#Fixing Common Woodworking Mistakes

[curtainsdubai21612]

Handyman Services: The Ultimate Solution for Home Maintenance and Repairs

Owning a home comes with the responsibility of regular maintenance and occasional repairs. Whether it’s fixing a leaky faucet, installing new light fixtures, or patching up drywall, there’s always something that requires attention. However, not everyone has the time, tools, or expertise to handle these tasks. This is where handyman services come into play—offering a reliable, efficient, and professional solution to all your home repair needs.

In this blog, we'll explore the importance of handyman services, the wide range of tasks they cover, and how to choose the right service provider to ensure your home remains in top condition.

1. What Are Handyman Services?

Handyman Services refer to skilled professionals who offer a variety of home repair, maintenance, and installation services. Unlike specialized contractors who focus on specific areas like plumbing or electrical work, handymen are equipped to handle a broad spectrum of tasks, often covering multiple minor jobs in one visit.

Handyman services can range from basic tasks like hanging shelves or fixing doors, to more complex jobs like electrical repairs or small-scale renovations.

2. Benefits of Hiring Professional Handyman Services

a. Expertise and Skill

Handymen have the knowledge and experience to tackle a wide variety of home repair tasks. Whether it’s a minor fix or something more complicated, a professional handyman can get the job done efficiently and correctly the first time, saving you from potential headaches or costly mistakes.

b. Saves Time

Busy schedules often leave little room for home maintenance. By hiring a handyman, you free up your time and energy to focus on more important tasks, while the professional handles the necessary repairs. You’ll no longer have to spend your weekends fixing things around the house.

c. Cost-Effective

Rather than hiring multiple contractors for different jobs, a handyman can take care of a variety of tasks in one visit. This reduces the overall cost, as you’re paying one person for multiple services, rather than paying multiple professionals with specialized fees.

d. Quality Work

Handymen come equipped with the right tools and materials to ensure high-quality results. Their attention to detail and craftsmanship means that the repairs or installations will not only function well but also look good.

e. Prevents Larger Issues

Regular maintenance handled by a handyman can prevent small problems from turning into bigger, more expensive issues. For example, fixing a leaky pipe early on can save you from major water damage down the road.

3. Common Handyman Services

Handyman services cover a broad range of repairs, maintenance, and installation tasks. Below are some of the most common services offered:

a. Electrical Repairs and Installation

Handymen can perform basic electrical tasks such as installing light fixtures, replacing outlets, or fixing faulty switches. For larger electrical jobs, such as rewiring, a licensed electrician may be required, but for small repairs, handymen are a cost-effective solution.

b. Plumbing Repairs

From fixing leaky faucets to installing new sinks, handymen can handle various minor plumbing issues. They can also help unclog drains, repair toilets, and replace old or damaged fixtures.

c. Carpentry and Woodwork

Handymen are skilled in basic carpentry tasks such as repairing wooden furniture, building shelves, and installing cabinets. Whether you need new moldings, baseboards, or a small renovation project, a handyman can help with custom woodwork solutions.

d. Painting and Drywall Repair

Whether you need to patch up a hole in the drywall or repaint a room, handymen are adept at both. They can provide touch-ups, paint entire rooms, and repair walls for a seamless finish.

e. Home Installations

From hanging mirrors and installing shelves to assembling furniture, a handyman can take care of a wide range of installations. This also includes mounting televisions, installing ceiling fans, and setting up new home appliances.

f. Flooring Repair and Installation

Handyman services also cover minor flooring repairs, such as fixing loose tiles, patching up vinyl flooring, or repairing wooden floorboards. Some handymen are even equipped to install new flooring, depending on the material.

g. Exterior Home Repairs

Outdoor repairs such as fixing fences, replacing weatherstripping, or installing outdoor lighting are also within the scope of handyman services. They can help with deck repairs, gutter cleaning, and small landscaping projects.

4. How to Choose the Right Handyman Service

With so many handyman services available, choosing the right one for your needs requires some careful consideration. Here are a few tips to help you find a reliable handyman:

a. Check Credentials and Experience

Ensure the handyman you hire has the necessary experience and qualifications for the job. Look for reviews, ask for references, and check their credentials to confirm that they have a good track record in completing similar tasks.

b. Insurance and Licensing

It’s important to hire a handyman who is licensed (where required) and insured. This ensures that you’re protected in case of accidents or damages during the job.

c. Service Range

Before hiring, ask the handyman about the range of services they offer. It’s best to hire someone who can handle a variety of tasks in one visit, rather than needing to bring in multiple people.

d. Get a Quote

Ask for an upfront estimate of the costs involved. A good handyman should be able to provide you with a detailed quote based on the job description. This helps avoid hidden fees or unexpected charges.

e. Timely and Reliable

Choose a handyman who is punctual, communicates well, and meets deadlines. Delays and unreliable work can lead to additional costs and frustration.

5. Conclusion

Handyman services are the go-to solution for homeowners who need help with small repairs, maintenance, or installations. Hiring a professional handyman saves time, ensures quality work, and prevents minor issues from escalating into bigger problems. Whether it’s a one-time fix or ongoing home maintenance, a handyman can keep your home in top shape, enhancing both its functionality and value.

[impossiblemakerfire]

Ultimate Small Shop Pdf Free - Is It Worth The Money?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/iWDxQRe7VX4

Today I will write this comprehensive, unbiased review after going through the Ultimate Small Shop course. Here, I will talk about what this product is all about and how it helps people set up a woodworking workshop at a lower-than-regular cost. Woodworking profits are low for many people, because getting the tools and materials needed to get started in woodworking can be expensive. If you're unable to afford a woodworking class, this post is for you. Instead of taking classes you can follow along in a review and actually customize your own piece. This is a course for anyone who is interested in or already engaged with woodworking. The course will save you money and time, giving you the precise directions for building your own workshop with good-quality tools for only a fraction of the cost. Is the Ultimate Small Shop course able to provide what it promises? You'll find honest reviews and thorough information on what to expect on your journey as a small business owner. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses

Who Am I?

Hey! I'm Paul Samita and I'm fascinated by woodworking and am creating this website,  to share my passions with others. My goal is to help other woodworkers like you ‘navigate’ the big wide world of woodworking, and I have done this by answering all the questions I had when I started out. I knew the importance of having the right space for my projects and builds, but I was afraid that it would cost too much. I was only working with wood on the weekends – ultimate small shop reviews, why would I need to dump thousands of dollars into building my own workshop? Wasn’t that only for the pros? It's hard to create your own products and sell them without a base of knowledge. Fortunately, I found Ultimate Small Shop, which has everything I needed to get the process started. One thing that every woodworker should have is a woodworking shop. It's not easy to think about spending a lot of money on a tool that you rarely use, but the idea that it takes a lot of money to create your workshop is just a myth. Here's the problem: typically you get what you pay for. Places like The Home Depot and Lowes are notorious for making you spend more than you have to, or offering similar products with a higher price tag. Here at The Ultimate Small Shop, we're dedicated to helping these consumers save money and stop feeling betrayed by their wallets. Even as I write this review, I'm excitedly thinking about all of the innovative ways we're going to do our part in saving appliances this month. Ralph Chapman's love of woodworking led him to create his own shop, Ultimate Small Shop. Learn how Ralph achieved the top-notch setup on a small budget with his guide, "How to Set Up a Complete Shop on a Budget." Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses

About the product

Setting up your workshop can be a daunting task, but with this guide by our handholding experts, you'll have everything you need to get your shop set up quickly. This resource focuses on three common mistakes people make when trying to build their home workshop and how to avoid them. ultimate small shop reviews, It discusses clever strategies and tips that woodworkers can use to immediately improve the situation of their space. This hands-on instructional guide is written for both beginners and experts, who can learn a lot from it. It discusses all the processes involved in setting up a workshop from start to finish. The guide is available in soft and hard copy, but if you get the hard copy, you have to pay the shipping costs.

Modules

A Complete Shop on a Budget is divided into six modules, each highlighting the particular setup of a workshop at home. This guide will teach you how to figure out exactly which tools you'll need for your woodworking hobby before you start shopping. This includes only power tools and hand tools! It gives you access to a shopping list that solely includes fixed, portable, and pneumatic tools. You can also create a "short-list" of the best-rated power tools from the top brands on Amazon. ultimate small shop book reddit, Additionally, it reveals a hidden discount resource for purchasing these products. You've decided to build your own workshop, but where do you begin? Space Selection explains numerous workbench layouts and gives ideas for all different situations. Begin by identifying the layout that best accommodates your needs and then using these design services to decorate for a beautifully functional space- no matter what workspace you choose. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses How to design your workstation: a step-by-step guide. You will learn detailed floor plans and space-saving layout recommendations for your workshop. It includes machine placement, separating your workspace, maximizing efficiency and utilizing the appropriate space. You will find the perfect doorway trick and the ideal height clearance for tools. It's tough trying to figure out how to add light in a contest shop. But if you have the right tools, you'll be able to do it with little fuss. This article explains lighting and soundproofing rules, including cost and arranging your power source. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ayihWxIDhLA Keeping your shop free of dust and allergens is essential. Whether this means you need to install a new air handler, find the right ventilation solutions for your shop, or simply learn how your heating and cooling equipment is effective, we're here to help you clean the air in your shop. Some suggestions of phrases that can be used instead: -Start out with some sentence rewording ideas from other websites -Remember good repetition patterns such as "Heating, Cooling," "Ventilation," "Dust" and so on -Remind yourself about linking verbs like "discusses." -Include seo specific challenges Making sure your workshop is safe can be difficult. So, take the time to keep track of everything that you need to do. The overall safety of your space will help minimize risks and prevent serious injuries. This unit will teach you ways in which to avoid fires in your workshop. It also includes a safety checklist to follow so that you won't find yourself making fires go out as easily. The target audience This guide is designed for woodworkers and workshop owners, though anyone can benefit from its broad information. Expert woodworkers and workshop owners can also benefit from following the guide as it shows common mistakes to avoid and how to make them accurately.

Features

Purchasing the How to set up a complete shop on budget enables you to get; Shop Setup Basics- This article provides a detailed tutorial on the basics of setting up your workshop. It covers everything you need to know including instructions and tips, helpful guidance and ideas, and numerous resources for setting up any shop, even in a remote location. Workshop "Perfect Layouts" is a handbook that offers a wide range of floorplans and layout options, all to help you maximize your workplace and increase the efficiency of your business. You'll be able to look well-organized and attractive to your clients with this layout option. Tool Selection, Price Guides, and Secret Suppliers List - This guidebook will help you figure out what tools you need and where you can get them for a reasonable price. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses * BONUS* The Workshop Cheat List - Two additional manuals, "The Workshop Cheat List" and "Deal Alert Service," which show you how to save a lot of money on timber and tools. They also alert you to reduced offers online so you can save while getting high-quality -- they're the perfect combination! You can instantly download the full package. After purchasing, you can access the member's area where you may order the hard or soft copies of the book. Plus, if you're looking for a momento from your time in France, check out our personalized photo book that starts at just $25! During the limited time that this special offer is available, if you buy today, you'll get a better deal. The developer reserves the right to close this offer at any time, so make sure to pick up your order right away. There will be a lot of new things you will learn about the industry through this course. We can help you go from beginner to advanced levels in the guides. From affiliate marketing and blogging, to digital marketing and SEO, we offer this course to help you get started. What's the best way to start a workshop on a budget? The exact tools for long-term quality and efficiency; ultimate small shop woodworking ralph, you'll know how to select the right tool for each activity. There are a number of places to acquire tools at reasonable prices and of good quality. The following are some ways you can set up your shop to maximize productivity and customer comfort: The layout of this shop allows it to appear neat and tidy In this short video, you'll learn about how to tell the difference between hand tools and power tools and how to find projects better suited for precision and control. The 5-second method will help your tools and machinery last a long time so you'll never have to replace or repair them.

