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The
Best of Talbert Briar in 2004
I think in retrospect, 2004 was a decent year - the first in several
years of hassles and problems. It had its own share of troubles and
challenges but at least we were able to make some progress here on the
personal front (mostly getting a great deal of renovation and repair
work done in our house). The language troubles eased up a bit and we
aren't so dogged by pointless annoyances as we were in the past, though
unfortunately this did not turn into increased pipe production - if
anything, we made fewer pipes in 2004 than in 2003, mainly due to the
time spend on other personal projects. Normally I work on Halloween
pipes over the whole year but in 2004 I spent the winter and spring
renovating the upstairs office and hall, and ended up being late on the
deadlines for both the Halloween pipes and the Yule pipes as a result.
The first vow for 2005 is better long-term planning! Still, I'm pleased
overall with this year's work and I no longer feel we have to
"recapture" or "re-equal" the quality of work I was doing in my old
familiar workshop in the US. I've worked hard to improve the quality
and detailing of my work to help keep the pipes on par with their
pricing level - a difficult challenge given the careening fall of the
dollar in relation to world currencies.
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Talbert Briar 
