First Steps

OK, so today I made the first move toward my oblivion. I have ordered a PC. Yes. A PC. Me. A lifelong MAC man. Had to. The CAD program I want will only run on an Apple computer if I install a conversion program and load Windows 7. Too much hassle and probably too glitchy.
So.............. ya wanna know what I got? Do ya care? Do I care if you care? It's easy to answer a question with a question when there's no one available to berate me. Here's what I got:
Just a few borings- Intel Quad core i7-950
6 Gb RAM
1Tb hard drive
1 Gb video card
Liquid cooled

lots of other borings I will not drill you with...............
I am considering two ASUS 23" LED monitors-
After I run some trial CAD programs, I'll decide which to buy- as of now, I'm leaning toward Chief Architect (if for no other reason at least I've seen this in action).
FYI: As of today I have christened my as yet non-existent company "Boettcher Design" and will accept any and all donations to the cause for my future celebrity in the world of CAD system desk junkies. If I fall on my face and this project dies with me, at least Amy's artistic talent will enable her to create a beautiful cadaver outline on the office floor. I'm sure she'd sell it for a discount.

New Career?

Get this: I am more than toying with and less than certain that I will be entering my old '70's brain into the 21'st century of Computer Assisted (or aided) Drafting. After (and during- I'm still building) contracting residential projects for 25 years I feel- and have been reminded- that I'm not Superman any more and my construction expertise needs to find a new level. The world at large doesn't need another 50 something know it all carpenter working at a hardware store, a lumberyard or Walmart, and I can't be saddled with a 9 to 5 and still visit my grand kids a dozen times a year, so the only logical step is to get back to my roots and start drawing house plans again. However.......... nobody draws house plans. The days of drawing with a Pentel .o4, a T-square, a 45 degree triangle, a 30/60/90 triangle (for isometric), an eraser, an erasing shield, velum, eraser shavings to keep the plan smudge free and a horse hair brush to clean them off, a triangular scale, an architectural template for door swings, toilets and bathtubs, masking tape.. you get the drift... are gone. Today it's all on computer. The prints look like it. Not much artistic flair. OK. I'm done. I am not about to say something about the good old days. You know- when men were men. When you'd pull your hair out if the client didn't like the first draft. When the eraser was your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. When fatigue affected your line work. When you had to draw the same damn wall section for every single plan. I could go on but I choose not to.
This is not a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". It's more like " I could do that!". Though I'm not any kind of computer wizard, I can usually figure things out eventually what with my new found OCD gene. I work with CAD plans all the time now, I visit a young lady who draws (there's a laugh) for my lumber company and she freely educates me on CAD drafting, I build houses from the prints and can spot an anomaly a mile away, and on occasion I've been asked to aid CAD designers to correct their roof designs.
Look, I know more about building a house than nearly anybody. I have to deal with the practical application of every house plan that comes by. I know what's lacking on these prints, and the problems are more related to omission than error. I can also offer structural information that a drafts person would not know- steel beam load calculations, bearing points, trib loads, torsion, shear, bending, lateral wind pressure calcs, header span limitations, joist spans and proper sizing, live load. Dead load. Heat loss calcs- u-factor r-value, infiltration, air exchange rates................
I could go on and on (as I have), but the bottom line is that I know what needs to be presented in a set of plans. I know builders and home owners would like more information, and I have that information. All I need to do is to study these mechanical drafting programs, get tutored, work hard, learn the system required to get the information on the screen and then it's a cake walk. (not exactly). Why? Because I already have all the answers. All I need to do is learn how to present them on a computer screen and sell them to the consumer. Wish me luck. T.

Isaac Glen Evans

This is a belated first look at my second grandson, Isaac, with mom and dad. I would round out the redundancy chart if I posted that which you can already find on Sarah's blog, so, to see more of him, and Alex, his big brother, visit her blog. If you're one of the two humans reading this, you already know how.

Russia 2010

Has anyone really looked at what's going on in Russia? 100 degree heat in Moscow, raging fires smoking out the city, 700 deaths a day, possible radioactive dust within the smoke (thank you Chernobyl)................ Thank God Three Mile Island is contained (or is it?).

Journalistic Waste

Last night I spent some time watching CNN, and I caught part of an interview with the guy (idiot) picked up in Pakistan with a pistol, a sword, night vision equipment and a mind to find (and I presume kill) Osama Bin Laden. Thirty seconds into his rant crystallized his state of mind. He couldn't stay on track within even a single sentence. Crackpot. Wacko. Not even worthy of print in a tabloid. It escapes me how a non story like this warrants air time on a (once) respected news outlet. It's not like we've been having slow news days lately (oil, Afghanistan). For me, I'd rather the authorities let him continue his mission without publicity. Giving international credence to a job like him draws into question the professionalism of American journalism. With the world view of the United States as it stands today, stories like this guarantee to provide ammunition to bring us even lower in their eyes. I have to wonder- what were they thinking?

A long drought

I haven't even looked at this site since......... April? A lot going on and little thought of blogging. Well, I am putting forth more effort now and plan to twist my mind once again. Look for new stuff and be sure to let me know you're hungry for my diatribes to re-emerge. T.

Still dingbats? I need to know how to re-do posts. I changed font............