Quarter-Century Hiatus not Good

I have good news about a fellow blogger. Fausta is now writing regularly for Realclearpolitics! They have a site called Realclearworld, and she’s blogging Latin America. Here is her first post!

Always nice to see good people do well.

Today I am thinking about the way my life has changed.

I used to write about the way I felt when I took off for Israel to work on a kibbutz; I had a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to get there, and when I made it to Israel, there were still uncertainty and problems, but it seemed like God held me by the hand the entire time, and I got to where I didn’t worry much. Things always worked out. And I have to say, I wasn’t the greatest possible Christian at that time. I enjoyed getting drunk. I thought sex outside of marriage wasn’t that big a deal. I was very disrespectful to people to whom I should have shown deference. I had a filthy mouth. And I didn’t do much for other people. Nonetheless, it seemed that God guided me through the trip, as though there were a reason for it.

When I returned home, things didn’t work so well; maybe God had a purpose for the trip, and he put up with me because of that purpose and because of my faith, and once I was home, he felt it was time to let me reap some of the rewards of my bad attitude and behavior. I don’t know. The confusing thing is that he would lead me and watch over me in Israel. I completely understand why he would withdraw once I got home; the good that he did me is harder to explain. I think sometimes God does good things for you before you turn to him, in anticipation of things you’ll do later. In any case, I always missed the sensation of having my steps ordered from above.

That sensation has returned to my life. Things are falling into place. My family is being restored. The persistent sins and failings of which I could not rid myself are disappearing. Things I don’t understand are happening, and I have the sense that they are happening for reasons that will become clear later. I am less worried than I used to be. I am less discouraged. I feel as if the ground of my life has been weeded and cultivated and fertilized, and that now my life can be fruitful.

I feel like my life ended when I returned from Israel and started up again just recently.

I still can’t figure out this tool business. How did I end up with a giant table saw? I really didn’t want to buy it, but there is such a thing as having a hook put in your jaw. The saw was too perfect. The price was too low. It made too much sense, the way it would fit into my garage. Then I bought the thing, and immediately, I got an email inviting me and my father to Frostproof, to see my great aunt Gladys. The lady with the giant workshop and house full of beautiful homemade furniture. The only person I know who would have any appreciation whatsoever for this saw. There has to be some purpose in this. It’s just too weird.

I think about the story of Jonah. Actually, I have thought about it for years, because I knew I was not serving my purpose in life. Jonah was appointed to do a job, and he refused. He was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish. Some preachers believe he died. For three days, he prayed for relief. From hell, according to his own words. In the end, the fish spat him out on the beach, closer to Nineveh than he was when he was thrown in the ocean. All that time, the plan seemed to be derailed, but he was on his way to Nineveh and didn’t realize it.

Now that I think about it, the Bible is full of this kind of stuff. Rebecca was waiting at the well, to be chosen for Isaac. A donkey was waiting to be used in Jesus’s ride into Jerusalem. Moses happened to float by Pharaoh’s daughter. Joseph was sold to Egyptians, and he was imprisoned wrongly, and as a result he became a powerful official who was ready to help his brothers when famine came. Mary the sister of Martha happened to have costly perfume on hand to put on Jesus’s feet, and it turned out to be preparation for his burial.

I’m also grateful that I seem to sense my positive emotions better than I used to. Every so often, I have a moment when I understand the significance of something that has happened, and it brings me close to tears. Often the thing that moves me will be something that would have blown right by me, back when I was constantly working to suppress feelings which I believed would cause me problems.

As for the saw, I have to figure out a way to put a router table in it. You can buy premade inserts, but I’m sure they’re expensive, and the whole point of all this effort is to learn to use tools, so I’d rather make one. I’m thinking I should get a piece of 3/4″ MDF and cut it to a suitable width. Then I can rout a hole in it for my router lift, run hardwood braces across the bottom of the MDF, and screw it to the saw rails. It should work.

I’m having a hard time deciding how long the rails should be. People are trying to discourage me from cutting them down, but a 98″ long object is not something you want in a crowded garage. I am thinking I’ll set the saw up and decide how big a router insert I need and then cut the rails based on that measurement. I hate to do it, but let’s be serious. How often do you need rails that go 50″ beyond a table saw’s edge? I have a video where Kelly Mehler cuts a four-by-eight sheet of plywood without any of that junk. If I’m wrong, I’m sure I can remedy the mistake for $300 somewhere down the road.

Prayer Request

I just got an email from reader Alan. He says his mother has lung cancer and is not expected to live more than two weeks. He would appreciate some prayer to help her with her suffering. He says she is a good Christian, and that she is prepared to go. I hope you’ll take a minute to help out.

