I have posted a few pictures in a couple different sets on Flickr if you would like to check it out. Below is the birth announcement I made using Inkscape.

Annoying Webpage

Oh, as far as the “How To” part goes, just follow these simple steps when building a webpage:

1. Use ugly, clashing colors
2. Integrate pop-ups as much as possible
3. Includes sounds that play automatically
4. Be sure to include some sort of animated text
5. Create a MySpace page in lieu of steps 1-4

1. The terms multiplicand and multiplier
   For those of you who don’t remember or were never taught these terms, multiplicand refers to the first number in a line of multiplication and the multiplier is the second. i.e. in 2×3=6, 2 is the multiplicand and 3 is the multiplier. These terms are useless since multiplication is commutative, and, therefore, it doesn’t matter which number is first. Also, once you are past the 3rd or 4th grade you will never hear these terms again anyway.
2. Plasma as a fourth state of matter
   I know plasma is a fourth state of matter (Bose-Einstein condensate and fermionic condensate are a fifth and sixth according to Wikipedia), but for some reason it was only mentioned in an elementary science class and never again, and I think it’s because no one really understands it. When I took chemistry and materials science in college we did phase change diagrams without even mentioning plasma as a fourth option, just solid, liquid, and gas. If I didn’t need to know it at that level then I definitely didn’t need to learn about it as a 5th grader.
3. I before E except after C
   This just simply gets you in a lot of trouble since there are so many exceptions.

First off it’s not technically my computer since it actually belongs to Walnut Creek of Thomasville. I am just using it to do work at home with a program called MacDraft which, believe it or not, is not available for the PC unless you get PCDraft, but I’m not getting into all that.

With my previous Mac experience being somewhere between zero and “didn’t I use something like that back in the early 90′s when it was called Macintosh?” I wasn’t sure what to expect. I will say the first couple days have been a positive experience. So far I’ve clicked about every icon on the dock, and learned enough about the system settings to set up accounts, mount a windows network share, and make some other simple changes (background, screensaver, etc…).

So far … one of the best features … the keyboard … one of the worst … the keys. I’ll explain a little further.

I love the keyboard – probably my all time favorite. Aside from the obvious cool sleek look which you’d expect from a Mac, the touch is the best I’ve ever felt. Keyboard touch is a big deal to me, and it may be in my head, but I feel that I can type faster, and in general get a lot more done with a good feeling keyboard. The keys need to take a minimal force to press, yet there needs to be a definite break point where the keystroke has been made. A stiff, hard to press keyboard is obviously no good, but those without that distinct keypress feel are no good either. The sweet, silver and white iMac keyboard just hits the sweet spot.

I don’t like the keys. Maybe I just need to learn a little more about them, but many of the keys on the Mac keyboard do not behave the same as they do on their PC counterpart. This is a big deal for me since I’m an extensive keyboard user as opposed to an excessive mouse clicker. Keyboard shortcuts really speed up your workflow, when you can seamlessly call up a feature without moving your hand over to the mouse and back.

For example, the home and end keys just seem totally messed up. On a PC, when editing text, home takes you to the beginning of a line and end takes you to the end. However, on the Mac, home takes you to the beginning of a document and end to the end but it does not change your cursor position. I’m not sure why one would do that but I’m ok with it if there was a replacement for the Windows function of home and end. I read on one message board to hold command and the left and right arrow keys. This only halfway works. For instance in Firefox, where I am now typing this post using WordPress, if I press command + right arrow it takes me to the end of a line, but command + left arrow takes me back to the previous page. That makes no sense to me. There are some other issues including the two keys labeled delete when one is really backspace. Also, does the keyboard really need shift, control, option/alt, fn, and command? How many qualifiers do the other keys need? For a company that appears to stress simplicity in its products this seems out of place. These things may seem trivial, but they have really hindered my workflow.

