If I was no longer working their, what difference would that make? None. Well, not none. They would have to get someone else to fill my position and there would be the unfortunate paper work requirements for my boss, true; but even our clients wouldn’t really even notice a hiccup. So, if I define myself in terms of what I do -like most people in our society- then that’s really what my value boils down to: I prevent my boss from temporarily having to do interviews and from paper work.

I wonder if this is why I like donating money to charity; not because I’m such a caring or righteous person, but because I’m selfish and chasing that feeling of having made a difference like an addict chasing his next high.

Meh.

…the economic benefits during the 20-year life of the mine would outweigh the environmental harm.

At least, that’s what CBC reported their response was to an environmental study done on the impact of the Prospect mine project being proposed here in BC. The study stated:

…the project would impose ‘significant adverse environmental effects’ on fish, fish habitat, grizzly bears and First Nations’ use of the land for traditional purposes.

And yet the Liberals approved it anyway and sent it to Ottawa for the final approval. Idiots. All of them.

And now, as I would fully expect -and as anyone with half a brain would have fully anticipated-, First Nations are up in arms about this, and threatening to get very literally ‘up in arms’. The exact response was:

As one of my elders had said when we were going through the panel hearings, she will be there on the road in her wheelchair. She will have her shotguns, and she will not miss.

So, not only will Fish Lake and Little Fish Lake be wiped out (likely in a manner such that the pollution will end up on our dining room table through the food chain) but now the water in the lakes will be replaced with human blood. (Okay, that might be a little melodramatic, but I’m sure you get my point.)

While I can’t support the First Nation’s response (at least not the one quoted here), I fully understand the sentiment. Fortunately, they are actually trying for a peaceful resolution first. They are in Ottawa, apparently, trying to convince the federal government to not give the final approval. I really hope they are heard.

I have to say, from now on every time I hear the Liberals talking about any kind of “green initiative” I am going to be reminded of their hypocrisy.

Source: This has been my interpretation of a CBC story from which I constantly quoted.

On a lighter note, apparently a hawk has single handedly managed to stop postal service to about 150 home in Alberta until such a time as it migrates away.

Canadian company develops “thought-control” technology using brain waves.

Now, you may not think that cutting up a tree of any kind ranks as a ‘woodworking project,’ but I figured A) it was a project and B) it involved wood. So there. On top of that it taught me a lesson that I needed to learn to do with working on projects in a small space: MOVE THE CAR!!!

If you recall the pictures of the space I am using for most of my projects, you might recall that it is also the same space where we store our car (unlike many people in our neighbourhood). If you also happen to know our house at all you know that we have plenty of space. And, if you also happen to know Stella or myself (mostly Stella) you may also know that we *must* have a full-sized Christmas tree. All that meant that I had a large item (the tree) that I was working with in a small space (our garage) which may or may not have contained a car.

Also, if you know me, I’m a little clumsy at times. The combination of all of that meant the car may or may not have been in danger of…well…me and my tree. So, from then on, whenever I did any further projects in the garage, I’ve moved the car.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, the next major project was actually a ‘real’ project; but first a bit of background. Back when Stella and I were living in Victoria (the first time) and shortly after we were married (I think it was the second year) I bought her a hydrangea. It was a wonderful plant that actually lasted quite a while in the pot (we didn’t have anywhere to plant it). In fact, it lasted until we moved to the east coast when we gave it away to a friend. When we moved back to Victoria we re-inherited the plant and then took it with us when we moved to the mainland. Here it died. It didn’t survive the winter. Sad. (Boo-hoo-moo-moo boo-hoo-moo-moo moo moo)

The place we are renting now came with an awesome landlord! One who doesn’t mind us making improvements to the yard…as long as they actually are, in fact, improvements. Recently, he expanded our back yard patio to make the area more usable. The results of that were wonderful. In the process, it got me talking with him about other possible improvements. One of which was that I was thinking of digging out an area of the yard that doesn’t get much sun and planting something other than the moss that seems to love that spot so much. I never mentioned any of it to Stella.

