Did you ever have one of those days?

[Peter Quinn]

Today I had one of those days I wish were every day. I'm working on a French casement in swing window for my wife's craft area in the basement. The old sash is long gong and the opening has been boarded up since we bought the house. Possibly since the 50's based on my guess. The foundation walls are 12" thick and the rough sill pitches both in and out. Its a highly irregular situation in need of a custom solution.

Yesterday I tore out the old jamb with gusto, took a few measurements, looked at a few line drawings in my George Eliot book, then stood in my shop like a sedated monkey unable to proceed. I could not rap my head around the water shed and draught check details necessary for an in swing sash. I made test pieces, I made test cuts, I made sawdust. Mostly I made mistakes. It sapped my energy and motivation completely.

Today I stopped thinking about the problem and just did it. Not sure why. I decided to start by milling some lumber. Once I started pushing wood over the jointer things started to click. Every confusion that daunted me yesterday seemed to evaporate. I felt unstoppable like a man on fire. All teh tools seemed to work better, I could see three steps away and every tool needed was at hand instead of hidden in some safe spot I'd long since forgotten. I kept thinking I was going to hit a wall at some point, but when I left the shop today I had a square sash in a square jamb that actually fit the opening!

Does this happen to everyone or am I suffering from some manic condition? Wednesday I could barely sharpen my pencil correctly and today everything seemed to flow smoothly to the point of feeling strange. Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Glad I didn't place that Craig's List add advertising "Shop for sale, $50, will deliver if you purchase today."

[Bruce Volden]

Peter

Ever think of writing a book? Even your ideas flowed into that post.

It's nice to have days like that, to make up for the other (majority in my case) one's!! :cool:

Bruce

[Jim Becker]

Oh, I know that feeling well, Peter...some days things are just not happening and suddenly....bang! Some little catalyst occurs and the vision clicks into place. Unfortunately, not always soon enough to be fully productive, however... oy!

[John Keeton]

I have those days as well. Always credit the coffee! Sad thing is, 'bout mid way through the day I usually am hit between the eyes with the realization that it is "just one of those days" and that tomorrow I will remorph into the state of mediocrity in which I normally function. That is usually the moment that I swing open the door to my former state and start the short journey home.

[Matt Meiser]

For me, the more stress I'm under, whether self imposed or by others, the harder it is for me to see a solution. But even a brief break can help me break through the wall. For hobby related stuff, that means just walking away for a while. For work stuff, sometimes its not that easy to do, especially when it happens when I'm at a customer's site.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Peter.....don't apply for the patent on the process. I suspect you are in the company of a lot of maniacs!:D

[NICK BARBOZA]

Been there before... fortunately that doesn't happen too often to me. Usually when that happens to me i just turn on the shop vac and have a clean up day. so that way i still get the shop time but cant screw up a project...

Nick

[Craig McCormick]

Peter,

I have two or three of those days per week! :rolleyes:

Have a great weekend,

Craig McCormick

[Peter Quinn]

So Today I spent two hours driving back and forth to do a half hour initial estimate for a new job. I spent 2 1/2 hours at the half hour estimate talking to the client about things mostly unrelated to the work at hand, then made a 1/2 hour diversion on the way home to pick up some BIG coated torx head screws to do final assembly on the window jamb only to realize I could not find a #25 torx bit needed anywhere, though I'm certain I have several. I considered using stainless screws I had in spite of their having stripped or broken on every other test piece.

I took sage advise and decided to knock off early before a mostly unproductive though not unpleasant day turned into a botched window and a bad weekend.

I have learned mostly to recognize the warning signs and subsequent bad decisions that proceed bad days or big mistakes, but I am no closer to stimulating the positive mental attitude that seems to sneak in and engender the very good ones. In any event it looks like things have returned to normal. I have not broken from the plateau at which my work seems confined, it was merely a break in the clouds! I think I'll take this weekend off from wood working.

[Mike Monroe]

I would attribute it to karma, pure karma... that or coffee.

[Alan Schwabacher]

I think that after the first day, your brain was working on the problem in the background and while you slept. You may not have known it, but you had something decided when you started work on your productive day. Don't despair when you have a bad day: it's part of the way you get to a good day.

[Greg Cole]

[quote=Alan Schwabacher;876741 Don't despair when you have a bad day: it's part of the way you get to a good day.[/quote]

The old saying of getting it wrong know when ya have it right kinda thing... you can't really smile til you shed some tears etc....

I too have days when I seem to sit or stand and stare and nothing seems to engage between the cinder blocks that contain my gray matter. Or it seems that nothing "clicks" whether it's with the gray matter or the actual doing. I've never been able to discern why, just "is" I guess.
like Saturday morning, working with pencil & paper to layout where to dig for footers for a deck. I pushed the pencil around, tossed the paper in the garbage and pushed some more pencil on paper.... 2 hours later I tossed the whole pad of paper, grabbed a tape measure, twine and stakes & 20 minutes later the deck footers were maked and out came the post hole digger.
Stress and concentration are a big part of it for me, when I have a great day at work it seems as I can get more done in 3 hours in the shop after work than on a full day on a weekend after a crappy week?

Greg