't know if that's right or not. (sorry for the weird angle on a lot of these pics - I was working on my back patio, which is a pretty tight space).
The first step is to give the piece a good cleaning, preferably with a damp rag (don't bother using furniture polish or wood soap at this point, it's all gonna get stripped off soon). After the piece dries, you're ready to strip. I purchased a product called "Peel Away 6":
I bought this product because it is supposedly low-odor and more environmentally friendly than a lot of the other products, and it was a fairly small container (I didn't need a gallon of stripper). It was under $10. I also got a plastic scraper for a buck, and I had a SOFT wire brush on hand that I used for getting into crevices:
***CAUTION*** FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS WHEN WORKING WITH CHEMICAL STRIPPERS AND OTHER CHEMICALS!!! Some of this stuff is nasty. Wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated area, preferable outside. Dispose of all chemicals, rags, etc., in the proper manner.
The first step is brushing the stripper on - I used cheap disposable foam brushes, just 'cause it's easier. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this step, as I was up to my wrists in caustic chemicals and wasn't about to grab my digital camera. Just follow the instructions and brush on an even coat. The "dwell time" (how long you let the stripper soak in) on my product was listed as "From 1 - 48 hours". Gee, thanks. I let the stripper soak for 3 - 4 hours and tried scraping:
The old finish came up pretty easily, except in a few spots. After I removed all the stripper, I re-applied it to the few spots that still had some of the old finish stuck to them and let them soak for a few more hours. This got off 95% of the old finish.
After you are done stripping, the piece needs to be wiped down with mineral spirits:
(About $6 for a can, I think). This deactivates the stripper and leaves a clean surface to work with.
Wiping down the top:
Using an old toothbrush to get all the stripper out of the spindles:
After being wiped down, I sanded the few spots that still had some stubborn bits of finish stuck to them. I had a detail sander, but it wouldn't have been much work by hand:
I also bought a sanding sponge (around $2) to get into the hard spots:
The sponges are nice because once they get clogged with sawdust, you can just wash 'em out and reuse them.
After sanding, I wiped the desk down with mineral spirits again, mostly just to get rid of the sawdust.
Before the desk could be finished, it had a few repairs that needed addressed. Luckily, none of then are particularly difficult. The first is four small holes on the left edge where someone had a desk lamp screwed into the surface:
For this repair, I used stainable wood filler ($2 a tube) and a putty knife:
Get any loose sawdust or debris out of the holes, then squirt the filler in:
Smooth the filler out with a putty knife:
Note: Don't scrape the filler off flush with the surface yet - leave it "mounded" up a little. The filler shrinks as it dries, and if you leave it flush now there will be depressions after it dries, and you'll have to do it again. After the filler cures, sand it down flush with the surface.
The next repair is that one of side of the drawer has come unglued:
This is easily fixed with a little glue along the dovetails...
...and a clamp:
Wipe off the excess wood glue with a damp paper towel before it dries. I let this repair sit overnight.
Now we're ready for staining. I used a small container of cherry stain and a sponge brush:
(Again, I don't have pics of the stain being applied, 'cause I had my hands full). Just brush on a nice even coat. After it sits for 5 - 15 minutes, wipe it off:
DO NOT let the stain sit until it gets tacky, or you'll regret it - it'll be a major pain to get off.
After the first coat of stain:
In the above picture you can see kind of a whitish haze along the short edges - I don't know if this was because I didn't get all of the stripper off, or because I was working outside in humid conditions, but I had to spot sand these areas and wipe them down with mineral spirits again. After that, I applied a second coat of stain, let is soak for quite a bit longer (probably 30 - 45 minutes), and wiped it off. It looked pretty good after that.
Now, we're ready to seal it. I chose a polyurethane finish:
Looking around on the Internet, a lot of people dislike polyurethane, especially for antique furniture, since it's a modern material and not "period correct". But, it's extremely tough, inexpensive, and easy for an amateur to get good results with. This desk was a workhorse for it's first sixty years, and I don't plan on babying it for the next 60, so I choose poly. There's no pics of it being applied (again, hands were full), but you just brush on a nice even coat. DON"T OVERWORK IT, or you'll have brush marks in the final finish - a sponge brush is ideal for polyurethane. Brush marks will settle out as it dries. The instructions for mine said to sand the first coat after four hours with fine sandpaper, then wipe it down and apply the second coat. Unfortunately I had to let the desk sit for a day and a half after the first coat, and when I test-sanded an inconspicuous spot the next day it was showing scratches, so I got nervous and applied the second coat without sanding between coats. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think it came out great:
Overall, I was pretty happy with the results for my first effort. Now I have my eye on a butcher block kitchen island at the local thrift store for $8...