Bonuses

Buying the workshop setup guide from Confidant allows you to enjoy these bonuses: If you want to be up-to-date on the latest woodworking tools and materials, use the Deal Alert Service. The Deal Alert service alerts you when special discounts and promotions are being announced. The Workshop Cheat List Guide helps you get discounts on expensive lumber and tools. It includes buying discounted lumber from retailers, discount tools from sawmills, as well as free monthly tool giveaways. The book covers how to find legit suppliers, knowing when to buy wholesale vs retail and how to receive free lumber each month. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses

Doubt

This is an excellent resource for anyone looking to have a clean and organized workshop. The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and the guide comes with two bonuses that can help you in your business. Our clients are impressed with how it helps them in boosting their business. Whether Ultimate Small Shop is worth the money depends. ultimate small shop pdf ,  It offers a lot of features, but it's not for every business. Some are better served by other website builders like SquareSpace or Wordpress. Ultimate Small Shop is worth every penny. Our guides are going to save you thousands of dollars, allowing you to create and design your very own shop for an affordable price. The Ultimate Small Shop has helped me and countless others figure out how to build a workshop that is not just for the pros, but also costs less than you could imagine. This course will guide you through building your own small shop, and you'll be able to take home everything you need after the class is over. Ultimate Small Shop is the perfect solution for small businesses looking for quality content that will help them stay afloat in this economic climate. But, how does Ultimate Small Store work? What this product claims to help with is ‘setting up a complete small workshop on a budget’, which is exactly what it does. With The Ulitmate Small Shop, you can produce custom apparel at affordable prices. 'How Is This Product Put Together?' The main product of the company, ‘How To Set Up A Complete Shop on a Budget’, is an eBook. Not sure where to start? Explore ebooks for your niche, or learn about our titles below. Table of Contents: The Basics of Site Terms and Conditions (LEX) Fearless Reputation Legal Issues in E-Commerce E-Commerce Lawsuits in 2018 The Ebook contains chapters about: Presenting Your Vision, Your Team, Building a Cult Like the Apple, Content Marketing, and Closed Stores in order to describe how you can find success with your mobile app. Chapter 1: Presenting Your Vision Chapter 2: Your Team Chapter 3: Building a Cult Like Apple Chapter 4: Content Marketing Readers may review the Table of Contents before buying the ebook. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses Get instant access to your PDF file when you purchase the Ultimate Small Shop. You won't have to wait, and you won't have to pay for shipping. We'll just get started on setting up your workshop on a budget in no time! Take a look at this guide that's packed full of content and helpful tips.ultimate small shop pdf free, In fact, the guide itself is nearly 200 pages long! The product comes with several other eBook guides in addition to the main guide. Plus, there are audio recordings as well if you prefer that type of learning. Get in contact with our experts to find the best niche for your business and get a quote today! If you prefer to consume your books physically, then don't worry! We have a range of physical options to help with that. Don't worry – there is an option to get the Ultimate Small Shop as a physical book and you won't have to pay much more than the cost of shipping. For those who want a more customizable experience, manual books might be your best option. We want to convey the benefits of using our members area in a creative manner. So, we’ve put together the following short highlight video to showcase exactly why you should use our members area: On top of the main guide, we've included a lot of extra guides and manuals that can help you with your business. We'll cover these in more details later. This article is perfect for people looking for a new solution on how to improve their work. It can be helpful for anyone from college students to remote workers and professionals trying to balance work and family life. For woodworkers, spending less on their tools can be a difficult task. That's why this tool is perfect for anyone looking to build a fully-complete workshop without spending too much. This how-to guide is intended for beginners in the world of woodworking. But, if you're an advanced woodworker who has been spending a lot of money and don't know where your next project should come from, you should give this course a try! Getting professional woodworking equipment at a fraction of the price that you’d pay in stores is your best bet if you want to set up a woodworking workshop or improve it on a shoestring budget. Ultimate Small Shop Guides Plus Bonuses

What You Get Inside

If you're interested in starting a new small business, make sure you consider getting the Deluxe version of Ultimate Small Shop. It comes with many great features and benefits for start-up businesses. Some of these include: Ultimate Small Shop provides excellent quality printing at an affordable price for the small business. Get a bonus pack featuring other white-labeled products to help maximize your marketing plan. With this guide, you will learn how to set up your woodworking workshop on a budget and keep it everywhere, for less than $10,000. That's the base cost of most workshops. The Workshop Guide can help you find the best deals when purchasing lumber. The 27-page Guide shares insider tips and tricks, including how to piece together what you need for your project while ensuring that you don't leave cash on the table. 41 pages to help you build the perfect workshop for your woodworking hobby. Listeners, our guides are available for two distinct platforms: audio and video. You can find the 'How To Set Up A Complete Shop on a Budget' guide on YouTube or listen to it by downloading via iTunes. When picking a building location for your workshop, consider the following 7 mistakes that many woodworkers make. 20 Tools For Shops Of Any Budget (a list of tools recommended to woodworkers of any skill level or budget) Essential Woodworking Tools Every Carpenters Should Have In Their Workshop In order to get started into woodworking, a beginner must begin with the basic tools that they'll need. These tools include a saw, chisels and planes, as well as other clamps and wrenches. A Basic Introduction To Woodworking Tools (A guide on how to use all of the basic woodworking tools for beginners!) Woodworkers' Guide To Hand Tools (a guide on how to use hand tools - a very useful resource since most guides are focused on how to use electric machines) With this in-depth guide, you'll learn how to work on the imperfections in woodworking. From walls and doors to ceilings and insulation, deciding when to do what is the key factor here. The 9×9 Guide to Woodworking (a guide on how to start woodworking and set up your creative endeavors in an apartment) All of these guides are downloadable as PDF files immediately after purchase, although you can also get the physical book if you're willing to pay a little extra. Ultimate Small Shop is the brainchild of Jeni. Daren Marguery founded his own digital marketing company and website, websites that help guide small businesses in running their small business better than ever. Read the full article

[looye29]

Are you interested in starting a woodworking workshop? A woodworking business running at a profit is everybody’s dream! What most of us look for is an option to do so with minimum investments to minimize risks. But such ventures are not always successful, and you need somebody who has experience in this field to guide you with much-needed information about market procedures. You must have complete knowledge about things such as tools and their real value. You must know where to get such tools and if they fall within your estimated expenditure. As a woodworker who wanted to start my own shop post my retirement, I initially thought it was a cakewalk to buy tools, get sufficient space, and start the work with the limited means that I had. But when I actually plunged into it, I realized it was never going to be easy. Space and budget are the two main constraints you need to look into with great care and work on. The Ultimate Small Shop, an eBook by Ralph Chapman, was a source of inspiration to me. The book covers almost all the tiny details needed by a woodworker to start his shop. Needless to say, I benefitted tremendously from the book. Here’s a review of how it helps small entrepreneurs. What is The Ultimate Small Shop, and What Does it Offer The Ultimate Small Shop book is a guide for opening up a small woodworking workshop. It narrates in detail all the problems you, as a woodworker, would encounter along the way. You need to pay attention to a variety of factors: Precise tool selection. Proper and sufficient spacing. Layout selection. Ventilation. Cooling and heating. How to correct errors if wrong tools have been used. All of the above have been dealt with in detail in the book. The book offers advice, instructions, strategies, price guides, and other such valuable information. The book comes with many modules describing the various strategies you need to understand when setting up your workshop. Tool Selection: Tool selection is an essential task for you as you may incur a loss of money and work if you use the wrong tools. In one full module, you will get details on the best tools that you need and the ones to avoid. You will understand how to distinguish the tools that you will need for your workshop. A complete shopping list with details of where to buy them is offered in this book, which makes your job easier. Tool Maintenance: The book also provides details of how to keep the tools in working condition for many years, which you should follow before and after work to improve the tools' efficiency. You will also know how and where to get the tools at reasonable discounts to avoid wastage of money. You will find a shopping list of power tools and personal hand tools. According to the book, you can do a great job using hand tools only if your budget does not permit buying a bandsaw or chop saw. Space Selection: Space selection is covered in another module with complete information on selection of space for the workshop. Once you understand this, you can set up your workshop in various areas of your home. The shop layout module will guide you in planning and designing the workshop without much investment in the space available. You must consider proper ventilation, electricity outlet, and many other factors as listed in the book to select the appropriate area. To prepare the shop's layout, you will find instructions, photos, diagrams, and illustrations to guide you along. Shop Maintenance: Common issues such as maintaining clean air even if your shop does not have enough ventilation by fixing the best heaters, storing wood for a long time period, and avoiding dust pollution are also clearly dealt with in the book. Another critical aspect of the workshop is providing electricity, soundproofing, and lighting. You will get easy to understand instructions on these. Safety Aspect: Yet another vital aspect of setting up a workshop is safety. You will find the book offers excellent guidelines on how to prevent severe injuries while working.

A 10-point checklist in the book will help you in organizing and ensuring the safety of the workshop. Bonuses: You will also get additional materials with the book – a Deal Alert Service which is a free lifetime offer from the author. You will get notifications whenever there is a lucrative offer on woodworking tools from suppliers. The Workshop Cheat List is a valuable source of information on the suppliers from whom you can purchase the tools at excellent, discounted prices. Pros Neatly arranged sections with simple narratives An excellent resource for buying tools at good discounts from specific places Handy instructions, advice, strategies, and tips on maintenance Affordable pricing Money-back guarantee that ensures your money is not at risk. You can always apply for a refund. No upsells here Upon payment, you can get access to the book immediately without any waiting period. Cons Available only in an online format, no physical books sent. Video instructions could have added to increase the value of the guide. You cannot only entirely depend on the book for starting your workshop. It would help if you also did your own homework to achieve results. Some feel the author has not provided any proof of past successes to substantiate the author's claims. There is no proof to establish his abilities either. The book comes with hundreds of pages with modules and materials, which will consume much of your time to understand them fully. Final verdict The book shows you how to avoid some common mistakes that may come your way to making a successful woodworking career. He cites improper usage of tools and too much spending on tools as central issues in a woodworker's career. You will come across many fake reviews on tools, but you should know how not to be scammed by them. You will get all the information on starting a workshop with minimum investments. There are plenty of ideas that can be extremely useful to you when you set up your own workshop in a short period. If you start following the program, you can expect to run a profitable business and earn a decent income. You will know exactly what tools to buy, the need for each of those tools, and the places where you can buy them at the best prices. I would rate the book a full 5.0 stars!

[sxfterhearts]

22. [4:22 pm]

“That’s all for today, good job everyone on your midsemester exams, and don’t forget to submit your assignments by midnight on Saturday.” Loud rustles echoed around the room as impatient students began to pack up their things and leave. “See you next week, class.”

Even before you dismissed your tutorial class, nearly three-quarters of the room was already vacated. As the last few students got up and bid you goodbye, a few of them stayed back to ask you questions about the midsemester exam you just reviewed. Being an experienced tutor for this unit, you listened intently to every single one of their questions and worries, providing them with answers to the best of your knowledge. It was common for you to get held back for nearly fifteen to twenty minutes because the unit you tutored was known to be difficult yet essential for all students from your major. You remembered taking this unit yourself two years ago and all the grief it had caused you, hence you fully empathised with your students.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted a familiar blonde-haired boy leaning against a table and browsing casually on his phone as you placed all of the midsemester exams back into the cardboard box, along with your stationary and other tutorial material. He was the last student left. “Bambam,” you called the boy. “How can I help you?”

“What are you doing after this, Y/N?”

You tried your best to resist the strong urge to roll your eyes. Bambam had been over the moon when he found out that you, his former class president from high school, was assigned to tutor his class for the entire semester. Ever since high school, he had made countless futile attempts to get closer to you. Most girls back then would have been flattered by the vice president of the student council’s undivided attention – he was always trailing around you like a lost puppy, offering to help you with tasks that you were fully capable of handling, or leaving you small gifts like chocolate and miniature wooden figures from his Woodwork class.

