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What did you do this weekend?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their weekend. Did you make any plans? Take a trip? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
Bought my first car! I've had my driver's license for more than ten years but could never afford to own a car until recently. I live in a small town with a very poor public transit system, so the feeling of being able to go anywhere at any time is an amazing feeling of freedom. When I lived in a bigger city it wasn't an issue because I could rely on public transportation, but living in a rural town is a whole other beast.
It's a 15-year-old Peugeot, so it's not exactly the fanciest car in the world, but I really look forward to the opportunities it brings. One of the reasons I didn't take up any social hobbies (before covid) was I knew I wasn't going to walk everywhere for the 6+ months of the year when weather here is varying grades of rainy, snowy, cold and/or windy.
Saturday was garage reorganization. I had moved everything around in order to have room for the forklift to get the mill into my garage and I hadn't put everything back into a place so I could use it again just yet. While moving things around I opened what I expected to just be the terminal/junction box for powering the mill once it's in the new workshop only to find a very nice USA made VFD all wired up and ready to go. Which means if I hadn't had the mill put into a corner of my garage to be out of the way I could plug it in to my 240v outlets in my garage and be off to the races. Of course that's all theoretical since I can't run the machine without spindles, tooling, fixtures, hold downs, and everything else I don't have outside of the mill itself. Plus I'd only be able to run it manually instead of CNC as I haven't even started the LinuxCNC conversion I mentioned a week or so back. I still might see how much an appropriate extension cord will be just so I can have the satisfaction of turning the machine on and watching it spin up and learn the controls. I've got about a foot of clearance around the machine, so I could technically machine something so long as it's no larger than an carton of eggs.
Sunday I smoked some ribs on my new smoker for 4th of July celebrations with my friend's family. Probably the best ribs I've ever made, first time I've actually smoked something on new setup (just used it for grilling so far), and used temp probes to see how the heat disperses within so I know how to adjust future cooks. Celebrations went well, ribs were received enthusiastically, nice beer was consumed, much fireworks exploded.
Filed my amended tax return because a state form was modified. I think I actually had to send my first letter through the mail ever, because my state won't let me e-file it (the IRS will).
Spent the 4th hanging out with my brothers, twin's fiancee, mother in law and their dogs (who were completely chill, but they live in a city where fireworks are illegal, and a neighborhood where they don't break that law. He grilled some veggies (these small onions, squash, cucumbers, corn), chicken and tofu, all of which was surprisingly good.
I camped with a few friends Saturday and Sunday nights. Barely touched my phone, got a lot of reading done, and basically chilled out in a hammock or by the campfire the whole time. I also didn’t drink, which was a change of pace for me. I usually have at least a few while camping. A much needed break from routine.