Waldorf Diaries--The Genius of Pushpins

My job is creative in nature. I find creative solutions to design and construction problems. It is still, however, very much a job and I need creative outlets outside of the shop environment. The reason I moved into the Waldorf Hotel was to simplify my life in order to focus attention on a particular project and over all this has been successful. Over the past month or two, however, I’ve found myself working in the shop much more than in my hotel room and I’m beginning to feel the imbalance.

Though I had not planned on going into the shop today I stopped in long enough to build a quick bulletin board. I took it back to the hotel, put the first Neu! album on repeat, and began laying out some of my notes for the project. I gathered up the pieces of paper from all the flat surfaces in my small space and with a fresh package of pushpins I organized them where I could see them. Now I feel connected and less overwhelmed by the scope of what I’ve gotten myself into. I have a visual representation of progress and the rabbit hole appears to have a map.

A start...

The Staircase Install

Once something is built it will either fit or it won't so worrying about it is pointless. I woke up this morning feeling calm and focused knowing I had done everything I was capable of to make the morning staircase installation as smooth as possible. I had six guys showing up to help me lift it into position and with their help it was a painless operation. Much easier than I had anticipated. I'm really trying not seem surprised.

Stephen Hamm, one of my industrious associates

The cardboard on the outside face is to protect the veneer until it's clear coated

Mortised stair treads

Top view to the bottom platform that is going to get covered in Italian marble

Work is Worship

“Work is worship.”  Mahatma Ghandi

A dear of friend of mine who is helping me out in the shop brought this quote to my attention today and I can’t stop thinking about it. Labor for most of us is inevitable and necessary to survival. Coming from a long family lineage of organized labor I’ve always understood the value of work and the ethics behind it. The idea of work as a spiritual pursuit is relatively new to me but over the past few years it has become increasingly relevant. I have a very clear choice to either hate my job or alternatively try to bring something to it. These days I’m fortunate to both be doing something I’m good at and that I enjoy. Even when I have to do jobs that I have no real interest in doing (usually out of financial necessity) I try and find a connection outside myself that helps me appreciate beauty in the job—like the perfect corner of two 45 degree angles. Granted this much easier said than done but nobody said worship is easy.

An Education

My formal post secondary education is limited. I’ve attended a few colleges, taken classes at University extension programs, and I went to design school long enough to learn the fundamental ideas (and enough time to know I’d never be a draughtsman). At times my lack of a university degree has led to feelings of inadequacy. This usually occurred when surrounded by people at a party discussing their dissertations. What I have come to learn is people absorb information in different ways. I internalize knowledge best from first hand experience and a tactile approach to education. I am sensory motivated and if I can see, hear, and touch something I am more likely to understand and learn. Much of what I know has come from books I have read but reading about La Sagrada Familia and looking at photos of the Gaudi masterpiece is very different from getting vertigo climbing the narrow steps in one of its towers. I’ll take vertigo over a lecture hall any day.

Mortality, Health, and Nihilism

I was talking recently with a friend of mine about the desire to keep living. It’s only been in been in last few years that I’ve realized I might end up being around longer than I thought I would. My nihilistic attitudes towards existence have softened. I have not always taken the best care of my physical being. It’s endured undue abuse over the years and though progress is often slow in my world I’ve begun taking steps to amend this neglect. This is not so much a recognition of my mortality as an acknowledgement that I could very well live to be an old man and if that happens I would like to be relatively healthy. I have a long way to go on the road to optimum health but the momentum forward has begun.

Using toxic solvents? Put on a respirator!

Never Seem Surprised!

“Don’t ever let them know you’re surprised when things work out well.”

This was the good advice from my shopmate Mike when I sent him a photo of the veneered stringer with a message expressing my excitement that it was working out. Guess I’ve blown that now, but damn, it’s looking good!

Now I’ll go back to my cool demeanor

Dry fitting the treads

Pre veneer

Post Veneer