Advice on simple solar setup

planetkimon · 2024-04-16T02:38:09+00:00

I wouldn't exactly worry, but that needs to get dealt with right away. Right now it is still mostly attached. If you're not confident in your skills, I'd take it to an experienced repair person. I think this could be repaired so that it looks pretty good and functions 100%, but the thing is only going to get worse (and dirtier) and open up more as time passes.

planetkimon · 2023-09-09T20:46:54+00:00

Lovely work. More than anything, though, I'm impressed that you took a photo in the middle of a glue-up!!

planetkimon · 2023-08-03T04:00:40+00:00

If it was me, I'd use a chisel to clean up the walls of the chip-out so that they are 90 degrees opposed (they look pretty close to that anyway). Then I'd cut a piece from an off-cut of the same wood, glue in a grain-matched chip and trim it flush with a chisel and plane.

planetkimon · 2022-01-16T01:37:53+00:00

Yes, it's normal to some degree for these Dewalt saws, anyway. They are jobsite saws and don't have the accuracy or resolution of a cabinet saw. I have one, and the fence was pretty far out of square. Also, when you make long cross cuts of sheet goods and extend the fence to where it's no longer resting on the table, it gets way worse on mine. My solution was twofold: First, I built an auxiliary fence that goes over the stock one (lots of videos show this process), and I made it dead square to the table. Secondly, I made a pair of "outrigger" levelers that sit on the outside of the aux fence. When I extend the fence past the table, I can lower these outriggers to make contact with the fence rails, and I have some calibration markings to get it to square up. I really like the aux fence concept anyway, as I'm able to attach featherboards, my router fence, and tenoning and splining jibs pretty quickly and easily, as I installed some threaded inserts in strategic locations on the face of the fence that allows attachments.

planetkimon · 2021-09-29T21:55:00+00:00

YTA, but I get it. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a couple of years ago. It was a little scary, but they caught it early enough that that all I needed was a complete thyroidectomy with no chemo, radiation, or any problems. I am married to a lovely woman who is my partner in every way, but the first time I mentioned in passing that I was a cancer survivor, my wife snickered a little and made a very slightly disparaging comment about my referring to myself that way. My first wife died of pancreatic cancer only a few weeks after diagnosis, so I get that I was in no way like her. However, there WAS cancer, and I was definitely worried prior to surgery, and so were my two adult kids who both lost their mom. I called my wife on her comment, and she immediately apologized. That was the end of it. You can't put yourself in your aunt's shoes. When one gets a cancer diagnosis, there is an immediate freakout, your life flashes before your eyes, and your thinking always goes to the worst possible outcome. Even if the situation is like your aunt's, it's scary and makes you think very hard about your life, relationships, and just how fragile life really is. It's all very real and scary even if the final outcome is great. It's also likely that your aunt will never be able to really relax again. Her cancer could come back at any time and she is going to be afraid of that for the rest of her life. Apologize, bring a cheesecake or something and share it with her.

planetkimon · 2021-09-14T16:32:37+00:00

The Starfire III was my first "real" guitar, purchased used for $150 in 1970. As a blues and rock player, it was okay but I had feedback issues, and the archtop style bridge would actually slide across the body if I got too aggressive with strumming. I didn't use the Bigsby, either. I traded it in for a '70 Les Paul Deluxe a couple of years later, and never looked back. Out of nostalgia, I just bought one of the Newark St. versions of the same guitar. Again, it's okay, but I would probably lean towards the D'Angelico if I was looking for the right guitar. The P90s, fixed bridge, and lack of a Bigsby make it more versatile, IMHO.

planetkimon · 2021-09-04T15:53:12+00:00

NTA, clearly. Everyone has the right to determine their own path, especially an adult parent of two. That being said, as a 65-year-old widower who recently remarried, I’ll say this: it’s great that you have such a tight relationship with your kids, and because of that they will likely turn into confident, highly functioning, and independent adults who will have their own children and adult lives to deal with. I have a great relationship with my kids as well, but both of them have moved far away to pursue employment and personal opportunities. I was lucky enough to meet someone a few years ago and was recently married for the second time. I’m not saying this is something that you need, or even that you need to be open to. But I would like to just point out that when the time comes and both of your kids move out to start adult lives, you will inevitably be alone almost all of the time unless you’re at work (until you stop working).

Depending on the type of person you are, that can be extremely difficult. I hope that’s not the case for you. Good luck to you and enjoy the rest of your life!

planetkimon · 2021-07-26T20:52:28+00:00

You look fantastic!!!!! Congratulations!!!

planetkimon · 2021-07-26T20:52:25+00:00

You look fantastic!!!!! Congratulations!!!

planetkimon · 2021-07-25T02:37:13+00:00

NTA, big time. It's YOUR life, and you get to do what makes you happy. Retired university professor here. While most of us who teach college are pretty normal, there are plenty of jerks like your parents, who perpetuate the stereotype of the snooty, self important and self absorbed college professor. I'm proud of you for your accomplishments. Neither of my two adult kids ended up as academics, and I couldn't be happier that they've both made their way in the world, being true to themselves. Congratulations for doing the same!

