JobyOne's Profile

This is why even when I see something being marketed as "green" I still read the label. Seriously! It sounds like this is basically the same toxic crap as any other Raid product, but now they put some freakin' flowers on the can and people buy it and think it's safe.

This should be a crime. It might actually be more dangerous than the regular Raid, because people will assume it's safer. At least people who buy regular pesticides are under no illusions that they're safe.

Without a doubt. Just last weekend I replaced a broken plastic handle on a garden trowel with a (rather imperfect) hand carved wooden one. Could I have bought a new trowel for $5 instead of spending an hour carving a new handle? Sure.

But it would have just been another consumed object, not something that we have years of memories attached to and now we will treasure for years more to come.

Now we can dig in the garden with something beautiful and unique instead of just another piece of plastic crap.

I would love to build like this. Unfortunately I live in a city where the contractor-run building code enforcement basically makes it impossible to build a house out of anything but expensive sticks.

Someday...

Those of you wondering about splintering: it's not looking like it's going to be a problem.

I like that harbor freight one, and great job on the rebuild, id_mike. I really prefer the look of the bamboo though, I don't generally like things made out of plastic.

For those of you wondering about the delicious chickens: it's a stencil I made a long time ago, and just recently put on my work bench. Here's a photo of the full image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jobyone/3958520287/

It's inspired by one particular local organic free range chicken farmer I know.

Thanks everyone for liking what I made! I've got another kitchen DIY project in the works, I might try to wrap it up this weekend.

Once Gizmo5 reopens (might just become a part of Google Voice) I would suggest a VoIP landline tied to your GV number (which also points at your cell phone).

That way you can give people one number, and it will ring your "land line" and your cell at the same time.

I used to have an 8x10 basement bedroom, with about 5 foot ceilings, and I found a few little things to be invaluable:

1 - A futon couch/bed. The one I had was a couch by day, but big enough to sleep on alone. I could pull it out to make a full bed if I weren't sleeping alone, even though that only left about 2 feet between the edge of the bed and my desk.

2 - Wall mounted shelves. If your shelves don't take up floor space you'll be a LOT better off. The ones I had were a set of steel strips that screwed to the walls and had brackets that meshed with them to hold up boards. The hardware was free at a university salvage yard, and the boards were dirt cheap at Home Depot.

3 - Shelves, not drawers. In a space that cramped you'll want to keep as much as possible on shelves, because you will easily find drawers becoming cluttered, and living in a small space clutter is a terrible thing. Shelves keep everything right out in the open where you have no choice but to face it and keep it tidy. Mine was so small a single pair of pants on the floor made the whole place feel like a dump.

4 - Light on a timer. I had a big bright light pointed at my bed that was attached to a timer. It turned on every morning at 8:00 and turned off at midnight if I still had it on. Without windows to cue your body about the time your sleep cycles will easily get horribly out of sync with the rest of the world.

Good luck, it's tough living in a cramped basement, but it can certainly be done. When I did it I still had a CRT, and it would feel practically luxurious these days with my LCD.

The key to making it work will be learning how to be exceedingly tidy and organized. Trust me, cleanliness is the only way you'll make it through comfortably.