Reflecting

I have been in much awe of the interesting writing that Carrie and Betsy have been doing on their respective blog sites. I look forward every day to checking for something new. Their topics are interesting. Their reflections on life and events are interesting. They write in clever and amusing ways, and the pictures are always fun. I am lucky now to have four such interesting daughters in my life. (My sons are pretty cool too, but I'm focusing on those of female persuasion right now.)

Envious of Betsy's and Carrie's writing, I decided to try something new. Instead of whatever boring news I have, I thought I might start recording some stories here.

As of tomorrow, there are only 21 work days until I retire--30 total days. As I look forward to this next phase in my life, I find I am reflecting more and more on the past, on the general state of things, on my children and grandchild, and on and on. On top of that, I keep coming across various facts or coincidences that amuse me in some way. (I may write about some of these later.) Or, I will find something that brings back a flood of memories. An example is the picture here.

Some readers will know that I've gotten back into woodworking in the last year. This is something I've always loved, but now I find I have more time, more motivation, and more things I want to try. This is where the picture comes in. This picture is of a serving tray that I made in my high school shop class, which I think was in 9th grade, which would have been 1958-1959. (OK, I was 14.) That makes the tray almost 50 years old! I found the tray yesterday when cleaning out a closet. It is still in pretty good shape. Obviously, we almost never use it. I remember that it was the first project in the shop class and that we were required to use only hand tools in making whatever we chose to make for the first project. You can tell it isn't too complicated, although I recall that getting the bevel on the handles just right with a hand plane and plenty of sanding was a bit of a challenge. The handles are maple, I think. The sides are made of birch dowels, and the bottom is obviously chip board. Chip board was the big thing at that time. I don't believe the product had existed very long by then. Our little heads were impressed with the idea of recycling what would have otherwise been wasted wood chips. Actually, I remember being more in awe of how it must have been made, which presumably is by pressing a bunch of chips together somehow in the presence of who knows what kind of adhesive. People were using it for all sorts of decorative things. You may have seen it used for paneling, for example. Today, products like this seem more often to be used for basic construction--underlayment for floors, for example. As a finish, I think I used a product called Deft. I believe that product is still available. It was not quite like varnish, because it dried faster and was more clear than varnish, which usually has a little yellowish tint to it. The fact that it dried faster meant that we could finish things in fewer days. The chip board may not have been such a hot idea, even with the Deft, because it tends to be a bit course or porous, and so spills "get into it" easily. If we had used it lots, it might not have held up very well. Otherwise, the handles and sides are still solid.

It was fun to find this and to think back to high school, to the process of making it, and to reflect on how much more I've learned to do since. Good power tools help and bring in the chance for much greater precision, though you can still really mess things up (including body parts) if you aren't careful. I've been impressed with what Will and Rob have learned to do. (Pete and Travis: I'd compliment you too, but I'm not aware of woodworking projects on your part as yet.) Will and Rob learned without much help from me. Here is where a little guilt creeps in. I could have taught them about woodworking and, most important, in the process spent more quality time with them. I really wish I had been better about such things with all the kids.

So here is a tray that is 48 years old. Just 10 years after I made it, I started working at the UI as a computer science professional. In just 10 years, I went from being a nerdy 14 year old building wooden trays to having a BA and an MS degree, being the father of a baby boy (Will), and starting work as a full time adult employee. Now another 38 years have passed, and I'm about to start having some serious fun. Where do the days go?

Something else has occurred to me as I write this. Not that I think this is such wonderful writing, but I could imagine that someone (misguided children, for example) might want to keep stories like this. So, who is doing that? Are all these wonderful blog entries that Betsy and Carrie are creating just being lost into the great digital bit bucket? What is blogspot.com doing with all the text and pictures we are pouring into their disk drives and file systems? Do we care? How much of ourselves are we allowing others to take for themselves? Are any of you keeping a record of your blogs? Do you print them all out and put them in a notebook?