Rubbish day :-(

Today just isn’t my day. All I needed to do was get my lid designed and get it ready to print. I had quite a bit of help off John the technician and that just got me more confused. I know what I want to do but I don’t always know the right way to go about it. It didn’t help that I managed to confuse John about my lid design intentions, so he ended up doing something that was more complicated than it needed to be. I'm pleased with my design after tweaking it tonight but I'm feeling really down about the whole project now. I lost most of yesterday due to Matthew's nativity (he's only six and couldn't miss seeing him as a king!), then there was an after school thing that we'd signed up weeks ago to and they were so excited about. Managed to get a bit done in the evening but it was the same old story, I was trying to do something and an error kept popping up saying that there wasn't enough references to do what I wanted to do. Turns out it was something straight forward when I asked John today but it really frustrates me when I don't know what the problem is. Today was also a bit of a lost day as I could only spend half of it at uni as I had to pick the boys up from school. Wednesday is the only day they're not in after-school club and I think that after Christmas I'm going to try to get something arranged.

My tutorial went really well and I'm happy with the work I'm doing, I'm just worried that I'm running out of time. John suggested that I email Carrie down in the workshops with my file ready to go on the 3D printer, once I'd got the design finalised. I spoke to her and it wasn't a problem, which was a load off my mind, as I imagined having to wait til tomorrow to get it in the queue. However, when I try to convert it to a .stl file another error pops up saying “Unable to triangulate part CAP.  Aborting output." No idea what that means! Looks like I'll be seeing John again tomorrow. On the plus side, the main body of the casing is all ready to go. All being well I'll get it on the CNC machine on Monday - finished and sprayed for Tuesday. I'm definitely going to use vinyl for the sole & insole detail but even getting that ready for print is proving tricky. John talked me through the steps and I felt very comfortable with the process but the peep toe detail is different from the other parts and, again, I’m not really sure how to go about it. But it isn't a very long process so that's not my main concern at the moment.

I think the icing on the cake today was coming in from uni and finding out that my dad has got his operation date though. A week tomorrow. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Deep down I know that it will make him so much better, almost back to his old self. But on the other hand he’s my dad and I worry about him. His health is shocking and he might not pull through. He has to go in the day before for all the pre-op stuff, which is the day this project is due. He lives with me and I'm the only one that takes him to all his appointments etc. and I really don't like the thought of him being in hospital on his own. But, he’ll be in the best place and I’m sure he’ll be fine.

So, back to my project - tomorrow looks like being a late one. I've got Systems & Control practical work all day but I'm sure that it is a late opening for the workshops so I should be able to make some progress there. Friday is out as it looks like being tied up all day with my dad. On a more positive note, I am really pleased with how my blog is coming along. I'm using Jing to record everything I'm doing on the computer and keeping written notes so I don't forget what is what. My packaging is coming along nicely and I'll be finishing it off over the weekend. So it's not all doom and gloom really. Crikey, I can't believe how much I've rambled on! I must admit it feels so much better to get it out of my system. I'm confident that I will finish this project on time - the optimist inside me is screaming right now! Sorry for rabbiting on. I think I should get my own personal blog to let off steam every now and then! :-)