SketchUp Class

My friend BMike invited me to a SketchUp course he is teaching at the Heartwood School in the Berkshires. I am seriously considering it for several reasons. In the past I have worked as a draftsman or drafting was a part of my duty. I learned with a T-square and triangle in high school, graduated to a drafting machine, but never got to AutoCad. I have played with it, looked at drawings on it, tried to learn it but never got it.

Another job taught me ArchiCAD and I loved it. It is a great program for designing and building modeling, but is pretty expensive. Five updates later and a number of years later and I don't remember all the commands. It seems I would burn through the pay per hour use protection key pretty quick.

But here is SketchUp. It looks great, the price is right (free), it models in 3D and it seems to be catching on. An architect friend uses it sometimes and the work I have seen done in it looks good.

Then there is my situation. My last job I spent 50% or more of my day on the phone or in meetings and suddenly I have a hard time talking. Right after the "You look great!" comments come the "I think you sound good!" comments and my response is you don't know the effort, tomorrow I won't be able to say a word and I'll have a major headache. I won't let on how much this hurts. It sucks but no one knows what to say, I look normal and can sound normal for a few minutes.

So somewhere along the line or as soon as possible I want and need to go back to work, but really can't do what I did. Drawing is a possibility and maybe a good one. Drawing is something I enjoy and would not have to talk at it. I have emailed BMike a bunch of questions about what he sees happening with the program and await his answers. It sounds like a good possibility.

Finally, I need to introduce Ziggy the Wonder Dog. This guy gets me out walking a couple times a day. We try to go a mile or two each evening. While he looks like a Boykin Spaniel, he is a mere Cockapoo, which would have been called a mutt when I was a kid. He's a little small for a Boykin so I am proposing the Miniature Boykin breed for the AKC. Forgive me AKC members. Now if he would stop pulling and going right in front of people's mail boxes.