Getting Better...

Since Monday is a holiday due to Canada Day, I took today off for a 4 day weekend. I slept in because I was up so late tying the last fly. Today I had a go at my third fly. It is still quite bad, but is my best result to date.



I think a fish may even consider eating this one! Maybe I'll go out fishing this afternoon and see if I can catch my first trout. I am still dying to try cedar plank trout on the BBQ.

More Fly Tying

So tonight I bought a book and decided to try tying another fly. It was supposed to be an F Fly. I started out just fine:



Well, long story short I didn't have quite the right materials, so it morphed into a Griffith's Gnat. Unfortunately it doesn't look like either one. So, I guess I invented another new fly! It looks like a cross between a caterpillar and a really bad moustache.

Fly Fishing and LOLcats

I am completely obsessed with fly fishing. I was introduced to the sport by my uncle in Scotland and I had only ever been fly fishing twice in the same pond in Scotland - where I *snagged* a fish. Well, last weekend I went fishing in the Grand River with a friend and I enjoyed it so much I went out and bought some more gear and can't wait until I go again. I never realized just how many good spots there are in the Grand River around Waterloo, Elora, and Fergus!

The same uncle that took me fly fishing for the first time gave me a fly tying kit, which I have been avoiding because I have always been afraid of the results.

My fears were justified.

Tonight, since there was no chance of me actually getting out and going fishing, I figured I would break open the kit and give it a whirl. It was all looking good at the start:



And then all hell broke loose. Anyway, here is the end result:



It reminds me of an LOLcat I saw the other day:



Let's hope the fish think otherwise...

The Major Woodworking Is Done!

Well, I finished routering all of the edges of the prototype cabinet as well as profiling the sound hole in the speaker baffle. Check it out:



So, all that is left is a good sanding, and then start hiding all the flaws with tolex and grill cloth. ;o)

Facebook the Time-Sink

I've been sucked into Facebook. Once I started blogging it was only a matter of time I suppose.

More Amp Pics

One or two years ago I was taking a lot of photos as we built Model II, I just never got around to putting them anywhere.

Now they are up on my Picasa page. Here is a sample:



This is the cabinet *before* I went and ruined the absolutely gorgeous curly maple with stain. I had this vision of a vibrant yellow amp (and blue for the other one) that still had the wood grain glowing through. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that well. I was happier with mine (the yellow one) rather than Justin's (the blue one) - sorry Justin - but it still wasn't what I envisioned. I think I stained, re-sanded down to bare wood, and re-stained each amp three times and eventually gave up. I think the stain I chose (I went with a water-based product) just isn't the right stuff to use.

More Tube Amping

I spent some more time on the cabinet for the next amp prototype tonight. Here's a pic:



It's a good thing this is a prototype, because there is waaaay too much labor involved in these damn cabinets! Even with Robosaw fighting the good fight, it still takes forever. And I would consider my woodworking skills above average. I definitely need to settle on a design and focus on mass-producing (where mass-produce means > 1) these parts instead of crafting one piece at a time. It doesn't help that the design is still morphing in my head as I go.

More Linux Gripes

So, I thought (according to all the Linux fanpeople) that Linux was so much better than Windows because it never required updates? I have had more automatic updates and reboots on my Linux machine than my Windows machine in the last week!

I still like Ubuntu though and I fully expect more updates as Linux matures. It's just that what a lot of people don't seem to be able to understand (or maybe admit) is that all software is prone to error and needs to be fixed. Nobody's perfect (although some of us are more perfect...err.. quality-conscientious than others), and the more people that use your software on a daily basis will only serve to reinforce that little nugget of reality.

At any rate - I have put my Linux trials on hold for now because my ancient computer was simply too painful to use. I must admit that WinXP ran much better and faster on that machine, but I think it has a lot to do with the graphics card. For now, I am back to my laptop (and XP). Note to self:

Huge resolutions
+ crappy gfx card from the 90's
+ latest and greatest FOS OS
---------------------------------
Poor user experience

I think when I buy my new uber-computer (probably with a new ATI HD2900XT or some other outrageous graphics card) I'll try dual-booting Linux/Windows and continue my evaluation. Although at this point I'm not sure if the latter will be XP or Vista. I guess it depends on when I actually spec out and buy this beast.

Any recommendations on what to buy would be welcome (if anyone actually reads this). I've been out of the hardware game for awhile...

If only there were new Amiga hardware available. ;O)