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Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: jay-ell on October 16, 2012, 08:07:45 pm

Title: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 16, 2012, 08:07:45 pm
Here's the thing. I've been tabletop roleplaying for the first time ever (I have done plenty of computer RPGs but this is my first tabletop campaign), and two of my fellow adventurers are my friends' eleven-year-old kids. I've been talking to one of them particularly about how the lessons she's learning from our campaign apply to her real life, and one of the things I told her recently is, "Never pass up an opportunity to learn a new skill. It's like leveling up for free."

So I'm taking my own advice and I'm learning a new skill. I ordered a beginner's set of lockpicks and a book today, and I'm going to learn basic entry skills. It's one of the abilities I've most admired in bad-ass video game characters since I was a little kid, it's a skill I always choose in roleplaying-type games, and there is literally no reason not to actually learn it in real life.

I thought I'd start this thread to share my progress, and also to see what kinds of things you guys are learning and what new ventures you're thinking of trying. So what are you crazy kids up to these days? Anybody leveling up? Share your progress here so that we can all pat you on the back!
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: smick on October 16, 2012, 10:14:21 pm
I've been learning static trapeze and aerial silks.

It's pretty amazing.

Still doing stand up.  I'm on "vacation" for the summer.  But... it's getting time to make the donuts.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: theinevitable on October 16, 2012, 10:23:17 pm
I am trying to work on my "don't jump immediately into another relationship" skill.

On a more/less relevant topic, my espresso drinks are fuck*ng GREAT. It isn't actually that hard, it's just that most coffee employees don't care/are content to do it the way they were taught. I read a few things online and asked various friends how they do it, and I am pretty impressed by my results. It is very possible that my lattes would be laughed at in a big city, but they are definitely better than any of the places I have tried here. Except that one really expensive fancy place.

Yum. Too bad I don't like coffee very much. Mochas are really good.

Also playing tons of guitar with roommates. Playing with other people is hard! Especially when the guy I don't get along with that well is a really mediocre player who can't play in a key.
I need to figure out a chord progression ahead of time, because if I start noodling around trying to find something he launches into some variation of a punk progression with only notes with dots on the fretboard. The other guy we play with is way out of my league and I have trouble keeping up. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. But goddamn is it fun.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on October 16, 2012, 10:28:35 pm
I'm still taking taiko drumming classes. I bought new drumsticks when I was in Japan.

I'm also slowly working toward my dog trainer certification, I guess. Hard to beat learning to pick locks though.

You know this is one of the differences between geeks/nerds and the rest of the world. When I started taking taiko I said to a friend, "It's been too long since I learned a new thing from scratch, I forgot how hard it is" and she said, "You know most people NEVER do that as an adult."
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jaydub on October 16, 2012, 10:38:11 pm
I'd count starting to ride a motorcycle, as I did last summer.  In Traveller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_%28game%29) terms, I got to Motorcycle-0 pretty quickly, but gaining Motorcycle-1 took a lot of just plain riding in all kinds of conditions.  I'm not sure what's next, other than an upper-division humanities course I need for one of my degrees (long postponed).
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 17, 2012, 12:48:23 am
I'd count starting to ride a motorcycle, as I did last summer.  In Traveller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_%28game%29) terms, I got to Motorcycle-0 pretty quickly, but gaining Motorcycle-1 took a lot of just plain riding in all kinds of conditions.  I'm not sure what's next, other than an upper-division humanities course I need for one of my degrees (long postponed).

Funny you mention Traveller; the system we're using for our RPG is GURPS. And yes, my character has lockpick.

I'm still taking taiko drumming classes. I bought new drumsticks when I was in Japan.

I'm also slowly working toward my dog trainer certification, I guess. Hard to beat learning to pick locks though.

You know this is one of the differences between geeks/nerds and the rest of the world. When I started taking taiko I said to a friend, "It's been too long since I learned a new thing from scratch, I forgot how hard it is" and she said, "You know most people NEVER do that as an adult."

I was thinking about your Taiko classes when I started this thread. Also Smick's stand-up and August's yoga practice. But yeah, most people stop learning new stuff when they graduate from college (if they even get that far).