Also, I have a friend who is despondent over job problems. I mean, while you’re already praying, why not?

Already

I joined the forum at Sawmill Creek to get info on moving my saw. They said I was required to upload photos, so I have done that. Some guy already wants to buy my oversized rails!

The sad thing is, I don’t see how I can sell them. I can’t find used rails in the shorter length, and new ones cost a lot. I can take my dry cut saw and cut these down in fifteen minutes, and they’ll be perfect, and it will cost NOTHING. But people will spaz out if they find out I’ve done it.

I already got a recommendation for a guard. One of the disadvantages of this saw is that it has no riving knife, so I would like to get some kind of guard that will be convenient and highly resistant to kickback. But it’s a hard decision, so I want to take my time.

I suppose I need a zero-clearance insert. I should be able to make one. Maybe I can find a splitter for it.

After all this, STILL, I am not making anything with my tools.

The Doug Stowe box-making video is tremendous. It seems like it’s three times as long as most woodworking videos. I should clean the dust out of my hair and turn on the DVD player.

I, Too, Know how to Abuse an SUV

Here is good information to have. It is entirely possible to put a Powermatic 66 power saw into a Ford Explorer without help.

I shot up to Jupiter today and took a look at the saw. The seller was less helpful than expected. He turned out to have a back problem, so he could do nothing whatsoever to help with the lifting and pushing. He got a little snippy when I asked if I could take a wing off the saw to get an idea how hard the disassembly would be, although he apologized later.

He clearly didn’t know a whole lot about mechanical things. Although he did carpentry for a living, he didn’t know how to take the saw apart, and he didn’t think I could do it and get it into the truck. But when I gave him the money, he was only too happy to clear out and give me time to work, and he told me where I could find Mexicans if I needed one to help me lift.

He was amazed by my Panasonic impact driver. I don’t blame him. It amazes me, too.

I was terrified, but it seemed certain it had to be doable. I didn’t want to leave half the saw up there and go back to Miami for a bigger vehicle. I got out the tools and got to work.

Here is the saw at first (seller’s photo):

Here it is a few minutes after I got to work, with the extension, fence, and rails off.

Here it is with the top and motor removed.

Here it is going up the clever little ramp I made.

Getting it apart took some time, but there was nothing hard about it. I put the parts in the Explorer as they came off. Once I had it in pieces, I was ready to drive to the labor pool and choose a brawny immigrant to help me. But I kept looking at the saw and tilting it by hand and thinking how light it felt. And there was a huge stack of two-by-fours in the corner of the storage unit. And the storage unit was two inches higher than the surrounding pavement, so I knew I could brace the wood against the concrete…

I backed the Explorer up to the unit, got the wood in place, draped a quilt over it, and lowered the saw cabinet onto it. And I gave it a yank. It moved! I couldn’t believe it. I decided to go for broke. I yanked and pushed, going from one side of the cabinet to the other, until it was in the Explorer. All I had to do was tidy up, put the rails in the car, and hit the road! There wasn’t a scratch on the saw. Not a new one, anyway.

Sadly, when I took the top off, six shims came with it, and I have no idea where they were. The information I gathered said there should be no alignment issues, so I was not expecting shims. I may have to call Powermatic.

I also got about a dozen blades. I thought I might leave them behind; they were for Corian, and I didn’t know if they were right for wood, and I thought the seller might want to put them on Craigslist by themselves. But he said they were great for wood. Something about “triple chipped” carbide points. He said they would last forever on wood. So they came with me.

I took a shot of the saw in the car, but I guess I forgot to save it.

I don’t think the Biesemeyer fence is 64″ long. It looks like 48″ to me, which is considerably more reasonable. The rails are very long, though. I think I’ll have to put them on the dry cut saw and reduce them to a length that makes sense. I don’t know what else to do.

This thing should be fantastic. I can put wheels on it and park it by a wall. With the router on it, it will be a great convenience. I thought I might spruce it up and paint it, but after lugging it around, I am not all that enthusiastic.

I don’t think this guy was a big fan of dust collection. It seemed like five pounds of wood and corian dust came out of this saw. It needs a good cleaning.

I have to get a guard for it. That will be a project in and of itself.

All in all, I can’t believe my luck. I paid roughly a third of what it’s worth, and the blades are a big asset.

I have the funniest feeling about all these tools. I feel as if there is some purpose in them. I really didn’t want this thing when I saw it, but things kept coming together, and I just went with the flow. I said a lot of prayers during this process, including one over the saw itself.

