Home again

I’m back! Boy, did we have loads of fun which I’ll tell you about later. I took photos of some cool ideas to share regarding sustainability. Don’t know that I ever mentioned it but I’ve idly toyed with the idea of getting a degree in environmental engineering. May as well considering this blogging gig doesn’t pay. By that I mean I’m very disappointed that the last tutorial didn’t seem to be very popular considering I only got one tip. One. Just one. As any of you know well, it’s hard to justify doing something if you’re not getting paid to do it. Obviously, it’s not the value I’d assumed it was. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe I’ll get into building bigger things.

Below are the only recreational photos I’m sharing of the Taos Solar Festival. Directly below is me with the solar tree at the Taos visitors center.

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Below is me and the boy on the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge. We were on our way to the earthship village just north of Taos.

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And below it looks like we’re not having a good time but we were! Me and my charming companion at the show. Eric is an electrical engineer; he’s thinking of getting into brewing bio-diesel. Btw, did you know that Rudolf Diesel -the guy who invented the diesel engine- intended that it should be run on vegetable oil? He also invented a solar air engine and all this before 1913 when our energy needs were less pressing. One could think he was even more fore-sighted than attributed in his day. Diesel was also motivated by sociological needs and had conceived the diesel engine as a way to enable craftsmen and artisans to compete with large industry. Now you can say you learned something today ;)

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11 comments

  1. Jess says:

    Don’t get down about not getting many tips. You haven’t had the web site up for very long and it takes a while to get the word out. I worked really hard on my font site for many many years without making a penny but it started making money eventually. Are you thinking of setting up a subscription service? I’d be the first to sign up. What are you doing to get the word out about the site? Do you need any tips?
    That tutorial is one of the best things I’ve learned. Thanks! Hopefully your still up to doing the zipper welt tutorial. ; )

  2. Josh says:

    I’m with Jess, don’t get upset that you aren’t making droves of money yet or for that matter getting droves of traffic. You couldn’t possibly do that in a year, or has it even been a year? If it’s possible I’d update the book to talk about the new website. If not possible throw a sheet of paper in the book with your website on it and talk about what they will gain from joining the site. And I would certainly make it subscription based for those who are seriously interested. It wouldn’t phase me to pay 500 a year to subscribe. It’s that important to me. Your advise is invaluable. I can’t really put a price on it.

    If you can get around to it, please talk about the waistband. I want to know everything you know that deals with every kind of waistband. I will not hesitate to drop 150 into your paypal account.

  3. GrimReader says:

    Taos Solar Music Festival

    Pics of the trip here. We really were having a good time! That picture might have been taken after succumbing to “#94 – Sleeping in Public”.

  4. pat stroup says:

    I certainly will be more vocal. I look forward to all the information you have been giving. I’m waiting for the next piece to putting in a welt pocket. I bet there are lots of sewers just like me who are soaking up all the construction methods you are giving us who didn’t realize that you’d like more feedback. Sewers: Fire away!

  5. kathleen says:

    I’d really appreciate any tips on how to get word out about the site. I listed it with the major search engines and beyond asking people to link to me and asking them to tell others about it, I don’t have any idea what to do. I suppose I could use a pay service but I’m on a fixed (read: low) income and most likely couldn’t afford to buy key words or whatever it is that people do to generate site traffic.

    I’d be open to a subscription service but thought I’d wait on that until the bulletin board was generating more traffic. I’d be interested in knowing how to set something like that up.

    About the waistband. I figure the best way to do that is to set up an appointment with a buddy of mine so I can take pictures of stitchers setting those at his plant (right by my house). I’ve been avoiding him lately because he’s looking for a fluent spanish language patternmaker -iow, me- to run product development in his plant in Durango Mexico and I’m not interested in 5-pocket, supervising a department, denim or moving to mexico ;-)

  6. MW says:

    It’s funny that you say the guy that invented the Diesel engine designed it to be run on vegetable oil. One of my sales reps has a company she reps whose owner runs her old diesel Mercedes on used McDonald’s french fry grease.

  7. Susan McElroy says:

    I want to add my own kudos on your site and encouragement…I’m also doing what I can to start a business (not making money yet, either) but your information is absolutely a prayer answered for me. My computer did a total crash and my “the boy” rescued it but it’s taken a while to get files and favorites back. I will try to post again on the forum soon…Don’t give up! (PS: I’m going to donate to your site right now if I can find the link…)

  8. kathleen says:

    A friend passed me an update on Rudolf Diesel. Other than the fact that he also was most likely autistic -yet another, a pattern emerges here-; his thinking was so far ahead of his time that he too was a financial failure. He ended his life by jumping off a bridge. So many auties die unhappily :( and people wonder why I worry…

  9. jinjer says:

    Kathleen–

    I have to pitch in my two cents, too:

    a) I LOVED your welt pocket tutorial, but it was so way over my head, i feel like I have nothing to say. That entry did make me think to myself “shit, what other machines, tools (sewing hammer?????), etc. exist out there that I don’t even know about??” I mean, I LOVE tools.

    So, I’ve bought a catalog from Universal Sewing Supply to help me answer that question. beleive me, I’ll be askeing alot of “what does a **** do?” type questions in teh near future…

    b) calm down about your blog, I mean how old is it?? You’ve coached enough business to know that it takes about 3 years minimum to get a steady flow of customers, right? Or do you only coach ridiculously luck clients??

    Maybe you could contact Craig of craigslist and ask him how he provides such an amazing service and makes a living, too….

    Anyway, I personally have told about 50 people about your site, and 3 of them have personally Thanked me for sharing the info. so wait a little & just enjoy your cute boy for now. and keep up the amazing posts!

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