I told Pedro that I ordered lockpicks and he sort of shook his head in disbelief at how deeply geeky the whole thing is. But I told him, hey. I might only use it two or three times in my life, but on those two or three occasions, I will look SO COOL.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: AugustWest on October 17, 2012, 04:01:03 am
Still working on the banjo (and the guitar) -- been really focused on music theory lately and it's helped me to progress. Trying to figure out how to do some recording.  Still practicing yoga.  Still learning tennis.

Figured out how to work with PVC pipe as part of the ongoing bathroom remodel.  Learning a lot about bankruptcy law lately for work.  Always reading history.  Learning about how to deal with kids who aren't really teenagers any more.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: AugustWest on October 17, 2012, 04:10:35 am

Also playing tons of guitar with roommates. Playing with other people is hard! Especially when the guy I don't get along with that well is a really mediocre player who can't play in a key.
I need to figure out a chord progression ahead of time, because if I start noodling around trying to find something he launches into some variation of a punk progression with only notes with dots on the fretboard. The other guy we play with is way out of my league and I have trouble keeping up. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. But goddamn is it fun.

Ain't it though?

Playing with other people can be hard, but it's so rewarding and fun when it goes well.  I think a significant part of it is finding somebody to play with who is compatible.  It can be frustrating to play with somebody who tries to dominate the jam  -- one guy I play with will only play his own songs.  But I feel really lucky, because my main collaborator and I really work well together.  Finding a compatible bass player and drummer has just been gravy.  Stick with it -- I think having a facility for playing with just about anybody is a really admirable skill.  It's something that I strive for.

Try to play as much as you can with the better player.  Get him to write down the chord progressions he's going to be using, then you play rhythm and let him solo over it. 
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: theinevitable on October 17, 2012, 05:56:37 am
I think he gets frustrated playing guitar with us lame-o's, so he normally plays bass or drums. The best jam I've ever had (and he said the best he had had in a very long time) was the two of us playing guitar through the two inpupts of his big loud fancy vintage Fender, frustrating roommate playing repetitive riffs on bass, and fourth man on drums. So, so good.

I knew I had a nice amp, but playing really loudly with medium distortion in a big basement, with crashing drums and rumbling bass... holy shit, I sound like rock music.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Carlos del Vaca on October 17, 2012, 02:22:04 pm
When life calms down a little I need to attack the music thing harder. Thinking about taking up the harmonica.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: dejavroom on October 17, 2012, 02:47:34 pm
After 35 years of slow but steady decay I've started exercising. I have always been lean, but there had been some doughy developments of late which, you know, gross. Also I used to be able to go from point A to point B just by thinking about it. These days I have to send a memo, schedule a meeting, do a whole song and dance routine before I can try to catch a bus, it's fuck*ng ridiculous.

Can't be bothered with gyms, though, so I found these really painful isometric exercises that you can do in 30 minutes in your bedroom w/out equipment. They hurt so much. I'm incorporating push-ups & crunches into it, too. And now I only eat mushy plants and meat, and drink those horrid protein concoctions the flavor of which is described as "chocolate", even though it should be "wet cardboard chocolate box". What the hell, right. Although I do enjoy the lingering day-after pain, and to be able to notice the physical change as my body reacts to the exercises.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v-rVY92MEM8/TfFEKRKzBkI/AAAAAAAADG4/rqPuCuTyh98/s1600/monkisometrics.jpg)

Search for "monks isometrics" for larger images. They really hurt.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: CortJstr on October 17, 2012, 05:41:51 pm
All I can think of is Comics Curmudgeon: http://joshreads.com/?p=405#brick
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Doc on October 18, 2012, 02:28:42 am
I've started watching the Walter Lewin MIT physics lectures before bed. I used to know a little physics but have forgotten it all. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go back and relearn calculus as well. Should have done this a couple of years ago so I could have done some high school tutoring and made it profitable.

I want to do the music thing too. I was thinking saxophone or trumpet, two instruments I know less than nothing about. Anyway think I'll try starting lessons after my final exams and use my first paycheque next year to pick up my own instrument, kind of make a Thing out of it.

