Cad Camp

I've signed up for Cad Camp in SF, this coming Thursday, and I'm all aflutter.

I like Cad Camps even though I'm not sure that its an opportunity to learn that much in detail. The format, I guess, is simply to let Autodesk demonstrate newer products and there isn't much detail that you can get in to. There is probably more to be gained from questioning the experts in between presentations and quizzing the other attendees.

OK. Now what ...

So, I've officially Mastered Civil 2010 ...

I'm going to go through the fun process of taking the most complex InRoads at my last place of employment using NJDOT deign guidelines and convert it to a Civil 2010 project using Caltrans design guidelines. (and of course for good measure I've have to do a Caltrans InRoads version too, since it it their preferred format).

Should be interesting.

No News ...

An observation, but probably a criticism also.

I'm looking at a news report in the Chronicle on Commissioner Paula Daniels proposals for legislation to force builders to mitigate stormwater run-off; the report looks like this.

Los Angeles may try to rein in storm runoff by having builders capture it.
More Bay Area News

A proposal making its way through committee would require new homes, larger developments and some redevelopment projects to collect and reuse rainwater or build systems to filter it.

Commissioner Paula Daniels — who authored the proposal — says it would prevent 104 million gallons of polluted storm runoff from reaching the sea. She hopes it will be approved this year and take effect in 2011.

Builders would have to deal with all the runoff from a storm that drops three-quarters of an inch of rain or pay a mitigation fee of $13 a gallon.

The ordinance has won approval from the Department of Public Works.

And that is all the news that's easily accessible. Every one of the dozens of news reports into this story is simply a recycled version of the Associated Press' content, with slightly different font and formatting.

Are there no journalists any more? Does the profession of journalism consist simply of ctrl-c and ctrl-v?

Mastering

I was looking for something to use as practice and reference to make sure my Autodesk Civil familiarity was at the same level as my Bentley InRoads skills, and Mastering Civil 2010 seemed to get some good reviews.

Just working through it from page 1 to page 900, following examples and cross referencing with the online best practices shipped with the product, and so far it seems I've been using the software pretty much as intended.

Still not sure how exactly it shapes up to InRoads, an likely won't know for sure, at least until I get to use the product in anger on live projects.

But I'm feeling pretty confident in working with it, and looking forward to Autodesk's One Day CAD Camp, coming up in a few weeks.

inspiratonal ... ??? asprational ... ???

Well ... we're coming up to the end of the year

A break away from work, and pretty much away from engineering, in order that my wife and I can do the fun and interesting things in our newly adopted home.

Very nice indeed.

We feel we know the new place, and, we feel we're ready to get back into the lives of productive citizens rather than the freewheeling bohemians we've become. In the next few months there will be some significant changes.

I have engineering research to do, job research to do and an inquiring brain to restart.

No regrets. It's now coming up for the new year. Let's go.

Blast from the Past

I just found the model I built for my Computer Applications class.



I think i might run off some animated sequences over the next day or two.