The down side of her affliction is that all the stuff is in constant rotation, and sometimes she gives away valuable antiques, or family heirlooms even, for cheap or free. One of the items I was long concerned about was my childhood desk - I made it very clear, in no uncertain circumstances, that this was to be kept for me until I had room for it. Well, now that I've bought my own place the chickens are coming home to roost, because a load of my old crap shows up every time she visits. Last time she was giving us a freezer she came across, and loaded next to it on the trailer? Yep, my old desk.
I thought I would do a write-up of my first attempt at furniture refinishing, in the hopes it will inspire someone to rescue a nice piece of old furniture instead of buying more of that put-it-together-yourself-with-an-allen-wrench stuff. Besides, most of that flat-pack furniture is crap - It's usually slightly unsteady at best, the particle board shelves sag after a year, the plastic laminate on the edges peels off, and if you try to move it the camlocks warp or rip big hunks out of the particle board, rendering it useless. I constantly see beautiful pieces of furniture at thrift stores and garage sales, usually for under ten bucks. All they need is a few free evenings of work and $20 worth of materials.
Here is my starting point:
As I said, it's a basic desk that belonged to my father when he was a boy, and was used by me throughout elementary & high school, so it's at least 60 years old. You can see the surface is scarred by x-acto cuts & enamel paint (from my teenage model-building days), water rings, and lots of general wear. (This is why you don't give a piece of antique furniture to a teenage boy). Some of the cuts in the surface have had dirt ground down into them and will still be visible (unless I planed the top of the desk, which is beyond my skill / finances / motivation at this point). That doesn't really bother me, though - I just see them as "battle scars". The marks on the side are dirt/mildew from being stored in a basement for twenty years. I was told the desk was made of cherry, but I don't know if that's right or not. (sorry for the weird angle on a lot of these pics - I was working on my back patio, which is a pretty tight space).
The first step is to give the piece a good cleaning, preferably with a damp rag (don't bother using furniture polish or wood soap at this point, it's all gonna get stripped off soon). After the piece dries, you're ready to strip. I purchased a product called "Peel Away 6":
I bought this product because it is supposedly low-odor and more environmentally friendly than a lot of the other products, and it was a fairly small container (I didn't need a gallon of stripper). It was under $10. I also got a plastic scraper for a buck, and I had a SOFT wire brush on hand that I used for getting into crevices:
***CAUTION*** FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS WHEN WORKING WITH CHEMICAL STRIPPERS AND OTHER CHEMICALS!!! Some of this stuff is nasty. Wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated area, preferable outside. Dispose of all chemicals, rags, etc., in the proper manner.
The first step is brushing the stripper on - I used cheap disposable foam brushes, just 'cause it's easier. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this step, as I was up to my wrists in caustic chemicals and wasn't about to grab my digital camera. Just follow the instructions and brush on an even coat. The "dwell time" (how long you let the stripper soak in) on my product was listed as "From 1 - 48 hours". Gee, thanks. I let the stripper soak for 3 - 4 hours and tried scraping:
The old finish came up pretty easily, except in a few spots. After I removed all the stripper, I re-applied it to the few spots that still had some of the old finish stuck to them and let them soak for a few more hours. This got off 95% of the old finish.
After you are done stripping, the piece needs to be wiped down with mineral spirits:
(About $6 for a can, I think). This deactivates the stripper and leaves a clean surface to work with.
Wiping down the top:
Using an old toothbrush to get all the stripper out of the spindles:
After being wiped down, I sanded the few spots that still had some stubborn bits of finish stuck to them. I had a detail sander, but it wouldn't have been much work by hand:
I also bought a sanding sponge (around $2) to get into the hard spots:
The sponges are nice because once they get clogged with sawdust, you can just wash 'em out and reuse them.
After sanding, I wiped the desk down with mineral spirits again, mostly just to get rid of the sawdust.
Before the desk could be finished, it had a few repairs that needed addressed. Luckily, none of then are particularly difficult. The first is four small holes on the left edge where someone had a desk lamp screwed into the surface:
For this repair, I used stainable wood filler ($2 a tube) and a putty knife:
Get any loose sawdust or debris out of the holes, then squirt the filler in:
Smooth the filler out with a putty knife:
Note: Don't scrape the filler off flush with the surface yet - leave it "mounded" up a little. The filler shrinks as it dries, and if you leave it flush now there will be depressions after it dries, and you'll have to do it again. After the filler cures, sand it down flush with the surface.
The next repair is that one of side of the drawer has come unglued:
This is easily fixed with a little glue along the dovetails...
...and a clamp:
Wipe off the excess wood glue with a damp paper towel before it dries. I let this repair sit overnight.
Now we're ready for staining. I used a small container of cherry stain and a sponge brush:
(Again, I don't have pics of the stain being applied, 'cause I had my hands full). Just brush on a nice even coat. After it sits for 5 - 15 minutes, wipe it off:
DO NOT let the stain sit until it gets tacky, or you'll regret it - it'll be a major pain to get off.
