I've been busy!















And it should sound something like this:

I downloaded Google SketchUp yesterday, and in a couple hours I had a 3D model of the cabinet for the amp I'm building. It'll look something like this:




Meanwhile, I've been learning how to make dovetail joints:

I finally bit the bullet and started going through this big box of photos. They go back to the 1980s, and there are even some from the 70s. Pics of me with friends, bands, motorcycles, guitars, girls... you know, all the important stuff. (Did you know I first went to college as a Photocommunications major?)

It's sorta like therapy: Coming to terms with my past, realizing that yes, I have done some awesome stuff (I haven't always been an invalid shut in.)

See, I had this friend years ago. He and I worked together, played in bands together, drank a lot of beer together, etc. He wrecked my car, my third Rx-7, but I was still his friend after that. I was there at his wedding, when he had a kid I was like her cool uncle, etc etc. We lost touch after I moved to Santa Fe and he moved to Tennessee, and I thought about him from time to time, figuring I'd get in touch with him some day. Well, some day never came because he hanged himself a few years ago (it was actually one of the events that lead to my own suicide attempt). I figured I have a bunch of photos that his family might like to see, so I finally decided to go through the box.



I scanned a bunch of photos and thought, "this is great". After I organized a lot of them, I started looking at negatives, and saw some for which I had no prints, so I fired up the negative scanner attachment for the first time and started scanning negatives and thought, "WOW! THIS IS GREAT!"

See, back in the dark ages

I'm not only seeing images I haven't seen in 20 years, and seeing them in better quality than I ever did, I'm also seeing images that I've never seen before!

Here's my band from the late 90s, Mother Trucker:






Here I am in the mid 80s with my band Fallout (hahaha):





Here's my dog, Sugar Bear:





This is from a hiking trip to the top of Wheeler Peak in New Mexico (elevation 13,161 ft.)




Here's my dad:



Here's one of Action Man:



Here I am in my first apartment, circa 1987:




Here I am with my second Rx-7:



Here I am with my first Rx-7 on the night I graduated high school. Some buddies had just poured me into the passenger seat and my best friend was about to drive me home, wrecking my car in the process.



Just look at him, you know he's about to wreck that car...

Here's my first street bike:




...and the second:



(I think it actually spent more time like this...)

How about some pictures of me through the years?




















...and here's where I make my escape!

So yesterday was good.

Action Man brought one of his guitars over so I could work a little magic on it, then I rode my motorcycle into town and caught a little bit of his set. He and a bass player do a happy hour acoustic (plugged in) show with lots of classic rock and blues top 40 numbers. They're pretty good, too.

I got in just under the wire! Temp when I got home last night was 50 and falling, and right now we have snow blowing sideways!

I took these photos earlier today, maybe 5 minutes apart:




I received some more components yesterday, so I was able to finish stuffing the board for this the amp I'm building...



Today I received a CD containing 20 old books about tube amplifier circuit design and theory. One of these books was written by Hugo Gernsback!

I promised myself I wouldn't bitch and moan about the side effects this month, but goddammit I'm going nuts here! It's like I get bitchy when I'm on my period or something. It's worse this month because I've been cooped up indoors for so long. It's been cold and wet and shitty, so if I don't have a good reason to go out in it I won't.

Here's the good news: I should feel better tomorrow, and the weather's supposed to be nice the next couple days. I think I'd better get some saddle time...

Hey lookit! I builded sumpin'!

We just got power back after two days without, and I understand that some 635,000 people in Oklahoma are still without electricity. The last couple days have been interesting, and mostly consisted of bringing in firewood and burning it.

Wanna see some pictures?

Here's what the storm looked like on radar, right before we lost power:



Here's the view outside. Everything was coated with a half inch thick layer of ice:





A lot of trees were bent over from the weight of the ice:



One tree fell on a shed:



The big juniper down at the end of the driveway is pretty well totaled. I've hidden my hotrod Ford behind it for years, but it looks like I'll have to find another hiding place. Maybe I'll move it up next to the garage and actually do something with it now...



So for the last two days, this has been the highest level of technology I've used:

Well, the weather sucks big green donkey dicks, but I've managed to have a reasonably productive evening in the shop. I've drawn the layout for the circuit five times since starting this project, and it changes and evolves and I understand it a little better each time. It's a really simple circuit, and I want to make the layout as straightforward as possible, with just a few short nice components connected by short wires. I've gotten the basic layout down, and I'm reaching the part where I start looking at something called "lead dress". You have to be very careful about how your route the wires so they don't interfere with each other and make a bunch of noise or screw up the tone.

So I started by drawing out the circuit in my little Kalamazoo Model One amplifier:



I can't find the first drawing to scan it (it looked pretty bad, anyway), so we'll start with the 2nd drawing:









Oh yeah, I fixed my scanner tonight. It's been down for a couple months or so. Yay, me.

Winter's here. We're going to get slammed with freezing rain and sleet tomorrow night, and I have to drive up to the city for the monthly infusion on Monday.

Medication side effects + ice storm + not riding motorcycle =

What the fuck was that?