Now Hear This

A few months before I got my laser cutter, I had seen a pair of glasses for sale that had mimicked the infamous Look of Disapproval. ಠ_ಠ

I loved them so much, that I had decided to buy the set from the seller, Tim Saylor. After I had my laser set up, I wanted to try my hand at designing my own pair. I opened up Inkscape and just started drawing out what I could.

While I still think that Tim did a much better job on his than I did on mine, when I put the file on Thingiverse it almost instantly obtained a lot of attention. A few people asked me if then could buy a pair, so I put the glasses up on an Etsy page for users to buy.

This was probably the first time I had a run-in with this issue. I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but what I was effectively doing was stealing business from Tim Saylor. While I may have created the design of the glasses that I was selling, I was taking away business from somebody who had inspired me in the first place.

This may be an effective business model, but it’s not something I agree with, nor is it something I would want to happen to myself. I started redirecting users away from my Etsy shop and back to Mr. Saylor’s.

I will most definitely have to start thinking about things like this in the future when making designs that may end up being sold.

As one of my first project cuts on the Laser (which still needs a name btw), I cut out the Old School Rocket, created and shared on Thingiverse by Mathieu Glachant. I first cut it out on card board to see how well it would work, then after I was happy with the results, I cut it out on MDF. Had a blast making it.

After an unexpected tax return came in, I finally decided to get a laser cutter. One had been on my wish list for quite some time, and this was the perfect excuse to take the plunge.

After reading a bunch of online reviews, I decided to buy Full Spectrum’s 40W Deluxe Hobby Laser. After owning and using it for 2 months now, I would definitely consider it a good decision. This post should explain the rundown of how I set it up, what I found out, and what you can probably expect, should you choose to invest in your own laser cutter.

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Ok, so here I am at my sister-in-law’s high school graduation, and I decided to take a little walk… Guess what I found

Exhibit A: football field full of ~300 people about to graduate.

Exhibit B: the industrial high-flow sprinkler controller for the field that somebody just happened to leave UNLOCKED

I’m sure you can put two and two together at this point.

It sure would make one hell of a final ceremony…

What’s it gonna do?

Today I went to my local coffee shop before work to get some caffeine, and was stopped on the way in by one of the local homeless guys. I’ve seen him before, and he has asked me for some spare change before too, but today, he apparently decided to step up his game plan.

He started by catching me between the sidewalk and the door, and immediately started telling me his story of woe and why he needed some money. It went something along the lines of this.

He said he was traveling all across America to panhandle, trying to make $50. He was going from state to state panhandling. A traveling panhandler, this man was. He used the word “panhandle” more times than I had ever heard in my life. He said needed the $50 so he could open a bank account and get a lock box. He then reached into his pants pocket and produced an empty wallet, save for a California I.D. card… he didn’t say anything about it, but rather, he just kept fiddling with it between his fingers. When I looked down at it, it most definitely was not his I.D. card, but actually that of a man of a completely different ethnicity, and what looked like about 20 years age difference.
Why he pulled the card out I will never know… but he continued his story without taking a breath or letting me say a word.

He said he wasn’t able to get a lock-box yet because the poh-leece have his name on file, and he needed a tape worm removed.

Yes. You read that right. It made about as much sense to me as I bet it does to you. But I digress…

He reiterated the fact that he had family all across the United States and needed to go see them and was trying to make $50 today for traveling money and a lock box. He then finally got to the point and asked if I had anything I could spare. I simply told him I would see what I had after I went and got my coffee.

While getting my coffee, I was trying to digest everything he had told me, and I was even more dumbfounded than before, but I couldn’t help but just start laughing at nothing.

When I came out, I gave him $2 cash and told him to have a good one. He then proceeded on to his next client.

What he is planning on storing in that lock-box, and how he plans on getting that tape-worm removed, I hope to never find out, but one thing’s for sure… that was an amazing two dollars.