Tools Provided

I guess I’ve solved the 4-jaw chuck problem. I bought the Ebay Skinner chuck I mentioned yesterday. It’s expensive, but the cost is about the same as a Chinese chuck plus a Bison plate, and if I bought that combination, I’d have to do some machining to make it fit. I think. And in the end, it wouldn’t be as good. A new Bison with an L00 mount is about $660, and it’s not an American-made chuck like the one I got. Hopefully I did okay. I also got an 11″ faceplate with lots of slots. I guess I’ll need a drive dog. I think this will cover the basic tooling. Some day I guess I’ll need to be able to use collets and end mills, and I may need a taper attachment. But I think I have enough junk to make the lathe work.

I mean it will work once the motor is installed! Man, that’s frustrating. This week, UPS will be looking at the one that was shipped to me, to try to find a way to weasel out of paying for the broken conduit box. I was a fool to report the damage. For $35, I could have had a new box. I shouldn’t have to pay it, but sometimes the smart thing is to give up. I got a $750 motor for about 85% off. Another thirty-three bucks would not kill me.

I’m sure this is exactly what UPS is hoping customers will say after making their first damage claim. The point of the process, in all likelihood, is not to improve customer relations. It’s to punish customers for reporting damage, so they never do it again.

That’s probably the intended consequence, but here is what the actual result will be. I always use Fedex or the post office when I ship things. UPS’s damage policy has reinforced my preference.

I’ve had one problem with Fedex in all the times I’ve used them, and it was a minor one. I also had a damaged package. I don’t count that as a problem, because Fedex came to the door and took it back, and they brought a new package, and that was the end of it.

UPS has been unionized for a long time, and Fedex has a long, proud history of resisting unions. Maybe there’s a connection.

Church was pretty good last night. My sister wants a church where they talk more about ideas she considers advanced, but I find that I need plenty of help just mastering the fundamentals, so it doesn’t bother me at all when a sermon deals with basic things. I want a sturdy foundation before I worry about parapets and balconies. Maybe different people have different needs. I should also add that the old familiar sensation of God’s presence was there. At one point we were all standing, and I was trying to pray and so on, and the sensation became so strong, words stopped forming in my mind. I had to stop and feel it.

I had been feeling somewhat discouraged. I didn’t do much to promote the cookbook, because I changed so much during the time when it was rolling out, and while sales are not embarrassing, they are not what I hoped they would be. There were things in there that I wish I hadn’t written, so my drive to promote the book was not what it could have been. I have been looking for guidance about what I should do. I would like to use my writing in a positive way, but nothing has come to me so far. I don’t want to practice law; it’s a minefield of temptation. Lawyers spend half their time rationalizing their questionable actions, and when you’re surrounded by people who do that every day, you tend to absorb their mindset. I suppose I could do arbitration and mediation without sinking too deeply into the slime. I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I’ve turned into a parasitic fomenter of litigation.

Yesterday, the pastor and his wife talked about standing in faith. Holding on until you get what you’re supposed to. And although it was a simple message, it hit home. I needed to hear it. God promises us all sorts of stuff, but he also says you can’t expect to receive any of it unless you ask in faith and remain steadfast. I knew that already; I’ve had so many prayers answered after sticking to my guns, you would think it would be a habit by now.

I don’t have financial problems, and I don’t see much danger of problems any time soon. But I would like to be doing something productive. After the book came out and the promotion tapered off, I found myself without a project. Because of the things I heard last night in church, I won’t be worried about that any more. Something is going to happen.

In that vein (I guess it’s appropriate to use an anatomical term), Mish Weiss just had something happen. Her long-lost daughter insisted on donating bone marrow for a transplant. The procedure took place today. Mish is in very bad shape, which is normal under the circumstances. Over the next few weeks, the marrow will have to take root, so to speak, and grow in her body. I hope you’ll pray for Mish’s recovery, and that she will succeed in forming a strong and satisfying bond with God.

I think this may be her reward for carrying her daughter to term. It’s so much like the stories you see in the Bible. People planted seeds, and they came back to bless the world. Think of the births of Samuel, Jesus, John the Baptist, Moses, and Samson. My mother always told me that this was what the Bible meant when it said, “Cast your bread upon the water, for after many days ye shall find it again.”

Mike just called. He and his son are going to a church recommended to him by the pastor at my church. They’re walking in right now. That’s exciting. I’ve never gotten anyone else to go to church. I hope they find something they can hold onto and build on.