After the first coat of stain:
In the above picture you can see kind of a whitish haze along the short edges - I don't know if this was because I didn't get all of the stripper off, or because I was working outside in humid conditions, but I had to spot sand these areas and wipe them down with mineral spirits again. After that, I applied a second coat of stain, let is soak for quite a bit longer (probably 30 - 45 minutes), and wiped it off. It looked pretty good after that.
Now, we're ready to seal it. I chose a polyurethane finish:
Looking around on the Internet, a lot of people dislike polyurethane, especially for antique furniture, since it's a modern material and not "period correct". But, it's extremely tough, inexpensive, and easy for an amateur to get good results with. This desk was a workhorse for it's first sixty years, and I don't plan on babying it for the next 60, so I choose poly. There's no pics of it being applied (again, hands were full), but you just brush on a nice even coat. DON"T OVERWORK IT, or you'll have brush marks in the final finish - a sponge brush is ideal for polyurethane. Brush marks will settle out as it dries. The instructions for mine said to sand the first coat after four hours with fine sandpaper, then wipe it down and apply the second coat. Unfortunately I had to let the desk sit for a day and a half after the first coat, and when I test-sanded an inconspicuous spot the next day it was showing scratches, so I got nervous and applied the second coat without sanding between coats. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think it came out great:
Overall, I was pretty happy with the results for my first effort. Now I have my eye on a butcher block kitchen island at the local thrift store for $8...
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Hey Little Sister, What Have You Done?
So, the wedding's over - it went just like we hoped, simple but elegant, and we didn't have to take out a second mortgage to do it. Now I've been scrambling with home repairs, gardening, etc., trying to get as much done as possible before the wife starts classes next month... look for some project files soon.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
No One There To Tell Us What To Do
So, it's time to plant the garden - last year we did a few smaller varieties of tomatoes, a few pepper plants, some herbs, etc. We were going to plant a little more this year, but were waiting until we got done with our wedding / honeymoon to start. - The wife got a little carried away this year - she was on the road for work the other day, and when she came home she said "I found farmer's market that had all their plants on sale, so I got us some, but we'll need some more pots and potting soil". After we ate dinner we drove to Wal-Mart and went to the garden section, and I said "Okay, what do we need?" She said, "Um, twenty-one more pots. And at least six bags of potting soil".
So we bought twenty-one more pots:
...and 240 lbs. of potting soil:
...and it still wasn't enough. I drilled some holes in the bottom of some spare 5-gallon buckets for some of the tomato plants:
...and we still had to go back to the store for one more pot and another 120 lbs. of potting soil. So far we have:
- 4 grape tomatoes
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 12 beefsteak tomatoes
- 8 yellow bell peppers
- 4 chili peppers
- 1 tabasco pepper
- 1 serrano pepper
- 2 thyme
- 3 sage
- 3 oregano
- 5 cilantro
- a rectangular planter of green onions
- a metric assload of basil (probably 10 - 15 plants in one big pot)
...and one cactus.
We also had some spinach, but it was left out while we were on vacation and the temperatures were 90+ every day and it got all gnarly (spinach doesn't like heat). My mom is also growing a row in her garden for me - jalapeños, cayenne, squash, & zucchini.
Who says you can't have a garden if you live in a condo?
(This is just were we put them after we got all the plants in the pots - I picked up some planking & brackets at the hardware store today, and will be building some shelves to organize things).
Here's some shots of the front porch:
Most of the herbs are on the plant racks - there's a stray bell pepper plant there 'cause we were running out of room on the back patio.
Green onions are in the rectangular planter at the front of the porch - we tend to pick one or two every couple of days when we make dinner, so they never get that big. A few more pepper plants have migrated up there until I can build some shelves or get some racks for the back patio. The big black mutt is ever vigilant in guarding the plants. I also picked up some spray paint at the hardware store to refinish those chairs & the garden lights - along with an oil change on the bike, I guess my weekend is booked...
So we bought twenty-one more pots:
...and 240 lbs. of potting soil:
...and it still wasn't enough. I drilled some holes in the bottom of some spare 5-gallon buckets for some of the tomato plants:
...and we still had to go back to the store for one more pot and another 120 lbs. of potting soil. So far we have:
- 4 grape tomatoes
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 12 beefsteak tomatoes
- 8 yellow bell peppers
- 4 chili peppers
- 1 tabasco pepper
- 1 serrano pepper
- 2 thyme
- 3 sage
- 3 oregano
- 5 cilantro
- a rectangular planter of green onions
- a metric assload of basil (probably 10 - 15 plants in one big pot)
...and one cactus.
We also had some spinach, but it was left out while we were on vacation and the temperatures were 90+ every day and it got all gnarly (spinach doesn't like heat). My mom is also growing a row in her garden for me - jalapeños, cayenne, squash, & zucchini.
