Never Ending Errands

I usually think my To Do list is never-ending, but some weeks, it seems like the Errands to be Run list is also never-ending.

Take a look at a recent week of Errands:

Monday - we needed to run to Reynolds Advanced Materials (an hour-long drive each way) to ask questions and pick up a new supply of chemicals so we could continue casting stuff. We both do casting, so when we run out of certain chemicals, we usually have to run to Reynolds within a week or two. And these chemicals have a shelf life, meaning if you keep them sitting around too long, they won't work anymore. Therefore, we can't splurge and get bunches of the stuff at one time.

Tuesday - we had to run to the local Tandy Leather store to get some leather for re-making hubby's Darth Vader costume. We did have some leather we could use at home, but not enough of it. Since that took us to eastern Orlando, we also stopped at AEO Studios to ask Allen questions about making a particular type of mold. I was envisioning some sort of 3-piece mold, but he told us the easy way to do it. That was at least 2 hours of driving to get there and back, and we forgot to stop at the credit union on our way home. When we did get home, we promptly set about making the mold as Allen had told us, so that it was fresh in our minds. Hopefully, having done it, it won't be hard to remember how to do it next time.

Wednesday - we started out by visiting an old friend who fell shortly after he had surgery, and popped out 9 of his 13 staples. He was in good spirits, and looking forward to going home fairly shortly. Then we were off to the fabric store to pick up some craft supplies and 10 yards of muslin, some of which will be used to line the leather of the Darth Vader costume. I got 10 yards because we try to keep muslin on hand for trying new patterns, but we couldn't find any in the house. Then the credit union, which we had forgotten the day before, but we were too tired to hit the grocery store on the way home. All told, at least a 4-hour trip.

Thursday - Hubby got to stay home, but I had to hit the grocery store and the drug store. And the gas station, since my car thought it was running on fumes. At least 2.5 hrs.

Friday - Back to the drug store, both of us, to get our booster shots. And take the dog to the vet to get his kennel cough shot. Between checking in, waiting in line, waiting to see if we have any adverse reactions and going home again—from both places—at least 3 hours.

How did we ever manage to get our errands done when we were working? I don't remember.

Martian Shelter 4

We’re going to look at a different style of shelter this time. Something a little more complicated to build, I suppose, but which could be more... comfy, should we say?

This shelter is underground. Deep underground, not just some sand kicked over it. Building it would take tunnel-boring machines, which are quite heavy. Perhaps these would be shipped before people were sent, along with some robots to use the machines to bore out a network of tunnels and living quarters. Yes, apparently, some people are ready to go back to living in caves.

But ‘underground’ does not need to mean dark and unwelcoming. I watched an episode of a science show on Netflicks a couple weeks back, where the people were digging out a series of tunnels under New York City. They had some complicated equipment on the roof of a warehouse that gathered and concentrated sunlight before it was piped into the tunnels. Yes, I did say concentrated and piped. The tunnels they created were fully lighted, and with smooth, level floors, ceilings and walls, seemed far distant from a creepy cave.

The theory about living in man-made tunnels on Mars is that the gravity is weak and Mars doesn’t have any quakes, so you wouldn’t need as much support to hold up the ceilings; and there ‘probably’ would not be any moisture seepage. But, this plan does call for some heavy-duty insulation. Martian air may be thin, but Martian dirt and rocks are cold! Even without that insulation, the dirt and rocks would keep that nasty radiation out.

Of course, there are some drawbacks to this idea. There always are, right? All that equipment would be expensive to get there. And once it finishes digging out that first small habitat, then what? Oh, if there’s a big influx of immigrants, the equipment could be busy for years or decades, forming a city here, a city there... But eventually, one assumes, it will become obsolete or unneeded. A lot of money to just let rust away.

And it’s possible there’s more water on Mars than we think, so seepage could be a problem. With all the insulation installed to keep the internal temperature agreeable, we might not even know if seepage was occurring. I hear some of you thinking ‘Then it’s not a problem,’ but that’s not necessarily true. There could be some kind of mold, fungus or other organism that could start growing, possibly leading to health problems for our colonists. Water flows, and ice can expand and create cracks. This could - over time - undermine (so to speak) our efforts at adequate support.

If you own a house, you know you need to keep an eye open for such things, and if you don’t deal with small problems that crop up, you’ll eventually pay for it with a huge repair bill. But these tunnels would not be for an individual’s use; it sounds more like they would be cities, as least to begin with. Owned by committee, you might say. Would that ‘committee’ have the foresight to watch for and deal with these types of problems while they were small? Or would they be political entities, always kicking the financial can down the road?

Okay, if you don’t like the idea of a cave-dwelling, we’ll keep looking. I’ll see what else I can ‘dig up’ for you to consider.

