every Saturday morning, before my class starts, i watch the end of the boxing for 6 to 12 year olds – always something cute going on. enjoying the training, wish i had more time to dedicate to it. and with the DZ at Skydive Chicago opening in 3 weeks, soon there will be one more competing interest.
bunch of folks from work joined me at the apartment to celebrate. played some games in the basement, then grabbed dinner at Cafe Iberico. fun night, even brought me a cheesecake birthday cake!
breakfast with the gang then worked on a few projects during the day. didn’t feel like shaping a knife from bar stock again, so started with some existing cut blanks. Mike hooked me up with a nice little damascus number that i handled in black palm, along with a Canadian Special blank that i reworked and handled with the box elder burl scales i had brought with me. i also sharpened the swedge on my bowie before heading out. long drive back to Chicago through a gnarly snow storm – wish i would have been at the wheel of Black Sheep…
was hoping to make a karambit, but Mike didn’t have any steel wide enough for my design. ended up designing and building a long, upswept blade dubbed a pirate sword by most of the others. was enlightening to learn each step of the build process, and to actually craft my own blade starting from raw A2 bar stock. looking forward to my next opportunity during the summer.
drove up to Escanaba in the MI Upper Peninsula for the Bark River Grind-In. got a room in the Terrace Bay Inn overlooking the frozen Bay de Noc. excited for tomorrow and my opportunity to build my first knife and learn the process from start to finish.
got back from New York and there was a cd waiting for me from the other side of the world with more pictures from Guatemala. can’t decide if i travel too much or not enough. will be booking the next vacation tomorrow…
last day of 3 spent in North Carolina with another client. dinner last night with Teelko and Art spent rehashing our Baan days. watched someone get arrested in the Atlanta airport while waiting for my flight to Chicago.
good weekend – played poker Friday night, took a tour with Tarun and Avi of some downtown establishments on Saturday night, then watched the Super Bowl tonight at the local watering hole. found this interesting specimen on the shelf at Dylan’s.
trapped on the road for two extra nights due to the epic Midwest snowstorm. finally back and riding the train into the city, looks to be a lot of work ahead to clear the streets of snow.