Eventually, after the back yard was done with its renovations, I had an idea: plant a hydrangea. They are shade-loving plants and had sentimental value for Stella and I, so I figured that would be perfect. I still hadn’t mentioned anything to Stella, so I figured I would keep it a secret and surprise her with it one day. The problem was in the logistics of this as we only have the one vehicle. Then fortune fell on me and my parents went away for a little while. I had to drive their car from where they left it before their flight back to their house (it wasn’t mine to use) and on the way home I remembered my idea.

I stopped by a nursery and asked about hydrangeas, explaining my idea of digging out an area for it that was very deep (as there is a lot of clay under our yard) and filling it with rocks, then sand, then soil; giving it great drainage. My thoughts about drainage didn’t go much past getting the water out of the soil in which the plant was to be planted. Fortunately, the very friendly people I talked with were a little bit more knowledgeable then I and, more importantly, had more experience. What happens to the water once it reaches the rocks?

Well, the answer is “nothing,” it just sits there due to the clay. Effectively, the clay would act like a bucket trapping the water there no matter how good I thought I had build drainage into the dug-out pit. This would, in turn, eventually rot the roots of the plant killing it off, likely after the first heavy rainfall. The solution was that the area had to be “built up.”

I was a little disappointed by this news as I figured it would be easier to dig down than to build up (HAH! Ever try digging through clay?) but, as I was about to leave the nursery, I figured I should buy the plant anyway and that way I would be committing myself to the project. “Now,” I thought, “how do I keep a plant this big, which will require regular maintenance, a secret from Stella until I can get around to working on this project?” I called my sister (who has three green thumbs) and she said she could hold onto it for time being. YAY for family!!!

Now I had my plant (and was very late coming home as a result, whoops). I figured the next thing I had to do was get the wood to use to hold the soil in which the plant was to be planted. It sounded simple in my head: just pick up wood. That’s it. So I called a hardware store and got a quote on the amount of 4X4’s required for the space in question. They brought up a good point: The total length I would need was *not* the total length of lumber I would have to buy. I needed to take into consideration how many sections would fit in one 10’ section (the longest they had) and account for the fact that I may only be able to use 8 or 9 feet of it. So I guessed.

In hind-sight, guessing is not the best route to take when you want to avoid more than a single trip to the hardware store. Fortunately, luck was on my side and, despite the fact that my guess was way off, so was the number of sides I would need to add to my flower box. So, with the (fortunately lucky) estimate of what I would need, I made up an excuse to head out so I could pick it up. The hardest part, after all, was done, right? I had figured out what I needed to buy. This was indeed just a simple matter of “picking up wood.” Wasn’t it?

Not quite. After I got to the hardware store, made like I knew what I was doing as I sifted through the available wood, and paid for my purchase it hit me: “How in the world am I going to fit two 10’ 4X4’s and a 6’ 4X4 into our little hatchback?!?!?” Uh oh.

“Well,” I thought, “There’s nothing for it but to just do it.” So, with the Nike commercial running through my head (forgive the pun) I opened up the hatch back, put down the seats, and started carefully placing some very long wood into the car. Had I thought ahead of time what would be needed (so much for “a wise man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them”) I might have thought to bring some rope…or a bungee cord, or something. After the wood was in (and out) I discovered that the hatch would, in fact, not stay down naturally.

Argh. I took a cloth grocery bag from the car and tied it to where the hatch hooks in only to realize that it would not be long enough to attach to the actual hatch itself. Argh again. Then I saw it; the emergency kit. “Well, this is an emergency…to me, anyway.” So I started rifling through it to find a single, short-ish bungee cord. HORAY!!! Despite its lack of length, the cord was long enough to keep the hatch closed. *Whew* And with that I drove home to an annoying “ding, ding, ding” reminder that the back hatch was still open.

As I drove in to our garage I was reminded, for the umpteenth time, of that “preparing for difficulties” verse again. Where was I to hide this vast quantity of wood from Stella? Huh. Well, in the end I just put the wood with the rest of my woodworking area set-up and hoped that she simply didn’t notice.

She didn’t.

The days passed and just before the weekend was upon us I realized I forgot the nails. *sigh* Fortunately, I had another excuse to head out and I picked up 16 6’ nails. Now to get Stella out of the house while I build this stupid thing. Wait. And soil. I forgot the dirt. *grrrrrrrrrrr* And that was when Green Thumbs (my sister) called.

