Hotspotting!

My apartment has a hotspot! I am so happy about that. Maybe I can finally cancel Netzero.

On to better news, TJ is okay, relatively speaking. He had a equal shot of surviving the wreck or being killed. I much prefer him injured but alive, rather than dead. I've talked to him twice over the past two days. I needed some cheering up after a not so great day. He seemed surprised that just talking to him could make me happy, but it did.

I bought a new gouge this week. It is a #7 deep gouge manufactured by Stubai of Austria. It'll cut down the time to make a set of wax tablets alot. I'm estimating an afternoon from start to finish, including final sanding and pouring the wax. I still have the set of fine gouges for edge work, but I can do fine work with just a corner of the large gouge. The modification to the portable carving bench is done. I've added a 90 degree angle stop to the other end. It's easier for me to carve at an angle rather than straight across. I used a piece of 1 x 2, glued on two pieces, cut away the extra bits with a coping saw, sanded it and then nailed each piece down with two panel nails just for strength. Altogether, for about $2, I've made a useful, portable and lightweight carving bench. I've spent about $100 on the carving tools.

The carving bench with the 90 degree

angle stop and one side of a set of tablets.

The new #7 Austrian gouge.

To give you an idea of how large

it is, the metal end is about 5 inches

long.