US Presidential Election

Vote.
If you decide not to... just sit down and shut up.

Another Great Tip for Presentations

This tip is actually for someone attending a presentation - not for the presenter.

Write these down or memorize them if you can, but for heaven's sake USE them each at least once during every presentation you attend.
With a 'concerned or focused' voice simply state each of the following:

1. Stay the course.
2. Is this true?
3. If that's your only idea we're in big trouble.
and
4. I'm sure there is a worse way of doing it, but for the life of me, I can not think of it.

Also... Do NOT quote any movie lines nor song lyrics that you think of during the presentation.. save these for a nice quiet intimate eventing out with your spouse.
:)

It's a Mystery

"Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."
-- Jack Handy

freakin' Godless euroweenies.

Follow this link to what is going on at the European Union in Brussels Belgium and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Tough Times at the Office

You know your office is really going thru some tough times when they replace the "Starbucks" coffee that used to flow like milk and honey with "Maxwell House"!

Oooogh!
:(
All of us had a very rude awakening when we got our first cups this morning.

The worst part is..
I am here for the coffee... So now I don't know what to do!

Home-School Network Admin

Little did I know that when we decide to home-school our children I would become our principal and Network Administrator.
It's just about a full time job dealing with the setup/connections/workflow of 2 desktops, 3 laptops, a DVD recorder/burner hooked-up to our satellite dish (classes for the kids pipe in from Bob Jones University) and a printer/scanner/copier.
Sheesh.
I had to train my son quickly and give him administration rights to our home network... especially when it comes to loading the education software while I am out of the 'principals office'.
What has complicated things even worse is the recent addition of a wireless network.
We are currently trying to get it up and running so we can all have internet connectivity and also take advantage of the single printer station from anywhere in the house.
I am soon to become the Network Security Manager as well.
:)
Gone are the days of college-ruled paper and pencils!
Woof.

Presentation Tip

If you are commonly giving presentations to groups and are using your 'working' laptop...
take a quick note to self -
"The people at your presentation do NOT need to see your scattered miscellaneous desktop icons... Nor do they need to see your personalized background image."

Here's a simple fix.

Create a separate 'user profile' called 'presentation'.
When you go to log-in prior to the presentation - simply pick 'presentation'.

It would also behoove you to have your company's LOGO as a background image and the desktop looking spick and span (only the items for the presentation present).

Professionalism could make the difference between securing the contract or not... or even repeat clients.
:)

Seminar Techniques

Here's a not so hot tip on keeping the audience on the 'edge of their seats' during a presentation.
Turn the temperature down to 'ARCTIC'.
It worked great in the seminar I was in yesterday.
It wasn't all that fun sitting there curled up in a ball, chattering my teeth.. but I was awake!
:)

Printing/Plotting Black Hole

I got sucked into the vortex of printing/plotting today (and worse in the recently past).
Today was only 24 or so sheets.. but we recently printed an entire document set... and had to schedule HOURS of our Team's time to do it.

Our Architecture firm is almost there.
We are about to implement Autodesks ADT 2005.... we've been bumbling along with 3.3 for what seems ages.
This is a mindless plug for Autodesk's newest product... I DON'T WORK FOR THEM.

If you own/use Autodesk ADT 3.3 and have needed to plot a long list of sheets.. get a fresh cup of coffee and begin the tedium.
Anyone else getting sick and tired of printing/plotting?
Having to open every drawing one at a time, tell them (yes I talk to the drawings) the page setup is 'previos plot', and hit print.. is tiresome at best.
Every single drawing, one at a time... for many many sheets.
Woof.

Best solution actually is to either hire a person that's sole responsibility is to print/plot (which I have suggested on more than one occasion) or upgrade to Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005.
With 2005 (provided you use the Project Navigator - and only a fool wouldn't) you can simple pick the sheets to plot, tell them (I will probably always talk to my drawings) which size paper you desire and 'bam'.. DONE... it prints in the background while you keep productive (I can get back to my crossword puzzle).
They call it "automated documentation" or even "file-based collaboration".. but I call it "going home on time".

