Dork Side Tips: C'mon baby, lets DVIEW Twist

I hope I gave everyone an earworm with that punny section heading, because I can't call the DVIEW command without breaking into song.
Continuing on with my Tips from the Dork Side...

C'mon baby, let's DVIEW Twist

Buildings are never built perfectly in line with magnetic north, or with each other. My campus’s plan (see yesterday's blog post for a brief explanation of how my campus is assembled) is accurate in direction, but, that means that when I want to use AutoCAD to print out a floor plan for just one of the buildings, they will not appear straight on the plot. I set up layouts for each of the buildings, so that I can print them ‘straight’.

Pull up a layout tab and click into the viewport, zooming into your preferred area. Type DVIEWand select an object. You will be prompted to select from different available options, type TW for the twist option, then rotate the view for best fit, without having moved the modelspace entities at all.

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Dork Side Tips: Lay it all out

This tip from the dork side bears a little more explanation when it is standalone.

Working in a large facility inside the city limits, our construction is, by necessity, always butting up against another building. Obviously, once that happens, renovations often spill over from one building to another. So, also by necessity, our floor plates, and thereby our background plans, cover all of the buildings in a single file. 

I created a composite set for each discipline (ease of use for mechanics, engineers and future renovations for each trade):

Mechanical Ductwork

Mechanical Piping

Domestic Water

Electrical Power

Electrical Lighting

Electrical - Auxiliary Systems (nurse call, fire alarms, etc)

Fire Protection Piping

While I work on the Engineering staff, and we are not responsible for the architectural components, I have recently started two additional sets just for reference:

Architectural - Reflected Ceiling Plans

Architectural - Room Usage 

For each of these sets, I copy over the content from each renovation project's record documents.

All I started with was a set of floor plans, so I had to create each of the above-mentioned sets from scratch. Obviously, I created one, and used it as a template for the remainder (using the below tip, the Sheet Set Manager or SSM, and recently, Fields for the titleblocks).

Now for the tip:

After I set up separate layouts for each building on a given level, I want to import the layouts into the drawing for another level. Open up your next drawing and just right-click on a layout tab and select From Template…, change the Files of Type: selection to .dwg and select the drawing you just set up your layouts in. You will be able to select one or more of the layouts available in the drawing you are using as your template.

You can also import layouts into other drawings by using Design Center, although this will not bring along their Page Setups. Go to the Output tab of the ribbon and click the Page Setup Manager to import from there, if needed.

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Dork Side Tips: Speel Chocker

Continuing to share bite-sized tips, broken out from my recent AutoCAD Tips and Tricks article (pdf archives, library entry).

We all need spell checking at times, let’s face it. Pull up the SPELL command by clicking Check Spelling on the Text panel of the Annotate tab. 

The default dictionary might be fine for most uses, but, you can also make your clients happy by clicking the Dictionaries… button and adding custom words. I’m serious here, take a couple of seconds to input a company (or building or occupant) name correctly in your dictionary (e.g. Shoenberg. I've got one drawing set where this building name is spelled four different ways. It's not that hard folks. #1 look at your starting blueprints. #2 look at the name carved on the outside of the building #3 be a responsible CAD Manager and run spell check on client-specific words because all of your designers or drafters tend to get creative.) so you can check consistency and ensure that your client does not get irritated by seeing your drawing set with numerous incorrect variations. 

While spelling has little to do with the quality and value of the design that gets built in the field, it does display professionalism and attention to detail and avoids offending anyone whose family legacy has paid for said building.

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Dork Side Tips: Selection Selection

I recently wrote an article, for AUGIWorld Magazine, called Tips from the Dork Side. It can be found in it's complete form in the AUGIWorld Archives, and in the AUGI Library. Hehe, don't you love the article image? Debbie Gwaltney, the layout artist on this issue, found this picture and thought it was just too perfect. It makes me smile every time I see it.

At any rate, my favorite tips for AutoCAD are almost always short and sweet, so, I'm going to post them here in little bite-sized chunks.

Selection Selection

There are a few different ways to go about selecting entities to examine or modify, depending on your specific needs at the time. If you were to select every single entity in a drawing, when you bring up the Properties palette, you notice that some properties are not available for editing. That is because different entity types do not all have the same properties. You have to filter out dissimilar entities, so that you can access the controls you need. The following paragraphs contain four different ways of creating selection sets, select your favorite!

One of the easier ways to get a group of objects together for mass editing would be through the Isolatecommand, available on the Layers panel of the Home tab. You select an object or objects on the layers you want to see, and this command will hide the remainder of the layers for you. You can also start and reverse the command by typing in LAYISO and LAYUNISO.