Who says you can't have a garden if you live in a condo?
(This is just were we put them after we got all the plants in the pots - I picked up some planking & brackets at the hardware store today, and will be building some shelves to organize things).
Here's some shots of the front porch:
Most of the herbs are on the plant racks - there's a stray bell pepper plant there 'cause we were running out of room on the back patio.
Green onions are in the rectangular planter at the front of the porch - we tend to pick one or two every couple of days when we make dinner, so they never get that big. A few more pepper plants have migrated up there until I can build some shelves or get some racks for the back patio. The big black mutt is ever vigilant in guarding the plants. I also picked up some spray paint at the hardware store to refinish those chairs & the garden lights - along with an oil change on the bike, I guess my weekend is booked...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Goin' To The Chapel
My early wedding present:
It's a Trek 7.2 FX. The only major additions so far are a Delta Post Haste seatpost rack & bag, Nashbar Rodeo pedals (clipless on one side, platform on the other) and the usual geegaws (bar ends, cyclocomputer, cages & bottles, etc). I'm meeting a guy tomorrow to pick up an unused Brooks B17 saddle I saw on Craigslist. Unfortunately, the trip I talked about earlier probably isn't gonna happen this year - money, time, & stamina are all in too short of supply. The plan now is to go on a few weekend touring trips this year, do GOBA next year, then see where we're at.
Otherwise, the wedding is a week from Saturday (that's the main reason I haven't posted lately - even though we're having a simple wedding and are both uber-organizers, there's still a million little details to arrange - we both kinda wish we had eloped at this point). After that's the honeymoon, so I'll see you in a couple of weeks...
It's a Trek 7.2 FX. The only major additions so far are a Delta Post Haste seatpost rack & bag, Nashbar Rodeo pedals (clipless on one side, platform on the other) and the usual geegaws (bar ends, cyclocomputer, cages & bottles, etc). I'm meeting a guy tomorrow to pick up an unused Brooks B17 saddle I saw on Craigslist. Unfortunately, the trip I talked about earlier probably isn't gonna happen this year - money, time, & stamina are all in too short of supply. The plan now is to go on a few weekend touring trips this year, do GOBA next year, then see where we're at.
Otherwise, the wedding is a week from Saturday (that's the main reason I haven't posted lately - even though we're having a simple wedding and are both uber-organizers, there's still a million little details to arrange - we both kinda wish we had eloped at this point). After that's the honeymoon, so I'll see you in a couple of weeks...
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Don't Shoot Shoot Shoot That Thing At Me
So, my fiancee had originally said she wanted to buy me a new gun as a wedding present - we had gotten our tax returns and were planning on going out to pick it up soon. A few weeks ago, she said, "I decided I don't want to buy you a gun, I'd rather buy you a new mountain bike instead." (something else I had been shopping for). This was fine with me, although I was a little bit annoyed that I wasn't getting the new gun I had gotten all worked up for.
We went to my Mom's for Easter dinner Sunday, and my mom handed me a birthday card (I wasn't expecting this, my birthday isn't for a few weeks yet). I opened it and it had the standard birthday greeting, and at the bottom it said "P.S. - Don't shoot your eye out". I must have had a puzzled look on my face, so my stepdad motioned for me to follow him into the other room, where he showed me my birthday present:
it's a Beretta AL390 12-gauge autoloader - I strongly suspect it's out of my stepdad's personal collection (he shoots trap & skeet and has an extensive shotgun collection). I was extremely surprised, as birthdays usually aren't a very big deal in my family. He said it was a tradition for the father to give the son a new gun as a wedding gift in his family, but he couldn't wait to give it to me, so that was pretty neat. He even found a Beretta baseball cap to give me with it. He said it's probably ~10 years old, but it looks like it's never been shot - I told him that, he said, "I know, that's why I bought it". I can't wait to take it to the range.
...and that's why my fiancee suddenly "changed her mind" about buying me a gun - she was in on it the whole time!
We went to my Mom's for Easter dinner Sunday, and my mom handed me a birthday card (I wasn't expecting this, my birthday isn't for a few weeks yet). I opened it and it had the standard birthday greeting, and at the bottom it said "P.S. - Don't shoot your eye out". I must have had a puzzled look on my face, so my stepdad motioned for me to follow him into the other room, where he showed me my birthday present:
it's a Beretta AL390 12-gauge autoloader - I strongly suspect it's out of my stepdad's personal collection (he shoots trap & skeet and has an extensive shotgun collection). I was extremely surprised, as birthdays usually aren't a very big deal in my family. He said it was a tradition for the father to give the son a new gun as a wedding gift in his family, but he couldn't wait to give it to me, so that was pretty neat. He even found a Beretta baseball cap to give me with it. He said it's probably ~10 years old, but it looks like it's never been shot - I told him that, he said, "I know, that's why I bought it". I can't wait to take it to the range.