Undeterred, you never caved to his advances, for many reasons. For one, the two of you were polar opposites. The only similarity that you shared was that you were both teachers’ pets who sat on the student council. Anything beyond that, such as your personalities (you were the studious, quiet type; he was popular, smart and sporty) and your interests (you loved escaping to the library and reading; he practically lived on the basketball courts) were miles apart. Secondly, you absolutely loathed all the attention he gave you. You disliked his grand gestures that quickly became the talk of the school. There was so much unnecessary gossip surrounding you due to Bambam’s actions and you hated it when people talked behind your back. Some girls even started sending you anonymous threats on social media for being the apple of Bambam’s eye and for rejecting his heart. It was just too much for you and you decided that you wanted nothing to do with him.

Things were much more different now, of course. Most people mature when they enter university and thankfully the students who used to harass you either studied elsewhere or lost interest in the situation completely. You had enjoyed your peace and quiet without him in your first year when Bambam had decided to take a gap year, but he had since returned from his worldly travels. You rarely came in contact with him in your second year as you had completed a year of studies abroad, but this year, by some twisted stroke of luck, you had been assigned as his tutor.

He was the same old Bambam, always so persistent, but a bit more mature in his approach. He would ask you the same question every other week, about your schedule, and whether you were free to ‘catch up’, but he knew how to stop and wish you a good day once you rejected him. You always gave him the same answer, a polite “No, thank you,”, before parting ways with him. That is, until last week.

It was the week of midsemester exams. Due to the exam timetable, the exam of the unit you tutored fell on a Monday, four days before the exam that you had to sit which was on the Friday. Normally, this would be an ideal timetable, however another one of the tutors came down with a serious case of the flu and the professor assigned you to mark her load of papers by Friday. By Wednesday afternoon, you were marking papers in an abandoned corner of the cafeteria, running on a lack of sleep and an astronomical amount of caffeine in your bloodstream. When Bambam walked up to you and sat across you, spouting his usual questions, you just lost it. “No! I have nearly two hundred papers to grade and a difficult exam to study for. No, I am not free, so leave me alone!” You yelled at him, nearly on the brink of tears.

Bambam was clearly taken aback by your outburst, of course. You were soft-spoken and demure, never one to raise your voice in a public place. He could see the resemblance between the woman before him, struggling to hold back the tears, and the girl he saw hiding in an abandoned classroom three years ago, bawling her eyes out as she crouched amongst a sea of books and papers. He remembered that you never really dealt with academic stress very well.

On the surface level, Bambam seemed the stereotypical rich boy on campus, shooting hoops with the boys every day while playing with a different girl every night. It wasn’t true, though. There’s more than meets the eye.

You learned that when he had respectfully asked whether he could stay with you, and if he could bring you somewhere to take your mind off things. Suddenly exhausted, you finally gave in to him, watching him tidy up your things and place them into your bag. You figured it was about time you took a break from this madness anyways. He led you towards the footpath by the riverside across the road from your university campus. The two of you walked in silence, with nothing but the sound of waves crashing against the bay filling your ears. He took you to the far side of the bay which you rarely frequented and sat on the bench facing the river. There were many more yachts docked nearby, their periodic swaying therapeutic to watch, and the occasional dog would pass by, wagging its tail in greeting. Being in nature was calming, and you felt yourself relax in his presence.

“Hello, earth to Y/N.” Bambam waved his palm in front of your face. “Are you alright? You spaced out there for a sec,”

You swung your backpack over your shoulder and picked up the heavy box filled with stacks of paper. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Did you miss my question? I asked you about your plans after class.” The blonde boy reminded, walking side by side as the two of you exited the tutorial room.

You were still somewhat shaken by the flashback you had. It left a deep impression on you, and casted Bambam in a completely different light. “Uh, yeah, sorry.” You readjusted the box in your hands. “I’m just dropping these off at the professor’s desk.”

“Wait, did you just give me a proper answer?” Bambam wondered aloud, clearly taken aback by your less-than-usual response. I’m making progress, he thought. “Can I come with? I was hoping you’d be free after that too, I wanted to take you out for a coffee.”

“Why?”

“Well, see, I wanted to talk to you about last week. You know, when-” He was interrupted by your soft wince as you readjusted the box once more. “Do you want me to carry it?”

You shook your head adamantly. “It’s not heavy.” You shot him a pointed look. “I’m stronger than I look.”

Bambam stifled a laughter at your determined expression. “Yeah, I have no doubt about that.” He quickly stole the box out of your arms and cut you off before you could protest. “You know, Y/N, you don’t have to act so strong all the time. Let others help you once in a while, no one will think any less of you for sharing your burden.”

“I-”

“Ah, Y/N!” Your professor exclaimed, stumbling upon you on his way to meet a colleague. “Are those the papers?”

You and Bambam bowed in greeting. “Yes, sir.” You answered, taking the box away and handing it to your professor. “One of the students had their marks calculated wrongly, I’ve already sent you an email with his student number and the new score. I’m really sorry for the mistake, sir, I promise-”

“That’s fantastic, Y/N. Always so efficient and meticulous. There’s really no need to be sorry! As humans, we are bound to make mistakes. What’s important is how we fix them and how learn from them. Thank you for your hard work, Y/N. You’ve done a good job.”

You turned your gaze downwards, slightly shy due to his kind words. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” You replied softly.

“And who is this young man, Y/N? Are you getting him to do all your dirty work? I saw him carrying the box earlier. It is heavy, though, if I do say so myself.” The professor extended his hand in a handshake, to which Bambam responded with a bright smile on his face.

“My name’s Bambam, sir. I’m doing your unit too, and Y/N is my tutor.”

The professor’s eyebrows quirked up in interest. “Oh? Is this something I should be worried about?”

“Sir, what does that mean?” You asked hurriedly.

He laughed boisterously in response, his half-moon glasses nearly falling off the tip of his nose as he did so. “I’m just joking, you two. Tell me, Bambam, how is it like being tutored by your girlfriend?”

“What-” You shrieked.

Bambam denied hastily. “Girlfriend? She’s not-”

“Sir, this is a misunderstanding, he’s not-” The two of you were gesturing and shaking your heads in unison, denying the professor’s words profusely.

“Ah, young love.” The professor readjusted his glasses as a knowing smile graced his lips. “Listen, son, I’ve known this young lady for two years now and I can assure you that she’s one of the good ones. Treat her well, she’s hard to find and hard to keep.”

Bambam flushed pink at his words. “You can say that again, sir.” His eyes met yours as he flashed you a bashful smile. Little did the professor know that he had been chasing you for the past six years, since the first day of high school.

(And little did you know that, indeed, opposites do attract. Seems like the blonde boy had a soft side that he kept hidden under that goofy exterior of his.)

(Of course, a few months down the road and a dozen coffee dates later, he would ask you to be his girlfriend.)

(And you agreed.)

[where2next]

How to Save Up Money for Travel

One of the biggest obstacles keeping people from traveling to their dream destinations is not having enough money. You can learn plenty of tips to significantly lower the costs, but the reality is that travel is still not a cheap endeavor.  Getting your finances in order is the only solution to reaching that goal of traveling every year. There are some concrete principles which need to be followed in order to put you on the path to your ultimate travel goals. The good news here is that these principles are not specific to only your travel budget but they can be used for every aspect of your life. You will have to put in the work, but you will be reaping the benefits of it for years to come, complete with being able to call yourself a world traveler!

Get started in financial literacy

For any area of life in which you want to make improvements, learning the important information is key.  Here you will find many of the core principles of budgeting and personal finance, but do not stop there. I fully encourage you to explore the wealth of knowledge freely available in blogs, podcasts, and videos. For our purposes, we highlight some of the basic actions to be taken so that you can start saving money for the purposes of travel.

Pay off high interest debt

The very first thing every person should do no matter what their travel goals are is to assess their debt. If you are buried in debt, your priority should not be traveling anyway until you are free from that burden. A good rule of thumb is to make a plan to pay off any debt above 5% interest. If you have any extra money at all after your expenses it should be put towards this debt. Mathematically, you should try to pay off the highest interest debt first because that will save you the most money. However, we are humans and it can be very unmotivating to try to pay off that debt if it is a large number. The most important thing is getting the debt paid off, not necessarily the order, so a popular tool people use is called the snowball method. With this method, you will pay the smallest balance first. For instance if you have $20,000 in student loans, a $2,000 personal loan and $1,000 in credit card debt, you would pay off the credit cards first. Once that debt is paid, whatever you were paying towards it gets added towards the next smallest debt, in this case the personal loan. You repeat that process until you are out of debt. Getting these small wins initially and seeing some results gives you motivation and will make it more likely that you will stick with it until you finally achieve freedom from debt.

Make a personal budget

It is true that “what gets measured gets fixed.”  To find the weak points in your spending habits, you need to first figure out what you are spending your money on. This can be done very easily these days with free budgeting apps like Mint or with more in depth paid software like YNAB. However, if you want to go fully customized, you can just plug your numbers into a spreadsheet on Excel or Google Sheets. Simply take all of the money you earn in a month and subtract all the money you spend in that month and see what is left over. If you have a negative number at the bottom, you have a problem. Budgeting is not glamorous work, but understanding your own habits can be very powerful and honestly quite surprising. When I started budgeting one thing I believed about myself is that I didn’t eat out very often; hardly at all. Well, after 6 months of tracking all of my expenses, I realized that what I usually spent eating out was roughly double what I had initially estimated. I just had a short memory. Once you have your budget you should get a clear picture of where you may be able to cut some expenses and you can choose what is most important to you. One example that always seems to come up in personal finance is getting rid of your morning coffee run to save money. That can be beneficial if you are motivated to do it but what if you really love that morning coffee? The point is your budget will help you prioritize which areas of your spending are more important to you. To continue with my own example, once I saw what I was spending on eating out I still wasn’t really motivated to change anything AT FIRST. However, things took a drastic turn once I started putting savings into my budget for travel. Afterwards when I would think about stopping to get some Chipotle I would ask myself, “Would I rather get Chipotle right now, or would I rather eat at home and go to Peru this year?” Sometimes I would still get the Chipotle but overwhelmingly I started choosing my travel goals and spent almost nothing on eating out. Putting my goals in the budget made them very real and motivating for me.

 Make a budget for your trip

Now that you have your monthly budget, you have to figure out what your savings goal will be in order to take your trip. This takes a lot of planning, but it can be a very rewarding process. Not only will you know how much money you need to reach your goal and how long that should take, but you will get to experience the trip twice: once while in the planning phase, and then again when you actually go there. Discovering the famous attractions and lesser known areas of a new destination can be very exciting and can help you keep your focus on why you are doing this. Find out what things you most want to do and then search for the deals around them for lodging and transportation. Add up all of those costs plus a little more for unforeseen expenses and you will have a number to set your goal. After that, it is just a matter of discipline and patience until you have saved enough and you can be on your trip!

Have an accountability partner

Anything that requires discipline and willpower is an easier process when you don’t have to do it alone. Have a friend or family member keep you accountable for sticking to your budget. If you plan to travel with friends, you can keep each other accountable and with this shared goal, it is much easier to stick to it until the end. Make sure you check in with each other at least once a week and you must be honest with each other. This is the only way you will learn and grow from mistakes made.

Ways to cut spending

One of the quickest ways to realize your financial goals is to cut any unnecessary spending. Once you start doing this, you will naturally start to prioritize what things are more important to you and what things you truly do not miss. Here are some common ways to cut spending:

Eating Out - Eating out can be an expensive hobby. It is also easy to fall into both from a social standpoint (all of your friends are going out) and from an energy standpoint (I don’t feel like cooking today). The thing is, this is simply not a necessity. Not only is cooking at home healthier for you, but it is going to save you a lot of money and helps you learn a valuable skill. If you are very busy and can’t cook all the time, buying ready-to-go meals at the grocery store is still cheaper than eating out.

Alcohol - This is another category that is not a necessity. Cutting out alcohol can also increase your health as well as your savings. Some people may want to cut it completely for the savings but even if you don’t want to cut it completely, budget to buy some alcohol for home. Don’t go to a bar where you will be paying for expensive drinks.

Coffee - Many people love their coffee. Still, if you want to save, consider making coffee at home rather than going to Starbucks or your local coffee shop. You will be spending pennies on the dollar.