A more precise method for selecting objects is Quick Select. You can find this command on your right-click menu, on the top of the Properties palette, or by typing QSELECT. In the command’s dialog box, you see that you’ve got a couple more options to get more specific in your object selection. You can control what portion of your drawing the selection will draw from, which types of entities are included in your selection set, which properties the desired objects have, and what values you want to include or exclude. Say, I want to grab all Polyline entities whose layer color is <> not equal to BYLAYER. I might not want to grab all entities in the drawing and set them all to bylayer, because I might have some annotation in the drawing that needs to remain a distinct color for some temporary reason. Or, perhaps I want to grab all Text on layer A-Rm-Num that is less than 9” tall, I can quickly and easily do that here.

If you use the Filtercommand, bringing up the Object Selection Filters dialog, you see how precise you can be in selecting objects, and you can even save the filter criteria for future use.

Another, more recent, addition is the Select Similar command. It has been available in vertical products for many years, and I was thrilled when it was finally added to vanilla AutoCAD. If you’re using release 2010 or earlier, you can find lisp routines which will provide this functionality. There is code available in the forums and on myMistress of the Dorkness blog, along with instructions on adding it to your right-click menu. I like the way it works, being a part of your shortcut menu, because you don’t have to interrupt your workflow by using a dialog box or moving out of the drawing area to click a button. Type SELECTSIMILAR then SE to access the Select Similar Settings dialog box and dictate which criteria you prefer to gather your selection by.

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Uni: A retrospective

Was it worth it? 

I think I can hear at least one or two people wondering that to themselves.

I am going to try to give you an honest analysis. I try not to get negative or TMI, especially in print, but, I don't want to be unrealistic and snow anyone by only highlighting my triumphs, and not my stumbles or regrets.

In my computer science classes, one of my fellow students was actually the mother of someone that I went to high school with (not that he remembered me, lol, I was a wee bit invisible, being so painfully shy). She (and others) took me to task a couple of times, because she believed that I shouldn't be going to school full-time with young children at home. Looking back, I feel like I did the right thing. Despite the student loans, I'm glad I only took from 2008-2011 to finish my degree. My oldest son saw me busting my butt studying and working, but, my younger son won't remember it at all. He was drinking formula and eating mushy peas, so the frozen dinners didn't bother him one iota. I envy that my fellow student stayed home with her kids and I respect that she got them to college before going herself, but, I know how fortunate I am that my employer, and my wonderfully supportive husband, provided me that opportunity at a much younger age.

Of the 200 or so people in my department, only two of us signed up for that Bridges to Bachelor's* program initially. Me, and a lovely woman whose children were grown. Since then, we've had at least four more people sign up, all of them newer folks. Our administrative assistant (who was recently promoted to office coordinator) was counting down from the date of her hire to her 1 year anniversary so she could sign up (her kids were also grown). She just found out she'll be graduating in December of 2014! She's also a member of the ASL (adult honors society). Another young mother signed up and is doing great, she works in our call center. Then, a carpenter, a young guy with a lot of enthusiasm. I talked to him before he signed up, and looked over a couple of his first papers.
Now, we've got another mechanic signing up. He was a bit hesitant, as he just had a baby last year, but, I told him to push through now, and his little one won't even remember him being busy and stressed... just successful. He looked relieved to hear from someone who had been there and done that.
I hope someone else out there can take some heart from my experiences the way that he did.

Student loans? 

Oh, yeah, dirty word, erm, phrase. As I mentioned, I hate holding debt. My fiscal conservatism is the reason for my low stress and high happiness in most cases.
First things first... consolidate your student loans. My initial loan payment was nearly $600 a month, but, after consolidation, it's only about $200. Through the FedLoan services site, I can make my payments online and I add extra $ to the one with the highest interest rate, and I'll be paying off that first one on Monday and starting on the next highest (although all one payment, each semester is a 'separate' loan with slightly different terms, so be sure to pay online and get down the higher rates first).

A New Job? 

The point, for most people, of completing an educational goal is improving one's job prospects.
As you see, I have not made any announcement of having obtained a new position.
A raise? Alas, also. My position requires only an Associate's Degree, so I did not receive a raise when I completed my Bachelor's (no complaints, though. I did receive a sizable raise when I finished my 2 year degree, as I was hired as a temp worker with only a high school diploma. I was also allowed to rewrite my job description twice over the years, which allowed a paygrade reclassification each time.).