JL let us know how the lock picking goes, I have a friend who has been looking at lock pick sets online for months but is yet to pull the trigger and get some.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 18, 2012, 02:03:08 pm
Doc, I picked up a beginner's set of four picks and a tension tool plus a "how-to" book for $20 including shipping. There's got to be someplace in Oz that offers a similar set.

I read a few books on chemistry recently. I was always good at it in school but I'd forgotten most of it, the refresher was nice. Also related to this roleplaying game, I downloaded a copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook so that I could reference the necessary items for creating homebrew explosives. (It's a modern setting, so my character is a seventeen-year-old science wizard and with a varsity letter in badassery.) I probably couldn't make any if my life depended on it but just having the theory is nice. Although, holy crap people. Phone phreaking -- 75% of the cookbook is devoted to it; who knew it'd be totally obsolete by now?

Paul, you'll be pleased to know that my character did, in fact, gather the necessary materials to turn the team's van into a flame-throwing zombie death machine. My fellow adventurers were totally impressed when I described the process in-game. She hadn't had a chance to torch any walkers yet, though.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Ben-San on October 18, 2012, 02:13:41 pm
I read a few books on chemistry recently. I was always good at it in school but I'd forgotten most of it, the refresher was nice. Also related to this roleplaying game, I downloaded a copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook so that I could reference the necessary items for creating homebrew explosives. (It's a modern setting, so my character is a seventeen-year-old science wizard and with a varsity letter in badassery.) I probably couldn't make any if my life depended on it but just having the theory is nice. Although, holy crap people. Phone phreaking -- 75% of the cookbook is devoted to it; who knew it'd be totally obsolete by now?

This is pretty well-known but it's just as well that you're not following Anarchist's Cookbook instructions for homebrew explosives - their methods and recipes are pretty unsafe and people do hurt themselves pretty badly following it. It's not bad as a "this is the kind of substances my character will need to find" reference, though.

I taught myself pocket-picking and simple lockpicking when I was younger for basically the same reasons as this. I haven't done that kind of thing for a while, though.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on October 18, 2012, 02:42:25 pm
OMG BEN-SAN!
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: pmcd9 on October 18, 2012, 02:59:00 pm
Paul, you'll be pleased to know that my character did, in fact, gather the necessary materials to turn the team's van into a flame-throwing zombie death machine. My fellow adventurers were totally impressed when I described the process in-game. She hadn't had a chance to torch any walkers yet, though.

Two days ago I ran into a friend who told me "I was just talking about you to my boyfriend." Apparently she wants him to convert his car into a death rock artcar with flame throwers. I offered to help. He seems down with the idea so we'll see how it goes.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 18, 2012, 03:01:28 pm
This is pretty well-known but it's just as well that you're not following Anarchist's Cookbook instructions for homebrew explosives - their methods and recipes are pretty unsafe and people do hurt themselves pretty badly following it. It's not bad as a "this is the kind of substances my character will need to find" reference, though.

I taught myself pocket-picking and simple lockpicking when I was younger for basically the same reasons as this. I haven't done that kind of thing for a while, though.

Yeah, I was reading it thinking, "this was written by fifteen year olds, no sane person would ever try this." And I am pretty sure that some of the info is based solely on urban myth. Napalm from gasoline and styrofoam? I'm skeptical. But it's useful for role-playing when your GM knows next to nothing about chemistry. And, I did learn how to make matchbook igniters and time-delay fuses, those actually could come in handy.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jaydub on October 18, 2012, 04:32:52 pm
One of the best time delay fuses ever is a cigarette.  They don't self-extinguish and their burn rate is inhumanly consistent.  No doubt much R&D went into those characteristics.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Ben-San on October 18, 2012, 04:39:07 pm
One of the best time delay fuses ever is a cigarette.  They don't self-extinguish and their burn rate is inhumanly consistent.  No doubt much R&D went into those characteristics.

Ssh, the camp commander might overhear!
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: smick on October 18, 2012, 05:37:11 pm
Although, holy crap people. Phone phreaking -- 75% of the cookbook is devoted to it; who knew it'd be totally obsolete by now?

