Our blogs live again

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:28 pm

Hello all! Just wanted to post with a quick word to say that our website blogs are alive again, as of last night. I know it's been a very quiet several months on the Talbert Pipes website, but we've been incredibly busy with the daily crush of moving back to the states, and all that entails. From here on out, I intend to update at least one of the blogs every few days, more if time permits. I gave some very hard thought to simply closing down the "American Pipemaker in Brittany" blog, but decided instead to transform it into its new "Life in America" incarnation. Here's a brief description of each:

The Talbert Pipe Blog
http://talbertpipes.blogspot.com/
Articles on pipes, pipemaking, the pipe hobby as a whole, internet pipe forums, pipe shows, and technical discussions of pipemaking and pipe construction. Stays mostly on topic. There are also previews and occasionally advance offers and special deals on pipes currently under work in the workshop.

Life in America - Observations of a Returned Expatriate
http://talbertbrittany.blogspot.com/
Articles on what it's like to re-enter US culture and lifestyle after seven years abroad, with comparisons of US and French/European society, lifestyles, etc. Plus lots of random digressions into movies, books, reviews, and the general errata of SF/horror/fantasy genres. Wanders widely off topic.

Thanks for your time!
TT

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:21 pm

Trever, I'm so glad to hear that you've recovered the "will" to continue pipemaking. I commiserate with you on that final French disaster. I think that prospective buyer deserves nothing less than a swift kick in the cobblers.

Hopefully you were able to put some of your stuff in storage in France and have it shipped later when finances improve.

Best of luck in the States.

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:56 pm

We were very fortunate in that a group of friends and family got together and raised the money to pay for the shipping of most of our stuff - now we'll just be in debt for the rest of our lives. What we did not ship, we sold off. The scary thing is that I went through the briar cavern and cherrypicked the best stummels and briar, and brought enough over to fill our garage to neck height, and yet when we'd gotten everything boxed up, you couldn't even tell we had taken anything.

The trick now is to construct a functioning workshop here from very little, with no cash...

Fortunately I am good at working with very crude tools. I did bring over some very handy French machinery and other bits, but that will all need custom machining to make it useful (like, I brought over all the antique wooden sanding disc spindles that I use - many 80-100 years old - but they all need custom-machined threaded adapters to fit them onto any motor shafts over here).

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:04 pm

SHIT!! I keep forgetting to send that box. It might not solve all your troubles, but if it helps in the meantime, I'll be happy.

Note self: ignore the ADD, focus on shipping....

SimeonTurner · Post by **SimeonTurner** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:03 am

Welcome back, Trever. Good to hear you guys seem to have made it in relative "intactness".

Here's to your renewed American pipemaking!

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:20 am

We just moved in February, so I can definitely sympathize with you. It's only taken me five months to get my shop up-and-running and myself back into the swing of making pipes.

Hopefully you'll improve on that a bit.

A few pieces of advice:

* Keep a things-to-do list and check things off as they're completed. This definitely beats the heck out of bursting a blood vessel trying to keep everything straight in your head.

* If you're on a tight budget, Craigslist and Ebay are your friends. Two months ago, I bought a blasting-size compressor off of Craigslist for $50, and I did it by: doing searches for what I needed; bookmarking those searches; scouring all the ads two and three times a day; and being the very first person to call when the right deal came along.

* Make sure you budget in some time on a daily/weekly basis for R&R and friends and family. Stuff will get done when it gets done, but you don't want to jeopardize the really important things in life trying to accomplish the trivial.