For the first year after graduation, I applied only for internal transfers. While part of the reason was having to repay educational expenses if going elsewhere, I also wanted to make my best faith effort to stay within the organization that has supported me so well. I did have some promising interviews, but, was finally deemed too inexperienced. Now, I am looking outside of the company. I have to stay in St. Louis for at least the next 8 years and, as any jobseeker knows, competition for jobs is still pretty fierce. Yes, my boss knows I'm looking. I spoke to him before he was contacted by an internal manager about my interviews. He knows there's not room in our small department for my upward mobility and has always encouraged me and told me he'd provide good references when I do make a change. He has always been a fair-minded and even-tempered man and I so appreciate having been able to work under his guidance for so long. He has also taught me a lot about critical thinking and being a fairly inoffensive (yet effectively mind-expanding) devil's advocate.

I had hoped that my role as a project manager on that enterprise project would lead to the creation of a new position as a system administrator. It was proposed, but, hiring freezes at work (no layoffs, though!) have made me realize that option isn't available to me for the near future.

Any regrets? 

No, none at all.

I feel like I grew a lot as a person, more well-rounded and tolerant and with an expanded mind.

While I do somewhat regret the financial sacrifices, it is something we have been able to live with.
Mick's family lives across the pond, and many of mine live out on the west coast, and the sting of being unable to travel freely to see them has been sharp and painful. Not to mention the juggling hassle of sharing one aging vehicle for work and family errands. But, of course, my husband's crazy retentive mind has helped with splurge purchases for toys and clothes for the kids as well as household items, so we haven't really suffered. It's all still luxury compared to my upbringing. We've also got Skype and Facetime and Facebook to keep connected with our loved ones, which is fortunate.

I also sometimes joke about my 'midlife crisis'. When I was 29, I had one of those (please don't quibble over semantics with me), wondering if I had missed out on anything from my youth by never partying or being irresponsible. Anyone who saw me at AU2009 might vaguely remember my straight black hair (normally I'm an unruly wavy auburn). Yeah, that's me, buck wild. lol. It's okay, I got over it in just a couple of months, having realized I did things just fine... then had my hair dyed back to it's natural shade.

What's next? 

With work? Who knows? I'll certainly share with you when I find out, though, since this story isn't really finished until something does change on that front.

Educationally? I would really like to return to grad school and finish my Informatics degree. It was really interesting coursework and I certainly feel a passion for it. I stopped taking classes for this degree in the summer of 2012, due to financial reasons, but, I will return one day. Thank you to my counselors and past instructors who've encouraged me since then that they will be there to support me when I do come back.
Maybe one day I'd even try for a doctorate? As long as my heart is still beating and my fingers can still fly over a keyboard, anything is possible.

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Uni: Finally! The End.

Part of me really thought that the day would never come. I wrote this post after I'd graduated, but, I was still attending Grad school. I've since taken a break from that, for financial reasons, I'll touch on that more tomorrow, if you're interested.

Originally published on January 10th, 2012:

Finally!

The Non-Traditional Billiken blog was started two years ago, if you’d like to take a trip back in time and relive part of this SLU journey with me:
[these links lead to the posts which I shared here on my blog last week]

• Getting Started – what derailed my education and what got me back on track… despite a little surprise
• Eureka! – when I discovered I no longer ‘hated’ school, reviewing my first few ‘core studies’ classes at SLU
• Climbing the Mountain – picking up steam and enjoying being on the downward slope of my educational journey
• Let’s talk turkey – A quality education comes with a price, here’s how I dealt with it
• Burnout – I feel my success is primarily due to keeping a positive attitude, but even I have felt the overwhelming agony of burnout during my time at SLU

So, here I am, fresh after a welcome holiday break, which snuck up on me while I was hustling to finish up final projects at the end of my last semester. I am still basking in the glow of the midyear commencement, which occurred on December 16th. I keep fighting the urge to pinch myself and see if it’s really, really real, if I have honestly reached the goal held in my heart since graduating high school in 1998: the completion of a bachelor’s degree.

It meant a lot to have my husband and sons share that day with me, since they are the ones I did this for, and since they are the ones who have eaten way too much pizza and canned pasta sauce over the past three years. Also, my Mom and big sister were there. I didn't get to attend my Associate's graduation ceremonies, having just given birth to my oldest, so that graduation passed almost unnoticed.

Hearing the inspirational speeches during the ceremony, and watching hundreds of driven and successful adults walk across the stage with pride while the names of their degrees were read out to a stadium full of family and friends, really touched my heart.

So, what’s next?

Right now, I am enjoying the break after having been a full-time student since 2009. The downtime has been really refreshing over the past two days. Having no homework to do during this lunch hour makes me want to grin with pleasure.

But, there is something about being busy and having a goal that drives you to make the most productive use of the little time you have. Something tells me this feeling of relief at being finished after finals will wear off within a couple of weeks…

You know what? I don’t think I’m finished yet. SPS has taught me how much I still have yet to learn. A year ago, I signed up for the Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s Program and am looking forward to more classes in the Organizational Informatics program.

