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I have been very remiss in updating this "blog". As my friend Jim Estill has said (paraphrasing) on his blog, it's just a habit, and habits are easier to break than to make.
Not that there's been all that much activity around here. Since returning from Ireland, I've been scrambling to find new work. I have been somewhat successful, mainly due to an old associate handing one of his project over to me. The first phase of that work involves adding some functionality to an old FileMaker 6 Web application. I haven't used 6 for several years, so it's been a case of re-learning things I didn't think I'd ever need again. To some extent though, it's like riding a horse.
The second phase of that project though, will require a complete re-write of the existing limited application, to make it generic and open-ended. I plan to do it in Rails. The owner of the application currently uses it to service only one of her clients. The new version will be designed to service any number, with complete separation of the client sessions and data except at the administration and reporting end.
I have been spending money though. Carefully, and judiciously. In the past month, I have acquired a solid router table, a thickness planer and stand, and a mitre saw. In each case, I paid considerably less than the normal retail price. The router table is from http://www.rt1000.com/. I had asked about the "Canadian Woodworking Magazine Special", but it was out of stock. Joe offered me the top-of-the-line XL for a very attractive price. I see that he and Aggie now have that model on as a Christmas Special. The table arrived via UPS in 2 separate boxes. Both the base and top were very well packed, and there was only the most minimal of damage, and even that was on the back side.
I hadn't planned on getting a thickness planer just yet, but I was wandering though the Rona closest to me, and saw a fairly subtle price sticker on the DeWALT 735. Home Depot had it listed at $549, and the Rona price was $414. I thought, "I don't need it yet", so I passed on it. A few days later, I was in a Home Depot, and the price was now $599! So I headed back to Rona, asked "what's the price today", and was informed that it was still $414, as that particular store was discontinuing the model. As it turned out, all those prices were for the machine itself, without base. The guy at Rona mentioned that the base was available, and the combination was $550. As this was still $50 less than the "new and improved" Home Depot price for machine alone, I of course took both.
The mitre saw was a similar situation. I had been looking at the DeWALT 715, regular price at Home Depot $349. In the "Introduction to Violinmaking" seminar I took at Lee Valley Tools a few weeks ago, one of the other participants mentioned Weeks Hardware in Waterdown as a great place for tools. After the seminar, I dropped in and talked to their tools manager. He offered me several attractive prices, but I guess I didn't look convinced. So finally he said, "how about something completely off the wall", and showed me a floor model Delta Shopmaster 12" mitre saw. I got it for $220.
I now have almost everything I need to make the LED lamp bases, or furniture for that matter. Now all I need is more "free" time....
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