Why is it...

that whenever I want to avoid something, I can find 1000 things to distract me, yet when I actually feel motivated about something 1000 things come up that prevent me from doing what needs to be done?

What exactly is Particle Board?

Some people call this wood...

Dictionary.com defines it this way:

any of various composition boards formed from small particles of wood, as flakes or shavings, tightly compressed and bonded together with a resin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin:
1955–60

Wikipedia has an article on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_board

This crap should NEVER have been invented. It is the worst crap you can use to create anything that you would normally use wood for. It breaks easily, can't pound a nail through it without first drilling a hole otherwise it will pretty much shatter, nail pounded into it will pull out easily, and pretty much anything made with it will need to be replaced within 5 years (or at least you wish you would replace it that soon).

Unfortunately for me, I still own a printer stand that came with a desk I purchased back in 1989... 20 years... seems pretty good. I'm using it now as a TV stand and am just too lazy to replace it with the kind of stand it should have. The desk went to the fire pit long ago, along with a couple of entertainment centers.

Some genius decided it would be a good idea to make cabinet drawers out of it. I'm currently working on replacing the 4th drawer. There are still 14 more to be replaced, however, they are not bad enough to warrent my attention yet... one crisis at a time please :)

Should you ever have a chance to choice between particle board and plywood or, cost allowing, solid wood. Go with the plywood or solid wood if you can afford it. Avoid particle board at all costs...

Been an even longer while... :(

So, growing up I used to think that it would bite living out in the country. But now, everytime I walk outside in the dark and see the stars I think it is truely the best place to live.

No cars constantly driving by, no street lights, no smog. Just clear night air where you can see the vastness of space....

Ahhhhhhhh....

Been awhile

So, its been a little bit since I last posted and I thought I would catch you up on whats up.

1) I was at my buddy's house and he had the exact same problem with his Wii that I did so I used repair proceedure #1 on it and PRESTO it works again. Good timing on me being there.

2) Bored as heck. Really want to try and figure out some cool stuff to do, just not very motivated.

3) I have some cool ideas on things to make, just don't have the resources to build them just yet. (need a plasma cutter, steel 'bender', concrete mixer, and other stuff) :)

Sounds like tons of fun doesn't it? Wish you were here?

Repair Procedure Number 1

So, I wanted to try out Wii Punch Out which I borrowed from a friend of mine, when I noticed that the Wii wouldn't turn on. No light, nothing.

So I unplugged it and left it that way for a few. Still nothing. Put a tester on the power supply, nothing. DOH

The internet says there is a 3amp fuse to replace. Not on mine (not visible anyway). So my friend and I open it up. Again, nothing that looks like a fuse. There was one device that seemed like it might be a resettable fuse, but no reset button.

I decided to just forget about it and go ahead and order a new one. We put it back together and plugged it in one more time to double check it. Presto it worked!

In thinking about it, when we took it apart, we had to slam it down on the bench pretty hard to get it out of the case. So, I'm thinking that the 'resettable' fuse got reset when I did that.

Go old Repair Procedure Number 1... HIT IT!

Ramblings

Life is a beach.  You never know what will wash up on the shore, what someone will lose in the sand for you to find or what lurks beneath the sand to kill you.

One more Applesoft Program

I wrote this as two programs so long ago, I don't remember how they work :)

I thought for sure that I lost these, but stumbled across them today so I wanted to post them here for posterity.  I espcially like version 2.

If I get really ambitious I might try to write version 2 into assembly... not sure I remember assembly quite that well yet (I can read it well enough, but can I still write it???)

 1   TEXT : HOME

 2   ?  "Lo Res Graphics Fun by Gregg"

 5   ? "Which Version 1 or 2 (3 to quit): ";: GET K$

 6   IF K$ = "2" THEN 10

 7   IF K$ = "1" THEN 510

 8   IF K$ = "3" THEN HOME : ? "Bye!" : END

 9   GOTO 1

 10  TEXT : HOME : GR :T = 0:X = 1:Y = 38:C1 = 1:Z = 0:C2 = 2:XX = 0:YY = 0

 12 X1 = 19:Y1 = 20:C3 = 4

 13 X2 = 19:Y2 = 20:C4 = 6

 15  VTAB 22: PRINT "HIT ESC TO EXIT"

 20  COLOR= C1: HLIN X,Y AT X: HLIN X,Y AT Y: VLIN X,Y AT X: VLIN X,Y AT Y

 30 X = X + 1:Y = Y - 1:T = T + 1: IF T = 9 THEN XX = 1:YY = 38:Z = 1

 40  IF X = 20 THEN X = 1:Y = 38:C1 = C1 + 2: IF C1 > 15 THEN C1 = 1

 50  IF Z <  > 1 THEN 80

 60  COLOR= C2: HLIN XX,YY AT XX: HLIN XX,YY AT YY: VLIN XX,YY AT YY: VLIN XX,YY AT XX

 70 XX = XX + 1:YY = YY - 1: IF XX = 20 THEN XX = 1:YY = 38:C2 = C2 + 2: IF C2 > 14 THEN C2 = 2

 80  COLOR= C3: HLIN X1,Y1 AT X1: HLIN X1,Y1 AT Y1: VLIN X1,Y1 AT X1: VLIN X1,Y1 AT Y1

 90 X1 = X1 - 1:Y1 = Y1 + 1:

 100  IF X1 = 0 THEN X1 = 19:Y1 = 20:C3 = C3 + 2: IF C3 > 15 THEN C3 = 1

 105  IF Z <  > 1 THEN 20

 110  COLOR= C4: HLIN Y2,X2 AT X2: HLIN Y2,X2 AT Y2: VLIN Y2,X2 AT X2: VLIN Y2,X2 AT Y2

 120 X2 = X2 - 1:Y2 = Y2 + 1

 130  IF X2 = 0 THEN X2 = 19:Y2 = 20:C4 = C4 + 2: IF C4 > 15 THEN C4 = 1

 200 K =  PEEK ( - 16384): IF K <  > 155 THEN 20

 210  POKE  - 16368,0: TEXT : HOME : GOTO 1

 510  TEXT : HOME : GR :T = 0:X = 1:Y = 38:C1 = 1:Z = 0:C2 = 2:XX = 0:YY = 0

 520  COLOR= C1: HLIN X,Y AT X: HLIN X,Y AT Y: VLIN X,Y AT X: VLIN X,Y AT Y

 530 X = X + 1:Y = Y - 1:T = T + 1: IF T = 9 THEN XX = 1:YY = 38:Z = 1

 540  IF X = 39 THEN X = 1:Y = 38:C1 = C1 + 2: IF C1 > 15 THEN C1 = 1

 550  IF Z <  > 1 THEN 520

 560  COLOR= C2: HLIN XX,YY AT XX: HLIN XX,YY AT YY: VLIN XX,YY AT YY: VLIN XX,YY AT XX

 570 XX = XX + 1:YY = YY - 1: IF XX = 39 THEN XX = 1:YY = 38:C2 = C2 + 2: IF C2 > 14 THEN C2 = 2

 580  VTAB 22: PRINT "HIT 'ESC' TO EXIT":K =  PEEK ( - 16384): IF K <  > 155 THEN 520

 590  POKE  - 16368,0: TEXT : HOME : GOTO 1