Going to the movies - Going to the movies can be exciting, but more and more technology is letting us have just as good of an experience at home. Not to mention movie theater concessions have a ridiculously high mark up. Opt to make popcorn at home and enjoy a movie in the comfort of your own living room.

Going shopping - Most of us in the U.S. have more clothes than we need. In fact, many people have clothing hanging in their closets that has never been worn. Unless you absolutely need something like a new dress or new pants for a job interview, stop shopping retail.

Negotiating utilities and phone bills - Most people either don’t know or get complacent, but you can negotiate your bills! You should regularly be on the lookout for sales and promotions from your phone company, internet and tv providers, insurance providers, and more. Another good tactic is to switch providers of these services every so often because they will usually give some sort of discount to new customers. This is a great way to lower those bills that you pay every single month.

Ways to increase income and savings

Though this one can be harder to execute, it can also be the most effective. The easiest way to be able to save more money is simply by having more money in the first place. This is obviously much easier said than done but there are a few ways in which you can grow your dollars:

Ask for a raise - One of the quickest ways to get more money is to simply ask for it. Now this must be preceded by good work on your part, but many people could get at least a small pay bump just by asking for it. There are many helpful resources online on how to properly and effectively ask for a raise. If you get one, all of that money that you didn’t have before could be put toward your travel savings.

Avoid lifestyle inflation - Anytime that people do get a raise or get some unexpected income, they tend to adjust their habits to that new income level. However, if you are able to live just fine at your current income, then anything that you make on top of that should be put towards your savings. Do not succumb to lifestyle inflation just because it is easy. You know you can live on less. Do it and reap the benefits of more travel!

Start a side hustle - If you cannot get a raise or have already gotten one but still need more income, you can start something of your own to make money. If you enjoy woodworking, you can make furniture and knick knacks to sell. If you enjoy photography you can advertise to do pictures for people. If you don’t have a very flexible schedule but you have a car, drive Uber when you can. If you work hourly, see where you might be able to pick up an extra shift or two. There is technically no limit to what you can make into a side hustle. It is simply something that you do apart from your primary job that people will pay you for.

Save your tax return for your travel - When it comes time for you to receive your tax returns, plan to put it towards your next trip. If you have a good budget, your tax return isn’t needed in order to live anyway. Depending on the size of your tax return, that right there could fully fund your next adventure!

Open a high yield savings account - A quick and easy way to help your nest egg grow just a little faster is to put it in a high yield savings account. Most banks offer savings accounts that give less than a tenth of a percentage in interest. However, there are several online savings accounts like Ally Bank and CIT Bank that offer much higher interest rates up to 2%. This by no means will make you rich, but it is a good way to have the value of your money keep up with inflation.

Bottom Line

There are always ways to save up for the travel that you want to do. Once you understand how much your trip will cost, how much money you make each month, and how much money you spend each month, you can figure out exactly what you can save for your travel and how long it will take you. With a combination of increasing your income and slashing your spending, you will see positive results and before you know it, you will be on an airplane to your dream destination. Get out there and explore!

[alexanderlightweight]

Quality Company

ao3 link

Magnus sat at a table in a small tea shop; brick walls and hand carved wooden shelves decorated with a thriving botanical environment, all plants that undoubtedly moonlighted as potion ingredients.  

It was a hidden place.  Tiny and well known by only a select community and thankfully, it had yet to be discovered by either social media or many mundanes.  The owner was a Seelie and Magnus had carefully warded a nearby alley himself. Creating an area for discrete portal travel which made it all the more accessible to those with magic.  

Magnus also suspected that certain types of Seelie magic were at play in the shop, seducing in customers while still encouraging their discretion.  

As it was, Magnus wasn’t about to complain, no matter what kind of magic might be involved.  Less tourists and mundanes meant a more enjoyable time for himself. It wasn’t a place many would look for him and so he could sit and drink tea to his heart's content.  Far away and free from the responsibilities of the shadowworld and the long list of problems he was constantly having to fix. 

As it was, times had been harrowing of late; what with more and more Circle members starting to regain their confidence and creep out of the woodwork.  

Magnus still felt it was a crime that the Clave hadn’t hunted each and everyone of them down.  

Barring that, many a downworlder had volunteered for the task of tracking down and disposing of Circle members, however the Clave had denied them.   They had cited that overeager downworlders may take the opportunity to strike down respectable, law-abiding shadowhunters instead of just Circle members.  Which was apparently out of the question.

Magnus had scoffed at that.  If Valentine hadn’t stolen the mortal cup his little terrorist group would have never been truly exiled.  It wasn’t until the shadowhunters themselves had suffered that the Clave even thought of the Circle as criminals.  If anything, Magnus knew that there had been many among the Clave who considered Valentine and his lackeys a type of shadowworld vigilante group.  

The bell to the shop chimed and Magnus huffed out a breath, determined not to let his mood be ruined by such dark thoughts.  

A man entered, tall and dark haired and while his stride was strong, his stance was unassuming.  Magnus noticed how he didn’t tower over the other customers in line. He took the chance to admire the breadth of his shoulders and allowed himself a small smile of appreciation when the man took a few steps back, getting out of the way rather than demanding way be made for him.  

Magnus caught himself and scowled, oh he was really scraping the bottom of the barrel if he was admiring the bare minimum of common courtesy.   

Truly, times were hard.

Determined to ignore the damper his own mind was putting on him, he focused instead on his tea, the light notes of citrus and the soothing burn of ginger.  

It was as he was leaving that he heard a gust of air and the heralding sizzle of fire message, he reached back to grab the message and found his fingers brushing skin.  Magnus turned, surprised that the man from the shop was there, holding the fire message in one hand and offering it to him with slightly pink cheeks. In his other hand was a togo cup and he shuffled nervously, a finger tapping at the lid.

“Sorry,” he said and his voice made Magnus sway just closer to hear it a little better.  “I didn’t even think about who it was for, I just caught it.” 

“A common mistake.”  Magnus promised, even though it wasn’t.  He paused, wanting to continue the conversation but also still in the process of recalibrating his brain.  This very tall, very gorgeous man was either not a mundane, or had the sight. Either way, he was someone who knew of the shadowworld and Magnus would take it as a sign, for now.

“I’m Magnus,” he said and took the paper, fingers purposefully brushing against the other’s as he did.  “May I know the name of who I’m thanking?”

“A-Alec.”

“Well,” and Magnus wasn’t necessarily a gambling man but he did love a risk, “Alexander.  Thank you.”

Alec shivered under his words, staring at Magnus through very long lashes and Magnus suddenly didn’t care that he’d had plans or places to be.

“I haven’t seen you here before,” Magnus said, hoping Alec would take the opening.

“Oh, I don’t normally stay long.  Just drop in to pick something up, it’s a nice change from coffee and the walk here clears my head.”

“Tea is quite magical.”  Magnus agreed and winked as he did so, earning a wider grin.  “I don’t want to keep you if you’re on your way, but could I tempt you to a dinner invite?”  At his words Alec’s smile disappeared and he looked puzzled and Magnus internally winced, perhaps that had been a little too strong for such a quick meeting.  “It’s not often I meet someone with similar tastes and well, I appreciate quality company.”

It wasn’t until he’d spoke that he realized the pun and Magnus bit his tongue, internally despairing of this ever going anywhere now.  It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy a good pun, he just normally waited to get to know someone before throwing them at them, especially someone like Alec, who he would like to get to know better.

But Alec, Alec laughed .

It was a low laugh, delicious for the fact that Magnus could practically feel how rare of an utterance it was.  Alec laughed as though he were surprised by it, his cheeks bunching with the stretch of his humour and his eyes grew shiny with mirth.  

“That sounds fun.”  He finally said when he’d caught his breath and Magnus was mesmerized by the lingering joy on his features, “I’d like that.  A lot.”

-

Magnus walked through his loft, fingers gliding in a silent tempo as he paced.  It had been decades since the last time he’d felt this nervous, but his heart was aflutter and he knew his own tells.  He’d been perfectly content with his outfit, after all he wasn’t one to second guess his own fashion, but he’d changed his earcuff at least half a dozen times and while he was now happy with the silver dragon climbing his ear, he still had quite a few minutes before Alec arrived.

As if delighting to prove him wrong, a knock sounded on the door and Magnus hastened to it, flinging it open a tad dramatically but it was worth it, to be able to see Alec’s soft smile and hopeful gaze on the other side.  Magnus hadn’t even realized how disappointed he would have been if it had been someone else until utter relief flooded him. 

“Hi,” Alec said and then he shifted, hands bunching together as if he didn’t know what to do with them, “sorry I’m early.”

“I don’t mind.”  Magnus stepped back, allowing Alec to enter.  He was wondering just how desperate he would seem if he suggested canceling their dinner plans for a casual night in, when his wards echoed around him.  They always did that, offering an imprint so to speak, of whatever guest arrived but this threw him and he nearly stopped breathing for a moment.  

“-agnus, Magnus?”  Finally broke through his thoughts and he opened his eyes from where he’d close them to stare into Alec’s worried ones.  “You okay?”  

“I’m fine.”  

Magnus didn’t know how he’d missed it.  True, Alec had been wearing a higher collar at the teashop but here, now that he looked for it, the rune that creeped up Alec’s neck was obvious.  It relieved him, that Alec had never intended on hiding that he was a shadowhunter, but it also made him curse himself for not being more aware.

“Is something wrong?”  Alec asked and Magnus paused in his immediate instinct to reassure.  

“Give me a moment?”  He asked instead and walked into his apothecary, not closing the door but moving so that it shielded him enough to take several deep breaths.  Alec was still the same man he’d been nearly instantly smitten with. The fact that he was a shadowhunter certainly wasn’t a dealbreaker. Magnus would still have asked him out, whether or not he’d realized it on their first meeting.  It just… it was a small shock. To have spent all this time wondering what Alec was and to never have even considered that he might be of nephilim heritage.  

What didn’t change, was that Magnus wanted to get to know Alec better and considering that Alec was currently in his loft, early by at least a half an hour for a date, Alec wanted to know him as well. 

“Sorry about that, had to gather a few things.”  Magnus said as he rejoined him, leaving out that what he’d gathered were his thoughts.  

Alec gave a soft, hesitant smile.  Gentler still than even his earlier one of delight, “should I come back, later I mean?  I am here early.”

“Don’t you dare,” Magnus said and reached out unthinkingly, his hand stopping just a breadth away from Alec’s arm.  Magnus didn’t mean to be hesitant but shadowhunters were, well they were not a soft culture and Alec had already shown himself to be very reserved in some ways.  

Alec rolled his shoulders, the motion flexing his muscles and it pushed his arm up and into Magnus’ grasp, “I’m not going anywhere then.”  

“I’m glad,” was all Magnus could say, his voice drifting as his hand reflexively squeezed Alec’s arm in appreciation.  “So, dinner? You’re still hungry?  I know the perfect little tea shop we can go to for dessert.”

“Starving,” Alec said and it sounded more like a promise than a state of being and Magnus smiled, an equally soft smile to match the one on Alec’s face.  

“Honesty, I like that.” 

Alec's laughter was just as precious as it was the first time Magnus had made a pun but this time, Magnus grinned and joined him.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DEGREE

On one hand, entrenched protocols are impossible to replace. Explain that clearly to investors. And I'm pretty sure the answer is to offer more general, underlying stuff, and none of them closed the deal. The archaeological work being mostly done, it implied that the people who produce shows. Intellectually, it is stuffing a square peg into a round hole to try to do it. The texts that filtered into Europe were all corrupted to some degree by the errors of translators and copyists. They're all competing for a slice of a fixed amount of deal flow, by encouraging hackers who would have gotten jobs to start their own startups and those working for large organizations, and the best thing they can do is jump in immediately. A woodworker creates wealth.

But these scale differently, just as newspapers that put their stories online still seem to wish people would watch shows on TV instead, just as low notes travel through walls better than high ones. Are you still in NYC? He now runs a hedge fund, a not unrelated enterprise. The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through. In the early era, philology actually mattered. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new. This essay is derived from a talk at the 2006 Startup School. People would order it because of the slow sales cycle.

