Am I the only one that gets frustrated when I click the “Get Mail” icon in Thunderbird, and that email I really need to see in my inbox doesn’t magically appear?

Some days it feels like all of my outgoing voice mail messages and emails are disappearing into the ether, and I am left banging my head against the wall.  The world can be a lonely place with all of the new rapid communication tools.  At least in the old days I could tell myself that “maybe the letter hasn’t arrived yet”, or some similar reassurance.

I am continually blown away this time of year.  I can’t believe how incredibly beautiful this world can be.  I absolutely love living in a place that experiences all four seasons.  Each one seems to come along at just the right time, just when I’m needing a change, and may not even realize it.  I love the simple scenes, like that same cemetery I see on my way to work if I stop into the coffee shop ~ the other day it was cool enough in the morning that a beautiful mist was floating through the long shadows of morning.   An irrigation canal runs along the east side of the cemetery and lends to some pretty beautiful effects when the weather is right.

I feel like this is also a great time of year to start going inward, and focusing even more on personal development.

This photo was taken on my cell phone on a drive through the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho last fall.  I love how the compression of the phone created a watercolor effect.  What an incredible drive.

I happened upon the Little Tree Bed and Breakfast online while planning a stopover in Taos on our way to Las Cruces, New Mexico. What an inspiring city. We couldn’t have asked for a more romantic place to stay, and we made some very dear friends.

Yes, the fall session of welding class has begun. The majority of the first class was spent refreshing my memory on safety and methods. I also learned to TIG weld, at least just a few passes. It takes a lot of coordination, because your heating the metal with the torch in one hand, and feeding your steel filler with the other hand. My first attempt was great. From there, I heated it too much, and then went to fast and didn’t heat it enough.

I guess you don’t have to wear leathers either because it doesn’t put off sparks (usually). My instructor said you can just wear a long sleeved dark colored shirt (dark so you don’t burn through it from the UV rays). Luckily I had some cold-rolled steel to practice on. She said that if you get hot-rolled steel, it is rougher on the surface as the impurities rise to the surface, and you have to grind it smooth to TIG weld, or your weld won’t be smooth.

I started cutting out pieces for my new project using the plasma cutter in the second class. My new project is a dragonfly to go in my mom’s garden. I’m trying to do the body in semi-3D by curving the 2 halves of the body and head on the hydraulic press using curved molds. I think I know how I’m going to do the wings. Rather than try to cut a highly-detailed pattern out with the plasma cutter, I think I’ll get several different thicknesses of wire and form the wings with that. We’ll see how it goes. My goals for tonight are: (1) don’t hurt myself or others, and (2) don’t break anything (I’ve already broken a part on the torch and a grinding disk).

Yes, I’m a CAD monkey in one of my lives.  I’ve decided to document some of the commands I need to remember here, not only to help others who share my frustrations, but also to keep my CAD notes in a central location.  No more searching for those little scraps of paper I make my notes on when I’m in a hurry.  And, just so you know, I’m still working in Version 2008.  I refuse to upgrade as fast as they send them out because I think it’s ridiculous to change your work environment that often.  2010 is sitting on the shelf, but I won’t be installing for some time yet.

So, have you ever been working on a CAD drawing, and all of the sudden CAD won’t let you right click to repeat the last command (even if you go into your options and try to reset this as your preference), and it won’t let you select something with one mouse click, and then apply the command you want without taking other more tedious steps?  Well, I was saved by a colleague who researched this issue a while back after pulling his hair out over it.

You just have to type “pickfirst” at the command prompt, and then set the value to “1“.  That’s it.  For some reason, something just gets tweaked once in a while, and it’s never easy to wade through the help files to get exactly what you need.  I was ready to re-install CAD when Gus came to my rescue.

On my way to work, I drive past a small cemetery in town.  This morning I saw a UHaul parked in the cemetery.  The thought popped into my head – was somebody trying to take it with them?  ; ).

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

- Henry David Thoreau

A great quote included in Peter Lawrence’s article in the latest Simple Living Network Newsletter.  Check it out for some great reading suggestions, and some great reminders.