The umbrella is dead, long live the umbrella

I had a terrible habit of leaving accessories behind: gloves, hats, umbrellas, coats, etc. I guess I was preparing myself to be an absent-minded professor. I have learned some habits that lessen the occurrences, but they still happen. For example, I have to replace umbrellas every two-three years. I am always sad: I have really great umbrellas now in styles I like. They all come from the Umbrella Shop on Broadway, which I can really recommend:

http://www.theumbrellashop.com/#main

It all started with a red umbrella I got as a birthday present from my shopping knowledgeable friend. I just lost a red umbrella, not that original one but its replacement. When I remember where I have left it behind in the past, I'll go back and try and find it, but I drew a blank this time. Anyway, it was an excuse to go to the umbrella store. I thought about getting a third red umbrella, but decided instead to go with this quiet number:

Merged Blogs

I had a separate blog I had intended for short, daily posts that I merged today into this main one. All the joyous content from "Brian Wetton's Short, Daily Real Life" is preserved, reposted in this blog, after I read online how to do that.

Scrap wood carpentry

I have worked in the garage again over the last couple of weekends on a new project, another coffee table. The picture I have is an intermediate one, of the drawer that goes into it. There was table sawing, there was routing for the pieces that make up the drawer bottom. The bottom panels are leftovers from an insulated ceiling I put in the house. If I only had a decade, endless scrap wood, and lots of space to put scrap wood furniture, I could get good at this.

Old MP3 player: Creative MuVo N200 (1/2 Gig)

I found my first MP3 player in a box when I moved recently. It is a Creative MuVo N200 player, purchased in 2005. I was was heading out on a long work trip to Europe, and one of my activities was to be the external examiner for a PhD student in Aalborg, Denmark. They were paying my way and an honorarium, most of which I pre-spent on this player. Some kind of primitive iPod was out at the time, with more memory. I liked this one better, since it was smaller and used replaceable batteries rather than USB charging. You can still get them on eBay, although they were discontinued long ago by the manufacturer. It is a nice little device and it may still get some use: the battery operation would be useful if I were ever to go into the "wilderness" and it has a nice strap for using in the gym. It also has an FM tuner and an LCD display. A great piece of equipment for the time, even if it is dated now.

Canvas Chair Repair

I have a canvas chair, from my stepfather years ago. It is one of the two things I have from him. The other is the chest of drawers that he had as a kid. It is one of those old, solid wood pieces of furniture that will outlast me, as it did my stepfather. The original fabric of the canvas chair (director's chair? captain's chair?) decayed a long time ago. It was revived briefly when my mother in law sewed new canvas for it, but that ripped quite quickly. Either the canvas was too thin or me and some of my friends to heavy and excitable while sitting in it. Anyway, I went to Dressew (on Hastings downtown, an awesome place if you are in to sewing or crafts of any kind) and got the heaviest canvas I could. I also got some advice from one of the other customers on appropriate heavy thread. She asked me what kind of sewing machine I had, and I held up my hand. Anyway, I stitched something to replace the seat. It survived a social event this weekend. Either the canvas is heavier or my friends now are lighter and less excitable.

On the right, notice the fancy wooden thread puller I got at the East Lansing Craft Fair.

A gorilla fixed my belt

Well, Gorilla Glue fixed my belt. This is a belt I got second hand more than a decade ago. It is very solid leather. It is one of those things you have that looks a bit worn, but the same as it did ten years ago after constant use. I stitched that join up once before many years ago but this time, after breaking two needles, I decided to try out the glue I had bought for a different project (it didn't work for that project, btw). Wet one side, glued the other, used my high tech clamps, and three hours later it seems to have worked. We'll see how long it lasts.

Cycling Psychology

I took a new bike route to work last week, cycled it MWF. I varied my route home but had the same new route in all three days. It was noticeably easier the third day I did it. I am pretty sure I did not get myself in better shape in one week, so I think this is all psychological. When you know the route and what is coming ahead, it is just easier to face it I think. Possibly it was just that I paced myself differently on the route knowing what was coming up, but my total time was about the same all three days.