Sears had 2 items — the Spray Station alone for $299 (and not on sale), or the Spray Station with an extra needle for — get this — $299 minus their 10% off sale.  So I could get the Spray Station for $299 OR the Spray Station plus extra needle for $269.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out!  There’s the bait, now comes the switch…  The Spray Station + needle ‘combo’ was “out of stock”, and they would not let you buy it on backorder.  I used their “chat online with customer service” button and explained that the combo was nothing more than an extra needle taped to the side.  “I’m sorry, sir, we’re out of stock.”  Grrrr….  They had the Spray Station IN stock, they had the needles IN stock, yet they claim that the Spray Station + Needle combo was OUT of stock.  (Maybe it does take a genius to figure this out after all.)  I wasn’t quite ready to give up, and I felt that talking to a live person I could get my point across, so I printed out the ad and took it to the store the next day.  The local store said that it wasn’t even in their inventory database.  They gave me the # of a larger store about 30 minutes away.  I chatted with them on the phone to see if they could make me the bundle (which I assume consists of having the expert ability to use packing tape).  This item, however, ended up being an online-only item.  Apparently, that means that all that the stores can do is order it online just like I would.  No help there.   Still wanting the item, I decided to call the online folks that night to see if this could be resolved.  (“Part A + Part B DOES equal Part C in this case, people!”)  Asking for a manager straight-away, I explain the situation and how ludicrous it is that they won’t sell me what they are advertising.  I explain that they have all the items in stock (individually), and that they advertised the bundle yet would not let me purchase it.  This manager seemed to understand the issue, yet was unwilling or unable to sell me the item that they advertised at the price they were advertising it.  She did, however, eventually compromise and offer to sell me the Spray Station at the sale price without the extra needle.  I took her up on that offer given that the sale price made it considerably cheaper than I could have gotten it anywhere else.  The order went through on Feb 1st (as did the charge to my CC), but all UPS knows at this point (Feb 8 ) is that they’ve received billing info.  Maybe there will be a “we dropped by” sticker on my door this afternoon, maybe it will take weeks, who knows?  (Maybe I should’ve paid the extra cash and just ordered it from Woodcraft…)

[SinglePic not found]    I chose to insert a Sacagawea dollar that my daughter found in my change jar into the stopper.  Whereas the design itself is rather plain this time, I believe that the figure of the red malle burl combined with the insert gives it some character.

1. I could not take a good macro picture with it (i.e. pen, bottle stopper, etc.) no matter what I tried.
2. My wife’s pictures oftentimes came out looking like impressionist art.  (She doesn’t read this, right?)
3. It was slow to focus, slow to shoot.
4. The 5-way button had deteriorated such that it was more of a 4.2-way button.  (The ‘set’ portion of the button didn’t work well and that made it difficult to use the custom white balance setting.)
5. The battery life was becoming horrible.
6. It got the dreaded E18 error, and I can’t read Bulgarian….  and the worst one….
7. I tried to fix the E18 error anyway.  I knew that was a mistake when I smelled the smoke.

It had been a decent camera for 7 years now, so I didn’t mind replacing it other than the $$$ factor.  (But when IS a good time to shell out unexpected $$$?)

    After some research, I decided on the Canon EOS Rebel XSi.  It looks to be a pretty solid camera, with the ability to both take pictures of turnings as well as catch the child playing.  (The Powershot was difficult for fast motion due to the slow shoot time.)  Hopefully the quality of my pictures will improve.  The detail that this device can capture is pretty amazing.  For example, note the following picture of the tru-stone pen I made recently.

This image was originally 4272×2848 resolution that I had to reduce for the website.  Clipping from the original, you can see the level of detail…

Note that you can tell that I’m wearing a wedding ring in the reflection of the top of the pen… Wow!

I made a few changes to their stock plan. The tool drawers are way too small for any regular-sized tool. I ended up making the large drawer into 2 tool drawers and the tool drawers into a deeper drawer. I also mounted the lathe on the right. This leaves me enough roon to have the tool drawers open and still stand at the lathe. There were a few small mistakes in the plans that were unrelated to the changes I made, but overall the plans were well laid out and easy to follow. (I think that they mislabeled two of the pieces on the cutting diagram.) At one point I noticed that I made one critical cut 1/4″ long, but I was far enough along that I couldn’t correct it easily. The support slot in my center divider was 1/4″ higher than the sides. This means that the frame bows upward in the middle. I shimmed the top in order to level it out, so my mistake only affects the drawers. Be careful if you build it, this did make hanging the drawers more difficult. One other suggestion. For the drawers, get slides with as much extension as possible or you won’t be able to use the back few inches for tools. Here’s my finished product prior to the drawer/door hardware.