I made a dresser for my now two year old. I made dressers for her older sisters when they were a similar age, and the homemade baby change table we were using as a dresser for her was getting a little small. I wanted to make something a little nicer. My original plan was to box joint the corners, but my table saw box joint jig tore apart the plywood, so I had to change my plan. It's Baltic birch with walnut accents.


I originally wanted to get it done by the new year, but switching jobs killed all the vacation time I had banked.

... and by Santa's workshop, I mean my garage. I had a number of projects I wanted to get done this year for Christmas.

The first thing on the list was to make a fake fireplace for my girls (now ages 7, 5, and almost 3). I had a bunch of barn board kicking around my garage from a few years ago. Before my grandparents passed away, I was able to cut a few pieces of corral fence that had some really weathered wood. (My grandparents passed away a few years back - first my Grandpa at the ripe age of 98, then my grandma a few years after). They lived on a farm, which we had fond memories of as a kid. I wanted the wood out of my garage, but wanted to do something with it. We don't have a fireplace in our house, and no real room for one, but I thought it would be kind of fun to make a fake fireplace for my girls for Christmas. This was the result:

The tree branch "logs" came from the top of a tree I hacked off that was growing too close to the house. This is with the fake little fire thing going. It ended up being a bit noisier than we had hoped, so we don't turn it on much. The other option I had going was to load up our old tablet with the burning log on YouTube, but it turns out the tablet is too old to get updates and get the YouTube app opened. Oh well.

We gave it to the kids early (start of December) to kick things off.

Next up on the list was something I wanted to make for my girls. The older two girls started piano lessons, and the electric keyboard we had only had a small bench that came with it. Growing up, we had a duet sized piano bench. I'm really pleased with how well this turned out - it's solid cherry, and has some of the tightest fitting joints I've probably done on a piece of furniture yet:

The seat lifts up to allow music books to be stored underneath:

Unfortunately the second oldest didn't care for the piano lessons and didn't stick with it. Oh well, such is life. I hope that they can still appreciate it though.

Next on the list - cutting boards. Last year I gave away a number of hand-made cutting boards. This year, I finally wised up and bought a jointer (as well as my own thickness planer so I didn't have to keep borrowing my dad's, which he wanted back anyway). Most of them were solid maple with either walnut or cherry. The big round one and darker colored one are hickory - maybe not the best wood for a cutting board, but it was an experiment. The big round one is for someone we know that has their own pizza oven. I figured if they are making big pizzas, they'd need something big to cut them on:

Last up (but not least) is a bathtub tray for Mrs. BaconSandwich. I'm not sure why one spends enough time in a bath to need a tray, but I made one for her sister a few years back, and she expressed interest in having one of her own. This one is made from Sapele with laminated strips of maple. The photo doesn't do the wood grain justice. It turned out quite well.

I haven't done much in the way of actual car/garage work in the garage this year (other than the usual oil changes). My original plan was to start making a recumbent trike, but that also didn't happen. But at least I did manage to get a few woodworking projects done.

A few years back, I made a solid walnut dining room chair for my oldest daughter (she was maybe 3 at the time). Last year I did something similar for my next oldest daughter. This year, I made a chair for Mrs. BaconSandwich:

It's made from sapele (which is supposed to be similar to mahogany). Grand total of something like 42 mortise and tenon joints (all cut/chopped by hand). I started with some sapele shorts (usually 1" thick, 5ft long, smooth on two sides), and laminated them together for the thicker parts of the legs. Parts were rough cut on the band saw, hand-planed to a specific size, then joined. Finish is just Wipe-on-poly, which gives it a bit more color.

I was trying to get it done in time for our anniversary (this week), but managed to get it done even sooner. I couldn't wait to give her the chair, so I ended up giving it to her Saturday morning.

A "family" photo of all three chairs (and my homemade table):

I still need to figure out what I want to do for my chair, as well as the chair for my youngest daughter.

If Dodge eventually makes an electric car, and I buy one, and install a charging station in my garage... would that mean I have a Dodge charger in my garage?

If Stellanis ever ran into financial trouble, and had to sell off Jeep to a Chinese bidder, would American Jeep owners get angry, like their Jeeps?

It's not a Jeep Thing - it's a Volkswagen Thing.

@jminer good thing we have dealership to protect us from.... oh wait.

Hey all,

It's been a while since I have posted a proper post here. I took a break from Oppo back in February. I was spending way too much time reading it, and decided I need to step away for a bit. You bunch of weirdos are far too addictive. Recently I've told myself that I'll allow myself to read Oppo while donating plasma. (Here in Canada you don't get paid for it, but it's something I feel like I can do with some regular frequency, and it's a pretty good way of helping out). Although today I'm making an exception.