...and that's why my fiancee suddenly "changed her mind" about buying me a gun - she was in on it the whole time!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I Must Get Round To It
I'm kind of obsessed about being organized. Notice I didn't say I am organized, I just like the idea. Throughout the years, I've had dozens of paper-based organizers (Dayrunners, Daytimers, Filofaxes, etc.), and more than a few PDA's (let's see - 5 Palm OS, 3 Windows Mobile/Windows CE, at least a few others). This is all in addition to carrying my laptop most days. Until a few weeks ago, my daily bag was a 2.400 cubic-inch backpack that usually held:
-My laptop
-Laptop A/C adapter, mini-USB hub, keyboard pad, mouse, 3 flash drives, assorted cables
-Nintendo DS, carrying case, A/C adapter, earbuds, 14 games
-Sony PSP, carrying case, memory sticks, A/C adapter, USB cable, earbuds
-Three games cases with ~30 PSP games
-Full-size iPod
-iPod shuffle
-iPod dock cable
-Dayrunner
-Windows Mobile HPC w/ integrated GPS, sync cable
-Noise-reducing headphones
Digital camera, extra memory cards, spare batteries
-Notebook
-Several textbooks
-Several novels
-Several magazines
-Misc. unfiled bills, work forms, etc.
-Multitool
-Lighters & matches
-Small first-aid kit/travel-size toiletries, etc.
Needless to say, this was getting a bit out of hand. I didn't use half that stuff on a monthly basis, much less daily - I just liked to have it just in case. I decided to seriously slim down what I carried on a daily basis, and to make the stuff I did carry more useful (who needs two games systems and 40+ games with them? I haven't even played the damn things in months!). For a long time I had been drooling over Maxpedition's line of bags (I also have a bit of a problem with getting the latest & greatest bags to haul my gadgets around), but I just couldn't justify spending the money on one, even though I had heard great things. Then, one of the members of a forum I frequent mentioned that a friend had a store that was going out of business, and he could get us Maxpedition stuff at a healthy discount. Since my tax return had just come in, I decided to splurge and ordered a Jumbo Versipack. The bag is great (I'll do a write-up on it soon), but this meant that I was going to be going from 2,400 cubic inches of space to carry my junk to a paltry 340 cubic inches. Clearly, some difficult decisions were going to have to be made...
One of the things I decided to start with was my Dayrunner - for the past few years, I have been using this model:
It's nice and all, but it has several problems: The PDA pocket was designed for a different model PDA than mine, and the PDA routinely tries to fly out when I open it; It's too big; and, probably most importantly, I never, ever use it. I just get a wild hair up my ass every couple of years, go out and blow $40 on up-to-date calendars and refills for it, then it sits in my bag for another two years. I decided to see if I could come up with something better.
I started looking around for a pocket-sized organizer that would do only what I needed - I liked the Levenger notebooks and the Filofax organizers, but they were too pricey (at least $20 to start, and that's before you buy any custom refills). I also don't really care for pre-designed systems - I always feel obligated to fill everything out, then I don't use half of it. I decided to try to come up with something on my own.
While emptying out the aforementioned backpack, I came across a blank Moleskine notebook. I bought it for some forgotten purpose, but I liked the size and it seemed durable. I went to the local drugstore and bought some stick-on tabs and page markers, and on the way out I noticed they had a few sheets of adhesive letters in a clearance bin, so I grabbed those too. Later that night I got on the Internet to see if I could get any ideas for my new organizer, and I was shocked - there's a whole cult based around customized homemade organizers. PigPog, 43 Folders, Pocketmod, Getting Things Done... there is a crazy amount of people hacking their own organizers, and almost all of 'em prefer paper. I read for a couple of days and decided to give it a shot. My version is most closely based on one that I saw at Creating Passionate Users.
As I mentioned before, I started with a Moleskine-style notebook - I don't even know if mine is "authentic" or a knockoff, as I removed the wrapper long ago. The UPC in the back cover says "made for Barnes & Noble", so I think it's a knockoff. Regardless, the genuine article should be available at your local bookstore for around $10. This might seem like a lot for a notebook, but they're hardbound and have a nifty elastic closure, so drop a sawbuck on one, ya cheap bastard.