We worked out that she would be able to distract Stella with a trip to Ikea (which would distract her for a very long time indeed) on Saturday while Mr. G.Thumbs (her hubby) picked up the soil and dropped off that and the plant. WOO HOO, a working plan.

Saturday came. On her way out the door Stella, not wanting to leave me without anything to do *cough* hinted, very subtly, that she might appreciate it if I cleaned up a bit by saying “it would be nice if you cleaned up a bit while I was out.” What went through my head was “wouldn’t it be funny if she came home, was all frustrated that I hadn’t cleaned up, and then saw the finished project in the back yard?”

I started cleaning up.

I had some unexpected time to kill anyway as Stella had arrived at Mr. and Mrs. G.T.’s place before MR. GT could leave with the plant, soil, and tools (shovel and sledge hammer) they had snagged from my absent parent’s place. And she spent a good while talking with them before heading out with Mrs. GT (and baby gt) to Ikea giving me plenty of time to do the dishes and wonder what the hold-up was. (I couldn’t very well start without a shovel.)

So, that’s the background to the project. Now, tools used:

• 26’ (total) of 4X4s
• 9’ nails (we used 8 of the 16)
• Hammer – the one from my grandpa’s tools
• Bigger hammer (sledge)
• Hand saw (*sigh*) – also from my grandpa’s tools
• Work bench
• Measuring tape
• Level
• Square – again, from my grandpa’s tools (thank you!)
• Pen (for marking the wood)
• Shovel
• Electric sander (a Christmas present, thank you)

I’m not sure how things would have turned out had Mr. GT not decided to stay and help out. The project was definitely a bigger project then my brain had made it out to be. A HUGE thank you needs to be said for all the hard work he did.

“THANK YOU”

So, the steps to building a garden box are (apparently):

1. Dig out the area to add the garden box to, removing the lawn and placing neatly to the side.
2. Hit the cement holding up the existing fence.
3. Recalculate and re-plan the design.

At this point, we decided to go for only adding two sides of the garden box (which is why my guess of the amount of wood we would need worked out) and used the existing fence to hold the other two sides.

4. Measure out the first layer of wood needed and cut.
5. Keep cutting.
6. Keep cutting (don’t forget, it was a hand saw we were using).
7. Place the cut wood to see if it fits.
8. Cut out notches in the wood to make it fit.
9. Use the level to make sure it’s…uh…level
10. Use the square to make sure it’s…heh…square
11. Make an executive decision to eyeball it from there on out.
12. Take some existing clay and fill below where the wood will go to prevent it from collapsing on us.
13. Measure and cut (re-cutting as needed) the pieces for the next layer of wood.
14. Get water (for ourselves).
15. Measure and cut the final layer of wood.

It was at this layer that the sander came in handy. We had inadvertently cut one of the edges at a slight angle which caused there to be a substantial gap when it was placed where it was supposed to go. The sander took care of this, though it may have been faster to use a chisel and then sanded. (May?)

16. Remove the wood and set the first layer of wood to where it was going to be.
17. Place the second layer on top of the first and hammer the nails into place.
18. Use the sledge hammer to reposition the structure.
19. Place the final layer of wood and nail into place, repositioning as required.
20. Shovel back into the box some of the dirt that was taken out to making sure to leave a hole of sorts for the plant.
21. Lay in the first layer of soil.
22. Pour in half a bag of fertilizer and mix into the soil.
23. Place the plant in the “hole” and pour in remaining soil and fertilizer mixing as you go.
24. Clean.
25. Haul leftover dirt (that had been dug out) and lawn pieces to an out-of-the-way location where it can all be dumped.

The whole process took us about 3 hours (it would have taken me at least 9 by myself) leaving ample time for Stella to finish up at Ikea (she had not left the store by the time we were done…not sure what I was expecting) and get home. (It also left me time to finish that cleaning she so cleverly had hinted at.) When she did get home she was very surprised (probably more so that I had actually started and finished a project than by the project itself) and very happy with the results (as is our landlord). YAY.

