Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  I duplicate the effect as best I can with rolled-up
AH>  towels or whatever else comes to hand.  But it all
AH>  sounds so simple I wonder why I didn't think of it
AH>  earlier....  :-)

JB>  As long as you've thought about it now.


          Better late than never??  Hmm.  While I am slow of thought, word,
and and deed that's understandable in view of my preferred reasoning
style....  ;-)



JB>  Having never met the man that built your desk, I doubt
JB>  he was *that* unimaginative. Heck, he raised you to
JB>  think outside the box after all.


          Yeah... you may have a point there.  Both of my parents did their
own thing without regard for what the neighbours were doing, and they were far
more interesting than the neighbours AFAIC.  I guess I took it a step
further.  :-))



JB>  I often check my flights of fancy with some down to earth
JB>  "What the .... was I thinking?" and often too late.


          Apparently you enjoy giving the right hemisphere of your brain a
good workout.  The right hemisphere is where you get your creative ability &
spatial relations ability.  I imagine it takes up quite a lot of bandwidth
while you're rejuvenating other people's castoffs.  Then the left hemisphere
kicks in & does the math.  But you *are* consciously aware of having made this
adjustment.  :-)



JB>  I *need* to let the imagination step aside for common
JB>  sense and *much* earlier so I don't have to waste so
JB>  much time, effort and material as I am accustom to.


          OTOH, I've often managed to achieve the impossible when I ignored
the naysayers!  If you learn best by doing under certain circumstances I think
that is legitimate.  In addition to the psychobabble I've already confused you
with: I recognize three major learning channels... visual, auditory, and
kinetic.  As long as that old motorcycle engine (or whatever else you're
currently trying to fix) gets you out in the fresh air keeping your mind &
your body active I think the investment is paying off to some degree whether
or not you reach your goal. But while the ability to see the potential in
things is a useful talent, it can get in the way of practicality at times.  I
resemble that remark... [wry grin].

          You buy these things at auctions... I buy clothing at rummage sales
& whatnot.  In such cases, we both know the previous owner may have discarded
the item in question because there is something wrong with it.  If the
manufacturer used non-standard sizing or if Junior dribbled egg yolk on his
togs & Mom can't figure out how to get it off or if there's a button missing
but the spare is on an inside seam (right where I'd expect it to be) or if a
garment is last year's model, I can easily see that.  For you the challenge
may be greater because you can't be sure what's wrong with an engine, for
example, until you've dismantled it.  Then you have to find somewhere to put
the pieces... which now occupy much more space than they did earlier.  If you
need time to ponder the situation you can't just leave it & do something
different for awhile, as I often do when I'm composing a message in my writing
area or waiting for stubborn stains to finish soaking in the bathtub, because
your working space is already filled & you have to remember how to put all the
pieces back in the correct order.  I can't offer any solutions... but I *can*
assure you that it's human nature to bite off more than we can chew
occasionally & add my own perceptions re learning styles.  :-)



AH>  When somebody wants Dallas to play computer guru, we
AH>  offer them Nora's chair... but SJ's don't like to cause
AH>  any trouble & they think they know better.

JB>  Oh, *those* kind.


          I figured you'd know the type I was referring to.  But I don't
expect the individual I mentioned earlier to be driving Dallas & me crazy a
few months from now.  He just informed us he's decided to relocate in
Calgary... [GD&RFC].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)