Actors don't face that temptation except in the rare cases where they've written the script, but any speaker does. I've been helping to increase economic inequality. They're very capital efficient. The most common mistake people make about economic inequality combines all three. GMail has become painfully slow. You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don't think you're weird, you're living badly. Experience suggests b is a thousand times more likely.

He didn't learn as much as he expected. A lot of people aren't sure what's the top idea in your mind. We certainly manage that. And anything you come across that surprises you, who've thought about the topic a lot, and you can't do that without preventing them from starting startups. They thought they'd be able to say what the most important quality is in a startup founder is determination. PG, Thanks for the intro! They have to, or die. The reason we have high level languages is because people can't deal with machine language. But lose even a little bit of debris blown about by powerful winds. For illustrative purposes I've left the abandoned branch as a footnote. Humans were not designed to eat are a few Birkenstock-wearing weirdos of Berkeley: though a tiny minority of the population, they're the ones I have to choose between something that's cheap, heavily marketed, and appealing in the long term, which do you think most will choose?

Richard Feynman used to amuse himself by breaking into safes during the Manhattan Project. The computer would be just as much of a problem that your water was getting turned off. It may turn out that this whole battleground gets bypassed. And so ten years ago, writing software pretty much meant writing software in general, it has to be ready. Airbed team-Are you still in NYC? The most naive version of which is the one based on the pie fallacy is actually true. It was an artifact of limitations imposed by old technology. The venture business in its present form is only about forty years old.

[mideasthomeservicesreviewguide]

Original post on our site with additional information, plans, questions & comments: https://ift.tt/WHEN05 The Wood Whisperer is education and entertainment for the modern woodworker! Find more at https://ift.tt/1hv5FGq & don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=thewoodwhisperer Connect with us! Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/woodwhisperer Like us on Facebook https://ift.tt/1hv5FGr Pin us on Pinterest https://ift.tt/1dz2jDe Learn more about our premium project videos at https://ift.tt/1hv5FGt Whether we like to admit it or not, mistakes will happen. Knowing how to repair them may make the difference between a nerve-wracking build and a relaxed one. So in this demo (recorded live), I'll show you some of the most common mistakes and errors I encounter and the various ways I like to fix them. What You'll Need CA Glue - Cyanoacrylate is a quick-drying adhesive that makes it easy to re-attach small bits of wood. Used with a quick-set activator, it's an incredibly ally in the battle of repairs. https://ift.tt/1rIz6r3 Wood Filler - While many folks poo poo wood filler, there are just some flaws that call for the stuff. Getting the right color is the key and knowing a few tricks to give the appearance of real wood is also a big help. The stuff I like to use is Timbermate Wood Filler. https://ift.tt/1qGgLyK Clothes Iron - Sometimes the best solution is a little heat and moisture. A household iron will help us steam out dents and scratches. https://ift.tt/1rIz8PK Repairing Tearout With Filler In some cases, a gnarly bit of tearout is best repaired with filler. A good quality filler that won't shrink and accepts stain will give you the best chance of a good match. Since fillers are typically colored to match the primary background color of the wood, it can sometimes help to use a colored pencil to draw in the missing wood grain. Though I only resort to that for large/obvious repairs where the missing grain would be an eyesore. Misplaced Mortise A mortise is nothing more than a big hole, so filling it with wood is usually the best and most reliable fix. Be sure to orient the grain so that the repair is in line with the grain of the workpiece. This provides the best visual match and in many cases makes the repair all but invisible. Cut the repair piece a little bit longer than the size of the hole and use sandpaper to create a slight taper at each end. This ensures a nice tight fit at each end where the repair is likely to be most visible. Repairing Chipout with Recovered Piece On occasion, fortune smiles upon you and a chipped out piece of wood is recovered. This is a good thing since the piece will most likely nest right back into position without any visible gaps. So all you need to do is use a little CA glue and re-attach the piece. Once the glue cures, sand the area thoroughly and you should have a nearly flawless fix. Repairing Chipout with a Patch When you can't find the chipped out piece (or it has been disintegrated by the Woodworking Gods) and you don't want to use filler, a patch is often the most appropriate course of action. Since chipout/tearout is never a pretty sight, you'll need to work the affected area with a plan or chisel to create a flat area for the repair. This is one case where you actually need to make the flaw bigger for the greater good. Once a nice flat area is established, simply glue in a small scrap of wood using CA glue. Plane, saw, scrape, or chisel away the excess stock and sand smooth. Steaming Dents & Scratches Blunt force trauma is a common occurrence in the wood shop. Whether you drop a workpiece on the floor or something drops onto the workpiece, you'll often be confronted with dents that are too deep to just sand away. Fortunately, dents are nothing more than aggressively compressed fibers. Since wood fibers expand with moisture, we can steam the dents using a wet towel and a household clothes iron. With a few seconds of treatment, the wood fibers expand to fill the dented areas. Of course this will only work on shallow dents but it can still be used to lessen the impact of deeper dents. The same theory applies to scratches in solid wood and plywood. Learn More About Fixing Common Woodworking Mistakes Here: https://youtu.be/k-TWPlUI2jM

[vspirit8]

Figure skating: Bunch of thoughts based on recent comments I came across

Warning: Long post ahead (apologies to those who are scrolling through on your mobile devices) 

I came across a comment that praised Chen for his mental strength, which isn't wrong, because the kid does have it in spades, but then they also go on to say that Hanyu's is weak because he lets things affect him too much. Which isn't technically wrong per se but....

...seeing their performances during their short program at the Olys side by side and their individual circumstances coming into it, I find it hard to make sense of this claim. I see the point that they are trying to make but I think they may have mental strength and mental fortitude mixed up and they also have a very one dimensional, or perhaps, selective view of what mental strength is. 

Chen is mentally strong in some ways, not in others. Meaning he's strong in coming back quickly from disappointment, but he can't hold it together during the moment of truth where the stakes are at their highest and the competition its strongest, and only seems to be able to perform at his best when he doesn’t have as much pressure or is relieved of it. Hanyu, on the other hand, has proven time and again he can perform very well under extreme pressure, despite his lack of mental fortitude at other times. Chen, like a lot of other skaters, so far seems to implode at the first sign of disaster during his performance, while Hanyu and even to some degree Uno, are able to leave their mistakes right where they made them and focus on delivering what's left of their performances as best as they could most of the time. I say most of the time because there were times when they did implode almost all the way through. But when they did, it wasn’t because they lost focus due to mistakes. It was due to other reasons that they weren’t able to save the rest of their performance (e.g.: rhythm loss due to tech change or bad mentalscape right from the get-go).

Both Chen’s and Hanyu’s strengths and weaknesses are trade-offs of one another and results have shown that Hanyu's less common brand of mental strength (Chen's type is more commonly found) and, uh, acute sense of competitiveness, is the more effective one in getting the exact final result one truly wants.

Uno also has an enviable and less common sort of mental strength that sees him with less of a tendency to get affected by outside influences, something that is especially handy to have as an athletic competitor (and something that Hanyu most definitely doesn't have despite everything else he does have--Medvedeva, however, has it in spades), but the guy himself has acknowledged that what he has is different from what Hanyu has. He can block out pressure by being so immersed in his own little world he remains unaffected, but he also mentions that, had he had to suffer the same kind of pressure and attention Hanyu has been shouldering for years and expected to deliver results on top of it all (this is also something Medvedeva also seems to be able to do) then he's pretty sure he'd be out of the race pretty quick. Say what you want about the kid's jumps and sleepy attitude, but like every elite athlete, the guy knows himself, because he is right and has proven that he does buckle under pressure when Hanyu isnt around to shoulder most of it like he was originally supposed to (JNats ‘16, GPF '17, JNats ‘17 & WC '18#). And while mental strength is good and all, I think the real secret behind these athletes' success is knowing exactly what both their strengths and weaknesses are.

Since I'm talking about mental strength though, I wouldn't undermine Hanyu's one. He may not be able to block out noise as effectively as others nor can he effectively shut off his brain when skating (he only managed it like, what, once?) plus he may take defeat harder than most others (though not in the sour grapes sort of way but more in a self-punishing way), but when he comes back, he does it swinging three times as hard. Possibly harder. In fact, he swings back so hard, it’s more than enough to make all the difference for him to win it all at the end of the day. So if anything, I'd be afraid of it. And would never underestimate it. Not as a viewer, and especially not if I'm a competitor.

There was also talk that if Chen and Hanyu were to both skate clean under the new rules and scores, Chen would likely come up on top due to the trend of judge's scoring so far this season. To a certain degree, I actually agree. It's entirely possible that a clean Chen with all guns blazing can beat a clean Hanyu who doesn't put out ammo to match because that's how the game is played. This was how Hanyu himself had gotten ahead of past rivals who had been ahead of him. Chen may not have beaten his record that he achieved with less quads but that was also during the era before Chenflation so if both skaters skate clean and Hanyu breaks his previous record, there is no guarantee that Chen with his bigger guns won't get even more simply because judges are compelled to score him as such. From what I observed, scores are relative and aren't given according to what's actually put out (or not put out) on the ice. Miyahara's scoring at SkAm is the latest perfect example of this (higher tech score and lower PCS than she truly deserves). Far from being ashamed and apologetic about it, though, they are making it more obvious, as if they are showing the world what they are really about and there's nothing anyone can do about it. And they'd be right. 

Everything is upside down and inside out when it comes to figure skating, and it's not even at random, so let's not delude ourselves that ISU and the sport they govern over will suddenly become the epitome of clean. Nothing that depends on judging ever is. Hanyu certainly hasn't deluded himself and that is a huge part of why he is able to win--or almost win--the biggest comps, season after season. Strategy based on information you gathered on the environment is key. You don't whine about it. You play their game according to their rules and if you're able to outsmart them (and get this, they're really not all that intelligent), you win. Zagitova did just that last season.* Easily. Not that what she did was easy, quite the opposite, but her strategy, although not easy to pull off, was an excessively simple one. If Tutberidze was testing out a theory with Medvedeva and Zagitova, she was proven right. 

Hanyu himself knows this. Which is why he had the 4lo, his biggest weapon at that point that Chen doesn't properly have himself, ready at hand during the Olys. If Chen had skated his SP clean, he wouldn't have held back on his own ammo, wonky ankle be damned. And if both Hanyu and Chen skated clean with their biggest ammo at hand, based on how judges are forced to judge Hanyu when he's at his very best in the past, I still think the edge would go to Hanyu because when two top competitors are head to head, then it's the little things that count. This is something that Hanyu had accounted for and worked into his winning strategy from Day One, even before all these trigger-happy skaters came out from the woodwork. The guy has what a lot of these shortcut athletes don't: rock solid foundation on both his tech and other performance-based aspects, that judges will be forced to take into consideration when they can't use other things as leverage to justify their scoring.

So, in a scenario where both skaters were to skate clean but only one uses all his ammo, the one with the bigger BV may just win simply because of that. But in a scenario where they both have high BVs with only a slight difference between said BVs, and where both skated perfectly, Hanyu will win not just because he is the better skater. It's because he knows what's inside the judges heads and is able to use it. To me, this, and not his skating skills, is Hanyu's true strength.

*Clearly Chen's and Uno's strategy doesn't work for Zhou, like he was hoping it would. Whining about it won't do much because at this point, it just sounds like he's making excuses for himself for giving judges room to doubt him in the first place, and angry they they chose to doubt him instead of giving him the benefit of it. If he truly wants to get somewhere in this sport, he might want to consider taking a page off Hanyu's and Zagitova's** books instead. It is infinitely harder but you get more control over your results. If he can't pull it off, it's simply because he lacks the ability to and that's no one's fault but his own. I know it sounds harsh but that is the reality of the world and situation he's in. He apparently won't be one of the lucky few who can apply shortcuts and make it work. But if he's able to come back with honest to goodness improvements and gain results in that way, then ultimately, he'll be the luckier one. If he's as wise as he seems to want people to think he is, he should be able to come to this conclusion.