Me... but I was super into it when I was young.  I spent a ton of time on K-RAD H/P/A/U/X BBSes when I was a yute.  I was forever scrounging and reading text files which had delicious bits of Bell Labs stuff in them.  I felt SUPER badass, but in a nerdy way.

then in 2001, I started working in a telephone company central office.  It's not totally obsolete.  Certainly it becomes a minority, but the nice thing about Belllabs/Telcordia/Neustar/Verisign handling all the specs, is that (almost) everything is backwards compatible on the wireline network.   Chunks of the world are likely still using some old stair-stepper switches out there, and they need to be able to receive calls from your cell phone.

I get incredibly misty about some of this stuff.   When I worked in the CO, I felt like I wasn't just keeping the equipment in repair.  The stuff going on inside the equipment was far more interesting.  I was safeguarding communication.  How much raw emotion was happening inside of these giant blinking stacks of equipment?  Young couples breaking up, young couples coming together.  News of life altering events.  People falling in love.  People telling their friends that they've fallen in love.  Maybe they're talking about how they aren't in love any more... all very important business.  I took great pride in facilitating these things.   

I used to like explaining to people that when they're talking to someone on a phone, there is an unbroken strand of copper going from them, to the hand of the person they're speaking to wherever they are in the world.  You were literally in physical contact with the person, however abstracted it was.   Granted with glass and light, and wireless services... not so much the case.   Probably not even the case back when Ma Bell was urging you to Reach Out and Touch Someone.

Phones are heady dealings for me... for sure.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 18, 2012, 06:13:49 pm
smick, that is pretty awesome. Never really thought about it that way -- telephones sort of scare me (but then, so do most people). And phone phreaking always struck me as kind of a dumb crime -- like, if you're going to put that much effort into something, why not steal something more useful than free long distance? But when you put it in the perspective of building connections between far-flung people; well, that makes more sense.

One of the best time delay fuses ever is a cigarette.  They don't self-extinguish and their burn rate is inhumanly consistent.  No doubt much R&D went into those characteristics.

You haven't smoked a cig lately, have you? They *are* self-extinguishing these days...it's a "safety feature," supposedly, so that drunk people are less likely to burn their houses down.

Mosquito coils, though. Those'll work if you got one handy. Learned that one from LA Noire.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jaydub on October 18, 2012, 08:15:24 pm
You haven't smoked a cig lately, have you?
Guilty as charged.  I should have known someone living around Tobacco Road would have the inside scoop on that ;)

Seriously, the only use I have ever had for a cigarette is as a time delay fuse for firecracker mischief.  The last time I did that I was...20? 23 years ago.  Huh.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 18, 2012, 08:34:43 pm
Yeah, I caved and took a smoke off a friend after work one night. I smoke maybe three or four cigarettes a year; I still call myself an "ex-smoker" but the cravings never really go away.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: smick on October 18, 2012, 08:54:55 pm
smick, that is pretty awesome. Never really thought about it that way -- telephones sort of scare me (but then, so do most people). And phone phreaking always struck me as kind of a dumb crime -- like, if you're going to put that much effort into something, why not steal something more useful than free long distance? But when you put it in the perspective of building connections between far-flung people; well, that makes more sense.

It has very little to do with stealing, since you'd never want to call anyone you actually know on a stolen phone call.  I think for those folks in the prime of the Phreaking, it was more about being able to do things that you weren't supposed to be able to do.   Taking these labyrinthine systems and getting them to bend to your will from a simple phone...  For some, I imagine it was simply learning things that people didn't want you to learn.  They wanted to level up, where others would rather they not.

Took me a while to dig this link up:  http://www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/ - Dude used to drive around the PNW and record the sounds phone switches made to try to figure out what was happening inside those brick buildings.