As much as I may grow to like the Mac I know I can never fully switch for one simple reason: applications. I am, for now, tied to the PC since there are many applications I use which have no viable alternative on the Mac. One is AutoCAD, and another is Chief Architect. CAD is not a strong point of the Mac which is odd since that is the reason (MacDraft) I am even using a Mac in the first place. From what I’ve seen so far MacDraft‘s capabilities pale in comparison to AutoCAD, and I am only using it because a supplier for Walnut Creek requires it. There is a reason AutoCAD is the industry standard: it is the best. I also use engineering evaluation software which is only available for the PC, and have not even checked into alternatives.

The great thing about the Mac is its ability to handle media. I have not had enough time to experiment with it, but I hope to report more later. I did easily manage to hook up my digital camera and import the image above into iPhoto, resize it, then upload it to Flickr without any real problems. Most things are very intuitive even for a Windows user except for those stinking keys.

P.S. And why, when navigating the file system, does pressing enter attempt to edit the folder or file name instead of opening it?

Why does Radio Shack ask you for your phone number when you buy batteries? I don’t know. – Kramer

Aunt Frances’ Lemonade via Taste of Home.

A search for pre-manufactured overhead storage products did not turn up anything useful for my situation. There are some solutions, but none were anywhere near the size I was looking for. I wanted a single shelf to run across the length of the back wall of my garage. Most store bought suspended shelves are too small and too square, and I needed something over 24′ long, but only about 20″ deep so I decided to make it myself out of steel and medium density fiberboard (MDF). Plywood or OSB could also be used, but the MDF has a nice smooth splinter-free finish that doesn’t need to be painted.

I ordered 1″x1″x1/8″ steel angle and 1″x1/8″ steel plate to construct the frame. You can buy this steel at a home center, but the local stores weren’t stocked with the 20′ lengths I wanted (I think 8 or 10 feet was the max.). I was fortunate enough to be able to order it at work through one of our steel suppliers, but I’m sure if you look around you can find a source. Steel is available unfinished as well as in a galvanized zinc finish (the zinc plated steel I saw was also a much lighter gauge). The zinc doesn’t require painting and won’t rust, but it is much more expensive. I used the unfinished steel and painted it. The MDF was purchased at Lowes in 4′X8′x3/4″ sheets and ripped to width to make the shelf. For fastening the steel framed together I used 1/4″ diameter bolts available at any hardware store. The shelves were fastened to the frame with 6-32 machine screws which are also readily available. The entire assembly was screwed to the ceiling with 1/4″ lag screws.

The dimensions of the steel frame were determined by the width of my garage, the size of boxes I would be storing, and the depth of shelf I wanted. I ripped each 4×8 sheet into (5) approx. 19″ wide x 4′ long pieces. These dimensions maximized the shelf depth while minimizing waste.

Here’s a typical section showing where the steel was used.

After taking careful measurements I cut the steel using a cut off wheel attached to an angle grinder. A side note: be careful and wear proper protection when using power tools. An electric drill and bit made for steel were used to make holes for all the connections. Rip the MDF to width with a table saw or circular saw & straight edge. Drill all holes and test fit everything before continuing. You don’t want to realize you need another hole when you’re up on the ladder trying to put it together and everything is already nicely painted. When everything fits together easily mark each piece so you can put it back together after you take it apart to paint, making sure the marks will still be readable after it’s painted. I etched small nicks in the steel with the cut off wheel.

After all the fabrication is done, clean the steel to removed any oily residue providing a good bonding surface for the paint. Also, remove any burrs or rough spots with grinder. Allow the steel to dry thoroughly, and begin with a steel primer. I topped mine with two coats of satin black enamel which produced a nice clean finish.

With the length of shelf I made it was easiest to assemble it piece by piece. Make sure when attaching it to the ceiling that each screw is anchored into a ceiling joist. Use a stud finder to locate solid wood. As with any time you drill holes in walls, floors, or ceilings, be careful not to puncture any wiring, plumbing, gas, etc…

I don’t have any shots of the installation process, but here’s one before anything was put up.

I ended up building two shelves in my garage as you can see below. One was in front of the soffit and one below. I can walk under the lower shelf without hitting my head while still being able to reach it without a ladder. It has added a significant amount of storage space while allowing the floor space below to remain available. Note: the shelves are finished in this picture, but the garage reorganization process is not, hence, the other stuff in the photo.