If the plug does not fit, you must acquit.

In the meantime, I have other issues to sort out. For one, assembling a bunch of precision tooling jigs I received from Maine after a couple months’ wait. It’s an even more interesting task given that there are no reference materials.

Many, many pieces inside that box

Anwyay, if I am lucky, by next weekend (a three-day weekend!) I’ll be melting metal.

Avoid disputed waters, please.

I should clarify… this is the ship carrying my container full of tools and books from the USA. I suppose Mom would refer to it as a Treasure Galleon. Lord knows it was hard to convince her to properly submit the paperwork so that it could be sent on its Final Journey.

God knows what’s wrong with fucking Ecto, but I’ve written this article three times now. Each time I make it shorter:

Back this weekend after seven days overseas, including five in Tokyo and two in Seoul. I’ve never been to Korea before. Food was pretty good, the hills wrapping around the city are impressive (my office had a brilliant 20th storey view of the Blue House nestled in the bosom of a small mountain), but the city itself is a ‘meh’ — looks like KL or Bangkok to me.

Tokyo was good, except for losing my two-week old iPhone 4g. Somehow Super Wife managed to compel Singtel to sell me a second iPhone 4g (normally impossible) which was ready by the time I landed Saturday night. Overseas three days sans phone sucks.

The legend that Japanese return found property is urban legend. So far Tokyo has absorbed from me a 160GB iphone, a nice pair of sunglasses, and now this time the iPhone 4g.

Other than losing my phone in a Ginza taxi on my way to a mediocre sushi dinner (しもん）it was a pretty good trip — Japan always is. Weather was harsh though. Tokyo was hot. Osaka was worse. And it’s all aggravated by the Japanese Government’s (badly-named) “Cool Biz” policy of encouraging companies to keep their office temperature at around 82F. It’s horrid — you come in from the heat and find yourself in a room just slightly cooler but without a breeze. I felt so nasty after a Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka shinkansen/flight trip that I could have gagged.

Some worse trip comes the following week. Absurd one-day-per-country jolly around North Asia. Ugh.

がいじん 鳶

Today I wore my most modestly-sillhouetted Tobi while doing some brazing practice. Ling loves these pants too, but I bought them loose for me (95 waist) and so they’re impossible for her. I’ll be back in Tokyo this weekend, so I’ll find other Tobi shops.

I love wearing the stuff. I can’t wait to be in cool weather so I can wear my tobi-style mint green jacket, something I’ve had my eye on for six years, before I even knew these stores existed.

Cycling along Yio Chu Kang road today, I passed this nic gas cylinder cap on the side of the road. I scooped it up, tossed it into my pouch, and headed on.

I’m going to turn it into a spider statue for Luke sometime.

It’s a brilliant machine, like Dad’s Miller– a 35lb inverter that has all the waveform and power control circuitry I could need from as low as 6amp to as high as 200amp. So everyone will have to brace themselves for Christmas presents this years…

The other astonishing thing is that his phonics lessons, which he’s been taking for maybe six months, have suddenly begun paying off. He is reading Clifford books and sounding out everything himself. He is clearly immensely proud that he can now read and wants to show his chops to anyone whole will sit down to “Clifford Flies a Jet” etc. It’s pretty funny.

Hanging out for lunch on Tuesday

Luke was first to wear my special sodium-flare notch-filter brazing lenses. After Ling gets back from her Wolves’ Lunch today, I’ll bike to the shop, build my fork, and try out these brazing goggles. They are meant to notch-filter the sodium-wavelength flare of melting/burning flux, so that I can see the underlying metal’s temperature better.

Last weekend’s plantings are hard at work already, particularly one species of peas that seems to have the Holy Fire propelling it skyward.

I’ll probably have to replant the peas, at least, pretty soon.

By the way, note that I’m growing an interesting herb (exotic weed) Purslane, also known as portulacca.

Although purslane is considered a weed in the United States, it can be eaten as a leaf vegetable, providing sources can be found which have not been poisoned deliberately.

Apparently it’s got some beneficial antioxidants and fatty acids, although I tend to be put off by okra and things that have a  mucilaginous quality.

Hopefully it’s useful and then I can let it free-run in stale corners of the garden.

2) Fermentation is beginning to take off. My cabbage kimchi was effervescing this evening