Coincidentally–ANOTHER coincidence, among those associated with this saw–my aunt Gladys wants me and my father to visit. If you don’t recall, she’s the 92-year-old great aunt in Frostproof, who has a complete woodworking shop and a house full of homemade furniture. She’ll love these photos.

Now I have to go lie down.

Prayer Solicited

Leah Friedman had a blood clot recently, and she has had pneumonia, and she has sustained some damage to her heart. Now Mish Weiss says Leah has received some “bad news.”

I don’t know what could be considered “bad” after all that, but I know prayers would be welcomed.

Giant Saw Soon to be Mine, & Vice-Versa

I think the table saw move is under control. I got expert advice from various sources. It looks like it works this way: you remove as much heavy stuff as you can, and then you are left with a basic box which is not too bad. The main box can be rolled back into an Explorer so it lands on its top.

The wings are three bolts each. Og says the motor is four. You adjust the saw height so the motor is inside the box, you lower the saw onto a blanket, you put another blanket under the motor, and you pop the motor out and let it drop.

I don’t really care how hard it is to take it out of the car, because I can do that at home.

I don’t know what to do with that giant rail. Maybe it’s possible to cut it to a reasonable length.

I realize I’m crazy.

Delivery Problems

Troubles have developed in table saw paradise.

The guy who owns the saw thought he could deliver it. But he can’t. So a fifty-dollar gas contribution now turns into a nightmare rental scenario. Looks like a $150 addition to the cost, even if I take a train to rent the truck, drive the saw to Miami, and turn the truck in here.

I’m wondering if I could just take the saw apart. Motor out, top off. The motor has to weigh 75 pounds. I’m sure the top is another hundred. That would leave me with a box weighing around 250 pounds, which I should be able to wrestle onto a pickup bed with help.

The extension is homemade. It would have to come off. I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t want it. It’s too big to go in the garage. Maybe I could just dump it. I have no place to put it, and I am never going to cut giant panels. If I do, I can build a piece of junk like that, myself. I’m sure it’s useful, but it’s not worth losing the saw over.

Do any of you know how to take apart a table saw, and whether this idea is realistic? If the saw will come apart into pieces that can be handled fairly easily, I can borrow my dad’s Explorer and cram it in the back. Total cost: $30.

Low Prices Sometimes Result from Pain

I appreciate all the helpful tips on the table saw. I hope it works out. I believe the main reasons for the good price are that nobody around here wants a big saw, and very few people have a circuit which will run a 5-horsepower motor. I guess the good Lord had something on his mind when I went crazy and put three 220 circuits in the garage.

I don’t want to miss the more important issue here. The seller no longer needs the saw, because his business went under. That is a very sad reason for a bargain. And he is not alone in these tough times. The other day I learned that a family I know has been under great financial strain.

In the past, when I prayed for people, I just prayed that God would fix their problems. I now think that’s wrong. Aaron informed me that one of the Jewish words for prayer really means something more like “self-examination.” Problems are often the result of the way we live. Virtually everyone has something in his or her life that needs to be made right. These days, I pray that God will help people with their adversities, but I also pray that he will help them search themselves and change and come to serve and know him better.

Maybe you could join me in praying for those things today, for the guy with the saw, and for my friends.

Today my sister and I are going to Wayne Cochran’s church. She’s disappointed because they’re putting on a Christmas play. She wanted to hear him speak. Oh, well. It sure beats what we were doing on the Sunday before Christmas last year.

New Old Saw, Bought

Okay, let me take a minute to thank all the enablers who read this blog. Enjoy a good laugh at my expense.

I decided to make a deal on the table saw. I didn’t see how I could lose. The saw is clearly not stolen; the guy knows way too much about saws and Corian, and I found his business on the Internet. It’s a table saw, which means it has about four parts, all of which can be replaced when they go bad. It’s a Powermatic, which means it’s US-made and pretty unlikely to drop in value. It’s old, so it was made before the WMH buyout everyone whines about. And he is willing to DELIVER.

I can forget about building a router table now. I can put an insert in the table saw surface. I can get rid of my existing table saw and get all of my money back, except for what I paid for zero-clearance inserts. This thing will take up less room than the stuff it replaces.

I am insane; I know it. But I should end up with a tool that will last for eternity, perform like a dream, and remain worth more than the price I paid. The cost of owning and using the Ridgid will turn out to be sales tax plus a few bucks for some inserts.

That 220 witing is paying off. I think he was stuck with this thing because no one who called about it had 220. I don’t just have 220; I have a SELECTION of 220 circuits. I have 40-amp with one style of receptacle, and I have 60-amp with another style. Because I am crazy. Learning how to do wiring can change your life.