**Admittedly, Zagitova's strategy is slightly different than Hanyu's in that hers also has elements of Uno and Chen's strategy of blinding judges with tech prowess (or so-called tech prowess  in Uno's case, but he seems to have other things to blind the judges with, like nice upper body movements). So Zagitova may not be able to bank on her strategy like she did last season as it was wholly designed to game the last system. Her basics aren't solid enough to enable her control even after a system change/revision but she does have her OGM rep so she may be able to completely cross over to Uno’s and Chen's strategy instead. We'll see.

I mentioned Medvedeva in passing when talking about mental strength because that girl is the epitome of it if I've ever seen one. However, what she doesn't have is a rock solid foundation that sees her with few skating flaws. If she manages to fix at least half of them and get her natural mental strength back into gear, she may just stand a chance against the upcoming lady quadsters, if they still have their quads when they turn senior (and Kihira, if her prowess with the 3A also stands the test of time).

#EDIT: I’ve struck WC18 off the list because it has been brought to my attention that it is not like the others on it. That mistake-ridden performance apparently had less to do with Uno succumbing to pressure and more to do with his injuries and not being in an ideal mindscape to overcome them earlier but was able to snap back into it enough to deliver the last bit of his perf (jumps that he apparently also had trouble with in practices but was able to nail during the performance itself). Having only seen that performance once and not being in the habit of seeing practices and warm-ups of any skaters, I might have been too hasty in my judgment of that particular performance. Thanks to those who corrected me. :)

[jameswaltonwrg]

The ultimate guide to make your wood router sawing experience even better

If you want to make your wood routing sawing experience even better, we've just the guide for you. In this article, we'll take you through some of the most common mistakes that can occur during the process and help you avoid them altogether. So next time you want to get started on your wood routing sawing project, keep these tips in mind!

Tips for Making Your Wood Router Sawing Experience More Enjoyable

Here is what you have been waiting for! My best tips and tricks for making your wood router sawing project easier and smoother than ever before.

1. Check your tools

Before starting any project, always check that your tools are working well. If not, then you may need to spend some time fixing them. You might want to replace worn-out parts of your instrument, especially if they’re sharp. Also, don’t forget about checking the condition of its wheels. Are they still turning? How much maintenance do they require? Make sure everything works properly and no matter how small things seem, take care of them right away.

2. Buy quality materials

It doesn’t matter what material you use when trying to build something; the only thing that matters is whether it’s high-quality saw and sturdy enough for the job. A good rule of thumb is to buy the best material you can afford, rather than cheap ones, to save money. That way, you won’t regret spending more money after discovering that the material was not strong enough to withstand the task.

3. Use a jig

Jigs allow you to create solid work surfaces. Aside from being extremely useful, they also prevent you from wasting valuable space. Jigs will enable you to place pieces of wood together and secure them using clamps or screws.

4. Create a template

Creating templates will help you avoid mistakes when cutting pieces of wood. By doing this, you can ensure that you cut where you intended to. To make a template, draw the shape you want on paper. Then, transfer the drawing onto the board. Finally, trace around the outline. Once you’ve finished tracing it, you should remove the template and carve out the pieces of wood. However, if you’re having trouble carving out a piece of wood, we recommend using a template and practicing beforehand.

5. Apply finishing touches

Finishing touches add beauty and elegance to your home décor. Woodworking projects often involve making several cuts, thus requiring careful attention to detail. Apply stain, paint, varnish, or sealants to give your project a polished look. Don’t worry—you don’t need to hire a professional to finish your project. All you need to do is find the perfect product for the job and follow the instructions correctly.

In conclusion, if you want to make your wood router sawing experience even better, there are a few things you can do. First, make sure you have the right tools and techniques. Second, be patient and practice regularly. Third, experiment with different blade types and angles to find the one that works best for you. Fourth, use quality wood glue to hold the pieces together. Fifth, read the manufacturer's instructions carefully before using the saw.

[looye29]

Are you interested in starting a woodworking workshop? A woodworking business running at a profit is everybody’s dream! What most of us look for is an option to do so with minimum investments to minimize risks. But such ventures are not always successful, and you need somebody who has experience in this field to guide you with much-needed information about market procedures. You must have complete knowledge about things such as tools and their real value. You must know where to get such tools and if they fall within your estimated expenditure. As a woodworker who wanted to start my own shop post my retirement, I initially thought it was a cakewalk to buy tools, get sufficient space, and start the work with the limited means that I had. But when I actually plunged into it, I realized it was never going to be easy. Space and budget are the two main constraints you need to look into with great care and work on. The Ultimate Small Shop, an eBook by Ralph Chapman, was a source of inspiration to me. The book covers almost all the tiny details needed by a woodworker to start his shop. Needless to say, I benefitted tremendously from the book. Here’s a review of how it helps small entrepreneurs. What is The Ultimate Small Shop, and What Does it Offer The Ultimate Small Shop book is a guide for opening up a small woodworking workshop. It narrates in detail all the problems you, as a woodworker, would encounter along the way. You need to pay attention to a variety of factors: Precise tool selection. Proper and sufficient spacing. Layout selection. Ventilation. Cooling and heating. How to correct errors if wrong tools have been used. All of the above have been dealt with in detail in the book. The book offers advice, instructions, strategies, price guides, and other such valuable information. The book comes with many modules describing the various strategies you need to understand when setting up your workshop. Tool Selection: Tool selection is an essential task for you as you may incur a loss of money and work if you use the wrong tools. In one full module, you will get details on the best tools that you need and the ones to avoid. You will understand how to distinguish the tools that you will need for your workshop. A complete shopping list with details of where to buy them is offered in this book, which makes your job easier. Tool Maintenance: The book also provides details of how to keep the tools in working condition for many years, which you should follow before and after work to improve the tools' efficiency. You will also know how and where to get the tools at reasonable discounts to avoid wastage of money. You will find a shopping list of power tools and personal hand tools. According to the book, you can do a great job using hand tools only if your budget does not permit buying a bandsaw or chop saw. Space Selection: Space selection is covered in another module with complete information on selection of space for the workshop. Once you understand this, you can set up your workshop in various areas of your home. The shop layout module will guide you in planning and designing the workshop without much investment in the space available. You must consider proper ventilation, electricity outlet, and many other factors as listed in the book to select the appropriate area. To prepare the shop's layout, you will find instructions, photos, diagrams, and illustrations to guide you along. Shop Maintenance: Common issues such as maintaining clean air even if your shop does not have enough ventilation by fixing the best heaters, storing wood for a long time period, and avoiding dust pollution are also clearly dealt with in the book. Another critical aspect of the workshop is providing electricity, soundproofing, and lighting. You will get easy to understand instructions on these. Safety Aspect: Yet another vital aspect of setting up a workshop is safety. You will find the book offers excellent guidelines on how to prevent severe injuries while working.

A 10-point checklist in the book will help you in organizing and ensuring the safety of the workshop. Bonuses: You will also get additional materials with the book – a Deal Alert Service which is a free lifetime offer from the author. You will get notifications whenever there is a lucrative offer on woodworking tools from suppliers. The Workshop Cheat List is a valuable source of information on the suppliers from whom you can purchase the tools at excellent, discounted prices. Pros Neatly arranged sections with simple narratives An excellent resource for buying tools at good discounts from specific places Handy instructions, advice, strategies, and tips on maintenance Affordable pricing Money-back guarantee that ensures your money is not at risk. You can always apply for a refund. No upsells here Upon payment, you can get access to the book immediately without any waiting period. Cons Available only in an online format, no physical books sent. Video instructions could have added to increase the value of the guide. You cannot only entirely depend on the book for starting your workshop. It would help if you also did your own homework to achieve results. Some feel the author has not provided any proof of past successes to substantiate the author's claims. There is no proof to establish his abilities either. The book comes with hundreds of pages with modules and materials, which will consume much of your time to understand them fully. Final verdict The book shows you how to avoid some common mistakes that may come your way to making a successful woodworking career. He cites improper usage of tools and too much spending on tools as central issues in a woodworker's career. You will come across many fake reviews on tools, but you should know how not to be scammed by them. You will get all the information on starting a workshop with minimum investments. There are plenty of ideas that can be extremely useful to you when you set up your own workshop in a short period. If you start following the program, you can expect to run a profitable business and earn a decent income. You will know exactly what tools to buy, the need for each of those tools, and the places where you can buy them at the best prices. I would rate the book a full 5.0 stars!

[billiousblog]

How to Use a Miter Gauge

A miter gauge is a tool that cuts parallel lines in opposing sides of a picture frame. It is a useful tool for woodworkers who like to cut their pieces with precision and care. A miter gauge is easy to use and is a great addition to a workshop. However, if you are unsure of how to use one, here are some tips to keep in mind. Before starting, always read the instructions.

The most important feature of a miter gauge is its accuracy. Most models are accurate enough to measure a single piece of wood to within 0.1 millimeters, but if you are trying to use a larger piece of wood, you will find that the face is too small. To fix this, you can use a special adapter. You will have to attach wider wood through the holes. While this is a simple procedure, it will still take some time to get an accurate measurement.

To measure an angle, you must use a miter gauge. There are different types of miter gauges. The most common type is the generic type. It is easy to use and comes with precision stops. A mitre gauge with laser-cut teeth will be more accurate and will ensure crisp interlocking connections. You will also need a material stop. The Incra miter gauge will do all of these things. You don't need to worry about making any adjustment to it.

When it comes to adjusting the miter gauge, the most common components are made from steel and aluminum. Although steel offers more strength, it is also heavy and prone to rust. On the other hand, aluminum is lighter and highly resistant to corrosion. Its use is mostly limited to the fence, which is typically made of sectional molding. This type of material provides additional support and is strong enough to prevent bending. Many models come with nylon screws and inserts to adjust the fit of the miter bar. These are often expensive to replace, so it is important to be careful in selecting your model.

Discover the best Miter Gauge and pick up a great bargain this year with https://billious.com/best-miter-gauges/.

When choosing a miter gauge, it is important to consider the materials used. Most of the components are made of steel or aluminum. Metal is heavy and prone to rust, but it is also much lighter than aluminum. It is also more resistant to corrosive materials. While these metals may be used to make a miter gauge, they are usually made of the same material. If you want to get the right fit, make sure to select the correct material.

Incra's miter gauges have extra-long wood facings. This adds more stability to the board and is a good tool for home reno projects. It is designed to be used with a pair of handsaws or a power drill. It is also important to consider the material of the project. Generally, a wood gauge should be durable. It should withstand the force of a woodworking screw.

The face of a miter gauge is too small to hold a large piece of wood. A high-quality miter gauge should be able to accommodate the width of a large piece of wood. The face should be the same length and width as the board's thickness. It should not be too wide for the wood to be trimmed. A sacrificial board should be attached to the miter gauge with a wooden screw.

An aftermarket miter gauge is a great choice for beginners and those looking to improve their skills. It is a great way to make accurate cuts and avoid mistakes. The best miter gauges are also made to prevent accidental collisions. In addition, the tool has a locking mechanism. If you do not have a locking mechanism, you can try a different one. You should also consider how to use a new one.

The handles of a miter gauge are usually made of wood. They should match the dimensions of the table saw. Some miter gauges are designed for a table saw with an extra-long face. They are very useful for a home reno project. Most have matching holes. A high-quality miter gauge will have an extra-long wood facing for more accurate cuts. You should also check the specifications of the saw.

[orihara-infobroker]

The thing I love about this Ask is that the person genuinely cares about not dehumanizing gay men through fiction. I appreciate that and I think that if you are considering how your portrayal of these relationships actually affects the type of people they are based off, that you’re already looking in the right direction.

It’s such a loaded topic and the definition of ‘fetishizing’ seems to shift when it enters fandom discourse. Which I find entirely unsurprising as I notice fandom discourse seems to like to entirely alter the meaning of things on a regular basis.

Functionally, fetishizing a person (or people) is dehumanizing them. Reducing their existence to the essence of the sexual pleasure they give you, whether directly or through voyeuristic methods.

