Fool sets self up

In looking over my website stats, I noticed an unusual number of hits from this website. I noticed how his background image looked suspiciously familiar, so I did a little research (by looking at the source for his home page) and discovered he is linking back to my website for the fractal image that is his background.

Well, this was too good to be true! I merely changed the original fractal image to add some text (click this link to see the altered image) so this guy's friends will know that he was hacked.

What he should have done was copied the image to his own website, and I would not have been the wiser. I don't mind others appropriating my content (otherwise I would not have posted it in the first place), but they should be kind enough not to mooch off my bandwidth.

I hope the grasshopper learns his lesson. Nothing personal, dude.

Weighing in on Windows Vista

OK, being a computer geek, as I am, there is no use resisting the urge to cast my vote concerning the appropriateness/efficacy/coolness (etc., etc., etc.) of the new commercial name for Windows Longhorn. Vista.

I've been hearing about this latest version of the #1 operating system on the planet for several years now (well, more than 3), and like 90% of everyone on the planet (well, computer users, anyway), I've been patiently waiting for my friends at Microsoft to get it done. I say 'friends' because I'd rather have them on my side, than on the other side.

They're late, of course, but in fairness to developers everywhere (of which I am one), they know it has to be right or they probably shouldn't bother. If it ain't right, they'd be much better off not doing it at all. Just think of the publicity, then. Whoof!

Which brings me around to all the buzz and commentary, vis a vis: Windows Vista. Gee, it's really easy to be a target when you're at the top. Nowhere to hide. Your every flaw becomes news. Ask any Hollywood superstar. But I suppose, though, that any publicity is better than none at all. How much fanfare was there when the latest version of the Mac OS was released? Case in point: I can't even tell you the name of the thing. Doesn't it have a silly name, too?

Of course, considering Windows Vista (if I say the phrase fifty times, will it improve my blogospherosity score?) I only care that the damn thing works. I know how hard it is to bullet-proof against the millions of miscreants and idiots out there who get enjoyment out of 1) stealing from you, or 2) making your system do bad things. The first type are thieves. The second type are immature fools, still living in their mom's basement at 32. Of course, I'm over-generalizing. Many of them aren't 32, yet.

My sense is that they could have named it anything (how about Microsoft Everything?) and someone would be poking fun. Many hate Microsoft, but that's mainly out of envy--because it isn't them that's so wealthy and famous.

So, for my money, call it "Microsoft Windows 6 Better Late Than Never". I'll buy it anyway. And so will you.

I'm not allowing comments on this post for 2 reasons. 1) I'm not interested in being flamed, and 2) who really gives a damn, anyway? This is my venue, and my perogative. Post your own opinions in your own blog.

Nuff said.

Disk space "crisis" was non-event

Seems I have a good bit more than 200 MB of available disk space. Like 5000 MB, and 50 GB of monthly bandwidth. I doubt I'll be bumping up against either limit, anytime soon.

So, visit my website all you want. And I will continue to post new house designs and photos, so everyone should be happy.

New house design is posted

For those who may be interested, I finally finished the renderings for "Tract House #6A" and posted the page to my website.

I am also noticing that I may be running close to the disk space limit on my website, and of course, that concerns me mildly. I share the account with two other friends, and apparently we also share the 200 MB space limitation. *Ahem* I know I'm consuming about 140 MB right now. Gee. I hope they don't decide to start posting a bunch of images, or pictures, or such ...

I'm going to look into using Flickr for posting my photographs. It's free (yes, it doesn't cost you a thing) but you are limited to 20 MB of uploads per month. Actually, that's quite a lot, even if each picture is about .5 MB (500K, or so). I think I can live within that limitation, at least for photos. Until recently I hadn't posted many, at all, but I see that changing. Architecture is my interest, and I will definitely be taking pictures of houses.

So, go look at "Tract House #6A (why the 'A'?) and while you're at it, look into news gator and Flickr.

That's all for now. Go. Surf. Be happy.

Real-life design case study progressing

I know I haven't yet posted any pages on this design in progress, but it's been a matter of considering the best approach to presenting it, and of course, having the time to do it. I am tempted to quite literally post the emails we (the future owners and I) have been trading, as this gives the best sense of the process we're going through. I may know how to use the program to model houses, but I have never worked as an architectural designer for anyone. (Well, not quite true. There is a large fire engine garage in southeastern Ohio that I designed when I was in college, but that doesn't particularly count.) My point is that both of us are learning from this exercise, and I am still getting comfortable with the role.

