Low Cost Structural Drafting and Detailing

Structural drafting is a genuine structural engineering service that is most widely used in construction industry nowadays. It has the potential to rule construction industry as it offers generous of benefits and strong applications for users.



Sample of structural Drafting Services

Structural drafting perform various dimensional calculations and estimations prior to crafting building designs

Ideate Explorer 2011 released

I had an email from Ben Bishop from Ideate yesterday to say they have released an updated version of their successful Ideate Explorer Application for Revit 2011. If you haven’t seen Ideate explorer take a look here….

http://www.ideateexplorer.com/index.php

A trial version can be downloaded from:-

http://www.ideateexplorer.com/trial.php

By far the coolest feature is the ability to export your saved searches to Microsoft Excel.

 

Driver Version xxx.xx stopped responding and has successfully recovered

I have been receiving this message a lot when running Revit 2011 on a Dell Latitude with 8gigs of ram, Windows & (64bit) and a Nvidia v3100m graphics card.

Display Driver Nvidia Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version xxx.xx stopped responding and has successfully recovered

What normally happens, is that I will be happily working away in Revit 2011 then suddenly the screen with go black; a little disconcerting; next a message box will appear in the bottom left had corner of the screen with the above message. Revit doesn’t crash, but you do notice that the graphics will be rather sluggish. A save and restart of Revit resolves the problem. It would seem that this crash is as intended, even though very annoying, this statement refers to something called a TDR. A TDR or Timeout Detection and Recovery is a feature that attempts to detect problematic situations and recover to a functional desktop automatically. This feature first appeared in Windows Vista, but it tries to keep the OS going without freezing the PC and forcing a restart.

One issue is that this particularly laptop does not have certified graphic card drivers, it certainly doesn't appear on the Autodesk graphic card list. I have tried drivers from the Nvidia website, but this hasn’t helped. So after a bit of digging around on the internet last night, it was suggested that if you turned off the Windows 7 icandy and actually run in Windows classic mode it would stop the issue. I have been trying this for the 12 hours now and so far……the issue hasn’t returned.

Developing some wisdom about the weather

A foggy morning at 63rd Street beach. The breakwall 100 feet to the right is invisible. (Photo by Lyn Stone.)

   This has been a season of extreme weather. We've had torrential downpours, heat waves, gale-force winds and thick fog--sometimes all in the course of 24 hours.
   Paddlers need to pay attention to the weather, but looking at the all-purpose local forecast is rarely enough. We start there, but then we turn to a combination of regional radar, marine forecast, nearby weather reporting stations, and good old-fashioned observation to get a more sophisticated sense of what conditions we'll experience on the water.
   Some of these sources are easy to identify. In our area, they include:

• The Weather Underground forecast for the Chicago Lakefront.
  
• The regional radar that shows what might be coming.
• The near-shore marine forecast.
• The current and recent conditions reported at the Harrison Street crib, for what is actually happening on the lake.
  
• The Great Lakes wave forecast.
• The model of projected fronts and temperature gradients that suggests how the weather may look up to 5 days out.
  

   We've also acquired a small library of books that help us understand the weather and decode the evidence around us.

Five of our favorite weather books.

  These sources are only as useful as the context you put them in, however. We compare what they suggest to what actually happens, and over time we're developing a pretty good ability to know what's coming and get off the water in time if it's something bad.

Ominous clouds.

Another afternoon when we got off the water before the storm hit--this time with 70-plus-knot-winds.

Mastering Revit Architecture 2011 arrives

My copy of Mastering Revit Architecture 2011 arrived this morning ( a big thanks to James, Eddie and Phil as well as Peter at Wileys). If you have not seen this book and you are new or even a seasoned Revit user, you need this book! What Eddie, Phil and James have included in terms of depth and breath of knowledge makes it an essential book to have on your desk. What makes this book even more important is that it is Official Autodesk Training material and it will prepare you for everything you need to undertake the Autodesk  Certified Associate and Professional level exams.

