I’ve been a blogger since 2004 (this is my third or fourth), but I’ve never been one to track blogging milestones. But today when I logged into my WordPress dashboard, I saw that I had written 99 posts on Adventures in Woodworking. So hey, 100 posts! And I’ve received 274 non-spam comments here, so that’s a pretty good return, I’d say!
But my main reason for posting today was to talk about the big news: We have a house! We put down the deposit yesterday, and today I took possession of the keys. This is fantastic. In our 10 years as a couple, we’ve never had a place to really call home. We’ve moved 12 times in our 10 years of marriage (counting places where we’ve stayed at least two months). The longest we’ve ever stayed at one place was 1 year and 9 months. And while we still will go back to the States every couple years or so, we’ll maintain this place so there’ll always be “home” to come back to.
And the big ramifications of this event is that at last, I can invest my time and energies into having a workshop! Like most places we’ve been, my space will be very limited. Fortunately, though, for a neanderthal like myself I only need a couple dozen square feet and I’m set. :^)
We’ve identified the area that would be best for my workbench (my wife has very graciously included “proper shop space” into our wishlist when househunting), and I’ll have pics later. I’ll be in the kitchen, but really – it’s better than it sounds!
So now I’m planning my bench. For the longest time I had dreamed of a Roubo, but gave that dream up recently and switched to the idea of a Japanese bench like The Schwarz profiled on his blog. But now, I’m thinking that the Roubo would really be ideal, so I’m thinking about it during every spare moment.
We’ll start moving non-essential stuff this weekend and next week, and then after I return from an out-of-town trip next week, we’ll complete the move. Then I can get started on my bench! Oh, after I see if I can complete the Sawdust Chronicles challenge…
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April 30, 2009 at 8:29 am
TheSawdustChronicles
Looking forward to another 100 posts! Keep it up Eric!
-Rick
April 30, 2009 at 8:42 am
Gye Greene
Wow! Two postings in two weeks…!!!
Looking forwards to seeing the pics!
Not to knock the ”woodshop in the kitchen” idea — but, as an alternative: have you considered setting up a small outbuilding in the back yard (if you, in fact, have a back yard)? Pretty high up on my To Do list is to build a small, free-standing woodshop (less than 10 square metres for the dripline, and the city council doesn’t care about building permissions). Since I mostly use hand tools, I’ll just string an extension cord to the outdoors power outlet when I need power (or light!). Something about 2.5m x 3.0m on the inside (plus wall thickness and the eaves’ overhang brings it up to about 10m^2). The advantages are that you can do stinky stuff; you can also do sawdusty stuff, and leave it ’til the next time.
Plus: one more thing to think about and plan, in addition to the workbench…
Either way: total congrats on the house!
Looking forward to the pics.
–GG
April 30, 2009 at 10:26 am
The Village Carpenter
Congratulations, Eric, on the home, the 100th post, and the new workshop space! In some ways, it’s as much fun to think about projects as it is to build them. Have fun planning your workbench.
April 30, 2009 at 9:09 pm
ma
Great news on the house – - I know how tough it is to keep packing up and moving all the time.
I’ve gone to a couple websites, but I still don’t know what a Roubo workbench is. But it sounds like a step up from your winning entry in the “most pathetic workbench contest.”
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/The+Winners+Of+Our+Most+Pathetic+Workbench+Contest.aspx
May 1, 2009 at 7:52 am
daryl lister
Congrats on the house. Thats a big step for an expat to make. Here in the Philippines I can,t buy property, only apartments and townhouses, at least until i,m married to a local anyway. As for the workbench all I can say is “NOT ANOTHER ROUBO!!!!” That shwartz guy has a lot to answer for
Lots of benches on Lumberjocks as i,m sure you know. Personally i,m planning an English style bench with German and Chinese influences (!?) mostly influenced by Peter follansbee on his joiners notes blog. Whatever you chose I shall be watching with interest. Enjoy your new abode.
May 2, 2009 at 9:46 am
Alpha
Conga-rats on the house!
May 3, 2009 at 6:21 am
AAAndrew
Hey, Eric
I finally connected 1+1 and realized that your comments on my blog were coming from you on your blog (if that makes sense). I had stumbled across your blog a few months ago and when I heard about the most pathetic bench contest I almost wrote to you to tell you to enter. I was glad to see you made the final list.
When I first read your blog I was struck by your perseverance and tenacity, and greatly admired it. I am also greatly empathetic to the challenges you must go through to do what you do. I’ve lived for short periods over seas (mainly Taiwan) and my parents taught at American schools for almost ten years in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Lahore, Pakistan and Dakar, Senegal. I also almost joined the State Department some years ago. I passed the exams and got a job offer in the political track, but my wife and I, for various reasons, ultimately decided that the timing was just not right. It was not an easy decision. It’s a tough life at times, especially with small kids! But as you obviously know, it can be incredibly rewarding as well.
Congrats on the house and the blog and your great work despite the handicaps you’re working under. Someday this will all pay off when you get a dedicated space because you will be used to making the most with very little.
Keep it up, and good luck with designing your new shop space!
AAAndrew
May 5, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Eric
I’ve already responded to a few of you by email, but just wanted to say “Thank you!!!” to all of you!