So that is how to build a raised garden box in 25 easy (ish) steps for complete imbeciles with little to no woodworking experience required. (Cutting up that Christmas tree was good practice. I knew I included it here for a reason.)

It was unavoidable, just an instinctive reaction to the signals in his brain; neurons whispering promises the universe itself would be unable to fulfill, cascading signals through his body to cause a momentary glimpse of all his hopes, and forcing -yes, forcing- his hand to reach out towards that which he already knew the truth of: an illusion.

- Daryl’s Brain

Signs That Your Bar of Soap is Just Too Big

10) Your fingers don’t wrap around the edges
9 ) It doesn’t fit in the oversized soap-holder in your shower
8 ) It doesn’t fit in your shower
7 ) Your toes have started to live in fear of the falling soap
6 ) Your toes have started living in bandages
5 ) There are dents on the floor of your shower stall
4 ) There is an elephant in your shower
3 ) You debated using it to carve a model boat – to scale
2 ) Your first thought when you think someone might be breaking into your house is “where’s the soap?”
1 ) The only reason you didn’t cut it in half was that you don’t own a skill saw

This is a debate that is almost as old as humans. I imagine it’s not quite as old as us, just because I would think that the first humans likely either already knew the answer, or really didn’t care. However, I have seen it come up a few times now and thought I would put my two cents into the debate. Before I start, however, I do want to say that I cannot possibly cover the entire topic in a single blog post. So I won’t. I am just basically going to skim the surface. (Which is probably for the best as I am not really qualified to cover it in its entirety.)

First, I guess some definitions are in order. What is meant by “naturally good” verses “naturally evil”? I can’t speak for everyone who debates this topic, but for me, I always interpret it as a debate about the current, natural tendencies of the human being if all things were equal. For example, if a person had enough food to eat, and could spare a little bit for someone who was starving, would their natural tendency be to give that other person food, or would their natural reaction be to hoard what they had in order save it for themselves? What I am *not* talking about is whether the human race, as a specie, is good or evil. If you think that the existence of humanity is something that is universally wrong and contrary to “the nature of things”, then you have more issues to deal with then what human tendencies are. What I am talking about is what we are inclined towards, not the base value of our being.

“Ah,” you say. “But who is it who defines what is good and what is evil?” Excellent question; the answer is that it’s irrelevant at the moment. There are many, many things that are universally considered to be good or evil. Every culture in the world views tripping an old lady on the road as something that is wrong. That said, I am not writing this from the perspective of every culture in the world, I am writing it from the perspective of my culture, and I am Canadian. (While you may disagree with me that Canada, or even North America, counts as a culture, let me assure you that you are wrong.) So for the purpose of this discussion, and to avoid the debate of what the basis of right and wrong is, let’s just use what’s accepted as right and wrong by Canadian standards (which are very similar to, at least, the rest of North America).

“Fair enough,” you say (because, of course, you accept my argument) “But why is this even an issue?” Glad you asked. The answer is that it’s not an issue, it’s an airy fairy, academic debate that has little to no ramifications to your life, or the lives of those around you. For the most part. What really matters is not actually the nature of humanity, but the nature of you and I as individuals. Yes, I guess the nature of humanity plays a role here, but I really don’t care about whether someone else is naturally evil or not, what I care about is whether I am and, if so, what I can do about it.

This is where the debate reveals its reason for existence. You see, if I find out that I am naturally good, then I really don’t have to worry too much about my actions because they should, if I follow what’s in my nature to do, tip the scales for the better when all is said and done. If I am naturally good, then I can look to myself to realize my full potential as a human and become self-actualized. If I am naturally good, then I don’t need any one else’s input into how I run my life. I am my own master; I am a rock; I have no need for anything other than myself. I am, however, human. So this belief is only really sustainable if the same applies to all humans.

If, however, I find out that I am naturally evil, then everything changes. Remember what I just said in the previous paragraph? If I’m naturally evil, then the exact opposite of all of that is going to be the case for me. And if this is the same for all humans, then humanity needs to humble itself and ask for help from something greater then itself.

