Well, it's all I've ever wanted it to be. I've finished programming my new website and it's a thing of beauty. All further posts will be made to the thoughts section of my new website. LiveJournal, it's been nice knowing ya.
http://www.xylemsci.ca
Cheers. |
Well, if anyone tried to check this out yesterday or today they would have found most of the images broken. The domain I had been using, xylemvisuals.com, had been put to rest. It wasn't intentional, but I'm not really too sad about it. I needed a new virtual look anyway. Clicking the thumbnail in the top right corner will launch the website at my new domain, xylemsci.ca.
I found out yesterday morning that my domain wasn't working and after resultless calls to Arizona I decided to just setup a new one. I'm using the same server, just had to get a new identity for it. I built the website design in the middle of the night yesterday and now after a good day or hiking around I'm working at it again. I'm really happy with it so far and have a fairly solid vision for what it will be. You'll be impressed I'm sure. |
I finished the new table for my room. At least this version of it anyway. I'd like to cast pieces for a nice looking base for it eventually. This will do for now though. Raya even gets to keep her bed in the corner, at least until I have company.
I composed a message for a friend today explaining what I plan to do with myself in the future. Part of that message was well worded about my plans and I'd like to re-iterate it here, in case anyone reading this was curious.
I have sort of a 15 year plan for myself. It's fairly ambitious so I've given myself lots of time. I'm trying to be very patient with myself because I know I will do some cool things in my life but it probably won't be for a while (no capital). In a couple years I want to acquire a piece of property somewhere, not sure where yet. On this property I will first develop a large greenhouse and a small house. The greenhouse will be developed into a full production year-round facility and made into a sustainable business. After enough capital has been generated by the greenhouse business, I would like to construct more buildings on the property. A large shop/laboratory, a small lecture theatre with a couple classrooms and a new residence/B&B. The main goal is to have an institute of sorts teaching people about my real passions : high-tech food production, sustainable (environmentally-friendly) building practices, off-grid living and whole host of Do-It-Yourself type stuff.
The idea is to be able to provide mostly weekend workshops catering to busy working people. I went to an awesome workshop on Saltspring this summer that helped to shape my ideas. It's all about efficient information presentation. Any given human can learn a lot in a weekend if the materials and methods of teaching are well developed. The B&B will provide a place for people to stay when they are attending the workshops as well as an income generator for the rest of the time when workshops aren't happening.
My 'institute of sustainability' will be heavily marketed online with the hopes of reaching all different kinds audiences from different places in the world. It is my intent to provide a unique learning experience to all those who set foot on the grounds. I'd much rather be a teacher than a computer geek.
That's all for today. Ciao. |
Did you know that it's estimated that 8% of the earth's crust is composed of Aluminum? What a fantastic, plentiful building material. Sure, it's nasty if you get it in your circulation but so are lots of things. I don't plan to be spreading molten aluminum on my toast. I'm on bit of an aluminum bender right now. I just bought a series of books from a site that instructs the reader how to build a foundry and then go on to build a metal lathe, a drill press, a shaper, a sheet metal brake and various other gadgets for working with metal by melting aluminum and casting it into various shapes. I'm stoked, I've already found lots of people online that have successfully done at least the foundry and the lathe. Anyone got any scrap aluminum they'll give me to melt? (no, not popcans)
The plants in the greenhouse are starting to show some colour. I've been eating chilis and jalapenos for a week now and they are damn spicy. I can't eat more than one at a sitting (in the meal). Well, I could eat more, but I'd pay. I'm thinking I may try to setup a small hydro unit inside to see if I can sustain the banana and jalapeno trees through the winter. They are too cool to waste.
I got my license back today. It's been over 7 years since I got it taken away and I've finally forked over all the required cash to get it back. Now I can buy a van! It's gonna be a mid-80s toyota probably. I'll paint cool designs on the outside and camperize the inside but make it modular so I can switch between people-mover, materials-obtainer and camper-van. I've been thinking about propane heating and LED lighting lately. It'll be cool.
This evening I've been working on a sweet solid pine table for my room. It's made from an old coffee table I've had for eons. Looks about 100 times nicer though. I'll post pics when it's done. |
Two really cool things transpired in my life yesterday. Now, don't get too excited (assuming people actually read this) - what is 'really cool' for me is often totally mundane for others.
The first thing : There was a purolator sticker on my door yesterday morning (which was much more like yesterday afternoon). It said that someone had tried to deliver a package before 8am and that I could go pick it up at the depot. "Woo hoo ... what is it?" I thought. Sure enough, it was my package from EOL Surplus with my 6 shiny new Thomson Linear Bearings. They are beautiful. I went to Metal Supermarkets to test them out on the shafting I will be using for them and they glide like they are hovering above the surface of the metal. Just perfect. No play at all on the big guy either, this is gonna work just great for my machine.
Second thing : For the last couple days I've been working on a new bookshelf for my room. I'm experimenting with 5/8" pine plywood (cause it's cheap!) and pine veneer edge banding. I think it looks totally stellar. Even upon close examination in some parts it looks like solid wood. Better than you can find anywhere else for under $100. It's totally solid too.
