Colorado is having a hot dry summer and the wildfires are big.
Another fire called the Grizzly Creek fire has closed I-70 though Glenwood Canyon. This is a massive disruption of a very busy interstate. The detour route is 284 miles on mostly 2 lane highway mountainous roads. Oh mylanta!
Went for an easy 1.5 hour ride though Mancos and out into the farm roads around town. It has been hot and dry during the day lately so an early morning ride in cooler air was very nice.
Part of writing is editing. Sometimes what you are writing is not working. Maybe the subject its too sensitive or awkward. Personally I start writing a number of posts that either end up in my Drafts folder forever, or I just sent them to the trash.
The Move to trash button in WordPress is a metaphor for crumbling up a page and tossing it in the trash bin. While the computer lets us do endless and perfect edits sometimes a peice is just not ready to be written or published. In those cases I just hit this and start a new post.
We rode into town to split a breakfast burrito at the local bakery. We also split a side of hash browns and it was glorious. There is some smoke in the air from at least one of the four major files raging in Colorado at the moment. 100% of the state is in drought conditions and it doesn’t look like things are going to let up anytime soon.
Building a house involves a lot of steps. There is financing a construction loan, getting the design we want, and finding the various contractors we need to build the thing. If we are going to be our own General Contractor then we need to get organized and stay organized.
Since we both work in technology it makes sense that we use software to manage this project. We have been talking about what to use for about a week when it dawned on us that we should use Jira. Kate uses Jira on a daily basis at her work and, while I don’t currently use it at mine, it is used and I should learn it.
The cool thing is that Jira has a free version which allows for up to 10 users. Considering none of the contractors we are considering even have a website we are pretty sure Kate and I will be the only users. So last night we started up personal accounts and got to work.
I should say that Kate got to work as she actually knows how to use Jira. If you are not familiar with Jira it is project management software used by a lot of software developers. While we aren’t developing software, and won’t be using the Agile features, we will have a number of tasks that we need to keep track of. Jira is probably overkill for what we need but its free and as I mentioned we both already have various levels of exposure to it at each of our work places.
Currently the Design project is the main focus but as we progress we are going to have a builder handling the foundation, walls, and roof. There is going to be an excavator handling the basement dig and the trenching for the Primary and Secondary electrical wiring. There will be a plumber, electrician, insulation, roofer, dry wall, painter, finishing, and landscaping to name a few. Each of those are going to have their own bids, schedules, materials, change orders, etc.
During the entire project we are going to be in contact with the bank issuing funds for each stage. We will need to keep track of expenses and make sure everything matches up. Basically we are going to be running a small business for 6 to 8 months, on top of our regular jobs. The good news is that we work from home and will be living on the job site. Its going to be work and staying organized with Jira is going to help a lot.
We went for a nice ride this morning before it got hot. We did a nice easy 23 mile loop to town and around on some dirt farm roads. We stopped at our local coffee shop just over halfway for some iced coffee and peach tarts. It was a lovely day and we talked about the house project almost non stop.
For the last week I have been taking it a little easier than normal. I have not ridden my bike at all. I have skipped a lot of days of the August Burpee challenge. This is because I had a sore throat and generally that leads to getting sick. With a pandemic going on I am not interested in getting sick and having to visit a hospital.
So I listened to my pal Al and have taken it easy. At least with physical activity. We are still pushing ahead with the home building project. We have been reading various books on construction, finding a designer, talking with our excavator, reaching out to builders, and getting the construction wrapped up on our cabin.
The good news is that I am feeling much better and we are planning to go for a bike ride tomorrow. My throat feels pretty much back to 100% but I don’t want to rush anything. Somtimes you just gotta take it easy.
The Grassland house project is underway! We had a great Zoom call with a designer/structural engineer this morning for over an hour. Based on the call we are going to move forward with him and his team to get architectural drawings of the house fully designed over the next few weeks. At the end of the process we will have what we need to begin engaging various contractors to get the home built. On top of that we will also have 3D renderings and a walk-through of the entire home.