You may be asking about my liability in this venture. Good question. The answer is that I am not producing plans from which they could build. I am not doing any structural design, whatsoever. In fact, I'm not doing any more than typical homeowners would do if they bought the program and did this design work themselves. Our work is only for illustration purposes. Some builder and/or engineer/architect must still look the design over and figure out how to build it.

Some of us have difficulty visualizing things in 3D. Some of us don't. So far I have taken the floor plans that had been done for them (and somewhat incomplete ones, at that), and I have worked on filling in the missing details. They have provided me with photos of materials, as well as links to websites with material images, and I have been using my neophyte skills with Photoshop to massage and adjust the images to make them suitable for importation into the CAD program. It isn't (in theory) that hard to do. So far, so good.

I'm not sure how long this process will take, though I'm certain we don't have unlimited time in which to work. I certainly don't have an unlimited stock of hours in each day. We have a tentative plan in place--we will start with the most costly parts of the house (such as the kitchen) and work our way down from there. We just settled the question of whether we would have a curved stairway up to the second floor, which the homeowners really wanted, but as it turned out, would have caused too much redesign. It wasn't that we couldn't do it, it was that it didn't fit with other things that were (perhaps) more important. I will post the pages; you will see what I mean.

So, all I've done is blogged a couple of pages announcing this process just getting started, and I've spent about 20-25 hours working on the plan. We've just scratched the surface, of course. And we will talk, later, about my motivation for undertaking this project, as I am not accepting money for my efforts.

Stay tuned.

New blog template better than old one ...

Film at 11.

Sometimes the vagaries of the Fates works in our favor. I was happily going along with my brightly colored and simplistic blog layout, and then I noticed that it was misbehaving. Well, long story short, there was a way to fix the layout problem, but instead of going to Blogger and seeing if there was a setting, I shot-gunned the problem and selected a new blog template.

Which, I should add, I like better.

Blog template broken, I punt

Harumph.

A friend informs me that there is a "gap" between my top article heading and the text. In between are the links, archive, and sidebar buttons.

So, in retaliation (and because I don't have the time right now to fix the problem), I change by blog template. I don't particularly like it, but it will do until I can come up with something better.

And, this post is just to inform you all that this happened. TTFN

Just in case you're wondering

I've been busy.

I was working on no fewer than 3 house designs, and adding several pages of house photographs to my website (they are not posted, yet), when someone contacted me and asked if I would help design their house. They said they'd seen the the website and that they were very impressed with my work. They even offered to pay me for my services. I had to decline payment.

I can't accept money for design work. Mainly, I cannot accept liability for anything I might do (or not do, as the case may be). If I produce house plan files and images, anyone is free to use them as they deem appropriate, without warranty or liability. I have never made any representations to the contrary. However, that aside ...

It was very flattering that anyone would think my work worthy. Of course, I happen to like the designs I've done (even some of the old ones have good elements), and because I can afford and have the time and skills to make my own website, I post my work to the wild-and-wooly web for all to see. Lately, quite a few have been visiting my site, it seems. But, back to the subject at hand.

These folks are an older couple (well, older than I am, at least) who have property on the water in Chesapeake Bay. Apparently they were working with an architect who was using Punch (a CAD house design program--a competitor to ART, Inc., who makes HomeDesigner, the program I use), and had produced a design for them. For whatever reason, the architect decided he had better things to do, and left them with an incomplete design. I question that the individual actually was an architect. Clearly, not professional, regardless. The upshot was that they had subsequently purchased HomeDesigner Suite 6.0, and were struggling with modeling their design. You see, it's all about visualizing what you want.

The house they envision would be their retirement dream home, and from what I've seen of the location (via pictures), it should be quite fabulous. The house is to be built on the foundation of another house that has been demolished, and it's basically 25' x 50' on three floors. They are wanting a French Mediterranean style, and are hoping I can help them complete the design. They have a builder and have chosen materials for the walls (http://www.polysteel.com/) and windows (http://www.europeanwindows.com/). They also have ideas for the interior and exterior.

We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I need to get content changes posted to my website. I'm about 2 weeks behind, and I know my audience is waiting ...