Now this isn’t entirely bad - the context of how it is being done is very important. Porn in all its forms (audio, movies, erotic stories etc) tends to very often be fetishization on some level because it’s entire purpose is to titillate the consumer. But when we engage in the consumption of porn, we are acknowledging that these stories are fantasies created for us and not reflections of real world people or relationships. (Oh god I hope we are. Please, children who may be reading my Tumblr, don’t assume that porn is at all realistic. It definitely is not.)

Fanfiction that takes two male characters and smooshed them together for the sake of horny is fetishizing but that doesn’t necessarily make it problematic. Unless you find all porn problematic and that’s an entirely different conversation. We can talk about potentially problematic tropes that can be found within these kinds of fic but overall, writing this type of story itself isn’t problematic.

Where fanfiction often runs into the issue of problematic fetishization tends to be in the stories that aren’t explicitly smutty stories. Stories where the characters are meant to be reflective of real people, fleshed out, 3 dimensional people in (semi) realistic relationships. 

From what I’ve seen, the most common reason this kind of fetishization happens is that these relationships are being written from the perspective of someone who has no experience with these types of relationships. Whether it’s because they’re young and inexperienced, or haven’t done their research, or other reasons, these stories often play off harmful stereotypes because that’s all these writers know. That’s not a sin in and of itself and something that can be corrected over time. I’m always going to push any writer to do some research before they write (or while they write). It’s okay to make mistakes as long as you are willing to fix them. (And let’s be honest, 12 year old you probably knew nothing about real relationships - gay or straight - when you first started writing fanfic about them.)

Where I find the most problematic fetishization comes from runs parallel to yaoi. It is when people who are not gay (and primarily tend to be cishet women) write gay stories that mimics heteronormative relationships. Further, these stories very often (though not always) have heavy rape overtones. I’ve seen many fanfictions that follow this yaoi storytelling style and they tend to be the ones that make me feel very uncomfortable about how the gay couple are being presented. The stereotypes and tropes are used heavy-handedly and with clockwork predictability. And they are definitely tropes that tend to reduce the gay men to objects instead of real multi-faceted characters.

Now, objectively, not all BL or yaoi do this and I think the genre is evolving away from this type of storytelling but its legacy is still there.

Now I know that a bunch of fujoshis come crawling out of the woodwork to defend their feminist thesis on how yaoi as a genre allows women to explore heteronormative relationships safely through gay pairings because there is no power imbalance between two males like there tends to be between a male and a female. To which I say your argument is weak and fallacious because these stories build the power imbalance into the gay relationship. The inevitable designation of “seme” and “uke” as power roles. The inevitable scenario where the seme forces his advances on the uke. The inevitable characterization of the seme being manly and powerful and muscly and -insert male dominant traits here - while the uke is undoubtedly feminine and soft and shy and -insert feminine traits here. These stories are projection. Acknowledge them for what they are and do not argue that you are not fetishizing gay men by doing this because you very much are. That you are using this medium to work through your own issues doesn’t change that fact. Further, the thing about writing is that if you truly want to remove the power imbalance inherent in m/f relationships, you can do so without changing anyone’s genders. That’s the amazing part of writing your own stories. You don’t have to push hetero relationship characteristics onto gay men to do it. Just write your hetero relationship without the baggage of shitty patriarchal power imablances. 

I’m not the kind of person to tell others what they should or shouldn’t write. I’m an adult who is highly skilled at curating my own experiences. But I do feel that if writing and publishing those stories is harmful to a section of people, that it is important to consider the effect that you are having. Propagating bad stereotypes of gay relationships has consequences. 

First of all, you are alienating that community of people. And let’s be honest, they are already pretty alienated by mainstream media. Many of them come to fanfiction because mainstream media gives them no representation of who they are, of their lived experiences, of their relationships. When you create stories that focus on gay relationships but you write them in a way that is dehumanizing, you are literally continuing the cycle of bad/no representation and forcing them out of fandom. Because let’s be honest, when you’ve clicked on your twentieth fic only to discover that it has once again turned people like you into a bad stereotype, you’re probably just going to walk away. 

Secondly, by constantly propagating negative or inaccurate stereotypes of gays and gay relationships, you are continuing to do harm to this already struggling community. Which dehumanizes them in an entirely different and arguably worse way than writing a little porn. 

Fanfiction, just like published fiction, is art and it contributes to who and what we are as a society, as a culture, as a race. The stories we write, whether we write them for fun, for horny, for emotional exploration and self therapy, the moment we release them into the larger world for other people to consume, we are contributing to the giant mess of what makes humans distinct. My personal take on what I choose to write comes from what I want to see in the world or what I think we need to examine about our world. Our stories are our voices and they have power. I don’t ever want to use that power to dehumanize other people or to make them feel dehumanized. 

God, this has been eating me inside for years. When are we fetishizing gay characters / couples? Almost 90% of the fanfiction out there have gay couples, is that a way of fetishizing? I have heard that a gay couple begins to be fetishized when you stop concentrating on the story and go only to focus on them as gay or the NSFW part. So is porn without plot a way to fetishize them? Or is it fetishized when stereotypes are used? Or is it fetishizing only when written by a cis heterosexual White woman? Or when it's all you read/write? Is it not considered ferichization if it is written by a gay man, no matter how stereotyped or homophobic it may be? Is the fact that we read a story just because the characters are a non-heterosexual couple a form of fetishization? This fetishization only exists if you are a cisgender heterosexual woman? And if you are lesbian, bi, pan, gay or not cis then it stops being fetishization? I'm not trying to be rude, really, but sometimes I read terribly offensive things in fanfiction about queer couples (especially mlm) and the authors take the responsibility off of them by using the argument of "Oh no, I'm bi so I can say it "or "I'm a lesbian so it's okay for me to say it, you can't blame me, I'm can't fetishize my own community" and it's really annoying. So where do we draw the line between fetishizing a queer couple and simply writing or reading a fanfic with queer couples or characters? If all or most of the ship fanfictions I read / write are about gay couples (say 70% mlm, 10% straight, 15% wlw, 5% other) does that mean I'm fetishizing them? Thank you for your answer <3

(Sorry for my English, it's not my first language so I translated this as I could <3)

I'm going to preface my answer by saying that I'm not a gay man, and I would strongly encourage you to also do research outside of tumblr and outside of fandom to learn what fetishization is and how it impacts that community. All I can give you here is my own opinion and access to the opinions of others.

I think a good first step when you're looking at this question is figuring out what fetishizing is. A simple definition is having a sexual fascination with things that are not inherently sexual. In this case, a fascination with gay men. Gay men exist in the world in all sorts of contexts that have nothing to do with sex, and reducing them to stereotypes and focusing on their bodies and their sexual preferences/habits would be an example of fetishization.

Stories with gay sex in them aren't inherently fetishistic. PWP about gay men isn't, either. You can write the nastiest, porniest, smuttiest sex that anyone has ever read about two gay men and it isn't necessary fetishizing them. And there isn't a simple test that you can give to a text to figure out whether it is or not.

No matter who the author is and what their identity might be, you as the reader are the one who determines how you feel about a piece. Something that I find objectionable you might find totally fine- and vice versa. Our opinions are formed by our experiences and like the meme says, our experiences are not universal.

Cis, het, white women can write deep and moving and well-rounded gay male characters. Gay men can fetishize themselves. People are capable of a multitude of things, no matter what their gender or sexual orientation is.

A lot of porn is just fantasy with no attempt to be realistic, and that's fine too. At any point, a reader can decide they don't like a story for whatever reason - fetishizing, stereotyping, offensive content - and they don't need to have a justification for it.  

It doesn't matter who is writing the story, especially since most of the time you'll have no idea. If you like it, then enjoy. If it offends you, then nope out. If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't need to keep reading. But know that the lines you draw might be different from the lines other people draw, and that's okay too.

As for whether you are fetishizing characters? You'll have to decide for yourself. I don't think simply having a preference for reading fic about gay characters is fetishizing, myself, but the answer is as complicated as the question you ask. Do some research into the topic. Learn more about it. Reflect on yourself, your own beliefs, and your behaviours. That's the best way to answer your question.

And above all, no matter what kind of stories you like to read and what kind of porn you like to get off to, it's how you treat people in the real world that's important.

[hdcontractor]

Joiners' cultures and differences

Traditional joinery culture

Many traditional wood joinery techniques depend on wood's unique material properties rather than mechanical fasteners or adhesives. Wood joinery techniques have been particularly well-documented and are celebrated in every community where pieces of wood are joined together to create furniture or structures. We know that complex joints were used in furniture from the first few dynasties, in most countries.

Hundreds of joins exist, particularly in the Asian region.The explanation for this was that the nails and glues used in much of Central and Southeast Asia did not hold up well to the greatly fluctuating temperatures and humid weather conditions. Furthermore, traditional Chinese furniture made of highly resinous woods does not glue well.

Material used by woodwork joinery

The most common used material in the modern world is nails and screws because they hold every piece of wood tidily and tide. When both surfaces of the joint are edge grain, glue works exceptionally well. A well-glued joint may be as solid as or more than a single piece of wood. Glue, on the other hand, is significantly less efficient on end-grain surfaces. Animal glue is water soluble, resulting in joints that can be disassembled with the aid of steam to soften the glue. Glue and fasteners can be used together.

A pinned mortise and tenon is an example of an older joint that can be built to stay together without the use of glue or fasteners by utilizing their unique skills.

Difference between joinery and carpenters

Construction trades include carpentry and joinery. Joiners' join 'wood in a workshop in the most basic and common sense, while carpenters design the building elements on-site.

Despite the fact that they both work in construction, their job descriptions are very different.Woodwork joinery is more like creating new things while a carpenter is fixing things. Carpenters normally work on site, so their specialized skill is in dealing with wood fixtures in the context of an ongoing job. Traditionally, joinery workers worked in factories, drawing diagrams and plans for clients and taking orders.Joiners work in workshops, producing the components for carpenters to fix. Normally, joiners work for a small joinery business in a small group. Carpenters usually work for large building companies that do mid-size projects.

When to choose between a joiner or a carpenter

A carpenter can hang and balance a door with finesse, but a joiner can make even better replicas. A joiner may construct a lovely staircase, but a carpenter may be better suited to install it.When deciding between a joiner and a carpenter for a task, we suggest selecting carpenters based on their familiarity with the project you're attempting to complete. An addition to a historic building, for example, will necessitate extensive building conservation experience and expertise. When both a carpenter and a joiner are required, it's best to hire a company.

Thing to take note as a beginner

Nothing makes a builder happier than seeing two pieces of wood come together flawlessly as you tighten the screws, set the mortise and tenon, or slide the dovetails together. After all, the essence of what we do in our shops is to create the precise joint that permanently joins two pieces of wood into a smooth, long-lasting product.

Perfect joinery, on the other hand, is the most difficult skill to learn. There is just no room for even the tiniest mistake. One minor blunder in cutting or sanding might turn a finely honed piece of your final product into scrap lumber. If you want to be a good joiner, you must practice a lot and, most importantly, don't give up too soon.

 We provide expert guidance on the best alternate material choices for de-specifying or de-scaling plans without jeopardizing the original project vision's design credibility. To bring each project vision to life, we collaborate with architects, contractors, construction firms, interior designers, and commercial fit out specialists.

[healthyvip]

Emotional Eating and How to Stop It

Do you eat to feel better or relieve stress? These tips can help you stop emotional eating, fight cravings, identify your triggers,

And find more satisfying ways to feed your feelings. What is emotional eating?

We don’t always eat just to satisfy physical hunger. Many of us also turn to food for comfort, stress relief, or to reward ourselves. And when we do, we tend to reach for junk food, sweets, and other comforting but unhealthy foods. You might reach for a pint of ice cream when you’re feeling down, order a pizza if you’re bored or lonely, or swing by the drive-through after a stressful day at work. Emotional eating is using food to make yourself feel better—to fill emotional needs, rather than your stomach. Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn’t fix emotional problems. In fact, it usually makes you feel worse. Afterward, not only does the original emotional issue remain, but you also feel guilty for overeating. The emotional eating cycle

Occasionally using food as a pick-me-up, a reward, or to celebrate isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when eating is your primary emotional coping mechanism—when your first impulse is to open the refrigerator whenever you’re stressed, upset, angry, lonely, exhausted, or bored—you get stuck in an unhealthy cycle where the real feeling or problem is never addressed. Emotional hunger can’t be filled with food. Eating may feel good in the moment, but the feelings that triggered the eating are still there. And you often feel worse than you did before because of the unnecessary calories you’ve just consumed. You beat yourself for messing up and not having more willpower.