A few things of note that have happened since February:

• The Civic finally rolled over 300,000 km. I think it's just over 302,000 km now. It was 15 years ago today (give or take a day) that I bought it, with just under 80,000 km on it. (It's a 2001 DX, so nothing special to most, but it is my first car). It's still doing well. I took it in earlier this month to get the timing belt and water pump done done (for the second time). I had them do a few other things while they were at it (coolant flush, AC/alternator belt, power steering belt). It turns out the timing belt cover was also broken, so that got replaced, a long with the valve cover gasket, which has been seeping for the past 14 years or so. There's still a laundry list of things that I need to do, but they are all pretty small, and not too urgent. All in all, it's been a very good car. If it wasn't, I would have gotten rid of it a long time ago. Here's a photo I took of it I took the day after I bought it:
  Here it is on the Bonneville salt flats back in 2010:
  Here's another photo of it, on my way to Las Vegas, back in 2011:
  I don't have any really recent photos. It's got a bit more rust around the rear wheel wells and a few more dings in the paint (mostly door dings from other people in parking lots), but looks more or less the same.
• It was a pretty productive year in terms of making things. This summer we made a pergola on our rear deck. I thought I was going to need a permit, so I was trying to get prepared for that, and came up with a plan in TinkerCad. Turns out I didn't need a permit, but the model still came in handy:
• For Christmas, I managed to make 4 small pieces of furniture - 3 night stands, and a night stand organizer for Mrs. BaconSandwich:
  
  And the organizer:
• I finished making another dining room chair. This one for my youngest (who just turned 4):
  
• One other project finished earlier in the year - a solid maple shelf: It's heavy. And solid. And I probably shouldn't have used hardwood on the whole thing, but I figured if I was going to the trouble, I might as well do it properly.
• The van (2008 Sienna) continues to plug along. No major repairs or anything since the front spring snapped (a year or two ago). Here's a photo of it from back in the spring when we went on a bit of a road trip:
• I'm still itching to get something electric to replace the van, but that'll be at least a few years out.
• I keep meaning to do a write-up of Mrs. BaconSandwich's uncle and his cars. He's got a first-gen mustang and a 1989 Supra. I got to hear a bit of the story about it, but need to sit down with him to hear the whole thing.
• I also need to write up the "BaconSandwich's Guide to Cleaning a Dirty Van". Young kids + van + camping = messy van. Liker seriously dirty inside. Not hoarder bad, but not far off.
• There's still so much that I want to learn and do. I know it's insanely unrealistic, but I want to eventually build my own vehicle. I've been slow carving out more space to make a welding table (where I can fit the welding car underneath). Hoping to finish that during the next few days, but we'll see. I eventually want to get a metal lathe - they seem insanely handy, and there's already quite a few things I'd like to use one for.

I hope I haven't missed too much craziness in the... 10-ish months I haven't been on Oppo. I hope you are all doing well.

14 years ago (give or take a day), I bought a 2001 Honda Civic. This was (and still is) my first car. Here's what it looked like the day after I bought it and drove it home:

It looks pretty much the same today, albeit with a few more scuffs and dings. There's also a small, but slowly growing patch of rust on the rear fender.

Back in 2007, I knew that I was going to be graduating soon, and would probably need a car. I had a look at a 1997 Nissan Sentra at a local dealership, and took it for a test drive. I wanted to think about it for a bit, so came in the next day to make them an offer. While I was there, someone else was already purchasing it. No biggie.

That Christmas, I caught a ride home to my parents' place (a 6 hour drive from where I was going to school). I went through the Auto Trader, made a list of vehicles to check out in Edmonton (a 2 hour drive away), and drove there with my dad. The Civic was first on my list. It was listed for $9,000, when comparable ones were going for $12,000, and had just over 79,000 km on it. (Other ones that were on my short list included A Ford Focus, and a Chevrolet Aveo - glad I dodged that bullet!)

It had been rear-ended, but the repairs looked decent, and it drove fine. The previous owner had sold it to a guy who had a transmission shop, who I guess was responsible for the repairs, who I then bought it from. While we were buying it, the guy received several calls about the car. That night, I drove it home from Edmonton, then back down to where I was going to school.

Since then, the car has served me well. It has just under 300,000 km on it now (almost time for another timing belt, water pump, and tensioner).

Here's to hoping it lasts me a few more years.

Would I like something newer? Sure. But as long as it keeps running fine, I'll keep it.

