Virtuallust

Chris Schwarz just posted several videos on the Lost Art Press blog of perhaps one of my favorite objects that I have never actually seen in person. The toolchest of H.O Studley is one of those things that has always captured my imagination and, until these videos were posted, I only knew it through the handful of images that are readily available and re-published prolifically.  The piece, once on loan to the Smithsonian, now resides in a private personal collection (in an undisclosed location). My mental image of the piece was only reinforced several years ago when Norm Abram visited with the chest of an episode of "The New Yankee Workshop". It was then that I discovered that there was even more immaculate ingeniousness and a whole second layer of tools hidden under a series of swinging racks and doors. These new videos, just a sneak peak, introduce new mindboggling level of detail and refinement. Once again my excitement about the chest has been reignited, as well as my virtuallust to one day see it in the flesh.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Vote NOW for BB Rattles on Apartment Therapy

My BB Rattles are up now in Apartment Therapy's Design Showcase 2011. Voting is only open for four days (ending Tuesday 9/27) so head over there now and vote.

>>>>>>>>> VOTE HERE <<<<<<<<<<

Please submit a vote or three!

Thanks!

Parts & Labor

Here we have the latest images from the damage caused by hurricane Niels this past weekend. As you can see, several trees were damaged and workers are working round the the clock to clear the wreckage.

Go make a mess!

Manual Arts Training: Splitting Hairs

I am a pretty serious do it yourself kind of person. If it isn’t extraordinarily dangerous (home dentistry) or potentially costly, I am game for just about anything.  There are plenty of things that if you are willing to spend some time in research, tools, and materials you can do yourself, save butt loads of cash, and learn interesting things. For instance, last week I learned how to hardwire a radar detector and install an ipod dock in my car (god bless youtube), saving at least 400 in labor cost. Now 400 bucks is pocket change compare to one basic DIY service that borderlines on criminal: Cutting your hair.

The Last Wallet

One of my favorite scenes from the book Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is when the main character is sitting on the curb outside his recently blown up apartment. Lamenting the loss of all of his stuff he says:

"You buy furniture.  You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life.  Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled."

While I don’t think that I am ready to get rid of all my worldly possessions and start fighting underground, I am pleased to report that it appears that I've finally gotten a handle on my wallet issue.

Manual Arts Training: Shifting Gears

Sorry for the recent lack of lack of bloggering, I blame the summer (and the government, ha!). Hopefully, I’ll get in to gear and catch up on a bunch of subjects that I have been thinking on for the past month. To get things started, I wanted to talk about my most recent foray into manual arts training: learning how to drive stick.

I am frankly embarrassed that it has taken me this long to really learn how to operated a manual transmission. As a car-dude, my head has hung in shame for far to long. So this summer, I made the decision to buy a new (used) car with a manual transmission to force the issue.

Filling

Artist Judith Klausner via Designboom