AFTER a Zoom guitar session I have a list of diverse things on the to-do list.
First job is to ‘self-tape’ an audition for an advertising campaign. I got an email from a casting agency to say I had been shortlisted and asking for an audition reel. I set up as best I can, get it filmed and submitted. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.
I make steamed hirata buns with caramelised pork, pickled cucumber and hoisin for lunch then get back to the studio to film a special birthday video that someone has requested.
Margaret has a local community trust emergency general meeting (EGM) this evening and need some help sorting a projector. I look out all the cables and get it all working then back to the studio. Next job is some ‘reminder’ videos to help canvas some votes in my bid to join the national park board.
I get something done but not convinced it’s right….I’ve run out of time ‘cos I need to go to this EGM so I’ll pick up on it in the morning.
THE KIDS wake us up early bringing me Fathers’ day cards from Catriona and Will…and themselves 🙂
After breakfast I go to the studio and do some more prep for tonight’s radio show on Rock.Scot
Fiona and Neil rock up just after 11am to go for a paddle. It;s a nice day and we head over to Port Bawn…they carry on and, being a bit tight for time, I make for home.
I sit in the garden with the kids then go back to do my final prep for tonight’s show.
Everything’s ready come showtime and it all seems to go fine. While clusterfucks are a feature of my livestreams, I’m not quite sure they’d be tolerated on the radio!
THE dough for my weekend rolls is ready just before my Saturday morning guitar student arrives.
After the lesson I do some final finishing on the audiopoint info panel – a bead of clear silicone round the front and back of the mounting gasket. Once it dried I’ll do the last bits.
I have a fair bit of stuff to do in the studio including prep for tomorrow’s radio show…then, when the silicone beading has dried, I go to the office and attach the mounting brackets and make a giant jubilee clip.
I’m just finished when Catriona and the kids arrive….I go down and fit the panel to the audiopoint. It fits perfectly 🙂
Back home I hang out with everyone then get a get a message from Betty saying she’s going to see her panel…I meet here there and take some pix then she comes up to the house for a drink in the garden.
Later on when the kids are in bed I make pizza – caramelised onion, mushroom and thyme – and we spend a nice hour or so outside.
MIKEY leaves just after breakfast and Margaret has a meeting about the local place plan.
I hit the office and realise that in my haste to get the mounting bracket things for the shoes of the audiopoint info panel done I forgot to add a notch so they’ll for flush with the main seal that will fit between the wooden panel and the metal body of the audiopoint. I go back to my Tinkercad designs, make the necessary changes then send them to print.
Meantime, I fix the main seal/gasket gasket in place on the panel then hit the studio.
I go through a load of music submissions to see if there’s anything suitable and interesting for Sunday’s radio show…I start some euro so I don’t have a last minute panic!
After a break to make some pizza dough for tomorrow (Saturday) I get busy making up a couple of ‘Dave Arcari’ mugs for a merch order. I’d run out of ‘regular’ mugs when the merch order came in and ordered more yesterday…they arrived earlier today, less than 24 hours here I ordered ‘em!
I press some tofu for dinner later then go back to the studio to work on some sounds.
It’s after ten when I get back to the house and make tofu in ginger, garlic and soy…it’s ready in time to watch the football. I’m not a football fan but despite the disappointing result, quite enjoy it.
PRIORITY job today is to design and print the mounting system for the wooden audio point info panel I've been working on.
We take the panel and the angle measurement tool I 3D printed tot eh audio point and measure up...then back home to design the mounts. I start with the one for the top and when I;m happy, send it to the 3D printer.
It's gonna take about three hours to print so we go for a swim then home for lunch. Still some printing time to go so I start designing the side mounts which have some fine angles to take into account. I'm using Tinkercad as it's very simple and easy to use on the iPad...it's not feature-rich but it's intuitive for a newbie like me. That, along with Nomad sculpt are my two go-to 3D design tools.
My 3D printing has been 99% functional problem solving or creative since I got the wee Bambu A1 Mini almost a year ago. A £140 marvel of technology. So far I've made replacement toilet seat 'pads', the gasket and (almost!) mounting system for the audio point info panel from soft TPU filament; clothes drier ground cover, replacement section for a broken garden table leg, various tools and masters for casting a penguin paperweight and some jewelry ideas from the regular PLA filament. The only pre-made 'nonsense' I've printed is a fidget thing to clear out the PLA when changing filament.
