Long time, no see! (or write on this blog...)

Hey guys. It's been a while since I've posted, and I decided that instead of bumming around on the internet being completely useless I'd at least update you all as to what's been going on in my life lately.

I spend each weekday working for my dad, as I mentioned before. For the past couple weeks I've been sanding all the parts of a mahogany piano from which I previously stripped old finish. That was a pretty gross job--I had to glop big dollops of gloop (e.g. stripper) all over a disassembled piano (legs, music desk, lid, pedal lyre, body, etc.). I had to wear these giant gloves to keep my hands from being eaten alive by the gloop, whose clear, slightly bubbly amber appearance belied its corrosive nature.

That was pretty tiring work, but so is the work I've been doing lately, which is sanding all the parts I previously glopped gloop on. My dad and I are using about five different sandpaper grits on each piece of wood to clean up the last of the stain underneath the finish (we're going to re-stain and re-finish this baby). Some of the parts of the piano are solid mahogany, but many of them are merely covered with veneer, meaning that we have to be careful not to sand too much lest we sand through the veneer to the plain maple underneath. It's a pretty dusty job, and I've been wearing a dust mask much of the time, which probably looks hilarious but isn't so hilarious to experience. I mean, it's fine, but when I wear glasses (I prefer not to wear contacts in such a dirty environment) they get all fogged up because the dust mask works so well that even breath can't just go directly through it.

Here's a picture of me after a long day of sanding, to give you an idea of the sheer dust involved...

Every time I try to scratch my nose or something I get dust all over my face. My mom laughs at me whenever I enter the house.

On a slightly less dusty note, I think I'm pretty much finished with sanding after today, unless my dad has something up his sleeve (which kept happening with the stripping...I was so sick of that crap). Which means I'll probably be back to regulating an action. Actions are pretty effing complicated, as you can see:


I wish you could see it in action (heh), but you're all smart and could probably figure it out if you wanted to. Keep in mind that you're pressing down on the key at #58 and it all goes from there. (Alternatively, there's probably stuff all over YouTube on this very subject. But I digress.)

"Regulating" an "action" basically means I have to make sure that each individual part doesn't have too much friction going on in its various pins and hinges, and that everything is lined up and spaced evenly when put together, and that it's level, etc. Mostly so far I've dealt with hammer shanks and flanges, wippens, and jacks.

Besides work, I've been hanging out with my family and a few friends, running occasionally, playing some piano, and reading the physics textbook online in preparation for Physics 45 this upcoming quarter. Yes, I'm going to tough it out. I'm not going to let one quarter of Stanford physics scare me away. Dammit!

Seeing as it's nearly 6 pm, I should go running before dinner (and you can all just pretend I actually did, in case I don't). Looking forward to seeing you all in a little over seven weeks!

Wait, what? We still have to wait seven weeks? What is this?