I have completed the redesign of my pump drill, along with
the first removeable sleeve holding a "drill bit" -- here
being a nail that I have driven in, cut off the head and
sharpened to a point. It is nice to have a proof of
concept, though I am not very happy with my method of
manufacturing for the sleeve, so some experimentation is
certainly in order. And I don't think I will have time for
that this weekend as I manage the overload that comes with
the early part of the school year.
So instead my creative "me time" this weeken is mostly
relegated to typing these very words. (I did feel
compelled to go to the garage and drill a hole through two
pieces of scrap, one thin and small, the other a kind of
base board. After I did that, I put in a screw, which made
it into a kind of hinge. After I get done with drills, I
will start working on other mechanisms that move a kind of
cartoon mouth which I will call the "auto-teacher," or some
kind of joke title).
The pump drill is a pleasureable tool to use, at least as
long as you aren't pressed for time on the project -- but
then no tool would probably be as much fun as it would
otherwise be. The drilling feels nice and under control,
and makes the whole process of creation more of a relaxing
hobby [1]. Here I want to join the chorus of those who
recommend mechanical keyboards. It can be more effort than
it is worth to plug mine in my laptop, but today I felt a
strong need for the sensory experience of gentler keys and
that wonder clicky-clack as I create my strings of text.
Lastly, on the subject of the pleasurability of tools, I
have a way I played some defense and given a little of
beauty to one of the most ugly tools I have ever had to use
in my life.
It is hard to describe what the tool is, but realize some
of the most horrible information tools I have ever seen
are made for school districts to force upon teachers. (And
yes, a big part of the problem is incomptent configuration
by foolish beauracrats, but that is onlny part of it).
I came to realize that every time I had to perform a
particular function, I felt a kind of dread flash through
me as a required, clunky menu dropped down with every
class I have all year, even ones I am not yet teaching.
This leaves me doing repetitive tasks where I am having to
manage over again where I am copying from and too without
any of the benefits of scripting tools. Well, my thought
went, if I have to manage symbols, I might as well try to
make them beautiful. And so I thought maybe I would give
each section color.
I took the following peg list I used to remember items:
1 run
2 zoo
3 tree
4 door
5 hive
6 sick
7 heaven
8 gate
9 wine
10 den
And I tried to just overlay a color. And to my surprise it
just so happened that it was easy to assign a color to each
and not have any overlap
1 run red (I picture Red Nike shoes)
2 zoo black (I see a gorilla in a cage in my zoo)
3 tree green
4 door brown
5 hive yellow
6 sick pink (like when throw up Pepto Bismol)
7 heaven white
8 gate gray
9 wine purple (well, dark wine color)
10 den blue (the haze of a t.v. in a den)
Armed with this, I now see the data in a different way, and
it is easier to hold in my head as I have to manipulate it.
And I get that perverse pleasure of having hacked the tools
in ways they were not designed.
[1] I might as well admit that the tear-out can be pretty
bad when you use a pump-drill as the whole weight of the
set up comes in to play when the bit finally breaks through
the material. One way to deal with this is to have a
sacrifical board underneath what you are drilling. This
does, of course, slow down the process even further, but
this also can make it more of deliberate ritual.
--
This work is hereby in the public domain.
Do what you want with it.
