Materials and Processes and Technology (Woodshop on Steroids)

An account of that which is expected for the upcoming year in my newly revamped materials and processes class.

I am excited for a new school year, and so far, I have not been disappointed. My "woodshop" class promises metal working and composites, which takes it beyond the level of a typical shop class. I look forward to learning how to use design software to further develop my plans into actual constructs. I am familiar with the Autocad suite, but anticipate being fluent in Rhino as well. I don't know what composite materials we will be working with, as projects using composites like fiberglass and carbon fiber can quickly become expensive, but I assume material tickets will allow students to pursue projects individually. I also hope to have the freeedom of choice in which projects I take on, as I have a few captivating plans and designs floating around in my head and on paper. When I walked into the shop, I was hoping that it would not be a year of students pumping out cuttingboards and wine-racks en masse, and more of an individually tuned program to produce quality projects of a diverse nature.

One of my plans for this year is to use a CNC Router to build an electric violin. In the past, I have had to spend hours cutting, sanding, and tweaking my electric violin bodies to take out the minor imperfections that can occur. Considering the broad design of the course, I may have the opportunity to make my violins out of other materials such as acrylic block, or various types of casting resin.

I have other things planned for my shop experience this year. Stay tuned.

Measure twice, cut once at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thanks for your interest.

The Trill of the Tweeter (Bike Edition)

One thing that you would know, having known me long enough to find out what music I enjoy, is that I am entranced by all music. That is, actual music. Rap does not count, unless it happens to be uplifting, or sends a positive message. Not only do I like music itself, I enjoy listening to music in a high quality listening environment. This means that I am always searching for ways to improve my experience.

A few days ago, I tied my portable speaker system to the handlebars of my bike, and attached my ipod in a ghetto fashion. As I rolled on my 24s around my hood, I was rocking techno beats and classic jazz at 10:30 in the evening. After this exhilarating experience, I decided a speaker system needed to be built in to reduce the hassle.

A few trips to the garage later, a speaker receptacle and iPod dock projected off the front of my handlebars, waiting to be exposed to Pink Floyd. Testing of this new arrangement, of course, was fun, and most of the bugs have been ironed out.

The addition of a little music into as many aspects of life as possible could be the solution to life's problems. I am now reaping the benefits of car stereo, bed stereo with 2 subwoofers, bike stereo, bathroom stereo, and I hope to extend this list to my Laser sailboat. That will be covered at another time.

Please tune in for more musical madness and other driving forces in the life of Alby Dalby at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thanks for your interest.

The Throb of the Woofer and the Trill of the Tweeters (Bed Edition)

When my grandparents moved from their old house to a retirement village, they realized they no longer needed their rarely used computer, and it was given to me, along with a printer that quickly died and a Boston Acoustics multimedia speaker system. The most important of any of these gifts by far are the speakers. The set had two small tweeters and a subwoofer, and could really put out some sound. They are now over ten years old and still sound great.

A few years ago, when I first began experimenting with building my own electric  violin, my dad bought me a SWR California Blonde II acoustic instrument amplifier. This 250-watt beast has a 12" subwoofer and a tweeter as well. It sounds amazing with my violin, and was a huge upgrade from the little Fender 15-watt amp I used before. The California Blonde also features a stereo input-meaning you can blast music from your ipod. Sweet.

The California Blonde itself will vibrate the lights out of their sockets in my room, and I have never turned it up past half-volume. It gives me all the bass I could ask for. When I bought a splitter for my ipod, I plugged into my amp and into my Boston Acoustics system. When levels are set correctly, the entire house can relish my fantastic taste in music. Unfortunately, once the TV in the other room reaches max volume and still cannot be heard I am reminded in sign language to please turn the volume down.

But now, let me explain to you how I have a stereo experience in bed. I am a fan of having the tweeters in a sound system evenly distributed about the listener, as it maximizes the faithfulness of the listening experience. At one point, I had a tweeter in each corner of my bed for a truly quadraphonic experience, but now I prefer two tweeters by the headboard, a sub overhead, and a sub preferably near the base of the bed. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my amp is extremely massive, and as a result does not reside comfortably at the end of the bed. I have placed it to one side, and the results are still fabulous. In reality, the placement of the speakers that produce lower frequencies are less critical than high frequency speakers because it is more difficult for the human ear to determine the direction of these lower frequencies. 

I am beginning work on an integrated speaker box to attach to the underside of my bed in order to activate complete entertainment mode.

Rock it out at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thanks for your interest.

Hummus is Funness

Most cookbooks advise that chickpeas should be used in the creation of splendid hummus, but after a detailed conversation of this matter with my very knowledgeable hummus cook, I realized that this restriction was unnecessary. Hummus can be made with kidney peas as well, and most likely any others that you happen to come along. Peas, especially those of chick and kidney, can be found in the "leftover parts" isle of your grocery store.

Vital to the success of your hummus is olive oil, which provides for the consistency that will make or break the dish. Olive Oil can be found in the spinach aisle of your grocery store. (haha)

The remaining three ingredients are the keys to the kick of your dish. Imagine a bland hummus that inspires dull acclamations. This is what will happen if you neglect the salt, mustard and lemon. The life of the party can depend on the addition and concentration of each of these.

I cannot divulge the proper proportion of each of these ingredients, because to do so would be to reveal the world's best held secret; I can only hope that you will experiment with differing amounts until you are satisfied. If you do in fact prepare a satisfactory hummus, please submit it to me for judging.

Note: All entries are judged in their entirety and will not be returned.

Please visit my blog at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thanks for your interest.

Green Intrusions

The other day, while watching a movie on my iPod, I noticed a little green speck in the upper right corner of the screen. I was intrigued when the camera shifted and the little green speck did not. I quickly deduced (or did I infer?) that this little green speck was other-worldly, and I did not blame the movie. 

On the other hand, when I turned the device off, the little green speck (or LGS as I will call it for reasons of simplicity) disappeared. It seemed as if this life form was related to the power status of my iPod. When I realized the control I had over this LGS, a shiver of omnipotence raced up my spine. But, as Peter Parker's uncle once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." Remembering this wisdom, I decided to leave my iPod on for a bit to try to allow my new LGS to leave on his own accord. When he did not, I realized he actually preferred living in his 160 gigabyte mansion.

This is the point that most people would have said "...and there goes the neighborhood.." But I was quite taken with my new pet. He did everything I asked him to do within his capabilities (which were to appear and disappear), and really spiced things up when I was trying to watch a movie. 

I suspect though, that in the near future I will tire of this "symbiotic relationship" and will be a little more forceful in evicting him. I am surprised that my eight month iPod is already a haven for LGS's, but I am sure that the apple corporation will be quite helpful when it comes time for this LGS to pay his rent and leave. For now, I will enjoy his presence while it lasts, and perhaps something good will come of it.

If you can think of anything good that can come of this situation, please let my LGS and me know as soon as possible. I would hate for us to start off on the wrong foot.

Please visit my blog at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thanks for your interest.

Having had a Quick Introduction

The first of the first should mention a little about what the inspiration is.

In this case it is a summer internship involving required blogs. The realization of the possibilities associated with the continuation of this practice is what jump-starts these writings.

Please visit my blog at www.univers-al.blogspot.com. Thank you.