Eureka (x3)

Yesterday was an epiphany day.  I had quite a few ideas hit me that were significant.  If not major leaps in various journeys they were at least solid milestones. 

#1 - Screw It
While driving to work I was pondering a particular consistent design sticking point.  Our machines spin a cutting head against a metal bar that is shoved through the center.  Metal doesn't like to fall off so it take some power and it generates much heat.  So we shoot coolant on the cutting.  It has been most effective to sneak in some spray from the back to shoot directly where the cut is happening. We use a spray tube (in teal below) which has some coolant lines running to a nozzle ring.  The hard part is reaching however far (15"? 30"?) between the bar and the spinning tube holding the cutterhead.  Some chips and coolant can get stuck between the spray tube and the inside of the spindle sleeve.  Over time this can build up and cause troubles.






So my bright idea was to thread the inside of the spindle.  This would make it's rotation act like a pump and drive all the built up junk to the back or to the front (we're still kicking around which is better).  This could be a huge step in making my companies machines run better and longer.


#2 - Book It
My son loves graphic novels and comic books.  Who doesn't.  Becky is excellent at regular trips to the library to keep the kids loaded up on good materials.  It was something I never had, never did, and would be terrible at starting now.

She brought home a book called "Tommysaurus Rex" by Doug TenNapel. To call that a good story is to call the moon a nice rock.  There is so much more - location, movement, details.  It is a graphic novel that Caleb stayed up WAY too late reading (he read the book twice).  I read it on day 2 in our house (25 minutes) and was blown away. 

So I started digging into the author and the more I see the more I like.  I have much to investigate.


#3 Curse It
Becky & I do devotionals during the week.  It used to be mornings but then work got hectic and I started going in extra early so devotions migrated to evenings.  Devotionals for couples is a tough area to find a quality book.

I've found that some devotional books are fight starters - "have you stopped ignoring your wife?" "how can you be more involved in church?".  These questions start loaded with attacking a deficiency.  Sometimes the problem isn't there and don't just tell me to work harder.

Maybe I get like Goldilocks in that some are too light and too heavy also.  10-15minutes is the right length of time for these.  We won't have 2 hours to discuss sprinkling vs. immersion.

The devotional yesterday was spot on.  It wrapped up a discussion about primary male and female differences.  Men are more task driven and women are relationship driven.  The author referred to this as men seeking significance and women seeking intimacy.  The day before I thought the "significance" drive was pretty profound, and Becky let me know "intimacy" was pretty accurate. 

This made me re-evaluate the curse when Adam & Eve were cast from the garden.  I had always thought of the curse (especially Adam's) as external.  Adam toiled over the ground because it wouldn't grow easy.  I'm wondering if Adam toils over the ground because growing is a job.  In trying to be like God, he became bent to try to seek significance in something other than God.  I thought of Eve being cursed in that childbearing would just now be painful.  I didn't think of it as the emotional pain in trying to achieve closeness "your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

I don't think it is an either/or proposition that the curse was only external or internal.  I just never thought about the internals (emotional, mental) of being cursed.