Camping / Lost in the Woods

Camping was incredible.
We called Sherando Lake Camp Ground about 25-30 Miles out to make sure of directions on the approach... they said they were ALL FULL.
The suggested we try Cave Mountain Lake about 45 minutes away.. and it turned out better!
No crowds (60 tent sites and only 30 or so used).
Cave Mountain Lake was chilly water, but wonderful.
The first evening there was NO ONE at the lake... we swam and played like we were the only ones on the planet!
The lake was surrounded by mountains and thick forest... which is where we camped... walking distance away.
We pitched out tent right on the edge of a stream which my kids played in to hunt (and catch) craw-dads.
We ate most everyone of the little critters they caught (after boiling).
We hiked up a mountain ridge on the second day.
Since the campsite was directly at the base of the ridge, I told them all they could run ahead to the camp.
We broke up into 3 groups.. the kids had to burn some energy.
My wife, carrying our 2yo, followed them and then I was behind that... with our 4 year old.
When I caught up to the 'first' group (4 kids) and asked where 'Mommy' was I got dumb looks.. and concern from my teenager.
I grabbed the boys and headed back up the mountain looking for my LOST WIFE!
We searched for about an hour and headed back to camp.
She had inadvertently taken a side ridge down a separate canyon and gotten lost.
Luckily she followed the stream back to our campsite... sheesh.
She had taken a fall too, but wasn't too badly hurt.
This is the sort of thing you read about in the newspaper - "Woman and child - lost for weeks in the woods".
Thank God it didn't end like so many stories I've read!
All in all it was a great trip... even the Copperhead snake in the dark.
But that's a different story!
:)

Sherando Lake - Virginia

We're heading camping this 4-day weekend (took Friday off)!
I expect we will be rained out totally... And I am sure to tell you all about it when we get back... But we're NOT only going for the sunshiny times.
The sun doesn't always shine and we know that... We learned a long time ago to make the absolute best of every adventure we go on... Rain or shine.
It's memories we're building here.. And they will be good ones if I can help it!
:)

Taylor Guitar

My son bought a Taylor Guitar yesterday.
Solid top beautiful instrument - inconceivably rich sound.
He has learned to play quite well on my wife's guitar (Tanara - basically unknown brand)... but wanted to OWN his own.
He told me it was the most he had ever spent - I knew that already.
It's not the money aspent ($250) that impressed me, but the fact that he had saved diligently and learned to play while he was saving.

Good character - sure wasn't my character when I was 13.
I bought him a case, some replacement strings and some picks.
I figure I will promote any quality character my kids display.

Hang in there kids.. it's a tough world.

Bathroom Camping

Someone is currently camping in the bathroom on our floor.

It's common knowledge that in a multi-story building when you have to do 'business' you always use the floor directly above or below yours... but never your own floor.
So I stepped up to the next level only to find someone has sprayed industrial strength disinfectant into the 6x6 room.
It's an acid fog that burns your eyes as you peek periodically to make sure you are still aimed at the urinal.
Sorry for the details.
Toilet room etiquette is a time honored tradition... some learn slower than others.
The sign still says 'occupied' on our toilet room door.
Camper.
:)

Gouda Cheese

I found a block of Gouda in the Cheese/Luncheon Meat drawer in the frig.
It looked to be a a few months old based on the dark yellow crusty shell and the red waxy edge falling off.
Can Gouda ever go bad?
I mean.. it smells like a butt when you buy it and it smells like a butt when you eat it.. so how do you know?
Sniffing only works for some products.
**
I cut off the majority of the crusties and got down to what appeared to be 'virgin' gouda.
I covered my sandwich with about a 1/4" layer and then finished the Dagwood Sandwich off with the typical stuff.
Well... I ate it a lunch yesterday.
I spend an hour or so in the bathroom last night!
**

--[gory details cut for your protection]--
**
Gouda does go bad... and it lets you know with a vengeance... and it still smells like a butt.
:p

Urinal Candy Bowl

Listen.
I can't stand it any longer so I will blog it and get it off my chest.

