Had the chance to meet Steve Wozniak today at the Flying Car MKE event. He’s quite lovely in person and is a genuinely nice guy. Very inspirational. He even signed my 17″ Macbook Pro! Continue reading “Woz”
Woz
Baby Closet Shelves
We’ve been collecting loads of baby stuff as Luciana gets closer to her due date. In an effort to keep things organized, we decided that I should build some closet shelves so there’s a place to put all the baby things.
I didn’t want to make any permanent changes to the closet, since as the baby grows up, they might want to hang things instead of stuff things in boxes. I designed some real basic units that matched the woodland-creature-theme of the room and still cost less than buying a ready-made product.
Cedar Planters
After completing my outdoor raised planter, I was commissioned to build two cedar versions of the planter. The owner of the boxes is older, so I made the planters accessible while seated. This was one of my first cedar projects, and was a total joy to work with.
WebGL Game Development Book
Over the last few months, I’ve been working on editing a book on WebGL Game Development for Packt Publishing. It’s been a pretty fun and interesting experience. If you’re interested, it’s a pretty good book to learn the ropes of WebGL.
Outdoor Table-Workbench
We had some folks come over last month for a grill-out, and didn’t have nearly enough seating to accommodate everyone. I decided to build and quick and dirty treated-lumber table that could double as a workbench.
I ended up running out to the hardware store an hour before people were coming over and finished fashioning the top together with recessed lag screws just in time. It was propped up on two saw horses and was garnished with a table cloth. It worked great!
To fulfill its role as a workbench, I thought I’d try to make the legs adjustable, so it can be table height for guests or standing height for working.
Outdoor Planter
Our patio has seemed bare, so I built a raised planter for the patio. I ultimately ended up going with treated pine lumber, since it was vastly cheaper than cedar. I’m not too concerned about possible chemical leakage since I lined it with plastic anyway.
Some techniques I thought I would experiment with:
- Mortise/Dado joints – I thought I’d try my hand at chiseling some dados to add stability to the planter.
- Routing – I got a cheapie router and router table, thought I would give it a try for slotting the bottom tracks.
Luciana Office Stand
Luciana wanted a stand for her office to hold phone and supplies. I took a stab at making something that fit her criteria: it must be black.
First Cuttingboard
Woodworking has always somewhat interested me, but always seemed cost-prohibitive to get into. Luciana hasn’t thought of me as being terribly handy. In my defense, we’ve only owned our home for a few years, so there hasn’t been much to do. To better myself, I decided to see if woodworking was a skill I could develop.
To start off, I decided to see if I had the patience to laminate some basic 1x2s (oak, maple, and mahogany) into something that resembles a cutting board. I figure, if I couldn’t do that, I wouldn’t bother investing time and money in it.
Cat Scratching Posts
After building the cat tower, I had plenty of left over materials to repair our existing cat scratching post and build a new one.
Cat Tower
My sister-in-law wanted to DIY a cat tower and I volunteered to help.