karl.tsakos.us/blog

I have added two new photo galleries to my website. They include a trip to grand central station and a trip to Lake Minewaska State Park. View and enjoy.

2008 Photos.

Today’s tale is one of coincidence, and it started yesterday.

Last night the band, which I will now start to officially call the P.C.M.A. (formerly sometimes called DeSk), wrote three songs. As the songs gelled, I recorded them for the band to review, but mostly so we would remember them a week from now.

This morning I bounced the songs (mixed them down) to MP3 files to share with the members of the P.C.M.A. As I did so, I had to give them names. These names seem to stick only about half the time. They get changed when we know what the song is about.

One reminded me of something from the ’80s with what to me seemed like a british sound. This was most likely because of the tone of the keyboard. So I named it Briton Memoir. Another wound up in a Ska or Reggae stile (even though it was inspired by a southern Californian song), but the tempo was halfway between the two. Somehow its title became Skaggey.

The last was a slow, mellow piece which featured the organ with the stops set to only play higher overtones. Obviously and predictably it reminded me of the sonar of a bat. But because of the slow, mellow tempo, it has a slight sleepy feeling. So, I called that piece Chiroptera Somnambulist which translates from the Greek and Latin origins as “sleepwalking bat.”

Now, since bats are known to be nocturnal, an interesting effect of a sleepwalking bat is that it would be out and about in the middle of the day.

Here’s where the coincidence kicks in.

Today, Christian and I decided to get out and go for a hike. Since we wanted a change of scenery, we decided to head up to Lake Minewaska near New Paltz, New York. As we walked down the trail by Awostoga Falls, we saw something flying in and out of the trees. I asked, “What is that?” Christian answered, “It’s a bird.” I corrected him, “No, it’s a bat!”

One in the afternoon on a sunny day, and there was a bat flying in and out of the shadows. Of course our first notion was that it was rabid and therefore completely insane. But, the more we watched it, the clearer it became that the bat was completely in control of its behavior. Clearly it was feasting on the gnats so abundantly present along the river. Occasionally it would alight on a tree and rest for a moment before continuing on it’s feast.

Christian noted that it seemed to be flying very slowly. I observed that it was probably flying at the same speed in the dark, but when you see them a dusk the quick glimpse makes them look like they are moving faster. Either way, it was a rare and amazing experience to have the opportunity to watch the little critter at work.

And work he did. We watched him for ten minutes as we walked slowly down the trail. At one point I tried to get a picture of him which proved impossible to do. As I had the camera to my eye trying to find him, let alone follow him as he darted around, he made a bee line right at us. Christian made a startled yelp and we both started and shrieked as it veered off just 6 feet from us. Thankfully, no one was around to see.

Our hike continued for another two and a half hours before we returned along the same trail. We briefly saw him again as he chased some more insects further down the trail.

All I know was that it was clearly not sleepwalking, or sleepflying. I don’t even know if that was normal behavior for a bat. Still, it was a pretty amazing sight.

I don’t really understand why, but Dave occasionally asks my help with some of his projects. He recently joined a Pink Floyd cover band and discovered during a performance that he was not comfortable playing two keyboards placed catty-corner to one another. He uses three keyboards. A Rhodes piano, a Yamaha organ, and a Mini Moog. He decided he wanted them all stacked. Either the Yamaha or the Moog sits on top of the Rhodes, but not both. Since the Yamahs is bigger, it won the position on top of the Rhodes.

This is where I enter the story. Dave wanted to create a stand for the Moog to suspend it above the Yamaha. But, the Yamaha has top mounted controls which make it impossible to put anything on top. That and the fact that it is too narrow to support anything the size of the Moog made Dave’s plan more dificult.

So for two weeks we both ruminated on design concepts. I came up with the notion of something which would be supported between the case of the Rhodes and its top cover, which slips inside of the case. It would be angled to the front and then sit off the top of the Yamaha. It would then have horizontal supports for the Moog and then diagonal supports for side to side stability. Of course, it would have to be collapsable so it could be easily transported. Dave’s concept was, as far as I could tell, basically the same.

So last Saturday, after drawing up a rough sketch and taking some measurements, we went to the local Home Despot and started looking for supplies. It appeared that as we looked at the available options we weren’t really clear on what we were doing and more to the point, how exactly it would work. There were definitely some vagaries in the design. Like how it would be collapsable, and how it would sit on the Rhodes’ case.

As we wandered the giant store we looked at all the options for parts we could use. We realized that perhaps threaded rod and pipe hangers would make an excellent basis for the supports. After all, 3/4 inch threaded rod is very stiff. An actual plan was forming. However, the thing that is infuriating about the Home Despot, they never have just what you want (even after you realize what you want). We decided to go back to my place and regroup.