There is a candy bowl on our secretary's desk.
Her desk is the first desk you come to once you leave the restroom.
I see guys walking past there and grabbing candy and I have decided that I don't like candy any longer!

Almost no explanation is needed.. but I rant on...

Often when I visit the restroom the sink is DRY... I don't know about you, but a dry sink means one of two things... either the person dried the sink after they washed their hands or... heaven forbid.... didn't wash their hands.

Listen... DON'T PUT A CANDY BOWL ANYWHERE NEAR A URINAL.
:p

Tick Tick Tick

I was on the phone with my dad last night and I kept hearing a 'beep'.
It was exactly every 5 seconds through the entire conversation.
It sounded like some sort of medical beep... you know, the kind you hear in the hospital.
I asked him about it and he said he could hear it also.
I asked him if it could be his phone battery running out... or anything of the like.
Then it hit me...
"DAD", I said.
"When was the last time you had the battery on your pace maker checked?"
He laughed and said that it was doing fine... The 10 year old battery was supposed to conk out after 7 years and had been checked only 2 weeks earlier.
I was skeptical and told him to go get it checked!!!
The beeping sounded like a warning alarm like it was about to cut off... just like my cell phone!
:)

Push ups

I did a hundred pushups with my sons 2 days ago and still can't lift my arms over my head without pain!
The biggest pain is that I used to be able to bang out any number of pushups and recover quickly... I guess all the miles are catching up with me.
Always remember - It's not the years... it's the MILES.

Dog Obedience School

Our dog Skipper has a dominance problem.
I have taken the time to help him see where he stands in the 'pecking order' in our home - the bottom.
Even my littlest tiniest 2 year old can take food out of his mouth and he's obedient and gentle with her.
But when NEW people come over... he has to challenge them in attempt to place them BELOW him on the order.
Akita mix - typical.
Skipper bit a good friend of ours in the face - well NIPPED rather than bit... but it was out of line all the same and he is currently attending dog obedience school.
I am in hopes of driving this natural desire to dominate out of him... but am skeptical... since it didn't work for me.
:)

Booleans Nightmare

DON'T waste your time making polygons and extruding them...
Boolean add-subtract-intersect.
I built an entire 3D model in AutoDesk ADT 3.3 using this technique and though it looks pretty nice... and is accurate.... all the parts are separate. Thousands of separate little boxes!

My boss asked me to change a few things - simple things like move a few windows - and it took me days.
Here's the rub.
If I had used ADT walls and windows... I could have made the changes in a second (fractions of a second with a fresh cup of coffee). But because I used extruded solids, I had to modify every single rectangle/box that connected to the windows (brick, precast, soldier course, recessed panels, sills, headers, etc.)
Don't do it.
Build your models with true ADT elements and then add MASS MODELING only as appropriate.
Appropriate in this case would be a fancy trellis or a custom light fixture.

Follow this link to Chris Yancher's blog (Between the Walls).
It's a great video on the ease of use of ADT 2004/5 for mass modeling.

Frozen Cameras

Note to Self:
When working in Autodesk VIZ 2005 (great 3d program for rendering architectural models), don't put cameras on a frozen layer!
Some days I am quicker to realize my mistakes... Yesterday was not one of those days.
I wasn't watching which layer I was on (my first mistake), which incidentally happened to be frozen.
I was attempting to add a camera to the scene and for some reason... It disappeared as soon as I placed it.
Weird.
And by sheer instinct, instead of looking for a reason... I quickly clicked all over the nearby vicinity and added 14 or so more cameras... All of which were disappearing as I inserted them (actually they never appeared at all).
They didn't show up in the list of pickable/editable items, yet I could switch the active view to them!
It was downright crazy... I had never seen anything like it.
Beau Turner - alias 'VIZ gooroo' .... Listened patiently to my dilemma and then casually looks over my shoulder and says, "perhaps they're on a frozen layer".
I dismissed this immediately.. No one in their right mine would try to place items into the project without first checking their active layer...
... Dang.
He was right.
:)