Personal

Germaphobia

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I am surrounded by sickness here lately.  Becky has been sick this week and is hacking and coughing and snotty when I go home.  Will and Kathy are both hacking and coughing here at the office.  Kathy has been making fun of me for wiping down my phone after she uses it!

For years I’ve been one of those people that wash my hands in the public restroom and then use the paper towel to open the door when I leave.  Touchless is great, where everything is on sensors and my preference is for bathrooms without doors or with doors that open out, but that doesn’t always work.  I’m not a big fan of the blower dryers for this reason.  

Well, I’ve noticed that I’m apparently not the only one.  More and more public restrooms have trash cans near the exit.  (Keeps me from having to practice my basketball shot across the room!)  I got a little vindication from Commercial Building Products magazine this month when I saw the picture here to the right.  It came with the caption, “Mounting paper-towel dispensers near an exit door provides users the chance to protect themselves from any germs left behind by others.  The conveniently located waste container makes it easy to keep used towels off the floor.”  Good plan!

Website Updates this Week

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Several months ago I mentioned that we had changed our website to a WordPress base.  I have mostly been pleased, though I’ve noticed it is a little slow.  This was also pointed out offline by one of my lurkers.

I’ve put off adding to the site as it has required some research into the new features.  (You’ll notice the use of slide shows in the new pages.)  I finally bit the bullet and have worked on a few things this week.  This has resulted in some misfires and redundant work, but some of it is coming together.  You might notice that there are some additional “Testimonials” in the rotation on the front page.  Thank you to our clients and associates that have stepped up to provide these.  I also have added a couple of pages in the website.  I tackled two of our library projects (Monterey Library and Logansport Library) where I had a significant number of pictures.  These were completed as stand alone web page entries.

Following up on the previous entry on Heritage Park, I plan to do some additional “Blast from the Past” entries in the blog.  Where appropriate, those will be linked to the project section of the main website.  The Blast from the Past items will be a little more conversational in the blog format.  Hopefully that won’t be too disconcerting to those visiting our site looking to hire us, but I think it gives a nice flavor of what we have accomplished.  That’s not to mention that fact that it took hours to put together each of those pages on the libraries.  Making blog posts do double duty would appear to be a more efficient use of my time.  This also goes back to the speed issue.  The site has gotten large with all the pictures I have included, so by allowing posts to double duty helps by not requiring repetitive entries.

I am also considering how to incorporate current projects such as Culver Garden Court where I have made multiple blog entries documenting progress.  Currently Culver Garden Court has a place holder in the main website, with a link to a Culver Garden Court search in the blog.  They will probably get stand alone pages as time allows.

If you have thoughts on this, let me know.  Here or offline…

Kevin

Really?

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Well, I would have to say that I have been a fan of Star Trek since the original series.  Yes, looking back it is cheesy, but it was one of my first exposures to science fiction.  No I never had a pair of Spock ears.  Yes, some of the current incarnations have been butchered mercilessly.  But, really?  Teenage Mutant Ninja Kirk?  Really!?! 

I wonder if Michelangelo’s realizes he’s toast in that red shirt…

New Look

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The Easterday Construction Co., Inc. website was looking a bit dated and with changes in computers around here, I didn’t have a program that allowed me to edit it.  I’ve also been reading about the various things that make a site visible and there was no doubt that ours was lacking.  When we first put it up in 2004 I thought the “Under Construction” moniker was a cute visual play on words for a construction company site, but it was no longer cutting it.  The previous editing program made adding content such a chore that it was hard to find the time and ambition to add content and work with the site.   Since I do most of this at home or on lunch hours, procrastination due to frustration took over.

Satellite Software LogoI spoke to Pat Renneker of Satellite Software, our web hosting company, about it.  He suggested since I was using WordPress for the blog and was comfortable with it, it made sense to switch the website over to that format as well.  Pat did all the transfers for me.  He also updated and transferred the blog so that it is a more seamless part of the site.  He went above and beyond for me and I appreciate it.  I’m sure there are some glitches yet to figure out, so if you see anything, let me know.  Hopefully it will be easier to add content and refresh the site with the new tools, but there will be a learning curve.

I am using the ITWORX II theme which Pat helped me select.  It offers a myriad of options which I am starting to explore.  Hopefully you’ll be seeing additional changes and additions in the coming weeks.

CMS Career Day 2011

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Last Friday I spoke at Career Day for the Culver Middle School.  This was a presentation to the seventh grade class.  The class was broken into 4 groups and they made the rounds between several of us who had volunteered to speak.  Last year I had to compete with Angela Ridenhour’s presentation on Photography.  Apparently she was the favorite.  This year one of my fellow presenters was a police officer from the K-9 unit with a police dog.  What did W.C. Field’s say?  “Never work with animals or children.” I’m guessing I was upstaged.  <sigh>

In any case, I did a presentation on Landscape Architecture since it is National Landscape Architecture Month and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Purdue University.  I made it somewhat a duel discussion on construction as well since I was introduced as working for Easterday Construction Co., Inc.  I was able to draw on my experience from last year, so not much preparation was required.  I learned last year that having at least a loose outline was important as by the third or fourth time it becomes difficult to remember what I had said to the current group vs. the preceding groups.

I discussed the profession, the degree requirement, licensing requirements and a general range of what the degree qualifies you to do.  I also took them through an impromptu white board sketch of  the considerations in developing a lot.  I discussed  solar heat gain, wind rows and topography considerations as well as the relationships with other homes on adjacent lots.  I was also able to discuss the various things happening in Culver with the recently annexed land on the south side of Town and how I have participated in helping revise the Zoning Ordinance and help with guiding decisions on how the land may be used in the future.

It was an interesting experience.  The first group was not particularly vocal, but the remaining groups had a mix of interesting and off-the-wall questions.  Each group had a different area of interest which actually made it kind of fun.  There’s no way I want to become a teacher, but it was somewhat gratifying to think I made a positive impression.

Apparently I actually did.  An employee told me that he had a daughter in the class who came home talking about what I had said and actually discussed some of the points that I made.  That was fairly impressive.  Maybe the dog didn’t take top honors this year?

Anyway, this was a good way to give back to the community.  As seventh graders they have a lot of time before they have to decide what they will do with their lives.    Hopefully I influenced a few kids and gave them some career options that they hadn’t previously considered.  If I did, it was worth a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon.  Maybe next year (if asked to participate) I will bring along my dog!