For 2 months now we have been spinning our wheels looking for house plans that fit what we want. We have also taken a stab at making our own drawings. Over the course of that time we have not made much progress, and in fact were becoming disillusioned with the entire ordeal.
The biggest decision was that we are going to be our own General Contractor or GC. This means we are going to have to be much more involved and that we need to step up our construction knowledge a bit. While we don’t need to know how to setup a concrete form we are going to need to know when one needs to be setup.
The good news is that we are going to be living on the job site. This means we will be talking with the various contractors everyday. We will be checking on progress daily and asking questions and checking budgets. Its going to be a lot of work but its also going to be our home so it will be worth it.
Currently we have invested in 4 books to help bring us up to speed:
Between those books and the designer we feel really good about how things are heading now. We are already talking with our excavator, who built the road and septic system, about digging out a basement. Next steps will be finding a builder to get the basement, walls, and roof up. From there we will get electricians and plumbers. Then drywall and finishing. It almost sounds easy but the truth is that this is the largest most expensive project of our lives. Its gonna be awesome!
The internet is great, you can find information about anything. The internet is terrible, you can find information about anything. On one hand having access to all this information is great it can also be overwhelming and filling with bad information. What is someone to do when looking for accurate and helpful information about what to buy?
Personally I enjoy using the Wirecutter to figure out what I should buy. This year alone I have used them to find my lawnmower, string trimmer (that’s a weed eater for those of you from the Mitten state), and other various tech or home items. They are a different type of review site than most because they start the review with what they would buy.
Most review sites will make you read through an article only to find that they recommend a lot of various products. This may be because they are advertiser driven and they don’t want to alienate a product that is paying their rent. Other sites want to promote everything to get as much affiliate revenue as they can.
While the Wirecutter does have affiliate links they decided early on that they would tell you what they would buy. They usually have a few other options like a cheaper one or more expensive one in case you have certain needs. The model has been very successful for them leading to the New York Times purchase of them in 2016.
The site is also well done and easy to navigate on desktop and mobile. If you are looking to purchase something I recommend starting there. They don’t always have a review for what I need, and sometimes they don’t select the best item. However most of the time I am able to at least learn more about a certain product to help inform my decision process.
Hey it’s definitely better than going by Amazon’s choice or reviews.
For a couple of months now Kate and I have been planning on building a house. We started off thinking we would design something from scratch with the assistance of a builder. This process has created some frustrating moments mainly because neither of us are builders, or designers. It turns out that there are a lot of considerations when building a home.
Recently we went back to the drawing board and by drawing board I mean we started looking at house plans. This has been really helpful in identifying what we like and don’t like. From that we have settled on a ski chalet type design with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full unfinished basement, and an attached garage.
The next step we are taking is educating ourselves about home building. We ordered a number of books to read and have started watching various Youtube videos. One series of videos that I have found especially helpful is the Spec House series from Essential Craftsman.
Scott Wadsworth is the Essential Craftsman and is a builder/jack of many trades in Oregon, USA. In the Spec House series they have put together a lot of material about building a home that they plan on selling, hence a speculative house. It isn’t until the 27th video that they start talking about plans.
In that video they work with a draftsman to help them refine their initial design. Scott mentions how you can work with any draftsman as the principles are universal. That got me thinking that we should reach out to a number of drafting/designers to find one that we like best. So I have been reaching out to a number of them.
My attitude on building a home has shifted to how I work with designers on a website. I don’t have to work with a web designer who is physically close to me. In fact I haven’t met a designer in person in over 2 years. I think the reason this took so long to dawn on us is that we are novices when it comes to construction.
However we are not novices when it comes to project management. Kate especially, she used to run the ERP system for an aerospace manufacturer. What is also helping is that we are learning more about the various roles involved:
Some roles can be played by the same person/contractor, but all are required to get the final product we want. First things first is we need to get a plan finalized then we start filling in the other positions. Learning the vocabulary and processes will also be important when building begins. While we aren’t looking to micro manage things we are going to keep things moving forward.