James approached me a few months back to contribute to this publication and has been a honour to be able to do so, to what is by far the best Revit book ever. Don’t believe me? Get a copy, you will not be disappointed. :-)

How NOT to Pack a Kayak, Part II

A couple of months ago I posted this short Youtube clip about a fellow that exercised poor judgement in their approach to kayak packing. Well, after seeing a photo on Lee's blog, apparently they are in good company. Head over to the link for the second instalment in the developing series of how not to pack your boat.

The Eisenhower Canal, at last!

The Eisenhower Expressway (left) and the Eisenhower Canal (right).

   For years, the Illinois Department of Transportation has been threatening to widen the Eisenhower Expressway (I290), and local residents have been arguing that it would be better to extend public transportation. We strongly support the idea of more trains and fewer cars, but we've always dreamed of a canal between our home and downtown Chicago. Imagine water taxis taking commuters to and from work. Imagine Venetian-style gondolas at night. Best of all, imagine paddling downtown in our kayaks!
   Yesterday our dream nearly came through. Oak Park, where live, got 7.89 inches of rain in 24 hours,  flooding the Eisenhower (which was closed to traffic for several hours) and creating a lovely canal around the train tracks.

Another view of the canal (photo courtesy of Lyn Stone).

Water access and guerilla landings

Adam Goss, of Spirit of Space, talks with Alec about paddling in Chicago.

   Yesterday, we agreed to participate in a video for a firm that's developing a plan for Chicago's Northerly Island. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this man-made peninsula, it is the former site of Meigs Field, a single-strip airport much beloved by VIPs and others, that Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley, destroyed in the middle of the night in 2003. Today the main terminal building is a Chicago Park District facility full of little kids in matching t-shirts, and the island itself is the site of the Charter One Pavilion and acres of prairie grasses.
   This left us in the unlikely possession of free parking for the afternoon in one of Chicago's most expensive and restricted lakefront lots, so we took advantage of the 45 minutes before a thunderstorm rolled in to paddle around Burnham Harbor.
   It was the day before the 2010 Race to Mackinac, so the harbor was full of visiting vessels, including the famous Beau Geste.

Sharon in a position that wouldn't be safe 24 hours later.

   We always enjoy prowling around harbors, admiring the creative names people give their yachts and enjoying the fact that we don't have to spend thousands of dollars to dock our little boats.

 
With the sky growing dark, we decided to forego the low docks and scale a wall instead.

   The sky looks blue in the background, but at this point we were watching heavy cumulonimbus clouds coming our way. In typical summer paddling fashion, we loaded up and drove away just as the storm hit.

Weather can change quickly in the summer. This photo was taken moments after the previous ones.

One Helluva Sock

A while ago Fiona over at Badger Paddles sent me a sample of one of their "paddle socks" to test out and review. Well, I've been using the sock a bit now and am pretty happy with it. It's long & stretchy and easily accommodates my very long voyageur canoe paddle. It even contains about 3/4 of my greenland kayak paddle, with the kid's kayak paddle thrown inside too.

Soon, the sock will be protecting a couple of my paddles all the way to the west coast and BC's Broken Group Islands and back again. I'll post a follow up report on the sock at that time and let y'all know my thoughts on it then.

In search of the perfect paddling shoe

    Lately we've enjoyed walking into paddle shops and expos and saying, "Wow! We don't really need anything." Then we browse anyway, admiring new versions of familiar items and assorted new items that we kind of want but don't really need.
   Inevitably, we find something that tips the balance from want to need. Both of us have been frustrated lately with our paddling shoes. Alec goes through a pair of NRS Desperado Shoes at least once a year; Sharon loves her Wavesport Neobooties for their low profile and wide toe bed, but their soles aren't grippy and they appear to be discontinued.
   This year at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, we found a new paddling shoe we both like: the NRS Sasquatch Water Shoe. It has a grippier and thicker sole than the Neobooties (though not as grippy or stiff as the Desperado Shoes), some heel and ankle protection (though not a lot of support in the sole), and a wide toe bed. It's low profile, and the neoprene cuff keeps sand and pebbles out.