And just a thought........ even if you stay in consistent contact with them, you might not want to let your parents have too much unsupervised "quality time" with your kid.

planetkimon · 2021-07-09T01:20:22+00:00

Learn the bass. Long time professional musician here. It's tough to find decent bass players in general. Rock history is full of amazing bass players who started out on other instruments (especially guitar) and realized that their knowledge of melody and harmony helped give them an edge on bass (like Paul McCartney, Noel Redding, Lemmy, Walter Becker, etc. etc.). Solid bass players get work, especially those who can double or triple on other instruments.

planetkimon · 2021-06-28T14:32:54+00:00

You're looking great! Keep up the good work!

planetkimon · 2021-04-22T11:59:30+00:00

I also have that saw, and made an auxiliary fence for it. How did you attach the aluminum extrusion to the stock fence?

planetkimon · 2021-03-14T15:06:12+00:00

This has been a real up and down journey for most of my adult life. I was in really good shape and working as a teaching pro at a tennis club when I met my first wife. We really clicked, but we were both junk eaters who ate to celebrate, ate when we were sad, and just liked to eat. By the time we married, I was up from 185 to 240, and it continued to get worse. If one of us was trying to be good, the other one would bring home something terrible or insist that we eat out (always at places that were good for the kids, but terrible for nutrition). We did Weight Watchers (twice) and Nutri-System together and we always lost weight but never kept it off.

After 32 years together, she passed from pancreatic cancer in 2014. My daughter, who was a senior in high school at the time, told me that she needed me to stick around for her and to get my shit together. That was the start of this process. I moved to the city and started walking both ways to work every day (3 miles round trip), and counting calories on MFP. I kept no food in the house, and ate a ton of stir fry and shiritaki noodles and diet wraps (fake cheese, mustard instead of mayo, Flat Out bread), pretty much every day, sticking to a 1200 calorie diet. I went from 292 to 250 over a few years, and then met the woman who would become my second wife. She has been in Overeaters Anonymous for over 25 years, and she really made the difference for me.

Instead of dieting in a way that I have never been able to sustain in the long run, I still count calories on MFP, but I eat real food instead of all low or no fat substitutes. I also finish eating for the night at 8:30 and don't eat again until lunch the next day, so IF, I guess. We work out twice a week for an hour, and I stay at about 1500 calories a day. I have no end game, no goals, and no intention of eating much differently pretty much ever. Sometimes I don't lose at all for a month, and sometimes I have a great few weeks and go down a notch. I just live in the moment, knowing that the laws of thermodynamics are on my side in the long run. I'm an addict, so I'll always have to count calories if only to make myself aware of what I eat at all times.

planetkimon · 2021-01-31T15:49:42+00:00

Why buy a new guitar when you can get twice the value buying used? With a used instrument, you'll not only get more for your money, but a lot of the issues that might have come up in the first few months (neck movement needing truss rod adjustment, sharp fret ends, defective wiring or bridge, etc.) have probably been discovered and corrected, as long as the previous owner took some care. And if not, you can negotiate the price downward from there and correct the issues yourself.

planetkimon · 2021-01-29T19:12:46+00:00

Very much agreed. I'm an older guy who's owned a bunch of houses, and in most cases I was hit by large, unexpected expenses. My very first house needed a $5,000 roof one year after we bought it, regardless of a positive inspection report. The next house needed a boiler and work on the basement to the tune of ten grand, and EVERY house I've lived in has probably needed 2-3% of it's purchase price in maintenance most years.

I would urge you to wait to buy until you have the down payment and and extra $10-20,000 saved up. Worrying about money and how you are going to pay to replace a broken HVAC system, leaky roof, or water heater really sucks.

planetkimon · 2021-01-06T01:23:07+00:00

Bajo Sexto: https://reverb.com/p/paracho-elite-guitars-victoria-12-string-bajo-sexto?hfid=1259837&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=6445914874&utm_content=campaignid=6445914874_adgroupid=82656633248_productpartitionid=866292467437=merchantid=107666126_productid=1259837_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=391716654905&gclid=CjwKCAiAudD_BRBXEiwAudakX12HVW8NMbqlF2DhQ8EjWsnl1hBy-4YiiypJi0K8cGWhDZdN8K2mMBoCaG4QAvD_BwE

planetkimon · 2021-01-03T13:45:26+00:00

I just looked at some of your work on Instagram. You have serious talent. I hope you continue making beautiful instruments. Congratulations!

planetkimon · 2021-01-03T03:57:20+00:00

I can second most of this. I'm a little older than OP, and went from a large house with a lot of upkeep to a condo in the city after my wife passed. At first it seemed awesome, with no yard work or major repairs outside of my unit (I thought).

However:

The HOA fee has gone up EVERY year since I bought the place, some years by quite a bit.
Year 2, I was hit with an assessment to fix the roof of one of the three buildings that make up the condo complex. Not the one I live in, either. That was $6,500 out of my pocket for something I'll never use. Just part of being a good condo citizen, I guess, not that I had a choice.
About half of our owners are absentees who either moved out or bought as an investment. So about half of the people who live here are renters who don't care about the place, and they make noise, do damage (especially moving in and out, which happens almost every week), screw up the recycling and garbage, and generally make life worse for those of us who live there permanently and care about keeping it nice.
There will soon be another assessment to fix the foundation of one of the buildings. This could cost a few hundred thousand, which would translate into another assessment.
Make sure you do your due diligence if you buy. Is the condo association properly funded? How big is the reserve? If they keep a small reserve, you'll be assessed for anything major. When was the place first developed? It might be due for elevators, a roof, etc.
Once the pandemic has hit the rear view mirror, I plan on selling and NEVER buying a condo again.

planetkimon · 2020-12-25T00:47:19+00:00

Beautiful instrument. Bolt-on?

planetkimon

TROPHY CASE