“Fine,” you say. “So what are the arguments of *both* sides of this debate?” Well, now that you asked that, I must be perfectly honest with you. I am biased towards my own opinion. I say this because I don’t know how well I will do at presenting the side that I think isn’t correct. However, not knowing what I’m talking about has never stopped me before, and it won’t stop me now. So with that I will attempt to detail out the basic arguments for both sides of this proverbial coin.

As near as I can tell, the majority of the arguments about this topic tend to go something like this:

“It’s obvious to me that humanity is naturally good/evil. Just look at all the good/evil that is happening throughout the world? See, that proves it!”

As you might have guessed by the way I worded that statement, I think that this is a very silly argument…for either side. What we do is often very different from what we are inclined to do, and what we are talking about is not what we have learned to do, but what we do naturally; our instincts. What do we instinctively want to do in any given situation? Unfortunately, the above statement comprises the majority of the arguments that you will hear when listening to people debate this topic.

The reason I think that humanities achievements (good or bad) are not a good indicator of what its true nature is, is that one can easily say that we are naturally good/evil, but there’s something acting against/for us that’s causing us to be, at times, evil/good.

As a side note, I guess one might say that there’s a third option; that humanity is neither naturally good nor evil. However, this would mean that we ourselves are then the only measure of what is good or evil. If that were true, then we would naturally be good by default because our own actions themselves would be the only moral compass we could follow. Very silly indeed as it means that, if we decided that tripping older people in the streets was right, then that by itself would make it right. I shake my head.

The other argument, well it’s more of a statement, I’ve heard is this:

“Humanity is naturally good/evil, and our evil/good actions are learned behaviours.”

And this, for me, is what brings us to the crux of the matter. A learned behaviour is something you’re taught, not something that comes naturally to you. If one is a learned behaviour and the other not, then that would solve the argument. But how can you know which is which?

And now I come back to my statement before when I said that, whether or not this was “human nature” was irrelevant, because what matters is what is natural to you or I. And this is what will give us the hint as to what all of human nature is like.

As children, did we need to learn to be nice, or did we need to learn to be nasty?

This little project partly falls under the category of setting up shop. The workbench I was assembling was a Christmas present; a Black and Decker Workmate 225. If anyone has purchased one of these, feel free to use my experience to help you set up yours.



Tools Used:

• Those that came in the box
• Two hammers (directions only call for one)
• Clamp (directions did not call for it at all)

Let me just say, intuition will only get you so far when putting together a piece of equipment like this. For me, my intuition directed me to open the box, take out the big metal thing, pop it open (actually pretty simple) and then faded into the background as I looked at the metal frame of the workbench (which pops up and locks into place if you flick the right switches on it, but offers no clues as to the next step). So, on to the directions.

The directions say I will need a hammer, but that a tool is provided for screwing your hands, uh, hand screwing the bolts.

Sidetrack:
I recently was given a box of tools from my Papa, which included a hammer. I don’t know why, but I thought it was cool to see how the handle must have slipped off at some point in the hammers life and he nailed it back on. You can see the heads of the nails in this image with it held up beside a new hammer.

The tool that they provided was a joke tool. It wasn’t indented as a joke tool, but that’s what it was. You can see in the pictures below both the problem and my solution. The problem is that the small size of the tool provides no leverage, so it’s very difficult to tighten the bolt completely unless you do what I did, which is to find something else to provide the leverage. In my case, I used a clamp because it was the closest thing to pop into my head as a possibility.

So, lesson #1, when assembling the Black & Decker Workmate 225, make sure you have a supplement to the piece of plastic garbage that they provide.

Now then, they also said that you would need a hammer. This is because the two wind-up crank-things in the front each have a small pin that you need to hammer into place. The problem is that you have to hammer them into place as part of putting them on and have nothing to hammer ‘against’. You need a hammer because it takes more then just tapping, but if you hammer with full force you knock over the bench while you’re at it.

This picture shows you my solution. I took my second hammer and placed it on the other side of the handle that I needed to hammer so that the other hammer would absorb the shock and provide some resistance. Ideally you would have a sledge hammer, or something with a bit more weight behind it. (This was a trick I learned while working on the hovercraft.) If you are looking at the picture, the little circular thing on the edge of the handle is the pin I hammered in.

