Bill's Photoblog

My first completed project from my woodworking class at Cerritos College. It is a "push stick". It is a safety device used to push pieces of wood through machinery (such as table saws and planers) so that you don't slice your own fingers off.

Karen's sister, Lisa, and her husband, Dean, grew this mutant Italian squash. it represents at least three meals!

I enrolled in a woodworking class at Cerritos College. Apparently, woodworking classes offered here are very respected and highly sought after by people throughout the Southern California area.

For the first project, we started with an "unfinished" piece of rough wood (in my case, walnut). "Unfinished" means that none of the surfaces are smooth. You start your project by using a radial arm saw to cut the long piece of lumber to a more manageable size. To make one face of the wood flat you use a jointer. Then you get the desired thickness (3/4") you want and a parallel face (to the one made by the jointer) using a planer (with many passes through it). Finally, you go back to the jointer to create a 90 degree edge.

From here, you pencil in the shape you want and cut the rough shape out with a band saw. Next, you smooth out the edges using a sander (either wheel or belt). Now, using the drill press, you drill out two holes in preparation for the handle. Drawing a tangential line to the two holes, you use a jig saw to cut out the handle. Using various roughness of chisels and spindle sanders, you smooth out the inside of the handle. Finally, using a router, you put a quarter round edge all along the outside edge and handle.

Now, we are ready to sand -- using 7 grades of paper -- each time with a finer coarseness. This is estimated to take 2-3 hours. After which, we oil the darn thing. I'll post the finished product (and tell you what it is) when I'm finished sanding and placing a few coats of oil on it.

Jennifer and her college roommates prepares to depart for Greece (at 4 am!).

We celebrated Father's Day by having dinner at the Cerritos' Sam Woo.

Susan and Mark.

Steve and Jen.

Mich and Darin (just came back down from UC Santa Cruz).

Karen and Dean (Lisa's hubby).

Karen's sister, Lisa, with their Dad.

After Sam Woo's, Karen and the "girls" gave me my Father's Day gifts.

Karen is still trying to make me grow rabbit ears.

Kayla is TWO and her parents threw her a pool party. Everyone had a good time!

Here we are, walking to Lisa and Greg's house.

The birthday girl -- Kayla!
Happy birthday Kayla.

Stoli enjoyed the party too!

Karen's sister, Lisa was up in Seattle and she bought us some smoked salmon (and fresh loaf of garlic rosemary bread) from here -- it was good!

Harbor Kitchen: Salted fish and chicken fried rice

Harbor Kitchen: Chow fun

The company traditionally offers retirees an optional farewell dinner. Norman and I elected to combine our retirement allotment so that we could order a "special" menu.

The food was terrific! We started with a cold appetizer platter.

Shrimp with candied walnuts.

Double scallops.

Shark's fin soup.

Peking duck.

Giant black mushrooms and broccoli.

Chinese fried chicken.

LOBSTER!!

Fish fillet with greens.

Here are a few faces from the crowd -- Kit Lee and Me.

The MacD lunch bunch -- Phil, Norm, Kit and me.

The Mrs and Me.

Glenn Tanaka, Ngoc Ho and his wife MyAn.

Philip Lui and Norman Chiu.

Me and Margie Takaki.

Ernest Gonzalez and Norman Chiu.

The APM (assistant program manager), George Hammers, gave a short speech following the dinner and handed me a few gifts.

So, after 28+ years, this is all the thanks I got.

Kayla is talking up a storm lately. Every time we visit, we can't resist taking lots of pictures...

My Mom had some mail she wanted us to go over -- then, it was lunch. Of course, we went to our favorite place -- Harbor Kitchen in Alhambra.

Here's a picture of us.

Here's our selections for lunch.

Scenes around L.A. -- City Hall.

The L.A. Times building.

The high school I attended -- Belmont High School.

The evening of Mother's Day -- Jennifer and Michelle surprised their Mom with gifts and even prepared her dinner!

The "Girls" prepared their Mom a special dinner -- it was delicious!

We celebrated Mother's Day at Lisa's (Karen's sister) house.

Our main dish was salmon (and lamb)...

and "some" of our side dishes.

Karen and I went to UCLA Day. The University welcomed back past alumni to revisit the campus.

Royce Hall

Our first event, the medal ceremony.

Kareem gave a speech in honor of Jackie Robinson's wife.

The arches along Royce Hall.

They offer a nice lunch -- choice of chicken, turkey or vegetarian wraps.

We had a chance to shop around before the tours started.

Our little group by Bruin Bear.

We toured the new Ronald Regan Medical Center -- very impressive.

Peace and tranquility patio area -- travertine tiles were donated by a man whose life was saved three times by the medical center!

A glimpse inside...beautiful isn't it?

We took a tour of the "Treasures of the Powell Library Stacks" -- I never remembered it being so clean down here.

One more time down Janss Steps for dinner...

where we had live reggae music and a terrific BBQ dinner -- tri-tip, chicken, mushroom ravioli, chicken salad, fruit salad and dessert (which we didn't even get a chance to try) -- all in all, a wonderful time!

We celebrated Mother's Day early by taking my Mom to the Grove to watch a movie (X-Men Origins - Wolverine) and have a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.