Anayak Kayaks

Sean Gallagher, the kayak builder featured on an episode of Design Squad I blogged about several months ago, left a comment recently with a reference back to his site, Anayak Kayaks. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. Interesting history about the kayak. Lots of pictures of the construction process. Opportunity to take workshops in the Washington area. I am also assuming he sells kayaks but didn't see a specific page dedicated to that, though he does include contact information if you wanted to inquire.

I was intrigued at how he is replacing some of the traditional materials used with modern ones and the reasons behind his choices. Check it out. Don't forget to take a peek at his blog page where he has more photos including a few on building a dug out canoe.

Link to Design Squad episode page that included Sean.

[Image: Captured from Sean's blog: http://anayakkayak.blogspot.com/]

TechShop

Every time my school had an open house, the comment I got from parents who were touring the technology lab was never,

"Mr. G, you are so good looking for a man your age. What is your secret?"

It was always,

"I wish I could take this class. I'd like to just come here, hang out and mess around with all this stuff!"

A place called TechShop has opened in California that offers just such a place. Along with access to all thier neat equipment they also offer classes in case you don't know how to run a Desktop Milling Machine or are a little rusty on your welding. There are plans to keep the shop open 24 hours a day. Just imagine, a place where you could run your power tools and hammer metal at any time of the night without the neighbors taking up a petition for your immediate deportation to Iceland.

Guy Kawasaki has a long article on his blog, How to Change the World, about the TechShop and it's founder, Jim Newton.

["TechShop is the SF Bay Area's Only Open-Acess Public Workshop--Welcom." TechShop:Build Your Dreams Here. 2007. TechShop LLC. 12 Sep 2007 .]
[Image: Kawasaki, Guy. "How to Change the World: TechShop: Geek Heaven." How to Change the World. 2007. 12 Sep 2007 .]