So, lesson #2, when assembling the Black & Decker Workmate 225, make sure you have a sledgehammer or some other way to counter the force of your hammering.

The process of setting this up gave me my second and third ‘woodworking’ injury: a hammered finger (hammered twice) and a couple of hammered knuckles. Now that it’s up, I’m a little sceptical of the welding job on the left side (it seems a little more flimsy then on the right) but all in all I’m very happy with it.

These next three posts are about three projects that kinda took me by surprise in that I had not counted on having to do them (which is why I mentioned the shelving as the ‘first’ project in a previous post), despite the fact that I did, actually know I had to do them. Okay, Taking down the lights is not so much a “woodworking project” as it is simply a project involving tools. I am going to count it simply because I can, and because it has raised a question that I am wondering if anyone has the answer to.

Tools Used:

• Ladder
• Hammer

First, we did not put up many lights over this last Christmas season, but we did line our garage door with them (along with lighting up two trees that bordered the garage). We had never done something like this before so we had no idea how to put the lights up. I ended up just nailing some small nails into the wood around the garage door, bending the nails, and hooking the lights to these.

So, as far as projects go, this one was pretty stupidly simple. All I did was get the ladder, and use the claw end (does it have an actual name?) and removed each nail one by one as I moved the ladder. The question that has come up, however, is this:

Does anyone know if there is a trick to removing a nail while standing on a ladder without dropping the nail?

Did I mention that these lights were bordering our garage? We (and the tenants downstairs) often drive our vehicles in and out of our driveway which is right in front of our garage. So, had I known the answer to the above question it would have saved me half an hour of looking for the dropped nails. I do hope I got them all.

Well you see, I have some time off right now (Christmas holidays and all) so I have time to just think about things. I also have time to do some things, like organize my “workshop”. If you read part one of the woodworking series you will know that I decided that the first step to “becoming a wood worker” for me is going to be setting up my workspace. Well, the first step to setting up my workspace is to clean the garage and clear enough space so that I am able to set up my workspace.

Cleaning

Kids, don’t let your parents fool you. Cleaning is dangerous. I just got my first woodworking related (indirectly related, anyway) injury while sweeping away the leaves that managed to blow into our garage while we drove our car in and out. There is a piece of metal sticking out of one part of the broom and it poked me in my index finger and drew blood. Ok, it wasn’t very much blood and as far as an injury goes it’s pretty lame. But it was my index finger! The one I use all the time! (Which is why I was using it when it was injured.) Well, nothing for it but to “suck it up and be a man”.

Next Challenge: Small Space

So, if there is actually anybody reading this who is paying attention to what I’ve been saying, then I probably don’t need to say this next part. My guess is, however, that if anyone is reading this at all they are probably just skimming through it because it came up in a Google search and really is not at all what they were looking for. So, I will go over my first, biggest challenge: lack of space.

As you may have gathered from what I’ve said previously (or from the random pictures of my future work area that I will be spattering throughout this post in a sad attempt to make it more interesting) I am going to be setting up my workshop in our garage. It’s a two-car garage, so normally there would be ample space. However, we actually use our garage to park our car in (unlike most people in our neighbourhood) in addition to using it for storage space. This means that I will not have a lot of room to set things up.

If you look at the pictures you can see that I’ve attempted to pile all our stuff in one corner of the third of the garage that I will have to work in. Fortunately, it appears that my parents and in-laws are both forward-looking kinds of people, so my recent Christmas gifts included books and magazines like:

• Setting up Shop
• Space-Saving Mobile Workcenters
• Hard-Working Shop Essentials
• The Small Workshop

So, my next challenge is not only going to be setting up shop, but doing so in a small space which I will be sharing with ’stuff’ and a car. (Hey, “Stuff and a Car” would make a great title for something!) Which brings me to my most recent revelation.

I was thinking that my first big-ish project was going to be the aforementioned coffee table. However, in the interest of A) practice, B) space, and C) making something no one cares to look at, I think I am actually going to start with building some shelving and storage for the garage. My wonderful intuition tells me that this should be great practice.

But one step at a time. For me, my next step is going to be actually setting things up.