I bought a set of Post-It flags, a set of Avery Write-On tabs (#16143), and the aforementioned set of Pioneer 3-D black letters. About $4-$5 for this stuff. It seems the preferred Moleskine for this project is the top-hinged "Reporter" model, but I prefer the traditional opening style. I did like the pocket that the Reporter models had inside the back cover, though, so I decided to make my own: I scavenged a folder from my old Dayrunner, along with some scissors and a bottle of contact cement that my employer apparently bought sometime around the Spanish-American War:
I cut the folder to size, applied the contact cement, and secured it with some binder clips while it dried:
Next, I decided to make a phone index for my organizer. This is not for every phone number I have - I have my cell phone, Windows HPC, and iPod that all have my computer's contacts synced to them. I just wanted crucial numbers (family, a few co-workers, etc.) in case I'm ever in a situation where my phone's battery is dead/my HPC is broken/my iPod gets lost/etc. and I need an actual hard copy. Maybe 20-25 numbers total, so it's not a big deal to hand-write them. I took the Avery tabs and diveded up the rear section of the notebook, and used the stick-on letters for the tabs:
A few randomly-placed paper clips allow me to secure business cards, receipts, etc.
Next, I took the Post-It flags and came up with a system using the colors that were available. I wrote a legend on the first page of the notebook:
(Sorry for the blurry pic). Basically, my system breaks down like this:
Blue tab = today
Red tab = yearly calendar
Green tab = upcoming appointments
Orange tab = To do
Yellow tab = Notes/Misc.
You can kind of see that I also wrote "Please return to" with my contact info on the inside cover.
I also found a website that offered an appropriately-sized printable yearly calendar, so I printed one out and glued it in the back cover:
You can also see how the pocket in the rear holds extra tabs & flags. Here is the overall footprint of the finished product:
Overall, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's a much less "rigid" structure than one's I've used in the past, shich is a good thing for me. I'm only locked into using the last twenty pages or so of the notebook for a specific purpose, so it should last me a good long time. The tabs & flags remove cleanly from the pages, so I can use them again later. The notebook is small enough that it fits in the tiny outer pocket of my bag, where my old one took up 60% of the available space in the main compartment. It's also small enough to carry in my pocket by itself, increasing the likelihood that I'll actually have it on me and use it. I'll try it out for a while and report any major revisions...
-My laptop
-Laptop A/C adapter, mini-USB hub, keyboard pad, mouse, 3 flash drives, assorted cables
-Nintendo DS, carrying case, A/C adapter, earbuds, 14 games
-Sony PSP, carrying case, memory sticks, A/C adapter, USB cable, earbuds
-Three games cases with ~30 PSP games
-Full-size iPod
-iPod shuffle
-iPod dock cable
-Dayrunner
-Windows Mobile HPC w/ integrated GPS, sync cable
-Noise-reducing headphones
Digital camera, extra memory cards, spare batteries
-Notebook
-Several textbooks
-Several novels
-Several magazines
-Misc. unfiled bills, work forms, etc.
-Multitool
-Lighters & matches
-Small first-aid kit/travel-size toiletries, etc.
Needless to say, this was getting a bit out of hand. I didn't use half that stuff on a monthly basis, much less daily - I just liked to have it just in case. I decided to seriously slim down what I carried on a daily basis, and to make the stuff I did carry more useful (who needs two games systems and 40+ games with them? I haven't even played the damn things in months!). For a long time I had been drooling over Maxpedition's line of bags (I also have a bit of a problem with getting the latest & greatest bags to haul my gadgets around), but I just couldn't justify spending the money on one, even though I had heard great things. Then, one of the members of a forum I frequent mentioned that a friend had a store that was going out of business, and he could get us Maxpedition stuff at a healthy discount. Since my tax return had just come in, I decided to splurge and ordered a Jumbo Versipack. The bag is great (I'll do a write-up on it soon), but this meant that I was going to be going from 2,400 cubic inches of space to carry my junk to a paltry 340 cubic inches. Clearly, some difficult decisions were going to have to be made...
One of the things I decided to start with was my Dayrunner - for the past few years, I have been using this model:
It's nice and all, but it has several problems: The PDA pocket was designed for a different model PDA than mine, and the PDA routinely tries to fly out when I open it; It's too big; and, probably most importantly, I never, ever use it. I just get a wild hair up my ass every couple of years, go out and blow $40 on up-to-date calendars and refills for it, then it sits in my bag for another two years. I decided to see if I could come up with something better.
I started looking around for a pocket-sized organizer that would do only what I needed - I liked the Levenger notebooks and the Filofax organizers, but they were too pricey (at least $20 to start, and that's before you buy any custom refills). I also don't really care for pre-designed systems - I always feel obligated to fill everything out, then I don't use half of it. I decided to try to come up with something on my own.
While emptying out the aforementioned backpack, I came across a blank Moleskine notebook. I bought it for some forgotten purpose, but I liked the size and it seemed durable. I went to the local drugstore and bought some stick-on tabs and page markers, and on the way out I noticed they had a few sheets of adhesive letters in a clearance bin, so I grabbed those too. Later that night I got on the Internet to see if I could get any ideas for my new organizer, and I was shocked - there's a whole cult based around customized homemade organizers. PigPog, 43 Folders, Pocketmod, Getting Things Done... there is a crazy amount of people hacking their own organizers, and almost all of 'em prefer paper. I read for a couple of days and decided to give it a shot. My version is most closely based on one that I saw at Creating Passionate Users.