Namaste. |
| » Summer nights |
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It's just one of those nights where you're really glad that someone discovered electricity back in the day and that these marvelous devices called oscillating fans came into creation thereafter. Don't know how hot it got today but much of the heat seems to be still seeping out of my house into my room keeping it at an above-comfortable level. I shouldn't complain, I'll be whining in a couple months from the opposite effect.
One of the great things about excessive amounts of sun though, is that hydroponic life just thrives. No need to worry about these babies drying out, they're just loving it. The only problem I'm having is dealing with all of the weight from the copious amounts of fruit being produced. I'm beating myself up now for not having installed a screen or some other kind of training device for the plants to grow into. Oh well, there's always next year.
At any rate, the banana peppers are kicking ass. The photo above has a film container in it for scale. Also notice the sheer girth of the stalk. I'm going to bring the banana pepper and jalapeno pepper trees (oh yes, they are trees) inside for the winter to see if I can keep them going.
None of the fruits are ripening yet. I think it may be related to lower than required nutrient concentrations for maturation. Not sure, I'll be experimenting with this idea in the next few weeks. I can't wait until these babies are ready for the pluckin'.
Aug. 18th, 2004 @ 10:45 pm
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| » Wonderful Evening |
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Last night was ripe for a swim at a local lake. The warm weather has definitely picked up in full force again. This will be a short journal entry. Just wanted to show off this one photo really. I think the ripples in the foreground and the pink clouds in the sky made a great combination. Had I had a wider lens I would have been able to capture the pink reflecting in the water in front of me too. It was quite the sight.
Aug. 11th, 2004 @ 10:20 am
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| » Rammed Earth |
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This weekend was as action packed as they get. Friday afternoon I drove down to Crofton and caught the ferry to Saltspring Island. The place I stayed at was as cool as budget accomodation gets. It's called Valhalla Sleeping Units - their website is here. The Rammed Earth workshop by Terra Firma was beautifully orchestrated and I learned 200% more about the technology and still I crave more. All of the houses we saw were different in their own way and all very creative and beautiful. One shined because of it's off-grid power system, one because of it's amazing site and wonderful colours and another because of it's sheer size, attention to detail and wonderful curves. I'm planning to 'ram' my own earthen wall at the front of my place in the next few months. Should be a fun experience.
Today, I ordered the 3 pairs of ball bearing bushings for my CNC machine, whose new codename is 'Shafty' (dremelbot isn't appropriate anymore, since I've upgraded the design). Shafty is going to have 48" long 1.5" diameter precision-ground main shafts that the gantry rides along. I'm excited about the idea of having a CNC machine made out of such high quality components (which I'm acquiring at very reasonable prices). I'm even entertaining the idea of mounting one of my TR12 spindles (I have two) in the machine when it's complete. Sure, it probably weighs 15 lbs., but if this machine glides like I think it's going to, I don't think it will be an issue. I'll probably be using 150 oz.-in. stepper motors anyway.
Aug. 9th, 2004 @ 09:37 pm
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| » Camping/A+ Garden |
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On Sunday some friends and I set out to find a cabin that we saw on a map that was near a lake in the Nanaimo area. The map we found online proved to be mostly accurate and we arrived at our destination with ease. That night we had some visiting micro-toads as well as heard sounds from some owls and something we started referring to as the 'goatbeast'. It was a fun trip. Here's a shot of one of the micro-toads. These guys were smaller than a loonie.
Today I spent a bit admiring my sprawling aeroponic garden in all it's glory. The fruit growth continues at an exponential pace. Most of the plants have large masses of roots collecting on the bottom of the basin (with the except of the bell pepper, being the mutant that it is). I'm not even going to bother counting fruit on the chili and the banana pepper has over 30 above finger-sized fruits on it. Take a look for yourself in the pics.
An engineer friend of mine came up from Victoria for the camping trip this weekend and I spent a good amount of time picking his brain about building machines, stepper motors and linear motion. He gave me some ideas for my own contraption which is now going to be much larger than the original plan. I've decided to fully design it myself. So far, I've found one individual who has built one similar to my idea, his site is here.
Aug. 3rd, 2004 @ 11:38 pm
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| » River Mission/Projects Update |
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Tonight I went to to river again and soaked in it's warm, clean, clear water. It darkened and I had an opportunity to try out some slow shutter speed water-blurring shots. I got 3 I half-like and nothing that totally amazing. I think I need to tweak with the white balance and exposure compensation next time.
The peppers are continuing to produce many new fruits daily. I remove 10+ wilted flowers daily on the chili. The flowers wilt after the ovules get fertilized and the ovary starts to swell. So far there has been a real minimum of unfertilized flowers, having the fan blowing the plants daily seems to be really helping out with the pollen distribution.
I had planned to start on Dremelbot today but instead spent the time at the river and shopping for more parts. I have everything I need to as far as the stepper motor installation and a plan of action for that too. I'm going to acquire a kit that includes 3 stepper motors, the power supply, the circuit board, the computer cable and some software from Stepper World. The board I'm getting is capable of supplying each channel with in excess of 10 amps. That's enough juice to run a 100 oz-in stepper. I'm thinking about the future.
Jul. 25th, 2004 @ 11:30 pm
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madsciguy's journal