While dave finished off the remainder of some lamb stew I had made, I went about drawing the basics of what we had in mind. The rods would be attached somehow (again, we weren’t bothering with detail, the answer would arrive eventually) to the case and then to a piece of 1/2 inch plywood, most likely by going through the board and attaching with nuts on either side. (Having finished eating, Dave now drew the Moog onto my sketch as we talked.) Then, there would be a third leg in the front at some sort of angle that would sit atop the Yamaha. Excellent. With this plan in mind, we headed to the hardware store across the street from my apartment.

I’ve never experienced love at first site. I hope the sensation is similar too, but much, much greater than discovering the parts at the hardware store. While looking for the ceiling hanger we discovered there were also wall hangers. That was the lynchpin we needed to finalize the design. The two ceiling hangers would attach to the back of the Rhodes. We would formulate some sort of pivoting receptacle for the threaded rods on the plywood board. This would be accomplished using steel keyed slot plates stacked two deep to the plywood. The shorter front threaded rod leg would be attached rigidly to the board using the pipe ceiling hanger. So simple. We found all the parts in about 20 minutes including screws, keyed slot plates, rod, nylon locking-nuts, wing nuts, and a push nut for the foot on the front leg.

Then it was back to my place to assemble the stand. It was as if we were following detailed instructions. I measured and cut the board while Dave measured and cut the threaded rod. He mounted the two wall mount pipe hangers to the Rhodes and I measured and positioned the key slot plates for the supports. He added the locking-nuts to the rods to keep them set the correct height and make the rod rigid when screwed tight. I attached the keyed slot plates and the front leg mount. Then I attached the push nut to the front leg and mounted it on the board along with a wing nut to keep it rigid when tightened.

Then, when the orgy of gay sounding terms which was in fact just the assemblage of parts was completed, we tested the stand. Eh, not quite right; the front was still too high. So we cut about an inch or so from the front leg. Then we tested again.

First, the rear supports were screwed in and tightened to the Rhodes. The front support was screwed in and tightened to the board. The board positioned so the key slots fit over the rear supports but let the board angle to any position. And then, the front leg was lowered down to the Yamaha to rest between the control knobs. We placed the Moog on top of the board and it was perfect. The other perfect thing about it is that it will collapse into a one foot by twenty inch by quarter inch board and three short segments of threaded rod. Beautiful.

Of course, it hasn’t been used in practice, and most likely will rip out of the back of the Rhodes with prolonged use. But hey, that’s why we have versioning. Mach-2 will be amazing!

(Note: I do not have any pictures of the completed project as Dave took the Yamaha and Moog home with him. Without at least the Yamaha, the stand has nothing to stand on.)

I’m renaming the problem with my thumb from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome to the more benign but accurate, and rhyming Dumb Numb Thumb, eh, Syndrome. Well okay, but it mostly rhymes.

Yes, after a trip to the neurologist I can fairly accurately claim to not have anything really wrong with my thumb after all. Well, there was/is something wrong, it just not really very wrong.

My visit to the neurologist was an interesting experience. Upon entering the examining room, the nurse told me to put on a gown and the doctor would be right in. I said, yes, but I’m here for my thumb. She said he would be doing a full neurological work up. Well then, down to my skivvies and on with the gown.

The doctor came in after I had a chance to thumb (no pun intended) through a copy of wired magazine. He reminded me of a quieter Jeff Bezos except that the doctor only giggled a bit instead of Jeff’s famous laugh. Either way, he was a pleasant man with a sense of humor which I find a great trait in a doctor.

After asking a multitude of questions about habits that would affect my hands, he did do an exam. He checked my hands and wrists and checked the reflexes in my knees. At that point I made a comment abut having only coming in for an issue with my thumb and I was a bit surprised to find myself in an exam gown. The doctor said that the nurse gets a bit carried away but quickly followed up with people are often wrong with where the cause of a problem was and he often needed to do a more thorough exam. My problem was located pretty much where we thought it was.

So after some more talk and examining I mentioned how I know this sort of thing surely drives doctors crazy, but I had been doing some research online. He immediately asked, “so what is it?” I answered, “carpal tunnel.” His reply was along the lines that it could be, but if it were I would have more widespread numbness.

No, he narrowed it down to what I thought was a possible cause; that being a lot of work I had done at my computer at work when this came on. He said it most likely was the nerve feeding my thumb only that I had aggravated from the repetitive mousing and most likely the wrist pad I was resting on.

Since my hand was feeling almost completely better by the time I saw him, he recommended doing nothing and waiting. we could do a test for carpal tunnel syndrome, but that a) includes electrical shock and b) is only really done if you intend to remediate the problem through surgery. I opted for waiting and seeing.

So there you have it. I had all that annoying numbness and I didn’t even have a named problem to show for it. Oh, I got the comments at work, “well of course you never had a problem before, you normally don’t do any work.” But no named problem.

Still, I’m glad that my Dumb Numb Thumb Syndrome is going away. It really was annoying.