Rommy plan

Happy New Year!

47 degrees and cold and rainy. Its really nasty. And rainy. And cold. Did I mention that this sucks? I cant help but thinking nostalgically about the county fair back in July. Oh GOD I want heat! I promise to never complain about it again! Did I mention its cold here?

Wow. Its 2011. When I was a kid I thought we would all be driving around in hovercrafts and wearing matching jumpsuits by now. 2011 doesnt seem that much different than 1976 when I was 10. Except for the internet. Well, that and disco died.

I kicked off the new year by doing absolutely nothing in the shop. I wanted to, but it is just too damn cold. I go outside, freeze for a few minutes and come back into my nice warm house.

Right now it is rainy and 47 degrees. Yep. It sucks. Granted, I grew up in Colorado, and fully understand what cold really is, but in California, 47  feels like 17 in the Midwest. Im serious. We need some sort of new index. You know, like the "heat index" or the "wind chill factor". Id like to call it the "California Reality Atmospheric Precision" indicator. I leave it to you to deduce your own acronym.

I spent a lot of time trying to get "inspired" by going through my old issues of woodworking magazines:

Id like to make that Fibonacci Gauge, but Im not sure how to stretch an entire video out of it. At least one that hasnt already been done. So I had the notion to make a new paper towel holder. At least one thats a little different than all the others. I sketched a crude design:


Now were getting somewhere! Heres my idea. I discovered that rolls of foil, waxed paper, plastic wrap, etc. are all the same size, and the same length as a roll of paper towels. Why not a paper towel holder that has a box on top to hold all those other rolls?  Yeah man, if it is halfway warm tomorrow, Im making this sucker!

Are you guys doing anything in the shop this weekend? Lets hear some good cold weather ideas! Want to post your project here? Send it to me at zrammedia (at) gmail (dot) com. (In case you are wondering, I am trying to cut down on the spambots by spelling it all out.) Or better yet, log onto the Mere Mortals Facebook page and upload pictures of your project!