I have been using WordPress since 2003 when it first became WordPress. I don’t say this to brag in anyway. My usage of WordPress as a blogging tool has been terrible but I am working on being better. One of the main reasons I use WordPress is because I can get it to work, and it keeps working.
I am bringing this topic up because Dave Winer was bashing on WP yesterday. Dave is a developer and has been involved with making some impressive stuff like RSS. He doesn’t like WP because it doesn’t match with his style of blogging.
Dave posts to his blog in a stream of conscious manner and he does it well. I read his site almost everyday because he has good content that I find useful.
However from reading about how his blog is setup I am pretty sure it would take me a long time to get the same thing working. I would learn a lot of new things about technology that might be helpful, but I would not be blogging until I got it figured out and working.
People ask me all the time to help them get a website setup. The first thing I ask them is what they want to put on the website. They want to talk about the tech but the content is way more important. You can have the most technically up to date site but if the content sucks no one will care.
With WordPress I can setup a site in minutes and show anyone how to start posting within 10 more minutes. It isn’t perfect but it works and allows people to publish their own thoughts online for anyone to read. That is the focus I think we should all have in online publishing.
If there is another tool that is easier to setup and teach someone to use then I am all for it. Till then I am gonna keep on keepin on with WP.
I mentioned yesterday feeling a little under the weather. I woke up a few days ago with a sore throat and knew something was not right. Naturally I went to the CDC website for Covid-19 to do a self check, and it told me to stay home and get rest. So there is some comfort that I probably do not have the ‘rona, but its still in the back of my head.
So I am chillin with Kate, the dogs, and Netflix. I mentioned the show Dark yesterday and am gonna binge watch it. I already got the plants watered and walked the dogs, to their dog run.
Sometimes you just gotta hit pause and get better.
Every so often I remind myself why fiction is so important for living. I think part of the reason I forget is because I have become numb to the sheer amount of fiction available. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Audible I could easily fill my day living in stories.
In the last few months I have not been as into fiction. The pandemic certainly has a part to play. Right now truth is much stranger than any fiction anyone could imagine. First I went for biographies, then history, and lately its been philosophical journalism. Oh and news, lots of news. Too much news.
My sister has been talking about the Netflix show Dark for a few weeks if not months. I had tried it a little while ago but it was the English dubbed version and I cannot handle dubbed shows. The lips not matching makes it look like they mis-synched the audio to the video and I cannot stop seeing that. Anyway I started watching the show yesterday evening and its really friggin good.
Dark is a Netflix series that initially came out in 2017 and is a German production. Hence the dubbed version. The good news is you can change it to subtitles, or if you know German just watch the show I guess. The show deals with families and time travel and its awesome.
So far the show reminds me a little of The Americans and Stranger Things. It has the American’s feel for me due to the different culture setting(USSR/Gemany), and all the lies! It feels like Stranger Things cause a lot of the story involves teenage children and its sci-fi/scary. The combo is really great and while I just compared it to 2 other shows it is totally original and stands on its own.
All 3 shows blend a little bit into real history, mainly the Cold War in the 80’s. While the first 2 shows are set in 1980’s USA, the historical focus in Dark deals the aftermath of Chernobyl. So far I am only 6 episodes in but there have been a number of references to Chernobyl, and in the fictional town of Winden the Nuclear Power Plant plays a major role.
Overall the show is a bit darker than Stranger Things with suicide making an early appearance. The tone is also much more adult and serious than ST.
One of the reasons I have also been watching the show is because I have been a little under the weather. Some combination of exercise, yard work, and planning a house have put me on my butt the last couple of days. So I have been Netflix and chill. Also the world is a crazy place right now and watching some crazy fiction has helped distract me.
Well that completes the 100 days of blogging challenge for me. It has been a lot of fun and I am going to try to keep the daily blogging going. The helpful part that I remind myself is that this is a hobby activity and is more for me than anyone else. Thanks for playing along and I am looking forward to some more challenges!