I feel like I haven't done a proper post on here in some time. Life has a way of being... busy. That's a four letter word that I hate. "How was your weekend?" "Busy."

The last few weeks have been pretty stressful with work. It's mostly self-imposed. For those that haven't been following, I started a new job mid-December. The place I left, I had been there roughly six and a half years. There were good times and bad times, but I was in a pretty comfortable state. Out of the blue, I got a phone call from a former coworker, who spent half an hour trying to convince me to apply at the place he was now at. I ended up going through a series of interviews, and they offered me a position as a senior software engineer. (I can't technically use that term in Canada, apparently, but I'm basically a senior developer). I am now using a new-to-me language, new web framework, and on a Mac, so the initial adjustment was... rough. They have said it'll take six months or so before I'm really getting comfortable with things. So far, it's been just over one (we got a week off for Christmas, which was nice. I think I had only taken a week's worth of holidays since COVID-19 hit, but at least I finally got paid out for all the other banked vacation time. Huzzah!).

Either way, the new job has been stressful, so I haven't had the motivation to do some proper posts on Oppo. Ended up taking the van in to get the coil spring (and entire strut assembly) after one of the front coil springs decided to snap in half. Toyota, in their all knowing wisdom, made it so that you have to remove the wiper motor to get to the top of the strut mounts. I couldn't be bothered, after being totally wiped from work each night, so I paid a local shop to do it. Now I've got a squeaking noise on the driver's side. I'm hoping it's just the new strut slowly getting worked in, and that it goes away. I really hope. I was also hoping that replacing the struts would get rid of the weird popping/thunking noise. But that didn't happen either.

I never did get a Secret Senna present in return. I'm still kind of hopeful, but I do understand that other people have had it a lot harder than I have had this past year. If someone does have my name, and feels bad, even a few Hot Wheels for my girls to play with would be fine. I'm still gainfully employed (and now at an even better place), so it's really hard for me to complain about anything, especially knowing what some of you other fellow Oppo members have been through.

This past Saturday was a "fun" day. I got woken up by the two oldest kids (ages 6 and 4) saying that our 2 year old had shoved something up her nose, and it got stuck. Mrs. BaconSandwich had just been to the emergency room with our 4 year old a few months ago for that exact thing. Our 4 year old had shoved a plastic travel game piece up her nose, and it was so high up that they had to sedate her to get it out. Then, when she did wake up, she threw up, and freaked everyone out, so they wanted to keep her for another hour or so for observation.

Anyway, now the 2 year old did it. And it so happens that Mrs. BaconSandwich couldn't take her because she was waiting for a COVID-19 test result (which came back later that day - negative!). That meant I got to take our 2 year old to the ER. Thankfully it was very quiet on an early Saturday morning, and we probably made record time - in and out in < 1 hour. It turned out not to be a plastic bead, but a giant cake sprinkle, and when the Dr. pulled it out, it was already half dissolved. It also ended up being the same Dr. who had seen my 4 year old, with stuff up her nose... I guess it must run in the family. Also, I'm very thankful for the Canadian healthcare system. It may not be perfect, and our taxes may be comparatively high, but it didn't cost me anything. And I did get to spend a little quality time with our 2 year old, so it was good.

There's so much more that I want to post on here, but so limited time... maybe after I get settled in with the new job, I'll be able to cut down to an 8 hour day and get a little more time on Oppo, other than just quickly browsing on my phone.

I'd ban GM's white not-reversing-lights. The ones that turn on when people put their vehicle in park, but are completely indistinguishable from the vehicle actually reversing.

Since some people still don't understand, I made this as a reference:

I'd feel so out of place there. Way too many nice things.

@farscythe only against the algorithm?

@fhrblig was it a Nissan? Or a Kia?

@EssExTee the ones on our 2008 Sienna has only 4 sensors. No sensor on the spare, and no way for it to remember another set of four for the winter tires.

No for two reasons:

1. They are still too expensive.
2. I don't want to support Howard Hughes Musk. He's gone off the deep end. Anyone who treats people as bad as the Twitter employees have been treated doesn't get my support.

@sn4cktimes I wish I could track down Lumpy44 from the old Oppo. He was here in Lethbridge. I never did get to meet him in person.

@ttyymmnn hot take: that's where the new Supra got its inspiration.

@ST80MND wait a minute - are you in Alberta too?

@jminer I'm secretly hoping that when they arrive here in Canada, that I'll eventually be able to replace the Sienna with one.

But then I remember how much new vehicles cost, and realize it probably won't happen.

@DSM_OR_DIE huh. I had no idea.