Behind the scenes at Bridge City Tool Works!
"Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime."— Mark Twain
Dear Drivel starved Nation!
As mentioned earlier in the year, I have to go to China in October and thought it would be fun to invite members of the Drivel Starved Nation to tag along for a couple of days to see China and meet China’s most famous woodworker. It will be a trip you will not soon forget.
Here are some important details for those who have never traveled abroad and are considering this trip; Continue reading
"A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier." — Tom Stoppard
Drivel Starved Nation;
Geez, do I have a bunch of stuff to report! But it will have to wait. Meanwhile, here are a couple of updates;
1) I have all the details for our excellent field trip to China this fall and I will post them before weeks end.
2) The parts for the CT-19 Transfer Bevel are done with machining, you can follow the progress here
4) The miter square run is back on track (we had some supplier issues). That’s good news.
5) Had a fire at my house, little damage, will report on this later – yes, it could happen to you.
6) Spent 5 days in the hospital 3 weeks ago. Not a fun experience. Will report on this later as well. (I am fine) And yes, this could happen to you as well.
7) I am now on month four of an idea that I am not sure will work. I am going to build a prototype and if it works, I will really be happy and I think you will be happy too! Continue reading
"If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."— Ludwig Wittgenstein
Drivel Starved Nation… It’s Been Awhile!
I know it’s time to write something in this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog when I receive emails from DSN members inquiring if my cremation was gluten free….
Here’s an explanation;
Whenever I “disappear” from my blog, I am usually at the mercy of the Muse. And it is true in this case.
In late January, I embarked on my annual work retreat and on DAY ONE, I asked myself an interesting question. At least it was interesting to me.
I am still obsessed with answering this question. It is too early to disclose but our patent lawyer is involved, our trademark lawyers are involved, the creative team is working on all the two dimensional marketing material and we have secured the URL’s to 5 websites. So my gut hunch is this might be a big deal. Stay tuned!
Next week, I will announce all the details for our excellent field trip to China in the fall. I hope you can make it, it will be a memory not soon forgotten.
In the meantime, I apologize for the misleading headline – I was just making myself laugh — it worked.
Speaking of laughing, let’s laugh at us;
-John
PS: Over this past weekend, our site was hacked and an ANNOYING banner ad now sits atop our site. We are working on getting it removed.
"All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity." — Gordie Howe
Drivel Starved Nation-
One of the cool aspects of teaching at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking are the fellow instructors you get to meet.
One year, years ago, my classroom was directly across the hall from the turning studio. The instructor? Michael Hosaluk. Continue reading
"I am not skipping school! I am just on a SELF-MOTIVATED field trip!"— Meghan Sherwood
Drivel Starved Nation!
I am thrilled to share that we have been receiving early interest in the Shanghai/Nanjing field trip this fall.
Here are the crucial dates you need to know to make a decision:
"If I ever go to China, I'm going to find a piano and play "Chopsticks"--only not with my fingers... I'll be using two forks."— Jarod Kintz
Drivel Starved Nation-
It looks like the BCTW field trip to China is resonating with the DSN. I will post complete details next week regarding the itinerary. I also think we may limit this to 30 or so for logistical reasons.
Hey! We received the first shipment of the CSMv2s at the end of December. This is such a fun tool to use!
Here is a real-time tutorial on how it is used — you can tell I had 4 cups of coffee the morning we shot this–oh well… Continue reading
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”— Mark Twain
Drivel Starved Nation!
I got so fed up with the voluminous holiday email blasts in December, we spared you and kept our antsy fingers off our keyboards until today. How cool is that?
First, the Portland Weather Report: As some of you may know, I am an Iowa son, and no stranger to snow. In fact, it is one of the reasons I wanted to move to Portland. No snow shoveling here.
Continue reading
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”— Albert Einstein
Drivel Starved Nation! Yesterday we did an email blast for the Gyro Air which I reviewed in a previous post. This morning I received an email from China and my initial reaction was “Oh shit!” Continue reading
"Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account. "— Anne Wilson Schaef
Drivel Starved Nation; A couple of months ago, I broke the news about a new dust collector technology that we are employing in our prototype shop – the Gyro Air. Before I get into the details of this collection system, it is important to understand why I want to ditch my standard cyclone collector — which likely looks just like yours. Continue reading
"People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." — Isaac Asimov
Drivel Starved Nation:
Nothing is more frustrating than getting old and not being able to remember basic geometry. I can’t even remember what I had for lunch today…
Continue reading