Who am I? Fifty Something, never married. MOSDEF of one of the (now multiple) generations that can’t afford to live where I grew up. Trying to go car free, or at least car-lite. Towards that end, here are some pics of me and my bicycles:
Drat!
Note to original poster: You should NOT ask for “pictures” for an introductory post! I did just that, I included 3 pictures. When I clicked on “Reply” to post my reply, it wouldn’t let me - new users are limited to ONE picture (not pictures per post! As the first thing a new user is asked to do is an introductory post, this has presented problems for me.
Not to worry! I made a composite of the three pictures I wanted to post, so I could do so in a single picture:
Sunday is the first bike I bought/rode after about 30 years of my being well described as a “sedentary couch potato.” For you bicycle aficionados reading this, it’s a Bike Friday New World Tourist. I took delivery of it on a Sunday at the house of a bike crazy relative (I had it shipped to him at his job to insure that somebody would be there to accept the parcel). He and I assembled it at his home, and he asked if I was going to name it. With a bit of beer induced whimsey, since the bike company is named for a day of a week, I named it “Sunday” I occasionally get a chuckle when I say to someone: “Sunday is my bike Friday.”
Saturday is my more recently purchased, day to day bike, which, confirming a personal tradition of naming my bikes for days of the week, I’ve christened “Saturday” - again, the day I took delivery… It’s for when I’m doing short trips around town shopping or visiting. Sorry, but I don’t have a picture of me actually ON Saturday!
I still regularly ride Sunday. When my trip is solely for excercise, or planned over 20 miles, or shorter trips with significant hills, I’ll ride Sunday. But Saturday is my most frequent steed.
I’m childless by choice, but I rejoice in my niece.Note this was before Saturday joined my family, so I was still using Sunday for shorter, slower, flatter trips, which is all my niece does! For exercise, she swims almost daily.
What is my industry and profession? Currently? Unemployed by choice (long story). I’ve been a Paramedic, a Systems Administrator, IT Manager, Contractor (as in building trades, not a contracted consultant). My longest stint was being employed by a wholesale electrical supply business, starting in sales and growing into a Jack of Most Trades (I could fill ANY role in the business, except the ones that require grokking double entry bookkeeping!
Although I’m officially unemployed (with rare consultant gigs), what I’m working on is transitioning to living in a Tiny House. Mine’s going to be a Tiny House on Wheels. Major tasks are: Finding a place to build it, building it, finding a place to park it when I occupy it, political work in my city to make Tiny Homes acceptable in multiple zoning classifications, political work in my city to create a new zoning use allowing clusters of Tiny Homes in a village, and, of course, designing it - using SketchUp!
Which answers the Where do you use SketchUp? question. Given my intended transition to Tiny Living, I’m going paperless wherever possible. But my overriding reason for first finding, then starting to use SketchUp, is that I can’t draw worth s**t! So it was CAD or paying someone else to do it!
**How proficient am I in SketchUp? ** I’d have to say I’m a beginner, headed steadily towards intermediate. But I have already created my first dynamic component! I’m not willing to share it (yet) because it’s a rudimentary model of a commercially available piece of multi-use (and configuration) furniture, and I want to contact the manufacturer to see if they’d be willing to pay me to make it a really tricked out, realistic component as a sales tool. The product is a perfect match for Tiny Homes, and I know a LOT of Tiny Home DIY builders who are using SketchUp to plan their build. My pitch to the manufacturer will be: Having a branded SketchUp component will increase your sales into the Tiny Home market.
Have I gone to a SketchUp 3DBasecamp? Not yet, but I’ll be signing up for the June 2016 3DBasecamp (and Bootcamp) in Steamboat Springs, CO before the day ends! I hope to meet some of you there.
What is my current set up? I’ve got a fairly high end Lenovo ThinkPad in a docking station. I multi-task in almost everything I do, so at home, I use it with THREEE screens (two external and the internal screen), full size keyboard, trackball, USB scanner and backup drive… SketchUp Pro 2016. And SketchUp View on my new Pixel C Android Tablet - which I’ve already found useful in some of my building material research (I visit local showrooms and supply houses to learn more about my choices, and being able to show a visualization of how I’m planning to use the products often makes things go MUCH faster!)
In preparation for 3DBasecamp, I’m going to start using SketchUp on the bare laptop. And the more I use SketchUp at my desk, where I’m frequently switching between the trackball and the keyboard, the more I suspect that I’ll transition to using SketchUp primarily on the bare laptop. Why? I chose the Lenovo ThinkPad because I HATE touchpads! My first laptop was an IBM with the TouchPoint pointer nestled in the triangle created by the G, H, and B keys, and I became accustomed to being able to point without my hands moving off of the classic typists “home” position. Since then, save for one disastrous purchase of an off-brand laptop, I’ve stayed with laptops that have the TouchPoint. Which, since TouchPoint is patented, means IBM or it’s successor, Lenovo, laptops only. I suspect that, despite the small size of the screen, this will accelerate my work in SketchUp.
Do I have a 3DW page with your models, Extensions, or a website I would like to link to or show off to the community on this forum? Not yet. Once my Tiny Home design is closer to complete in Sketchup, I may start one. And I will definitely start one if I should morph into an (occasionally paid) dynamic component developer.
Anything else I’d like to tell y’all? Yes, a few tidbits:
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I started using “Y’all” in 2013. That’s the year I stopped working by choice, and spent 5 months driving around the country, eventually meeting almost 70 old Twitter friends face to face! By the time I left the South, “Y’all” was cemented in my vernacular.
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I tend to get into WAY too much detail, at least from the POV of those I interact with. (This should now be self-evident from the length of this post!) It’s a function of how my mind works - I can’t help but dig into details of something that interests me (hence my calling myself a beginner at SketchUp despite having quickly created a dynamic component.)
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As a consequence, I’ve evolved into a consummate Devil’s Advocate. I can usually see all sides to a problem and can argue any POV, even if I don’t share it.
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My father was the same way. He was an Electrical Engineer, specializing in working with large electromagnets (think of particle accelerators.) At his retirement party, his co-workers gave him a plaque which describes his: “Notorious Engineering Ability to Find Problems With Any Known Solution” - In this, I am most certainly my father’s son.
Occasionally, I’m able to recognize that I’m giving TMI. Now is one of those times. I could add a lot more, but in the interests of brevity (in my personal framework), I’ll end here.
What’s your favorite emoji? The one that wasn’t used! Talk people - it’s not that hard!
Do you enjoy long walks on the beach? No. Watching a nice sunset from the beach - sure. I just don’t enjoy removing sand from my clothes, so I keep my exposure short.
Hope to meet many of you both in these forums and at Basecamp!
Steve