 Sharon's Neobootie next to her Sasquatch; Alec's Desperado Shoe next to his Sasquatch.

Alec's Desperado Shoe is faded and worn out above the heel and below the ankle, where it rubs on his boat. The Sasquatch looks sturdier in that area.

The Sasquatch (left) has a thicker sole than the Neobootie (center), but thinner than the Desperado Shoe (right).

   We've only worn them for one weekend, so we'll see how well they hold up and whether the soles offer enough protection on rough and jagged surfaces. But they're comfortable, and we're both optimistic.

Great times at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium

   We just returned from the 26th annual Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium (GLSKS) in Grand Marais, Michigan--a tiny town on the southern shore of Lake Superior. This is the oldest of the Great Lakes symposia, and it has a storied past. It was begun by Stan Chladek, founder of Great River Outfitters (GRO), who ran it for many years before handing it off to Riverside Kayak Connection. This year, Downwind Sports (which began and still runs the annual Ladies of the Lake symposium) picked it up. Bill Thompson, co-owner of Downwind Sports, organized the event, recruited the sponsors and vendors, and kept the coaches fed and watered. Kelly Blades, force of nature, recruited the coaches, restructured the courses and ensured the proper balance of safety and mayhem as well as plenty of laughs.

Bill Thompson and Kelly Blades model good communication skills.

   This year, the symposium offered three days of guided tours along the scenic coastline and islands of the area. Participants could choose to paddle anywhere from 8 to 18 miles, past the colorful limestone bluffs and dramatic sand dunes of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. They got to try some rock hopping, poke into sea caves, and paddle under waterfalls and through arches.

 

The cliffs on the west side of Grand Island.

An arch on the north side of Grand Island, below the light house.

   On Friday, when the symposium officially began, students chose classes with unconventional names but very practical purposes: Going Forward (forward stroke), Not Going Forward (turning and draw strokes), Staying Dry (bracing), Getting Wet (rescues), and so on. On day two, the wind kicked up in time for Bumpy Water Boat Control, Rough Water Play and Surfing.

The onshore waves built to about three feet, creating surf on the beach and clapotis near the break wall.

   That day ended with the traditional Pasty Dinner (an Upper Peninsula delicacy) and Freya Hoffmeister's "Race Around Australia" presentation. The final day featured a Blessing of the Boats by the paddling pastor, Doug Van Doren, and a wacky race past squirt-gun toting kids and insult-hurling spectators.

   Racers survive the Tunnel of Doom en route to the Valley of Insults.

   Every symposium has its own personality, and its character changes over time. The GLSKS began with an emphasis on providing BCU training and certification for American paddlers and evolved into a tour-and-classes symposium that offered more courses for higher-level students. Under Downwind Sports' management, it continues that tradition while adding a sense of humor and a stronger presence by sponsors and vendors. And the kids' program was bigger, better and free with adult registration. (A shout-out to our daughter, Hannah, who ran it, along with her able assistant, Aidan Van Doren.)

   Midwestern paddlers and coaches have many symposia to choose from every year. This continues to be one not to miss.

Desire, Eli Fly

Jai Jalan

A light and dynamic design for the tall version of the original Eli Fly chaise lounge. It has a soft foamed polyurethane seat and a headrest cushion covered with black leather. The base in black painted metal.

Download 3D model from Hotfile

www.gruppoeuromobil.com

Flos, Arco

Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

Floor lamp providing direct light. White Carrara marble base. Satin-finish stainless steel telescopic stem. Pressed, polished and zapon-varnished aluminum swiveling and height-adjustable reflector. Foot switch on power cord, length 270 cm. Net weight 65,9 kg.

Download 3D model from Hotfile

www.flos.com

I Rolled, I Rolled! - I mean it this time!

I Rolled! No really, I mean it this time! (See my post from a couple of weeks ago.)


