Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Tumultuous Tuesday ...

(Source)
Sometime after the Earth cooled, and the first primitive life forms began to appear¹, I was in the Air Force, working Weapon Control Systems on the mighty F-4 Phantom, the -C and -D models, juvat flew the latter. (By the way, if you chase the link under the photo, you'll get one of those 3-D look around views, kinda cool. They have the front seat as well.)

The cockpits I worked in were nowhere near as schmutzig¹ as the one depicted above. In my later years of working on the Phantom, when I had attained the lofty rank of Staff Sergeant, I would have had an apoplectic fit had I beheld a cockpit in such foul condition. I was known to go completely bat-shit crazy at beholding cockpits far less dirty than that. I didn't want any pilot of mine to roll the bird and get a face-full of crap from the cockpit floor.

Not to mention that there are certain things in an unkempt cockpit which can gum up the controls. Not good, not good at all. Rather a pet peeve of mine. (No doubt The Missus Herself wishes I took such care in my own lair, the semi-organized mess that it is. But it has the benefit of me knowing where everything is. More or less. And I seldom, if ever, roll that room.)

The renovation continues, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm reasonably sure that it's not a train.

Friday morning I awakened to the sound of drilling, and other construction-type noises. The contractors hadn't planned on coming to the house, but certain materials had come in, which they hadn't expected, so they decided to swing by and work. I had no problem with that, I did bemoan the lack of sleep afforded to me on that day, but I knew that in order to have restful days in the future, the project needed to get done. So I went with the flow.

Turns out the installation of the glass shower door was a "no go." The walls of the house are, apparently, slanted in such a way that from the base of the door, to the top, presented a variance of some 1.5 inches. Not good, especially if the goal is to contain the water from the shower head to the confines of the shower area.

As it's a walk-in shower, using a shower curtain was a big non-starter (that whole keeping the water contained thing, dontcha know?). Specialists will be brought in to measure and make custom glass for our shower. Oh boy, I can't wait to see what that costs.

But enough of the construction stuff, I weary of the whole thing, as does my better half. I got to play supervisor on Friday as she needed a day out with her Korean lady-buddies to try and regain her sanity. A well-deserved break.

For her.

So I drank coffee and worked on my laptop, incorporating edits to the novel, while the two Portuguese brothers worked on the renovation. We all listened to Portuguese music as well, it's better than I expected, even though the accordion starts to wear on you after a while. No doubt they would feel the same way about my bagpipe music.

Fair enough.

Saturday I continued incorporating comments and edits on the novel, most were very good, some were focused on reformatting practically the whole thing to a certain standard. A standard which, sad to say, I really don't care for. Not sure what I'm going to do with those edits. Time will tell.

Sunday I received some more pieces for my Napoleonic addiction -

Le Haye Sainte Farm
Chateau de Hougoumont
Both are on the field of Waterloo

(Source)
More things to assemble and paint, I'm going to be very busy in retirement!

I'm still deciding what to pursue next in the fiction arena, need to get the first book edits in place, then re-read it to make sure it flows the way I want it to flow. I've gone back and refreshed my memory on War in the Wild, where I left off and all that. I noted that the writing was rather lackluster on the last chapters I wrote. I need to rework those and up my game, or give up the attempt altogether. I still like the book, but I need to focus better. (And do a Hell of a lot more research!)

That being said, life goes on, life is good.

So I've got that going for me.



¹ Ya know, officers.
² Dirty (German)

18 comments:

  1. Life is indeed good, Sarge; let's hope we can still say that a year's hence.
    Looking forward to seeing (and having) AAL in print and would volunteer to edit the prequel (if such it remains). Both are worthy projects and I'd be glad to assist if I can.
    I liked War in the Wild and would be glad for more. Your characters are credible and interesting; the situations as well. I don't recall having issues with the writing, but you are the first and final arbiter.
    Do press on!
    Boat Guy

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    1. Many balls in the air right now and I'm not the juggler (if that makes any sense). I do need to write and will, soon I hope.

      You're on my list of editors for the prequel, definitely.

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  2. Sarge, loose items in cars make me feel the same way -pictures of hitting something and items flying hither and yon make me almost frenetic in my sweeps of my car to make sure there is nothing loose before I drive.

    The glass door sounds...unfortunate. How utterly aggravating (pretty sure custom glass work is not that expensive, said no one ever).

    Reformatting is one of my least favorite jobs, especially if I have to convert the whole book. At some point I just started out in the template, which made things (slightly) more endurable.

    My father was probably never busier than when he retired. Lots to do, just lots to do that he wanted to do (instead of "had to do").

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    1. It's going to be an "interesting" week. Hopefully not too expensive.

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    2. I too ascribe to the sedimentation system of filing. It also extends to my closet. My wife is a saint.

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    3. The "sedimentation system of filing," love it. It's a natural process, after all. 😁

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  3. I used to design lighting systems. I asked one of the Engineers why we had 24 inch legs on our corners for perimeter lighting? I was told that if the print said that the room was 12' X 12' it could be 11"-6" X 12'-6".or some other variation. I told him that I'd stick with Machine Design.

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  4. Ah, the Dreaded Napoleonic Addiction! Much feared (by the wallet). Much hated (by the World War II ETO)......... :) Good luck with that custom glass Sarge.

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    1. Yes, it's in my DNA apparently (pun intended).

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  5. The matings of the designed and the built are often ... fussy. I'm going to drop back a month or two and catch up.

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  6. Your bathroom wall problem... I'd fix the wall, wood-greenboard & such I understand, never would have thought of custom glass.

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    1. Fixing the wall wasn't an option, I'm not a carpenter, so what do I know? Cutting the glass to fit the slant of the wall seems like a good idea.

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    2. I guess it all depends on what you know but I'll admit that getting a piece of glass cut to fit sounds like a FAR better/quicker fix than the wall. If I'd have done it someone would have pointed out that just getting new glass would have been a better fix after I was done :-)
      Good luck.

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    3. That's usually the way it happens, advice comes along long after you needed it.

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  7. Sarge,
    Well....Thanks for an idea for next week's post. As to wood related stuff (AKA housing and things inside), a wise man once told me, "Measure once, you'll be wrong. Measure twice, they'll differ, you'll be wrong. Measure thrice, average the three, you'll be wrong. Suck it up, and use wood putty to camouflage your mistakes."
    Sorry I can't be more specific, I've got to go to the wood shop and "fix" a few Christmas projects I'm working on.

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    Replies
    1. Oh good, I'm an inspiration! (YMMV)

      Doesn't matter how many times you measure, what ever can go wrong, will.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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