The classes I have taken so far were extremely interesting, and I do not mind all of the writing that is required at this level because it all delves into the details that fascinate me. I am hungry to see what the Informatics classes have in store.

Good luck to you all, as you read the stories of your fellow (or future) students here on this blog. We may not be ‘traditional’, but, we are willing to work hard to achieve our dreams, so, just be sure to dream big.

* all opinions expressed on this blog, and anywhere else I write online, represent my own opinions and not those of my employer nor it's affiliates.

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Uni: Burnout

I don't know if it was Donnia, or someone else, who first told me, 'if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.' But, even for those of us who relish always staying busy, and who can't tell the difference between work and play because we're having so much fun immersing ourselves in all of it... it can be overwhelming in certain moments.

I may have mentioned a certain billion+ dollar project my campus* is beginning to work on now? Well, it isn't just starting now, it's actually been going on for years. The past three years have involved me, as I've given out extremely detailed information on all of the buildings on the chopping block (400,000+ sq ft, dating back to 1924), plus fairly detailed systems information for the spaces that were being renovated in other buildings to accommodate the employees and services displaced by the impending demo (including my own offices) and the underground utilities servicing the above. I inserted myself into some design-team meetings to ensure the BIM goodness happening was structured in such a way that we could use it afterward, many props to HOK and OWH and BR+A for welcoming me and my input and working together for the maximum long-term benefit.

Also, I was working on the project management team spec'ing out a system-wide enterprise* CMMS implementation, also involving servers and pricing for mobile workforce implementation (none of our equipment rooms have wireless coverage!?!? Ghastly.).

Those were on top of my normal workload, so, obviously, things had been FAR more stimulating for me at work during the time that I was in school, not a lot of spare processing power available in ye olde noggin. And, of course, I continued to work as a technical editor during this time, though I took a break from almost all of my freelance writing.

I digress, back to my writings, Originally posted on November 8th, 2011:

As positive as I may be about my experiences here at SLU, and as grateful as I have been for the opportunity to study and grow here, I would be completely kidding anyone if I claimed it was not stressful.

I’ve experienced burnout!

During my first year in the School for Professional Studies, I took one class at a time. I was nervous going into it, but I felt my confidence grow with each project and course successfully completed. I admit I resented the late nights and the homework. I woke up at 5:45 AM to go to work. After work, I would grab a rushed bite to eat and spend 5:30 to 9:30 in class, then drive back home to the county, where I would be lucky to catch my husband still awake, unwind and fall asleep by midnight.
[Seriously, I sometimes ate three meals a day in the cafeteria at work. No offense to the fine folks in Food & Nutrition, but, this right here is cause enough for burnout! lol. Oh, and I quickly discovered that while a dinner of funyons and mountain dew may have been fine when I was a teenager, it's a BAD idea for an adult. ;) ]

Not wanting to disturb my family’s routine more than I already did, I tried to do all of my homework and studying during my lunch breaks. As an introvert, my lunch breaks have always been a time for me to recharge. Having to give up my quiet relaxation time, the occasional walks and leisurely meals in favor of intense concentration and online discussions got old.

This can lead to what we commonly call ‘burnout.’ According to Handbook of Occupational Psychology, burnout is actually “a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job,” which can lead to a decreased ability to function.

In 2009, I began taking two classes at a time because I was unable to stand the idea of going through this new routine for eight years. I was determined to do it in four instead. Of course, it got worse after that. The first semester I took two classes while feverishly questioning the wisdom of my decision. But, like I had been doing from the beginning, I repeated to myself, “I can do anything for nine weeks.”

There have been some late nights and some missed social opportunities. I will also confess that there have been some conflicts with my husband. Although seldom, he has occasionally become resentful of my lack of availability when I closet myself away to take a test or finish a paper. Although the biggest supporter throughout my schooling, he has had to work hard at some odd hours in order to keep our house running smoothly.

The point of this blog is not to scare anybody, but to be realistic. My hard drive failed when a paper for school and a major magazine article were due.

I cried.
Then I redid the work over a few sleepless nights.

There are certain coping mechanisms available for the expected strains. My family eats packaged foods so we do not spend our weekday evenings cooking. I take time to read recreationally every night right before bed to relax myself. Every now and again, I have scheduled a day off work and spent it in the [county] library, which brings me home a little early, giving my husband a break. We laugh often and take time out to give thanks. And those are just a few of the ways we stay sane.

Photo Credit: Shine.com
* all opinions expressed on this blog, and anywhere else I write online, represent my own opinions and not those of my employer nor it's affiliates.

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