I had another that I can't find.  It had quite a few recordings from the 80s of conference lines. (The link above has them as well but these are different)
  They were really interesting that they revolved around these guys in NY calling into and getting dumped into a broken message machine.   The message isn't playing loud enough, and all callers are dumped into the same trunk with 2 way sound.   Basically, intead of "The number you dialed is no longer in service..."  These guys got each other and started talking about how they could force these things to happen, and start discussing the technical details of the crossbar switches in NYC and how you can force trunks to disconnect, or reorder connections to get an outside line... All very interesting... very little of it applicable to anything after the mid 80s.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Doc on October 19, 2012, 04:54:18 am
They're slightly more illegal here than in the US do most of the places to order from are overseas.

Oh man anarchists cookbook. Also fuck*ng with the pay phones at our high school until they made it digital. Also finding lists of pay phone numbers and being all Thomas Crowne.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Mr Trout on October 22, 2012, 06:55:47 pm
After losing my job as a 3D animator last winter I decided to level up my skills as a bicycle mechanic by volunteering at local collectives until I had enough practical experience to land a job as a paid mechanic. It worked out pretty well; I wrenched all summer at a pretty high-end shop working on $10k bikes, yard-sale finds and everything in between.

Now that the season is pretty much done I'm planning on driving north to the mountains and living in a camper at a ski resort. I will be leveling up my skiing abilities by attempting to get 100+ days on the slopes in a season. I'm also teaching myself how to fix a propane furnace, insulate an RV, and wire in a few solar panels.

I've never had this much fun in my entire life. 30 is the new 20.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 22, 2012, 08:48:38 pm
Trout, that sounds amazing.

My pick set arrived today! I have two old locks I changed out when I moved in to my house that I'm going to practice on; one I'm going to strip down and re-pin and the other I'm going to leave intact for when I've mastered the stripped lock. One I get the dummy stripped, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours (so the book tells me) to learn the basics. I'm hoping to be able to show off my new skills on Sunday afternoon.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Ben-San on October 22, 2012, 08:52:19 pm
Trout, that sounds amazing.

My pick set arrived today! I have two old locks I changed out when I moved in to my house that I'm going to practice on; one I'm going to strip down and re-pin and the other I'm going to leave intact for when I've mastered the stripped lock. One I get the dummy stripped, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours (so the book tells me) to learn the basics. I'm hoping to be able to show off my new skills on Sunday afternoon.

Better make it Sunday morning. Houses are more likely to be empty then.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on October 23, 2012, 11:01:30 pm
Haw haw.

I'm up to three pins; a standard household lock has five. I can do two pins quick enough to be impressive but I struggled for ten minutes before I got the three-pin setup to give. I've got three sets and I'm going to strip one of them down to a one-pin so that the tweens in our RPG group can play with it & get a feel for how it works.

I haven't really learned enough to be useful in a lockout situation yet, but if you give me a lock and a key that fits it, I can disassemble it, rearrange the pins, and have it working again in under ten minutes. If I had a variety box of pins and springs, I could theoretically re-key the locks on my house to match my mom's housekey, or any key made from a correctly-sized blank.

I could even, for example, rekey my existing lock to match my best friend's housekey so that she can pick up my mail and water my plants while I'm out of town, and then change it back when I get home (though I'd have to pick the lock to let myself in first).

Most useful in the short term, if I can learn to pick five cylinders I can disassemble the lock on the door at work for which my boss does not have a key, and I can rekey it so that it matches the other door. Before I started working at the store, someone accidentally locked that door and I am pretty sure my boss had to call a locksmith to open it. I don't think he had a key made for it (he is super tight with money) but I bet he would like to have one if he could get it for free. I'm not going to even mention it until I'm confident with five-pin cylinders, though.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: theinevitable on November 12, 2012, 12:04:23 am
A temporary setback when I had to learn to make lattes without a thermometer, but this week several people have told me I make the best coffee drinks they have ever had. LEVEL UP.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on November 12, 2012, 05:45:46 am
LEVEL UP! That is the internet equivalent of a fist bump. I love it.

I'm up to four cylinders on my locks but I haven't had time to work on it in abou t a week. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to play with it some more.

I have been working on some bedroom techniques, but of course I can't really discuss that here.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: theinevitable on November 12, 2012, 06:42:36 am
As usual, I am dilly-dallying about what Feat to choose.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: smick on November 12, 2012, 05:54:25 pm
here.