As I mentioned before, I started with a Moleskine-style notebook - I don't even know if mine is "authentic" or a knockoff, as I removed the wrapper long ago. The UPC in the back cover says "made for Barnes & Noble", so I think it's a knockoff. Regardless, the genuine article should be available at your local bookstore for around $10. This might seem like a lot for a notebook, but they're hardbound and have a nifty elastic closure, so drop a sawbuck on one, ya cheap bastard.
I bought a set of Post-It flags, a set of Avery Write-On tabs (#16143), and the aforementioned set of Pioneer 3-D black letters. About $4-$5 for this stuff. It seems the preferred Moleskine for this project is the top-hinged "Reporter" model, but I prefer the traditional opening style. I did like the pocket that the Reporter models had inside the back cover, though, so I decided to make my own: I scavenged a folder from my old Dayrunner, along with some scissors and a bottle of contact cement that my employer apparently bought sometime around the Spanish-American War:
I cut the folder to size, applied the contact cement, and secured it with some binder clips while it dried:
Next, I decided to make a phone index for my organizer. This is not for every phone number I have - I have my cell phone, Windows HPC, and iPod that all have my computer's contacts synced to them. I just wanted crucial numbers (family, a few co-workers, etc.) in case I'm ever in a situation where my phone's battery is dead/my HPC is broken/my iPod gets lost/etc. and I need an actual hard copy. Maybe 20-25 numbers total, so it's not a big deal to hand-write them. I took the Avery tabs and diveded up the rear section of the notebook, and used the stick-on letters for the tabs:
A few randomly-placed paper clips allow me to secure business cards, receipts, etc.
Next, I took the Post-It flags and came up with a system using the colors that were available. I wrote a legend on the first page of the notebook:
(Sorry for the blurry pic). Basically, my system breaks down like this:
Blue tab = today
Red tab = yearly calendar
Green tab = upcoming appointments
Orange tab = To do
Yellow tab = Notes/Misc.
You can kind of see that I also wrote "Please return to" with my contact info on the inside cover.
I also found a website that offered an appropriately-sized printable yearly calendar, so I printed one out and glued it in the back cover:
You can also see how the pocket in the rear holds extra tabs & flags. Here is the overall footprint of the finished product:
Overall, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's a much less "rigid" structure than one's I've used in the past, shich is a good thing for me. I'm only locked into using the last twenty pages or so of the notebook for a specific purpose, so it should last me a good long time. The tabs & flags remove cleanly from the pages, so I can use them again later. The notebook is small enough that it fits in the tiny outer pocket of my bag, where my old one took up 60% of the available space in the main compartment. It's also small enough to carry in my pocket by itself, increasing the likelihood that I'll actually have it on me and use it. I'll try it out for a while and report any major revisions...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Look For The Girl With The Sun In Her Eyes
My girlfriend & I were sitting on the couch - she was watching TV and I was playing on the computer.
GF: "Do you think he enjoys being such a douchebag?
Me: (looks up to see a Priceline.com commercial) "Who?"
GF: "William Shatner."
Me: "God, I hope so. He's certainly got the act down."
(Sorry, Bill).
GF: "Do you think he enjoys being such a douchebag?
Me: (looks up to see a Priceline.com commercial) "Who?"
GF: "William Shatner."
Me: "God, I hope so. He's certainly got the act down."
(Sorry, Bill).
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
My Homeboys Tried To Warn Me...
So, I work a lot of odd hours, including some overnights. Usually this is fine with me - a nice, uneventful shift, no traffic on the way in, no co-workers to hassle me about anything, etc.
That is, up until about a year ago.
Y'see, I work for a company that provides video & data services. At some point, we added a new state-of-the art videoconferencing center, and someone in management decided we needed a toll-free number for clients to call in on. Okay, that makes sense. The problems started when another company (who I won't promote here) misprinted their toll-free number on their catalog - they printed our number (and continue to print our number after many, many months). This company also provides a certain form of "video services" - although their products are of a much less, uh, savory nature than ours. Apparently they specialize in videos featuring African-American women, although it's a bit more specific than that. They specialize in videos featuring African-American women who are gifted in the, um, posterior region.
*Ahem*.
Don't get me wrong, I dig on a ghetto onion as much as the next red-blooded American male. And I'm sure all the actresses in these videos are lovely girls who are just earning money for grad school. But, as you can imagine, you have some pretty interesting conversations when someone calls at 4AM looking for their porn fix, and you have to tell them they have a wrong number. I've had everything from squeaky-voiced teenagers telling me "It's okay dude, you can sell to me, I'm not the cops!" to people cursing me out, to people who just plain refused to believe that I'm not sitting in a giant warehouse full of porno. But last night, I got a great one from a young woman:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me: "Good evening, (company name that doesn't sound remotely like a porn distributor)
Caller: "Yeah, I'm looking at this catalog you sent me.."