The 64″ fence is not ideal. Maybe I can find someone who will trade a smaller one for it. It will have to be taken off so I can park the car. I don’t know if it works with the usual accessories. Maybe the extra length is not an issue.

It would be fun to yank the guts out of this thing, sandblast it, prime it, and paint it. I don’ t think it would be hard. I believe cabinet saws pretty much fall apart with the removal of a few bolts and screws.

I guess this means I better go back to Home Depot with all the crap I bought to make the router table work.

I blame Og for this.

I Have a Sickness

I need psychiatric help.

The saw guy says the saw–a Powermatic 66–is in good running shape. He says he will guarantee it runs and so on. He is willing to BRING it to me. I am sweating with temptation.

This would be a nice addition to the garage. I could get rid of my Ridgid portable for what I paid for it (I got it for a third off), and I could set this thing up permanently, with a router insert and a caster set from Grizzly. It would wheel out when I needed it, and it would wheel in when I was tired of it. And I could resell it for more than I paid for it, unless it’s got real problems.

Arrghh. Jonesing. Bad.

Sometimes Craigslist Works

I’m stuck here waiting for someone, so I’m looking at power tools on Craigslist. Usually this stuff is awful. “DRILL PRESS – HARBOR FREIGHT – 5 YRS LIGHT USE – PAID $250, YOURS FOR $245.” And half the ads have no pictures, and they usually don’t have model numbers.

Here’s how selling used junk works. You do not get 75% of what you paid. You get 50% or less, barring weird circumstances. And unless you provide photos and model numbers, no one has a clue what you’re selling, so why would they call you?

Anyway, look what I found today: CLICK. That’s a huge Powermatic table saw with a big extension. It has a 5 HP motor. It’s 220. They want $495. How can that be a bad deal? If you have to replace the motor and clean up the entire machine, you still come out way ahead.

This ad is of no use to me. I can’t use a cabinet saw, even if it’s free. But it restores my faith in Craigslist.

I probably should have bought a Rigid 3650 saw and mounted my router on a wing, but I had no idea what I was getting into. That saw comes with rollers. You can keep it alongside a wall until you need it, and then you wheel it out and go to town. It would actually be more convenient than my portable, except that it could never leave the garage.

The saw I have is great, but there are limits to how you can accessorize it. You can’t put a wing on it. No router. Nothing magnetic. No tricked-out fences.

Someday, when I have my semi-rural compound with machine-gun nests.

Guess Who Leads?

This morning, while enjoying my delicious end-of-week McDonald’s breakfast, I saw a trailer for the new Tom Cruise movie. I have to tell you, I think this guy has finally lost the last fragment of his ability to perceive himself as others do. I mean, he’s in a trailer for a movie, and we are supposed to sympathize with him as the hero, and he’s a NAZI. I just can’t buy it.

I guess he was one of the NICE Nazis. The GOOD ones.

????

I think when you notice your boss shipping trainloads of Jews and gypsies and gays off to be gassed and turned into lampshades, and your big concern is that he may lose a war and cause problems for your country, you can be said to have completely lost sight of the high moral ground. Maybe I’m being unfair to Claus von Stauffenberg–the man Cruise plays–but judging from this quotation about Poland, I sort of doubt it:

The population here are unbelievable rabble; a great many Jews and a lot of mixed race. A people that is only comfortable under the lash. The thousands of prisoners will serve our agriculture well.

Oooookay.

Let’s take away Edward Teller’s house and make him spread manure for a living. Because he’s a JEW.

I am not seeing the warm and fuzzy side of this character.

Maybe Cruise is the Titanic, and destiny created this iceberg for him. Take a look at a bust of von Stauffenberg:

Come on. The resemblance is incredible. It would even fool L. Ron Hubbard. You can almost hear him yelling, “SP? PTSSP!!! I have CANCELLED that in my AREA!!!!!!”

This is the second “nice Nazi” movie in a decade, to my knowledge. The first was The Pianist. I guess you could throw in “Max,” because Hitler was so pathetic and wimpy in that one. I hope we don’t reach a point where confused Hollywood hipsters decide we have been unfair to the Thousand Year Reich and start issuing torrents of films with lovable Nazi protagonists.

Maybe we were asking for this when we laughed at Hogan’s Heroes.

Now This is a Church

I gave up trying to write music; I’ll pick it back up tomorrow. Software issues aggravated me for so long, I didn’t really have time to write anything. My computer’s audio circuits must have had corrupted drivers or something; I had to go to Asus’s infuriating site and download things. I think it’s okay now.

I got the birds out and listened to a disk I got in the mail. It came from Wayne Cochran. He and his crew are good about communicating with people who visit their church. They send emails and snail mail.