Last night at the tail end of the pool session for some kayak lessons I was assisting with there was time to just mess around in the kayaks. I was again playing with the paddle float for bracing and pseudo-rolling. I was concentrating on not putting much pressure on the float end of the paddle and bringing my head up last. At the prompting of one of the students I tried without the float, and it worked! I had full success about 6 times rolling on the right side! I'd screw it up some of the time and always it was because I forgot to bring the head up last or was otherwise putting too much pressure on the paddle. When it worked, it worked very well. I could not believe how effortless it was. It was a VERY good feeling.

Now, to practice, practice, practice until it becomes totally natural on both sides and in all conditions.

In the meantime, I gotta go finish getting my stuff together because I have kayak lessons to teach in the morning.

Bryan H. says I should start working on my butterfly roll next. (The video below is of some random person on Youtube doing a "butterfly roll".)

A+S+T/RC+c=X

In the name of passing along valuable information of use to the canoe & kayak tripper, I am sharing this with all of you. Skuntz over at the Canadian Canoe Routes forum has come up with a formula to calculate and quantify the age old decision, "repair or replace?"

A+S+T/RC+c=X

where A=age, S= sentimental value, T=time to dick around with repairs, RC=replacement cost and c=comfort.

There you go. Plug in the number and find out if fixing up that bit of camping gear is really worth it. Let's see now, I have a leaking MEC sleeping pad. A=3, S=0, T=0, RC=$100, ....

Creating a helix using Adaptive components in Revit 2011

A few months back I looked at how to create a helix in Revit 2010 without the need of any heavy math. Zach Krone and BIM troublemaker did similar examples on there blogs with varying degrees of complexity.

So I figured the other day that there must be a smarter way to do this in Revit 2011 with the new adaptive component tool. Take a look at the youtube Video for more info.

With a bit of messing around you can end up with something like this. :-)

Little boats for little people

   Sharon in her Avocet LV. With nothing in the front or back hatches, 

it sits nicely in the water.

   When we began paddling seven years ago, there weren't many serious sea kayaks for seriously small paddlers. Our first boats were a Valley Avocet (Alec) and a P&H Vela (Sharon). They were terrific boats for the early part of our learning curve, but too high-volume for our low-volume selves. (Alec is 5'4" and about 140 pounds; Sharon is 5'1" and about 110 pounds.)
   We think of that time as preLV. Since then, several boat manufacturers have come out with true low-volume kayaks--boats specifically designed for smaller paddlers. They are narrower (typically less than 21 inches), have lower decks (typically less than 13 inches), are lower volume overall (so they have an appropriate amount of freeboard for a low-weight paddler), have more aggressive thigh hooks (better for shorter legs), and forgo some of the cockpit volume by placing the front bulkhead further back. Because they are truly designed for smaller paddlers, many of these boats make up for their shorter length by having comparatively longer water lines, so they aren't slower than their regular-volume siblings. And because they're shorter and lighter, they are easier to move around on land as well as on the water.
   Today's low-volume boats--meaning those that are actually well-suited to paddlers who weigh as little as 140 pounds--include:
SKUK Pilgrim
SKUK Pilgrim Expedition
SKUK Explorer LV
Valley Aquanaut LV 
P&H Cetus LV
P&H Scorpio LV
P&H Quest LV
Eddyline Fathom LV
Rockpool ISEL
Seaward Silhouette
Wilderness Systems Tempest 165 or Tempest PRO 165

   These boats are good down to 110 pounds (unloaded), in our experience:
SKUK Romany LV
Impex Force 3
Valley Avocet LV
Valley Avocet RM
P&H Capella 161 
Current Designs Rumour

   Many low-volume kayaks perform better for smaller paddlers with some weight in the front and/or back hatches. And, of course, personal fit and paddling skills and preferences have a large effect on boat choice. There's no substitute for test-paddling, preferably in the conditions you prefer.
   We're currently paddling the Pilgrim (Alec) and the Avocet LV (Sharon). At our weights, these boats allow us to do the full range of things we want to do in our kayaks: teach, surf, play, paddle long distances, and keep up with the pack. But we're also spending as much time as possible in other people's low-volume boats to become more familiar with the range of options for smaller paddlers.
   Have a low-volume sea kayak you love? Let us know! Post a comment or email us at bpfamily (at) gmail.com.

