AdventuresInMissingThePoint.com

Life is too short to focus on imperfections, or even joke about them.  In our journey, there is too much to celebrate and learn from one another, especially from our differences.

People will never meet all of your expectations.  This can be inconvenient.  Some friends don’t like keeping in touch on the internet.  Some people are aroused by the same gender.  Some people think practicing yoga implies you are aroused by the same gender.   Some friends have different political views.  People worship differently.  Your friends and peers honor assets, money, and experiences differently.  Some value traveling; others would rather stay home.  Some value balance; others are extremists.  And, some friends are calmer than you are.

Deal with it.

It’s harder to see these as learning potentials than as imperfections.  Everyone can learn from someone.

One of my inspirations of this outlook I recently met, Bobby.  On the weekdays, he rides the 6:30am Bus 178 eastbound from Costa Mesa and the 3:45pm Bus 178 westbound from Irvine.  He genuinely asks us riders how we are doing.  He’ll let you know he’s very glad you’re good or wish you his condolences if you are not good.  Additionally, he’ll report, “I am doing very well today.  Thank you very much.”  He’s a very big fan of the adverb very.

I want to recharge my batteries in my ability to stay positive, especially by resisting negativity.  I think energizing lemons into lemonade allows you to get the most from life, by means of a safe and nurturing environment.  I want to be like that unsung hero — the mentally handicapped cafeteria worker, Bobby.  I imagine he gets mocked routinely because he’s not normal, but he is still doing very well today.  Thank you very much.

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” – Albert Einstein

My TV aquarium is in it’s functioning form!

This is my first attempt at art (since mandatory art class, in middle school).  Now, I’m trying to learn about the Nitrogen Cycle to tell everyone, “It’s alive!”  The nitrogen cycle is the term of finding the aquarium’s chemical balance, namely ridding fish poop in the eco-system.

Fortunately, enough time passed between initially seeing this idea and constructing it so that I could use my own independent solutions (the best way to learn, which includes failures) and finish this project.  If you care, this is how I did it:

• Found a free television on craigslist.
• (Let it sit in the front room for over a year.)
• Gutted all the internal components from the case.
• Built a 1″ base that brings the tank flush to the plastic paneling.
• Bought an aquarium with a curved front. I figured this would be cheaper than buying a custom built aquarium, as well as less complex (for a project that already stretches my limits) than building a glass aquarium with curved edges.  See * notes below.
• *Hacked off the paneling so that the curved aquarium can bulge out a little bit.
• Cut a section of the top off of the cabinet and hinged it for an access lid to the aquarium.
• *Mounted two “ultra-slim” fluorescent lights on the lid to light the aquarium, due to limited top space between the cabinet and the aquarium.
• *Installed an under-gravel filtering (as opposed to a more modernly conventional side mounted mechanical filter).
• *For visual effect, I draped black landscaping material on the bottom and sides to disguise the wood on the inside of the cabinet, thereby helping to make the aquarium flush to the cabinet.
• Mounted a 6″ fan — which isn’t my biggest fan — to the rear door to pull moisture out which keeps the wooden cabinet from warping, rotting, growing moss-like stuff, etc.
• I stared and watched tv for multiple hours.

*A compromise of buying an off-the-shelf aquarium.

Future Explorations

I want to incorporate this fish tank into an eco-system with edible plants and possibly edible aquatic animals, termed aquaponics . .

. . . and take over the world!

I have a new domain today.  Big day!

http://AdventuresInMissingThePoint.com/

I set up the new domain primarily for learning.  In case you cared, I used:

• GoDaddy for the domain directing.
• (Beforehand, Google “GoDaddy coupon codes” to save 30%.)
• I’m still slave to the WordPress server.

Thanks to jeff as well as Harry (from Harry Dingles and the Dingleberries) for the advice, tips, and how-to’s!

Caveat: There is minimal, if any, value in this post.

In my bus rides, downtimes, and occasional lunch breaks, I have been reading more anti-corporatism books.  A lot of the material is rather grim; media with passion sells. However, it’s not all for a loss. These writings motivated me back to active learning. (If there’s a collapse in the economy, skills will always have value.)

I enjoyed my weekend.

• I organized the garage in my apartment.
  • After incessently knocking over bikes, I hung all the bikes around the perimeter.  The garage now has a bike dungeon vibe. muhaha.
  • I built a peg board, so my growing collection of tools are clumped together: general tools, bike tools, and power tools.  I built the peg board between two bikes with a work table under it.  Also, I placed a power strip on the peg board.  It’s ready for project problems!
  • I hung a 4′ fluorescent light above the work area.  The light ties into the pre-existing light switch. Yay!
  • The nice thing about this set up is that it is visual and semi-permanent.  That is, I could easily move it to another garage, apartment, cave, etc.
• I dove back into the TV aquarium. I built a base. I bought a glass aquarium with a rounded front, to emulate a CRT. This compromised, pre-fabricated aquarium should be cheaper than getting a custom aquarium that is a few inches more ideal in height and width, and less intense as joining rounded glass in a square pattern (baby steps).  But, this required ripping out the base I just built, because it was too big, and rebuilding another base.* Then, I hacked off the top and bottom plastic paneling.  Blah, blah, blah … progress! I see the light at the end of the tunnel for this project, which I think is a jig saw, a hinge, and some black yardscaping material away from finishing.
• I set up a separate (from the TV) 30 gallon aquarium that I found.  I want to tie the TV aquarium into what I envision a 4-cell aquaponics setup.  The TV aquarium will house the fish, which will provide fertilizer, to a wetlands cell and a hydroponic cell.  Those (edible) plant cells will then provide oxygen to the fish.  In the sustainability biz, this is called an intensive loop.
• I trued two bike wheels from my touring travels, which included more gravel roads than I expected.  Also, I adjusted a front brake from cable wear; woo, stopping is good.

*The nice thing about a science/engineering background is low expectations for solving problems quickly.  When I truly understood an engineering method, I had often times spent at least a few hours attempting the problem a handful of times burning through a few millimeters of eraser and a few sheets of paper.  Then, I got it, and afterwards I could solve the problem in less than 10 minutes.

This weekend, I found my workspace, where imagination meets creation.  I still feel like a dumbass n00b in hardware stores and talking to bike mechanics, but when has taming an ego been easy?