Me: "You have the wrong number, ma'am. The video company printed the wrong number on their catalog." (I've learned from experience to cut people off ASAP, before they say something embarrassing for us both.)
Caller: "Yeah, well, lemme ask you sumthin': How these girls get their booties so BIG!?"
Me: "...uh..."
Caller: "I mean, I don't see HOW it can natural!"
Me: "...I dunno..."
Caller: "I found a place up in New York City that says they can do it for eight hunnerd dollas, but I don't know how they do it!"
Me: "Um... implants, maybe?"
Caller: (laughs) "You a trip! I dunno dog, I'm afraid it wouldn't be healthy, y'know?"
Me: "I guess it wouldn't."
Caller: "So, what's the right number?"
Me: "I don't know - I think if you go to their website it has the right number." (info gleaned from previous callers)
Caller: "Ah, man, can you get on the website and look it up for me? Hook me up, dog!"
Me: I'm at work - I can't look up adult websites, I'd get fired."
Caller: "A'ight dog, I don't want you to get fired - you get back to work!" (laughs)
Me: "Allright, ma'am. Goodnight."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, how did your phone conversations at work go yesterday?
That is, up until about a year ago.
Y'see, I work for a company that provides video & data services. At some point, we added a new state-of-the art videoconferencing center, and someone in management decided we needed a toll-free number for clients to call in on. Okay, that makes sense. The problems started when another company (who I won't promote here) misprinted their toll-free number on their catalog - they printed our number (and continue to print our number after many, many months). This company also provides a certain form of "video services" - although their products are of a much less, uh, savory nature than ours. Apparently they specialize in videos featuring African-American women, although it's a bit more specific than that. They specialize in videos featuring African-American women who are gifted in the, um, posterior region.
*Ahem*.
Don't get me wrong, I dig on a ghetto onion as much as the next red-blooded American male. And I'm sure all the actresses in these videos are lovely girls who are just earning money for grad school. But, as you can imagine, you have some pretty interesting conversations when someone calls at 4AM looking for their porn fix, and you have to tell them they have a wrong number. I've had everything from squeaky-voiced teenagers telling me "It's okay dude, you can sell to me, I'm not the cops!" to people cursing me out, to people who just plain refused to believe that I'm not sitting in a giant warehouse full of porno. But last night, I got a great one from a young woman:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me: "Good evening, (company name that doesn't sound remotely like a porn distributor)
Caller: "Yeah, I'm looking at this catalog you sent me.."
Me: "You have the wrong number, ma'am. The video company printed the wrong number on their catalog." (I've learned from experience to cut people off ASAP, before they say something embarrassing for us both.)
Caller: "Yeah, well, lemme ask you sumthin': How these girls get their booties so BIG!?"
Me: "...uh..."
Caller: "I mean, I don't see HOW it can natural!"
Me: "...I dunno..."
Caller: "I found a place up in New York City that says they can do it for eight hunnerd dollas, but I don't know how they do it!"
Me: "Um... implants, maybe?"
Caller: (laughs) "You a trip! I dunno dog, I'm afraid it wouldn't be healthy, y'know?"
Me: "I guess it wouldn't."
Caller: "So, what's the right number?"
Me: "I don't know - I think if you go to their website it has the right number." (info gleaned from previous callers)
Caller: "Ah, man, can you get on the website and look it up for me? Hook me up, dog!"
Me: I'm at work - I can't look up adult websites, I'd get fired."
Caller: "A'ight dog, I don't want you to get fired - you get back to work!" (laughs)
Me: "Allright, ma'am. Goodnight."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, how did your phone conversations at work go yesterday?
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The first eleven things that turned up when I told the iPod to play 4228 songs randomly*:
Goodnight L.A. - Counting Crows
I like To Score - Moby
I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
My Love For You (Has Turned To Hate) - Hank Williams
Day Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
Fucked - Ministry
Rhyme & Reason - Dave Matthews Band
The River - Bruce Springsteen
Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McClintock
A Million Miles Away - The Plimsouls
You Really Got Me - The Kinks
*The idea for this post was blatantly stolen from Neil Gaiman.
Goodnight L.A. - Counting Crows
I like To Score - Moby
I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
My Love For You (Has Turned To Hate) - Hank Williams
Day Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
Fucked - Ministry
Rhyme & Reason - Dave Matthews Band
The River - Bruce Springsteen
Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McClintock
A Million Miles Away - The Plimsouls
You Really Got Me - The Kinks
*The idea for this post was blatantly stolen from Neil Gaiman.
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