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/e-zine/mars-makeshelter.html

Learning New Tricks 1

Remember that old saying, “Old dogs can’t learn new tricks?” Now that science says older people should be learning new things in order to keep their mind sharp, this ‘old dog’ is determined to learn new tricks. Even if I’m not a ‘spring chicken’ anymore.

Happily, there are plenty of opportunities to learn new things, ranging from free to costing quite a lot.

FREE - Tandy Leather offers free lessons in working with leather, from beginning to advanced. Generally, these lessons are offered on Saturdays for 5-6 weeks. I am in the middle of my 3rd class with them, learning to lace and sew leather projects. Usually, I come out of these sessions with 1 (maybe 2) projects done, but there are a lot of different lacing techniques to learn, so I am keeping my projects small and otherwise unadorned (no carving or stamping), and I am finishing one project a week.

A couple months ago, I discovered dospace, located in Omaha at 72 & Dodge. They offer crash courses in various computer programs. Afterwards, you can go in at any time (that they’re open) and use one of their (many) computers to practice and do projects in that program, so you don’t actually have to run out and buy it. I’ve taken 3 classes from them, and try to get there for a couple hours each week to practice on the programs we don’t have.

YouTube offers lots of instructive videos. We’ve watched many on using particular types of materials for specific pieces of costumes or props, and more on makeup techniques.

Company websites sometimes have instructional videos to show you how to use their products. Smoothon, for instance, will show you how to make molds, and how to use those molds to cast items in resin. Hubby really enjoys doing that, and that’s how he learned the method.

Television is a relatively ancient method of learning, but still an active teacher. I think the best (easiest) to learn from tv are cooking and sewing. There are other opportunities, such as doing a mosaic tabletop with pieces of broken china or tiny glass tiles, but too often, you get 1 or 2 10-15 second shots of some of the steps in doing that, with verbal instructions for the entire process delivered at 90 miles per hour. That has never been enough ‘learning’ for me to actually try it, although it is for other people.

Of course, you might get a book from the local library to teach you how to do whatever you have a hankering to learn.

Hmmm. I’m running out of room, and I haven’t even gotten to some of the learning opportunities that cost money. And actually, I intended to write about the different ways people learn, but I’ve wandered quite a ways from that topic. Okay, then, this is Part 1 of “Learning New Tricks”. Stay tuned for future parts, one of which may or may not show up next week. It all depends on if I find some other fascinating subject to talk about before then.

Have Brain, Will Learn

Research has shown that as people age, staying active will help them stay active. Seems like circular reasoning, but actually, it works with brains, too. However, if you want your aging brain to ‘stay in shape’, you need to be learning new things.

When you learn something new, your brain creates new ‘pathways’ internally. If you do the same job, the same activities and hobbies for 40 or 50 years, your brain’s pathways are practically ‘set in stone’ (figuratively speaking). If you choose not to expand on them, then you will start doing those activities mindlessly. Why think about it? You’ve been doing things this way for decades!

‘Use it or lose it.’ That applies to brains, too. If you don’t exercise your brain, don’t give it new ‘problems’ to solve, it will eventually atrophy. Oh, you may have the same amount of gray matter in your noggin, but it will have forgotten how to wander off those stone pathways. I was particularly struck by the (aging) scientist in one documentary I watched who set aside her science research for a set amount of time each day to... sculpture with clay. Could she get any further away from studying the brain? Well, possibly, but clay sculpture seems pretty removed from research data.

Realizing that I had reached that ‘aging’ part of my life, I took this information to heart. Last year, I took a class on Theatrical Makeup. I had never made beauty makeup a part of my life, so this was definitely something new for me.

The class included methods of making appliances. If you’ve watched Star Trek, think of a Klingon’s forehead, a Ferengi’s ears and head shape, things like that. We had to make up our own character and apply that makeup - including at least one appliance - to ourselves as our final exam. I actually made 3 appliances for my character, and made a wig. Not only did I grossly underestimate how long the wig would take me to make, I had to solve problems, like how to figure out where the appliances would ultimately be attached to the wig, since they extended far into a human’s hairline. It was frustrating at times, but definitely fun!

I’ve recently started making appliances again. Boney foreheads, right now. Yesterday, I pulled my first latex forehead from my first mold. I think it looks pretty good, even if the latex did pool in the ‘boney’ areas. But that’s good, because they dried very thick and will stick up, off the forehead better.

Still, there are better materials that would produce better results. So I’m trying to decide what to try next. Hot foam? I’d have to build and calibrate an oven specifically for that, or make a backing mold that would allow the forehead molds be placed in a toaster oven (which we bought specifically for that purpose.) There’s also this stuff called dragonskin I’ve been meaning to try...

I anticipate lots more fun!