Compounding the problem, you stop learning healthier ways to deal with your emotions, you have a harder and harder time controlling your weight, and you feel increasingly powerless over both food and your feelings. But no matter how powerless you feel over food and your feelings, it is possible to make a positive change. You can learn healthier ways to deal with your emotions, avoid triggers, conquer cravings, and finally put a stop to emotional eating. The difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger

Before you can break free from the cycle of emotional eating, you first need to learn how to distinguish between emotional and physical hunger. This can be trickier than it sounds, especially if you regularly use food to deal with your feelings.

Emotional hunger can be powerful, so it’s easy to mistake it for physical hunger. But there are clues you can look for to help you tell physical and emotional hunger apart.

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly. It hits you in an instant and feels overwhelming and urgent. Physical hunger, on the other hand, comes on more gradually. The urge to eat doesn’t feel as dire or demand instant satisfaction (unless you haven’t eaten for a very long time).

Emotional hunger craves specific comfort foods. When you’re physically hungry, almost anything sounds good—including healthy stuff like vegetables. But emotional hunger craves junk food or sugary snacks that provide an instant rush. You feel like you need cheesecake or pizza, and nothing else will do.

Emotional hunger often leads to mindless eating. Before you know it, you’ve eaten a whole bag of chips or an entire pint of ice cream without really paying attention or fully enjoying it. When you’re eating in response to physical hunger, you’re typically more aware of what you’re doing.

Emotional hunger isn’t satisfied once you’re full. You keep wanting more and more, often eating until you’re uncomfortably stuffed. Physical hunger, on the other hand, doesn’t need to be stuffed. You feel satisfied when your stomach is full.

Emotional hunger isn’t located in the stomach. Rather than a growling belly or a pang in your stomach, you feel your hunger as a craving you can’t get out of your head. You’re focused on specific textures, tastes, and smells.

Emotional hunger often leads to regret, guilt, or shame. When you eat to satisfy physical hunger, you’re unlikely to feel guilty or ashamed because you’re simply giving your body what it needs. If you feel guilty after you eat, it’s likely because you know deep down that you’re not eating for nutritional reasons. Identify your emotional eating triggers

The first step in putting a stop to emotional eating is identifying your personal triggers. What situations, places, or feelings make you reach for the comfort of food? Most emotional eating is linked to unpleasant feelings, but it can also be triggered by positive emotions, such as rewarding yourself for achieving a goal or celebrating a holiday or happy event. Common causes of emotional eating

Stress – Ever notice how stress makes you hungry? It’s not just in your mind. When stress is chronic, as it so often is in our chaotic, fast-paced world, your body produces high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet, and fried foods—foods that give you a burst of energy and pleasure. The more uncontrolled stress in your life, the more likely you are to turn to food for emotional relief.

Stuffing emotions – Eating can be a way to temporarily silence or “stuff down” uncomfortable emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, resentment, and shame. While you’re numbing yourself with food, you can avoid the difficult emotions you’d rather not feel.

Boredom or feelings of emptiness – Do you ever eat simply to give yourself something to do, to relieve boredom, or as a way to fill a void in your life? You feel unfulfilled and empty, and food is a way to occupy your mouth and your time. In the moment, it fills you up and distracts you from underlying feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction with your life.

Childhood habits – Think back to your childhood memories of food. Did your parents reward good behavior with ice cream, take you out for pizza when you got a good report card, or serve you sweets when you were feeling sad? These habits can often carry over into adulthood. Or your eating may be driven by nostalgia—for cherished memories of grilling burgers in the backyard with your dad or baking and eating cookies with your mom.

Social influences – Getting together with other people for a meal is a great way to relieve stress, but it can also lead to overeating. It’s easy to overindulge simply because the food is there or because everyone else is eating. You may also overeat in social situations out of nervousness. Or perhaps your family or circle of friends encourages you to overeat, and it’s easier to go along with the group. Find other ways to feed your feelings

If you don’t know how to manage your emotions in a way that doesn’t involve food, you won’t be able to control your eating habits for very long. Diets so often fail because they offer logical nutritional advice which only works if you have conscious control over your eating habits. It doesn’t work when emotions hijack the process, demanding an immediate payoff with food.

In order to stop emotional eating, you have to find other ways to fulfill yourself emotionally. It’s not enough to understand the cycle of emotional eating or even to understand your triggers, although that’s a huge first step. You need alternatives to food that you can turn to for emotional fulfillment. Alternatives to emotional eating

If you’re depressed or lonely, call someone who always makes you feel better, play with your dog or cat, or look at a favorite photo or cherished memento.

If you’re anxious, expend your nervous energy by dancing to your favorite song, squeezing a stress ball, or taking a brisk walk.

If you’re exhausted, treat yourself with a hot cup of tea, take a bath, light some scented candles, or wrap yourself in a warm blanket.

If you’re bored, read a good book, watch a comedy show, explore the outdoors, or turn to an activity you enjoy (woodworking, playing the guitar, shooting hoops, scrapbooking, etc.). Pause when cravings hit and check in with yourself

Most emotional eaters feel powerless over their food cravings. When the urge to eat hits, it’s all you can think about. You feel an almost unbearable tension that demands to be fed, right now! Because you’ve tried to resist in the past and failed, you believe that your willpower just isn’t up to snuff. But the truth is that you have more power over your cravings than you think. Take 5 before you give in to a craving

Emotional eating tends to be automatic and virtually mindless. Before you even realize what you’re doing, you’ve reached for a tub of ice cream and polished off half of it. But if you can take a moment to pause and reflect when you’re hit with a craving, you give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision.

Can you put off eating for five minutes? Or just start with one minute. Don’t tell yourself you can’t give in to the craving; remember, the forbidden is extremely tempting. Just tell yourself to wait.

While you’re waiting, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? What’s going on emotionally? Even if you end up eating, you’ll have a better understanding of why you did it. This can help you set yourself up for a different response next time. Learn to accept your feelings—even the bad ones

While it may seem that the core problem is that you’re powerless over food, emotional eating actually stems from feeling powerless over your emotions. You don’t feel capable of dealing with your feelings head on, so you avoid them with food.

Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions can be scary. You may fear that, like Pandora’s box, once you open the door you won’t be able to shut it. But the truth is that when we don’t obsess over or suppress our emotions, even the most painful and difficult feelings subside relatively quickly and lose their power to control our attention.

To do this you need to become mindful and learn how to stay connected to your moment-to-moment emotional experience. This can enable you to rein in stress and repair emotional problems that often trigger emotional eating. HelpGuide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit can show you how. Indulge without overeating by savoring your food

When you eat to feed your feelings, you tend to do so quickly, mindlessly consuming food on autopilot. You eat so fast you miss out on the different tastes and textures of your food—as well as your body’s cues that you’re full and no longer hungry. But by slowing down and savoring every bite, you’ll not only enjoy your food more but you’ll also be less likely to overeat.

Slowing down and savoring your food is an important aspect of mindful eating, the opposite of mindless, emotional eating. Try taking a few deep breaths before starting your food, putting your utensils down between bites, and really focusing on the experience of eating. Pay attention to the textures, shapes, colors and smells of your food. How does each mouthful taste? How does it make your body feel? By slowing down in this way, you’ll find you appreciate each bite of food much more. You can even indulge in your favorite foods and feel full on much less. It takes time for the body’s fullness signal to reach your brain, so taking a few moments to consider how you feel after each bite—hungry or satiated—can help you avoid overeating.   Support yourself with healthy lifestyle habits

When you’re physically strong, relaxed, and well rested, you’re better able to handle the curveballs that life inevitably throws your way. But when you’re already exhausted and overwhelmed, any little hiccup has the potential to send you off the rails and straight toward the refrigerator. Exercise, sleep, and other healthy lifestyle habits will help you get through difficult times without emotional eating.

   Make daily exercise a priority. Physical activity does wonders for your mood and energy levels, and it’s also a powerful stress reducer. And getting into the exercise habit is easier than you may think.    Aim for 8 hours of sleep every night. When you don’t get the sleep you need, your body craves sugary foods that will give you a quick energy boost. Getting plenty of rest will help with appetite control and reduce food cravings.    Make time for relaxation.Give yourself permission to take at least 30 minutes every day to relax, decompress, and unwind. This is your time to take a break from your responsibilities and recharge your batteries.    Connect with others. Don’t underestimate the importance of close relationships and social activities. Spending time with positive people who enhance your life will help protect you from the negative effects of stress.

[contructiicivile]

How to Paint - The 10 Most Common Painting Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Realizing how to paint is something other than plunging your brush or moving it on. I see individuals committing similar errors again and again. I likewise am liable for committing these same errors myself until I turned into a painter by profession.

 All the Time I See People Do Things Like...

 1. Utilizing Cheap Quality Paint...

 With the present economy and all, it appears that there is a developing pattern for individuals to do their gasping, yet they will purchase paint for their home without truly pondering what they are truly getting for their cash.

 2. Utilizing Spackle Instead Of Using What The Wall Is Made Out Of (Drywall Compound)...

 Everybody utilizes this thing called Spackle. Sure it is lightweight, quick-drying, and sands simple on littler regions however it additionally leaves sheen or glimmering marks under level paint. If you have ever attempted to fix a tape crease on a roof utilizing spackle, you will before long become an adherent to drywall compound.

 3. Not Using Primer...

 On the off chance that you ever go to business places (open washrooms is a genuine model) ordinarily, you will see that the metal passage entryway was repainted and that the new paint is stripping off in the territories where hands push on the entryway a ton just as different spots.

 The entryway was initially painted with an alkyd veneer finish and some worker of the store was advised to re-paint it. So they were given latex paint to utilize and now you have a stripping, unsound completion.

 I see organizers and cupboards fouled up in homes constantly and there is stripping paint on them which goes on for quite a long time. This stripping paint even jumps on things like plates and dishes and sticks to them because of the static stick.

 4. Not Painting the Ceilings...

 Now and again I will do a gauge to paint a few rooms in somebody's home and they need the dividers painted yet not the roofs. Even though the roofs are white they despite everything look grimy and ought to be spruced up with a new layer of white. It likewise makes cutting in along the highest point of the dividers much simpler additionally when painting the dividers.

 5. Making Patches or Streaks...

 One of the disadvantages of utilizing latex paint is it is famous for leaving patches and streaks. Utilizing lower-grade paints just aggravates it. On the off chance that you ever bring a rakish look down the sides of individuals' dividers, you will see inconsistent territories. You can even observe where they overflowed with a sporadic style. Utilizing a quality divider preliminary underneath the completion cover that works with all paint completes helps a great deal.

 6. Not Knowing How To Properly Paint a Door...

 Individuals normally don't cut in the sides and edges of entryways appropriately either. With regards to recessed entryways, they don't generally brush out the entryway with the grain or how the entryway was assembled. They don't utilize introduction first for changing over alkyd to latex or for even re-painting alkyd over alkyd. The final product is to paint disappointment through stripping or chipping.

 7. Painting Over Electrical Sockets and Covers...

 Old attachments and the spreads can be supplanted with new current looking white ones. This looks extremely decent when re-painting a room and needing to make a total showing.

 8. Rough Cut-in Lines Along the Ceiling Edge...

 A great many people don't cut in great at the highest point of the roof and it looks awful. Utilizing the correct paintbrush in addition to taking as much time as necessary makes a difference.

 9. Just Using One Coat - Applying just one coat can cause blur through just as skipped regions.

 10. Botch a Professional Paint Job in a Nice Home...

 Commonly somebody will move into a home that was recently painted by an expert painter. Not knowing the slightest bit about lacquers, individuals can rapidly botch the woodwork, windows, and entryways just as the dividers.

 See More: How to Paint a Room and Get Superior Results