The thrust of the sermon was that we needed to set aside more time to spend with God. And he also talked about a couple other things that surprised me. He mentioned the book of Enoch, which I’ve been writing about, and which I bought recently. It seems like a lot of Christians are taking an interest in it these days. And–I think this may be the best part–he talked about pork. I am not kidding.

Toward the end of the sermon, he started talking about the kind of food he liked. He said some of the best eating he had ever had was cheap food. He mentioned fatback and biscuits and red eye gravy. You think I’m bad? He said he used to eat fatback and biscuits with Karo syrup. I loved hearing that stuff. My sister is anxious to visit his church again, and she has given up pork, and she wants me to give it up. I guess she has a surprise in store.

He also said he had a .357 by his bed and a Chinese assault rifle. And he has a motorcycle.

I don’t know if Wayne Cochran has the best doctrine, but I know this: as long as he keeps his accent and talks about pork and guns, I’ll be comfortable sitting in his church.

You Can Help

Yesterday, I somehow came upon a commercial blog (owned by the Chicago Sun-Times) written by a newspaper reporter and Baptist minister. The man’s name is Lacy Banks. I don’t know him from Adam, but I read what he wrote, and he says he has a brain tumor and prostate cancer. The brain tumor is benign, and the prostate cancer is in remission, but the treatment is unpleasant, and he is worn out. I forgot to mention, he also has congestive heart failure. He hasn’t been able to get a transplant because of the cancer issues.

When I started writing about God, I learned I had a large number of Christian readers who were always happy to learn of a chance to do someone a good turn. Maybe you would like to read what Mr. Banks wrote and offer up a holiday prayer for him.

His determination is inspiring; he is bent on serving God until the final second of his life. So many of us give up on God as soon as the wind changes. It gives me strength to see someone who can hold on while dealing with life-threatening disease in the autumn of his life.

While you’re at it, Mish and Leah can always use a mention. Mish is still battling her way back from a bone marrow transplant, and Leah–as if she hasn’t had enough problems–is fighting pneumonia.

Back to Finale

A few years back, when I first got interesting in writing music, I got a program called Allegro, which was the wimpy version of a program called Finale, which was a piece of composing software. I could not make heads or tails of it. Everyone on the web said Sibelius was the way to go, so I tried that, and it was not fun. When I sat down with the computer keyboard, the MIDI keyboard, and the manual, I was able to use it, but it was counterintuitive, and after a certain amount of time away, I forgot everything I had learned.

Today I decided to check out another Finale product: Finale Songwriter 2007. They have a fully functional demo you can try. It takes a month to download, but once it’s set up, it seems to work extremely well. It appears to be a very easy-to-use notation scratchpad, with MIDI playback and printing. Hard to complain about that. I have seen comments about it, saying it’s hard to do musically sophisticated things with it, but if you can print with it, presumably you can then scan the music into a more complex program.

Seems like a good choice so far.

Sibelius = Ulcers

I am totally determined to write some music. I have never been able to make much sense of Sibelius, but then I didn’t really try all that hard. I have moved it back to this computer, and I’m going to give it another shot. I’ll have to get the manual out. It’s like 9000 pages long.

I was probably stupid to buy Sibelius. The reviews said “Intuitive!”, and I believed them. There is nothing intuitive about it. Computer users don’t start with notation software. They start with word processors. Therefore the people who write notation software should fix their programs so they work like Word. Things like cut and paste should be available, and you should be able to put a cursor wherever you want and enter a note or a rest. Sibelius isn’t like that. It won’t let you copy notes at random and paste them where you want them; you can only put them where Sibelius thinks they fit. You can’t put more notes in a measure than it will hold, with the intention of removing the extra notes later. You can’t easily copy a measure and paste the copy where you want. You have to learn a bunch of weird rules that are hard to remember because they go against common sense.

I’m sure that if I used Sibelius every day for eight hours, at the end of a week, I’d be able to use it, but the pain of the first two or three days is pretty bad.

I used to have a cheap program called Rhapsody, and it was easy to use. As I recall, you could pretty much put notes where you wanted them. There must be something else like that out there. I used Rhapsody to create this soon-to-be-Grammy-nominated piece of music:

loobner4

I realize this is the most annoying non-Kenny-G. song ever written, but I had a reason for writing variations on it.

If I could write music that simple and add lyrics, I’d be thrilled. Maybe Sibelius is too big. I think you can use it to create orchestral scores.

I’m going to root around on the web and make sure there’s no better software out there, and then I’m going to get to work. I can’t take this any more. I have to make this work before my head explodes.