Alec in his Pilgrim. (Yes, it says Romany LV. The label was attached before Nigel Dennis named the new boat.) After seeing this photo, Alec decided to move his seat forward and carry a bit of weight in his front hatch.

Looking backward, looking forward

   Some of our favorite Maryland students: Fabian, Betty Lou and Alicia.

   One of the pleasures of coaching is working with students who might never cross paths anywhere else. While we were at Adventure Crafters, one class included a neuroscientist, a truck driver, a leadership consultant, an at-home mom, a merchant marine engineer, a title company owner and a manager of mergers and acquisitions. They were a particularly lovely group of people--something we credit to co-owner Robert Schrack, who tends to attract people who appreciate skillful instruction paired with a low-key attitude. Several of them were students we knew from previous visits, who came out specifically to work with us. It was a pleasure to see how much more skillful they had become since last year.

 David crosses the finish line in the final-day rodeo using Mike's boat and paddle.

   This coming together of diverse people isn't unique to Adventure Crafters. At Geneva Kayak Center, we've taught gym teachers, auto mechanics, pilates instructors, airplace pilots, electricians, software developers, elementary school principals, insurance salesmen, and plenty of people who never mention what they do when they aren't in our classes. Sometimes we see direct connections between their workplace orientation and the way they learn; sometimes we don't.
   But in our highly stratified society, where people tend to socialize with others who share their values and their rung on the socioeconomic ladder, it's refreshing to watch everyone on the same playing field, working together to learn something new to all of them.
    They always bring something new to us, too. That's actually the secret benefit of teaching: students ask questions that make you reassess what you know and what you do, and in the process make you a better coach for the students who follow them. And because some of the students at Adventure Crafters come back for more instruction every year and do a considerable amount of paddling and training between visits, they challenge us to come up with a weekend of new classes appropriate to higher-level students.

 Our happy band of full-moon paddlers, long before sunset. 

The same group a few hours later.

     We truly appreciate the opportunity to work with these committed students year after year. They inspire us to work on our coaching skills so we'll continue to have something to offer.

Giant Slalom on the Green River

Jeff "Freight Train" Payne givin'er

This is my favorite form of racing on whitewater.  I love the technical nature of paddling harder rapids with gates hung that make you paddle places you might not have or even wanted to paddle necessarily.  In fact setting the gates makes a rapid that you may have paddled a hundred times a totally different problem because you have to look at it and paddle it in a different way.

Checking out the lines

Gate 1:  Go over drop backwards to the left,  Go into the parking garage on the right.

John set up a great course on a river that most of us know so well we can point out one inch water level differences on just about any section of the river.  The fact that he set up some moves that many of us had never done before was awesome.  Let me give you a run down.

Adriene focused in on Gate 1

The starting point itself was somewhat unknown.  The race started just below the Pencil Sharpener drop in a crack in the rocks.  Many of us have started here a time or two but its very unusual.  The thing that makes it more unusual is that its 5 strokes from there that you are dropping through the notch of Gorilla and headed for the first gate.

Yours truly feeling good about first gate little did I know what would happen next.

The first gate is the one that had every competitor focused, and a little nervous.  It was hanging in an eddie.  No big deal right?  The only problem is that this eddie was 3 strokes from the top of a big drop that lands on rocks, between rocks, and finishes in a river wide hole.  Top that with the fact that rumored changes in the currents around the drop that is Gorilla were leading to many creative lines including numerous backwards runs through out the spring and summer so far.  It was awesome to watch the focus come over every ones face at the start line.

Nice race bib rescue by Nate.  Thanks!


