Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Images of Experimentation

Hey everyone. 
As promised, I am moving forward.  In this case I am having a look at the stitch-and-glue method of hull building.  It has the advantage of being faster and cheaper to both mock-up and build. It won't have the elegance of a strip-built or of a sculpted composite, but I don't remember trying for best in show.

Who knows, I may bring sexy back... and nothing is sexier than first place. 
Right ladies?
  







Sunday, October 28, 2012

Pitter Patter I'm back at 'er

In my attempt to avoid the walking dead, I have ironically locked myself in my office and worked on boats while watching The Walking Dead. I'm not under siege by zombies. I am under siege by people who don't have the strength to be bold and follow their dream. They who cannot understand the value of vision and don't really believe the cliches they spout off ("follow your dreams" and "the future is what you make of it"...I'm sure you've heard them before).

I can hear a collective, "What the hell does this have to do with boats, Bates?"
Probably followed by something like, "Get to the point."

Part of it is me going through some stuff, (which will remain personal as far as I am concerned) but it is all connected. I am expanding my role at work as well, and that takes a good deal of time and effort. I'm adjusting my diet to make myself a better athlete (recently ran a half marathon in St. Louis and nearly broke 2 hrs) and I am working hard to get my finances into a better place. The whole thing is busy, a storm in a way of speaking,  but to me that is life.

I don't think there is a perfect time for anything really. What there are, is opportunities. We find moments when we can sieze a chance to accomplish something, or to take a step in the right direction. We need to know the direction we want to go. And we need to be bold. Every choice will both allow us to achieve, but it will also limit what else we can do. If we are to make anything of ourselves, I believe we must be decisive.

In my round about sort of way, I am trying to let you know I am still here and still making progress. I am still in pursuit of the goal. I intend to proceed as I can, or, as Least-Heat Moon said, "as the way opens."

the chaos of me making paper mock-ups on a beer-box cut mat

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Of a feather

Here is a guy after my own heart.  Read this today at work while scrounging food in the kitchen.
Better than a giant hampster wheel.  Reminds me of Capt. Slocum.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578053023649693516.html


Thursday, October 18, 2012

An admin change

I will no longeer be allowing anonymous comments.  This is something I have been considering for a while, but didn't want to put it into effect. Recent events in my life have made me rethink that policy. While I encourage everyone to read what I write (good for my ego when I get a lot of traffic) I am not interested in anyone being a part of the conversation when they are not bold enough to be a identified.
If this is unpopular, I will miss the traffic, but I have to control my content. I am still available through the regular channels if you have something to say, but it will not be posted here.

Cheers.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I'm still here



I'm making some progress on Fenrir: Mark 2, but I don't have much to share at the moment.  Saw this video in a link on Core77 and I thought I would share.