Magic Box

It has been awhile. Things are going ok. A few issues still in the air, but generally things are good. I survived the car trouble. (Probably. Yesterday evening I noticed there is a cable hanging loose from somewhere underneath the car…) I did write a fair amount about the car issues, but it was mostly incredibly boring venting and I kept that stuff in the box.

I have been having a good time hanging with Tim S.

Marathon Man
Marathon Man

It is fun to reconnect as “adults”, compare the similar courses our lives have taken in many areas, and encourage each other to continue making progress and follow our dreams. We are in process designing a man cave/vocal recording booth that we will build in a carriage house for TS to lay down some tracks. I like this project. It is an interesting challenge mating the needs and desires of “the client” with the limitations of the space we have and the needs of others who share the property. I have done two full designs so far.

The first was pretty awesome. Exterior dimensions: 8’ long, 4’ wide and 8’ tall. Interior dimensions after adding all the soundproofing: 7’ long, 3’ wide, 7’6” tall. I had it designed very similar to framing out a “normal” room with a wiring plan with switches and wall outlets and lights.

Once we got the carriage house cleaned out and did real world measurements, we found that it will have to be shorter and smaller. To fit the space, we chopped it down from a rectangle to square with a 54” interior length and width and 7’2” height. This is not so bad. Not as big as we hopped, but big enough. And the specs on the keyboard that needs to go in the room list the unit at max length of 53” so 54” will be perfect. With the box significantly smaller and the need for portability made more of an issue than it had been originally, I have changed elements of the design. The internal wiring plan is scrapped in favor of a discrete hole for an extension cord to power strip set-up. And I have changed the construction method to allow for the 4 walls and roof to act as independent panels that are secured at the corners instead of the original plan of building a frame and then skinning it.

Things are looking good, until the keyboard actually arrives and is longer than advertised. Next phase, adjusting the design to accommodate the keyboard. It is taking a little more time than either of us would like to really get this moving, but progress is being made, planning is important, and we need the permission/input of at least three other people as we move forward with this. Things take time.

But as I said, it is fun. It is nice to spend the time with Tim, and I like that we get to work on something together that will help him continue to move forward towards his dream.

Here is a little bit of random goodness for you.

(I am still kinda new to the whole sharing of videos thing. Let me know if you have any troubles.)