So in. less than a year I've made enough stuff to more than cover the cost of the printer, filament and stuff plus – more importantly – learned a fair bit about 3D design and sculpting...and had some fun.
Margaret goes off to host a localomplace plan drop-in session at the village hall – after my afternoon guitar student leaves I take a walk to the hall and hang out for the last hour or so of the event. Nice to see some folks and catch up.
Back home we have dinner then Mikey arrives – he's making an impromptu overnight stay...
WEDNESDAY…my new ‘sourdough day’…I’m awake and up early to get it in the oven so it’s baked and cooled in time for breakfast.
I’ve not allowed quite enough time for it to cool – best practice says an hour, so I adhere strictly to that advice – so I have to go to the studio for my guitar guitar student of the day before breakfast.
Worth the wait, though – then I get busy working out how I’m gonna measure up the audiopoint info panel so I can design and print some bracket kinda things to lock it in place.
My guitar is fixed and ready for collection so we go into Glasgow, stop at Jimmy Egypt’s and collect the guitar then go an get some shopping.
We’re not long back home when my afternoon guitar student arrives. After the lesson I join Margaret in the garden – she’s planting up some hanging baskets and I need to repot one of my tomatillo plants. The midges are out tho’!
Betty’s taking us for dinner and we have a lovely meal then go back to Passfoot for a nightcap.
I CAN’T understand it. In bed before midnight last night, no alcohol…and we sleep through the alarms and don’t wake until nearly 11am! Luckily nothing time-specific in the diary this morning.
In the office I meet and design a tool to help me measure the angle of bracket/s I need to make to mount the wooden audiopoint panel. I come up with something and send it to the 3D printer.
We take a drive to the village and go for a swim then back home for a late lunch.
Both Sandy and Betty drop by just as my afternoon guitar student arrives. They sit in the garden and I join them for a blether after the lesson.
I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening messing with some guitar ideas. I really need to get some new stuff written and recorded!
UP early to get the smoker fired up and a pork butt on – then I manage to get most of routine stuff out the way before an online session with a Zoom guitar student.
Next job is to upload a copy of last night’s radio show to my Mixcloud and post the playlists online.
The ballot papers for the National Park board elections arrive in the post – the trigger for me to post my canvassing videos round scripts Facebook groups. There’s another two very worthy candidates so I don’t hold out too much hope for success, but it’s worth a try. I do think I could make a difference.
Next job is editing up the last bit of live video from the FInland/Estonia tour – a video of See Me Laughing from Philly Joe’s in Tallinn which I want to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ Facebook livestream. Once done I dig out an archive video clip to show too.
The pork butt is far from being ready – and when Betty dropped by for a coffee earlier and I invited her to join us for dinner later…with the caveat that it might be. Fruity late before we eat!
There’s time for a walk up the lochside before the livestream, after which I get back tot he start and we wait for the pork to reach 203F internal! It’s worth the wait tho’….
STILL quite a lot of prep for tonight’s radio show to do…once I feel I’ve got all my ducks in a row I get back to the house for some lunch.
It’s not a bad day outside so I get the cover on the wee Aldi greenhouse thing – it’s lasted well, much better than the more expensive ones from garden centres we had in the past.
Next job is the fruit cage round the blueberry bushes. The flowers have started to turn into berries and it won’t be long before the birds demolish everything so no time like the present.
The weather’s still good and I get out for a paddle and do a couple of livestreams from the loch to promote both tonight’s radio show and tomorrow’s (Monday) Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
Back home I feed be shower then hit the studio and get going with my show. The show finishes at 9pm – just in time to get back to the house for dinner and tune into Billy’s livestream.
THE KIDS are through jumping all over me long before the alarm goes off…not gonna sleep in this morning!
After breakfast I hit the studio to do some prep for tomorrow’s (Sunday) radio show and Maggi and Joel drop off their wee dog Rosie for Freya and Aaron to look after.
Margaret and the kids go a walk with the dog and I carry on with some work in the studio. When Maggi and Joel come back we all have a coffee and a catch up then we take the kids swimming. Been a while since we’ve been – Margaret rented our memberships last week. Good to be back albeit a bit busy. It is a Saturday I guess.
Catriona and Will come for the kids just after 6pm and we chat for a while.
I get a pork butt out the fridge and say some prep with my ‘Memphis dust’ rub ready for the smoker tomorrow.
Then back to the studio to do a little more work then fire up some charcoal for it grill – Margaret’s marinaded some chicken with some kinda weird mustard and mayo stuff…it turns out great!
