Ok, so I have hated the way toilet paper holders have worked for a long time. Two hands to change it? The funny way the little springloaded tube thing snaps into place. The awkwardness of getting it out… So, for a while, I’ve just put the roll on top of the bar, in such a manner, that as you pull the toilet paper, the roll rolls against the wall. It works great, and satisfies my lazyness. A few months ago, I thought of a better toilet paper holder… Why not just a single bar that is open on one end? My wife and I bought the parts, and today, after purchasing a drill bit set, finaly put it together. Here is the result.
Perry (my boss at work) recently shared a book with me: Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box . I was listening to the audiobook last night, and my wife was listening from the other room as well. In several chapters there is dialog between a manager and his administrative assistant. The narrator attempts to use a feminine voice to portray the assistant, after one dialoge my wife came in and said “I like his feminine voice. He sounds like a drag queen.” It was a funny moment, you had to be there I guess.
Anyways, the book is AWESOME. It really opens your eyes to a pervasive problem that managers have, and helps you to get “out of the box”. I kind of wonder if Perry thinks I am “in the box” from the perspective and that’s why he loaned it to me… I highly recommend the audio book version, it is an easy listen.
January 18th, 2010 by joey | 1 Comment | Filed in Life
My friend (and childhood next door neighbor) and her husband are searching for a child to adopt. If you know of a child up for adoption, let them know by leaving a reply here: http://sarahandbenblog.wordpress.com/
They are really really great people. Both well educated, extremely loving, and would provide a healthy stable environment for any child.
This is one of the many reasons I LOVE working at Infusionsoft!
The Cereal!
This is one of my favorite things. I almost never eat breakfast, probably because I always sleep in, but now I don’t go hungry till lunch. I just get to work, run to the kitchen and grab a bowl of cereal from the cabinet and my stomach is silent.
If you think about it, this is a tiny perk that really shows how much they care. The cost is very small, if you figure one box of cereal per employee per week, you are spending an extra $12 a month per employee. And we don’t consume a box a week per employee, its more like a box a month per employee. So, $3 a month. You figure the average employee makes more than $1k a month, so it is definitly less than a 0.3% increase in employee cost.
We spent New Years in Portland and Seattle with Katrina’s family this year. One of the things we did, is a little glass blowing at Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio. It was AWESOME!!! If you are ever in Tacoma, you should definitely do this! There is probably a glass blowing studio near you that may offer something like this as well. Definitely worth the money.
The Blow Tubes
They are kept hot because glass doesn’t stick to cold things.
Rolling The Glass into a cylinder
Heating the glass again
Rolling on the color!
Rolling colored glass into the clear glass
Adding twists to swirl the colors before introducing the bubble
Rolling before introducing bubble
This is interesting, they cool the outside, to ensure that the walls of the glass are consistent. By adjusting the heat in different places, they can vary the way the bubble will expand in the glass.
Introducing the bubble!!
He blows into the tube, and then places his thumb over the hole. The heat in the piece, and in the pipe cause the air to expand, and force the bubble into the piece when it’s small (which is hard, just like starting to blow up a balloon.
Adding more glass
More glass is added before enlarging the piece further
Cooling the blow tube
The blow tube gets really hot since it goes in and out of the furnace and glory hole repeatedly. So it is cooled every now and then with this simple machine.
Shaping and Cooling the added glass.
More shaping, cooling, blowing, and enlongating.
Atlast! Glass blowing!
Creating a small hole in the top so that it can be turned into a Vase / Candy Jar.
Widening The Hole
Widening It More
And More
Shaping Body and Flattening Lip
Finish flattening of Lip, and final shaping.
That is a stack of wet newspaper he is using to shape and cool the body.
Shocking the glass at the joint with the blow tube with water so it breaks clean and easy there.
He actually did this in three places around the tube, but I only got the last one.
Breaking the piece off with a few taps.
He had to hit this one harder than the others. With them, it was one very light tap on the blow tube, and the piece broke free.
This is definitely a supped up Hot Wheels (24v power instead of 12v), as anything this much fun would be law suit fodder… See a forum post about making your powerwheels this much fun: http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=134795
This is an awesome site. Have you misplaced your phone? Just go here, enter your number, and they call your phone for you (I’ve used it a few times, this morning, my phone was under my pillow, I never would have found it). It’s free, and fast.
It starts with an example: Fred, a postman. Fred is the postman on the author’s street. The author talks about several situations where Fred did simple but extraordinary things that showed he cared about the author and performing his job well. The author further explains how you can create an atmosphere that fosters Fred’s and how to create Fred’s everyday.
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