New technology sucks when

[Keith Newell]

When you have a great TV, DVD, Bluray player and Netflix all in your shop. Your trying to cut a binding groove, you have your glasses off because your eyesight ain't what it once was and because it's a great Blu-ray you keep putting on and taking off the glasses to glance at the tv. You then hit the rewind a billion times in a 1 1/2 hour movie and when your done promise yourself that you will watch it one night in bed as your falling asleep....I guess movies are a young mans pleasure now.

[buchrob]

I kept myself SERIOUS by buying a real across-the-lens set of bifocals with the lower part set up to about 12" perfect focus, and the upper for 36". I also have a clip-on 2x magnifier that can be dropped into position.

That way I can walk through any area by sighting above the glasses and still tell the APPLE rep the serai number of my iPod,

[Ivan Kelsall]

'One job at a time' Keith. There was once a time when i could have taken a banjo apart for re-furbishment, put it back together & cooked myself a 3 course meal at the same time - not any more !. At age 70 (next Jan.),i can't concentrate on anything at all with 'noise' going on,it's far too much of a distraction. 'Silence' is truly golden !,
Ivan

[Shelagh Moore]

I have to concentrate totally on any repair or set-up that I'm doing... I'm too easily distracted by music or other diversions going on in the background!

[Bertram Henze]

Some say they can tell by the taste of restaurant food if the cook is having an unhappy love affair. You don't want your customers to tell by the quality of your mandolins which movie you were trying to watch
Concentration is the key to having a life; trying to do two things at once means doing none of them.

[bmac]

My wife and I decided that to get anything creative (or even necessary) done we had to simplify our lives.... So out went the TV. It has been about 12 years now and we haven't missed it at all... Our grandkids, who live with us, are not even aware that TV exists....

We haven't even watched a movie in several years.... No time for that... too busy pursueing our interests, playing mandolin, banjo, building minstral banjos and repairing old instruments. Although we have our problems, we have never been more productive and happier.

I make plenty of mistakes too.... even without TV.

[bratsche]

So out went the TV. It has been about 12 years now and we haven't missed it at all...

That's about the same with us - last thing I remember watching on TV was the horrible events of 9/11/01. Previously all I ever used TV for was the occasional movie. My husband is more of a movie-holic than I, though, so he has a Netflix subscription.

bratsche

[Keith Newell]

I just typed a whole big thing and was angry...I deleted it and took a breath. Not to name any names but when a builder is trying to get a reputation and posts something light hearted because he LOVES the mandolincafe and somebody implies they (builder) can't do a good job because the responder can't multitask so projects that flaw onto the originator of the thread then people get the wrong idea. It may not even be something active but back in the mind like "hey Keith is a distracted builder who does not even care about a customer". The "wink" is a stupid part of the post and because someone has many thousands of posts does not make them any better or smarter than our new fine members with a couple posts.

[Mike Bunting]

I just typed a whole big thing and was angry...I deleted it and took a breath. Not to name any names but when a builder is trying to get a reputation and posts something light hearted because he LOVES the mandolincafe and somebody implies they (builder) can't do a good job because the responder can't multitask so projects that flaw onto the originator of the thread then people get the wrong idea. It may not even be something active but back in the mind like "hey Keith is a distracted builder who does not even care about a customer". The "wink" is a stupid part of the post and because someone has many thousands of posts does not make them any better or smarter than our new fine members with a couple posts.

Take a deep breath.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Keith - I think that all the posts after yours were saying in one way or another - 'neither can we',not the other way around,mine certainly meant that. I once read a very disparaging remark about one US President.Somebody said that he 'couldn't walk & chew gum at the same time'. I thought the remark to be in very bad taste indeed,but i'm afraid i'm getting their myself. My trouble is that i can't even find the gum !.
There are many,many skills that i wish i had myself & luthery,because on my interest in the instruments is one of them. If i were a builder,i couldn't stand any form of distraction. These days,even putting on new strings demands my full attention & off goes any music. More often than not,i replace my strings upstairs with the mandolin on the bed so that i can't knock it onto the floor - at least not so easily,
Ivan

[Bertram Henze]

Pleading guilty. Maybe my comment was too lighthearted.

But if we have to have a serious angle in the topic, it is what Ivan hinted at: in a workshop with sharp tools around and machines running, any form of distraction becomes a menace.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Naughty Bertram - Please go & stand in the corner !!!,
Ivan

[Shelagh Moore]

But if we have to have a serious angle in the topic, it is what Ivan hinted at: in a workshop with sharp tools around and machines running, any form of distraction becomes a menace.

My thoughts as well. I used to work in a laboratory with ultra sharp knives and dangerous chemicals so developed a habit of undistracted working early in my life. But we're all different and I know music in the background helps some people to concentrate.

[belbein]

Concentration is the key to having ...

... ten fingers.

[belbein]

I didn't take it that way, Keith. I understand your sensitivity, but I think the people who read this forum are all constantly learning and relearning the same lessons. What you wrote was a good illustration of a problem for all of us. You're lightyears ahead of me, and it gives me some comfort that you, too, sometimes get distracted. And have trouble with your bifocals. Glad you're human.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From belbein - " And have trouble with your bifocals...". My spectacles are perfect,it's my eyes that's c**p !,
Ivan

[David Houchens]

I love the fiddle music in the back ground,(Ernie Carpenter usually), its the dang phone ringing that kills my concentration. My parents live close by and are elderly so I have to check the call. Ten minutes later I remember where I was. I'll give another vote for keeping all the fingers. I've already got a left pinky that I can't bend the last joint due to a knife cut in the ninth grade. No 4 finger chop cords for David.

[TheBlindBard]

Keith, you're a better man than I, you can build instruments. I'd like to try this some day, but, until then I'll just play. Try not to get discouraged by otehr people. If you enjoy what you do, what's the problem?

[fishtownmike]

I don't have a tv or even a radio in the shop. I get distracted to easy. I have a laptop that I keep stored away for when I need to look up something important. If i'm doing a repair and run into a problem the internet is great help sometimes for that....Mike

[Timbofood]

Heck, I don't even have a shop!