IF NOT HERE, THEN WHERE?!
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Choop on November 12, 2012, 11:58:38 pm
tip 1: respect the aspect ratio. resize AYFKM face to fit in the space a photo takes.
tip 2: respect the source resolution. don't zoom AYFKM to be bigger than it was in the picture you got it from.

AYFKM tends to sit in the bottom left of the frame in meme comics anyway, so that's a pretty easy and contextually-correct fix.

other than that, thank you for not just making a plain four-panel meme comic. shit is so old.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Choop on November 13, 2012, 12:14:33 am
hey chief you asked
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Choop on November 13, 2012, 12:33:24 am
asks for critique
gets good advice
ignores it
(http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/005/545/OpoQQ.jpg)
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: dejavroom on November 13, 2012, 01:00:04 am
Ash, you... are... dad... you... are... rad...
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: KeithHernandez on November 13, 2012, 01:03:02 am
Me and my dad used to get in physical fights- I think I like his parenting style better.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: KeithHernandez on November 13, 2012, 01:08:00 am
I was trying to say this in a non asshole way and failed- this would make me hate you if I were yer kid.  I would like it if you talked to me, but you probably already have?  Also, I am not yer kid.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: pmcd9 on November 13, 2012, 01:35:01 am
I was trying to say this in a non asshole way and failed- this would make me hate you if I were yer kid.  I would like it if you talked to me, but you probably already have?  Also, I am not yer kid.

I think his kid will think he's a dork, but then will remember fondly the time Dad tried to get 'hip' with him.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on November 13, 2012, 03:03:36 pm
I sometimes leave snarky passive-agressive notes around the house. They are intended to be humorous reminders of things I have already asked him to do/not do (sad faces on the insides of cabinet doors, because he NEVER CLOSES CABINETS, wtf is up with that anyway, how much effort does it take?) and not a replacement for an actual conversation. In that context, I think a funny picture is a better way to remind someone of something without being naggy.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Choop on November 13, 2012, 03:07:41 pm
all little cows and pigs with word bubbles "i was born in a barn"
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: KeithHernandez on November 13, 2012, 06:37:30 pm
all little cows and pigs with word bubbles "i was born in a barn"


See, now that would be awesome.  I guess it is the Internet part that would make me resent you, but I already hate talking to people I know through the Internet, can't imagine talking to my parents that way.  It is so... impersonal.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: side_show on November 15, 2012, 12:00:25 am
In regard to passive aggressive notes, we have a shared kitchen near our office area, and with the number of folks passing through, it is always a disaster.  Others have tried the passive aggressive note and email thing with no success.  In a pretty fantastic turn, my boss has taken to just throwing the dirty dishes in the garbage.  I like the scorched earth policy.  Although I've genuinely never contributed to the original problem, I've seen the disgusting results.  Now I can wash my breakfast apple in the sink without fear of three day old dirty bowl splash back, and without someone doing the icky Mother Teresa act of washing them.

As for leveling up, I have been working on a special work project that I am really enjoying.  I recruited an entire staff of barbers to join my mentorship program and have been just enjoying the hell out of learning to work with and supervise these totally unique beasts. (http://www.oakandoar.com/homegrown-episode-3-hunter-and-gunn/)  They. Are. Rad. 

Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on November 15, 2012, 12:16:58 am
Your boss is a genius.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on November 15, 2012, 12:28:21 am
I repinned my practice cylinder to five pins today. I haven't been able to crack it yet, but once I can do that I can start practicing on standard door locks.

I've had three people ask me to teach them so far. I kind of want to order a half dozen basic kits just to have around the house and hand out to people who want to learn.* But it would cost me about $20 per kit to provide a set of tools and a practice cylinder, and I can't afford to spend more than $100 on the chance to pass along my strange hobbies.