The next gate was the one that evaded the most paddlers.  It was placed just downstream of the speed trap below Gorilla and near the right hand wall.  The current coming out the hole is pushing hard into the eddie on the left thus making hitting this gate on the fly very difficult and nearly impossible to get from the eddie if you miss it the first time.  This gate lead to my demise on my first run.  I came off the drop in perfect position to move towards the right side of the hole and thus stay right as I came through the hole, but just as I was hitting the hole I angled a little too much to the right and the hole stopped me dead.  I had a millisecond to try to pull through but I didn't get a good stroke then I felt myself dropping back into the hole.  I tried to line it up for a good back ender that usually pushes you out of the hole.  I was hoping it would also drive me towards the gate just below but my freestyle background kicked in by accident and I threw my body back more like a loop than an ender and unfortunately I stuck it and proceeded to side surf, do another end, and then get pushed up against the wall where I gave up while face surfing and flailing roll attempts.  At any rate this gate was tough and in a second many paddlers were given 50 second penalties for missing the gate.  I was given a good solid ounce of humility.

Heres the beat down video from John Grace and LVM.

Shane Benedict caught in a rare moment of carnage from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.

Now after a little set back like that there are a couple ways it can go.  It can all go down hill from there or you pick yourself up and go for it again.  First of all I was bummed because I knew I could have done well in this type of event.  After the down river part of the race I was in 4th and I knew my strengths were in the Giant Slalom.  So that was a bummer and of course I was not that psyched about swimming at all but after getting it back together I knew I had to go back up there to do my second run and see if I could actually make it to the bottom of the course :).  I was tired from the swim and my arms still felt the stress from the down river race.  So sitting at the top of the race course and looking back down the throat of the notch was not very high on my list of things I wanted to do but it was that thought of knowing it was something that I could do that gave me calm in that moment.  My second run went very well and it ended up tying for one of the  fastest runs of the slalom course.  


Here is the video of the 2nd run.





Shane Benedict cleaning up his run #2 in 2010 Giant Slalom. from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.



That was a good feeling. 

So it was a crazy day.  The excitement of competition.  The nerves of challenge.  The expectations of performance.  The failure.  The dose of humility. The challenge of refocus and finally the contentment of pushing through.  It was a great day.  A different day than most but a great day.

Adriene coming into Gate 3.  You can see Gate 1 and 2 behind Lil A.

The Scream Machine gate, gate 3, was placed further left than most people run that drop.  It wasn't a scary spot but it did make for some shaky runs down Nies'.  The fast line was to go left of the gate then use the pillow currents on the left shore to push you across to the river right line at Nies' which lines you up for the 4th gate below the boof on the right of Nies'. 

Toby "Budget" McDermott riding Frankenjefe III into Gate 4.


The 5th gate was all the way on the river left side of the river from gate 4.  The tricky part about this gate was that it was possible to hit it while going downstream but it was very tight and only a couple people were able to clean that line.  It was much easier to clean going upstream from the eddie but the trade off was the speed downstream.

Sprinkle, smooth as ever, trying to sneak by the tricky Gate 5

After the 5th gate we had to drop down through Power Slide and keep it lined up for a tiny finish gate between the rocks in the middle of the river.  This proved to be one of the hardest parts of the course where numerous paddlers spent 20 or 30 seconds trying to line up the final move to stop their time. 

Dropping into the final move

Great day with great folks on the river.

There was also a sprint race as the start of this event.  Which seeded everyone for the slalom portion of the event.  We raced from Big Hungry (the put in) down to Chiefs' rapid.  It was about a 10 minute race and it was brutal.  The scores from the two slalom runs were 50% of the score and the sprint race was 50% to make the placings for the entire event.   Congrats to Pat for paddling beautifully and winning the event.


The entire results are here. 

 LVM Green River Giant Slalom Results

Here are a bunch of shots from the event.  Thanks Betsy!

Thanks for pulling me out of the drink Nate!
Shane

Lake Michigan marine life

A couple of days ago, while paddling the heavy industrial area in northwest Indiana, we came across a piece of driftwood that turned out to be a fairly large snapping turtle.

No joke! A snapping turtle near the BP plant in Indiana.

    Today we encountered a few more marine animals, but they turned out to be inanimate. 

  This poor iguana isn't going anywhere under its own power. 

 This alligator doesn't pose much of a threat to our friend Bonnie.

 This whale seems to be in dry dock.