After learning that the cord on my ear buds was just about long enough to tug at my ear while I was running, I decided it was time to check out other options. I've had excellent luck with Acoustic Research products in the past, and I figured I'd see what they had in earbuds. I found them for cheap at Amazon, and they arrived this morning.

I'm not a gigantic fan of lots of noise, so I've been fascinated by hand tools for about a year now. I recently acquired a very nice Disston panel saw second hand. Since I also have a set of drawers to build for my wife, and the material at hand to do them, this looked like a fine opportunity to try out my new saw. This made doubly opportune because the stock I bought is too long to easily crosscut on my table saw, and too wide to use my miter saw.

The new printer is here, and it's everything I hoped for, plus more. This machine was ridiculously easy to set up. My hard-wired Linux computers found it on the network right away. The printer comes with a CD that includes a Postscript Printer Description. As far as Linux is concerned, a PPD file is a driver, and right away I could print to my new printer.

Since my wife has been on a successful weight-loss plan, and I've been on a weight-gain plan on the new job, I decided it was time to do something about changing my weight. Because I've been unhappy with how thin my legs have gotten, and how little muscle tone there is, I decided that running, as well as some weight lifting, would be a good bet for winter-time exercise to encourage the weight loss.

Today was a big beer day. First, Jeff Lawton, Karl Schultler and I brewed up ten gallons of oatmeal stout, to replace the five gallons I dropped on out last brew day. This is the very first time we've pulled out a full ten gallons. Now, the downside is that I don't think this beer is as strong as it should be. The initial gravity of 1.032 is way under what you normally get in an oatmeal stout. The flavor seems like it will be good, but the beer will be too light, and I don't think we can justifiably call it a stout.

Just ordered myself a new Konica Minolta printer. These printers aren't very fast, but they're inexpensive and super compatible with everything. A friend bought a similar model a few years ago, and the print quality is amazing. The compatibility is the biggest thing for me though.

Currently I'm sharpening my planes and chisels with sandpaper. And that's fine as far as it goes. But I've got a set of cheap diamond stones, and they're a lot faster at cutting the metal, even in finer grits, and they don't make a mess of loosened abrasive like I get with the finer grit papers.

Scraper Close UpA while back I bought a cabinet scraper, because I'd seen them used on TV, and I wanted to try it out on my bathroom vanity. The experiment succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

Thought I would share that with everybody, because it's my favorite of Allison's senior pictures. Allison is my cousin's daughter, and is beautiful in these pictures. And this will probably embarrass her, but she looks like her mother.

I put Batch 9, my honey-wheat beer, into the keg today. It's wicked-clear and very dry. Initial gravity of 1.062, final gravity of 1.002, for a final strength of 8.3% alcohol. That's light for a mead, but strong for a wheat.