*I used to do this with knitting -- I got some cheap needles and yarn on clearance and kept gallon-sized ziplock baggies around as "starter kits," complete with patterns and refresher instructions. I could spend an hour teaching someone the basics and then send them away with the materials to continue practicing on their own. But those only cost me about $5 each, so it was more than worthwhile.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Choop on November 15, 2012, 12:38:26 am
anything stopping you from emailing to those interested parties the links through which you acquired your kit? you don't want to give away kits to people who would forget about them in a week.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: side_show on November 15, 2012, 01:30:34 am
Your boss is a genius.

Actually it was my suggestion. She just used her boss power to make it so.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on November 15, 2012, 01:52:24 am
Ah, well we already knew you are a genius. But I am still pretty impressed by a boss who would take that suggestion.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on November 15, 2012, 01:57:19 am
Speaking of levelling up, I guess this counts: Today I recorded two humor pieces for a public radio animal show. Apparently for someone who has never done it before, I am good at writing for radio and even at reading for it. Although clearly there is much room for improvement, the pieces didn't need any editing/rewriting except for a word here or there, and we only needed a couple of takes.

This is not too impressive really - you'd think that after several decades of listening to NPR for many hours per day, something about the style ought to have sunk in. But anyway there's another thing to add to the long list of my useless skills that no one will pay me for.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: Doc on November 15, 2012, 02:01:41 am
Straight out of home I lived with my best mate from highschool for about three years and by the time we moved out he'd basically stopped doing the dishes. I loved the guy and there was some personal stuff going on that contributed to his overall lack of functioning but I hated the bastard every time I did the dishes by the time I left.

Discuss it with him like an adult? Why would I do that when I have perfectly good simmering resentment right here?

Wombledon: that's rad. Is there podcast type linkage. I really think radio/podcasting is a pretty rad medium right now. I listen to way more podcasts regularly than I watch television shows.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: wombat on November 15, 2012, 02:36:11 am
I think the show will be online, although I don't know if you will be able to pick out just those two minutes out of the whole hour. I'll let you know when I find out, it probably won't run for a couple weeks. It's the same show I did an interview for last year when the book came out. If you never listened to that, you should, because it's really funny. I don't think these will ever be as good actually - the interview was great because the host was such a good straight man. There is a link on the front page of my website (for those of you who know my real life name add .com).
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: jay-ell on November 15, 2012, 03:40:25 am
Wombles, that is awesome, and I'm sure Smells would agree that writing for the stage (or sound stage) is certainly a different skill from writing for the page. I cannot write spoken-word stuff at all, it sounds all stilted and awkward and weird (like the way I talk in real life). So it is awesome that you've discovered that you can.

anything stopping you from emailing to those interested parties the links through which you acquired your kit? you don't want to give away kits to people who would forget about them in a week.

Nothing stopping me, except that I would want to provide the learner with his own picks for the lesson (you get attached to them pretty quickly) and there is some prep involved in stripping down an cylinder for practice that is best done in advance by someone with a bit of experience. And I want to be able to teach it on the spur of the moment, not send someone a link and then have to wait a week for the shipment to come in, y'know?
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: pmcd9 on November 15, 2012, 04:37:37 am
In regard to passive aggressive notes, we have a shared kitchen near our office area, and with the number of folks passing through, it is always a disaster.  Others have tried the passive aggressive note and email thing with no success.  In a pretty fantastic turn, my boss has taken to just throwing the dirty dishes in the garbage.  I like the scorched earth policy.  Although I've genuinely never contributed to the original problem, I've seen the disgusting results.  Now I can wash my breakfast apple in the sink without fear of three day old dirty bowl splash back, and without someone doing the icky Mother Teresa act of washing them.

As for leveling up, I have been working on a special work project that I am really enjoying.  I recruited an entire staff of barbers to join my mentorship program and have been just enjoying the hell out of learning to work with and supervise these totally unique beasts. (http://www.oakandoar.com/homegrown-episode-3-hunter-and-gunn/)  They. Are. Rad. 

That was a great feature about the barber shop. I want to show it to my barber shop owning friend. Also, you and your boss are geniuses.
Title: Re: Leveling Up
Post by: side_show on November 15, 2012, 01:41:59 pm
Please do. Apparently the hip social activist barber movement started in the US.  I'll have to ask the guys where again.  I think maybe in LA, but I could be mistaken.