Tired

It's just after midnight and I spent about 10 minutes checking in at Don Fogg's site. Man, there's lots of absolutely amazing stuff going on over there. It made me miss working in the shop.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not forgetting the recent lessons: the economy sucks and smithing items are Luxury goods (yes, with a capital "L" because there's really no other way to look at it). I'm basically stuck where I am, career wise, unless I either get a miracle or a degree and I have some control over the degree. And, if I'm honest with myself, I really didn't spend as much time in the shop as I thought I might. It's been cold, I got an XBOX for Christmas (early, even) there was all the family stuff to do, the homework and exams for classes, the hunting trips, etc. I didn't make the mental shift to thinking of shop time like a "job." That said, if I had my druthers, I would be in a place where I could work at night because I really feel more creative and inspired to do metal work.

But, this is the path I chose and then abandoned only to be brought back to it. I must follow it or it will eat me from the inside. Only 17 months to go and then I get pressured to apply to grad school ;)

Etsy...

Yahoo! had an article Friday about making money without really working. They suggested some fairly obvious items, collect spare change was one. They recommended two kinds of sales, though. The first was the sale of books and media through half.com, which isn't a bad idea as the wife and I have been talking about revamping the library/computer room/sewing room/cat bathroom.

The other idea was to sell stuff you're already making through Etsy.com. I think it's a fairly clever play on "etc." The issue is that they're pansies and have a "no weapons" policy. I tell you what, if they want to make some real money, handmade knives, tools and firearms is the way to go. I didn't look very hard (except to find their sales rules which I sort of knew in advance would be based on an Ebay/Paypal wussified system) but a lot of people seem to be very proud of their knitting.