Why was there no book with our new computer?

It simply didn't need one?

I have to write about this because I am so excited I feel ready to burst - "enthusiasm is leaking out of my every pore and lying two feet deep on the floor".

For those that don’t know me I have been involved with computers in some way every day for forty years, Our timber building business has changed over the last couple of years and our computer network first installed as a mail order system at Bracken House in 1995 had not totally kept pace. The first step of replacing our workshop systems had been completed some weeks ago and it was now time to bring our home office up to date.

My idea was to purchase a good laptop for Noella and organise our business and personal data in such a way that some of the office space was redundant and could be converted into a nursery for our developing grandchildren to stay.

The Dell laptop chosen by Noella is” fuchsia pink”! And according to the salesman at PC World Chester was a “very good spec” (dual core 500 g’s of everything, total connectivity, built in web cam, audio visual db’s, blue dentures the lot, in fact there was a tea making button and on voice command from the lounge it would transmit anything in breathtaking 3d realism to any device or surface available!!!).

Well you can imagine - as a long, long sufferer having spent 20% of my waking lifetime re-booting windows in total frustration I took this all with a pinch of salt and prepared myself for more of the same.

What a change and what a pleasant surprise / shock / astonishing experience I have had.
I prepared a plan, allocated the time, took off the box seal and looked for the instruction manual usually written in 700 languages of unusable gobbledygook – “the damn book was missing”.
Instead of returning to PC World to protest I did what I had told myself not to do (started without it).

Here is my experience and why I am so excited:

On lifting the lid I spotted a silver button – central over the keyboard and pressed it of course. The Dell laptop sprung to life, asked for me to be patient and answer a few questions. These were simple questions and it gave responses to my answers in simple speak. It reassured me that all was well as it connected automatically to our network and the internet in fact it connected itself to just about every damn thing on the planet each time asking for my permission and apologising when it needed my input to make sure that our data was secure etc.

Over the next few hours “it set itself up”, organising all our last fifteen years of data, photographs, music, business programs, etc. it apologised for making me wait but was visibly working at blistering pace with each request keeping me reassured and truly amazed.

It spotted our son on line in Surrey and put us in contact with video, and sound - it was like being there with the family instead of 300 miles away. We all sat amazed as the smelly vision box (an optional extra) output the delicious aroma of cooking in their kitchen.

On closing the lid it went to snooze but didn’t stop working because on re-opening it had protected our data against malicious viruses. Updated itself with all software upgrades and scanned 125,000 documents and images indexing them in a way that simple searching would find anything and deliver it anywhere virtually instantaneously. It kindly explained that things could be better organised but in reality you could leave everything in a disorganised pile on the hard disk and still recall something from 12 years ago in a couple of seconds.

I sat just now staring at the screen with incredulity and wrote this note:

How far this technology has come – truly astounding!
Straight out of the box The Dell “Fuchsia Pink” laptop combined with windows 7 is a life changing package, well done Dell, well done PC World and well done Microsoft not forgetting intel and Google desktop search. My faith is restored, my sanity saved and our clients will be better served from our home office!

With this computer there was no book and I now understand why “it simply didn’t need one”.

Richard Grace http://www.aarco.co.uk/ and www.calfpath.co.uk

Family Garden Studio

We just finished this project in a small Stockport garden. An unusual combination of bike store and family garden room. Designed and built by ourselves for a specific purpose and now fulfilling it. There are two areas 4m * 3.5m studio with trifold doors and covered entry deck area + 2m * 4.4m bike store. The store is convertible to a bedroom shower area should this be required at a later date. It is on a different level from the studio to suit the small well landscaped garden (landscape modifications by us).

The trifold doors purchased from B&Q are excellent (if you know which checkout to go through with them). Fitting is easy and the quality of these pre-finished ones is very good. You can see here how they open to give excellent access to the Garden.

On site the old lady next door made us a good few brews and we helped her by removing rubbish from her garden (a plastic shed and her old bike). It was a pleasure to see how well the neighbours and someone from as far away as Wirral turned up to help her by mowing the lawn etc. etc. Genuine help and support in this neighbourhood is alive and long may it go on. Well done Stockport!

I am looking at her old bike in the rubbish bay of our workshop - it seems a bit sad she won't ride it again!

A bit of frustration with our communications (Update)

Today I received a letter on HOUSE OF COMMONS notepaper fro Stephen Moseley MP saying he has written to Ian Livingston Chief Executive of BT Group Plc asking him to look into our case. Jeremy Hunt MP Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Sport and the Olympics has also been asked to comment.

I will update when further info comes through.

Our BT broadband at the workshop is now working fine improving our communications with customers and helping us to do business. The only thing that was a bit frustrating is the difficulty in configuring email through this system to display the from address as @aarco.co.uk. It seems that BT has built in to their package difficulty in avoiding the BT brand name. I was however impressed by the way their technician took remote control of my laptop and guided me through the many steps required to achieve this..

I was left with the impresion that:

1. This is a further attempt on monopolistic practice (I might be wong here)
2. The technician was used to my request and knew it was difficult but necessary for businesses to maintain there image + use the system for sending and receiving email from multiple locations.
3. The technician was a true expert at this.

Please don't get the impression I have it in for BT but they did break my contract and leave me stranded without communications and both Noella and I are proud of our 16 year history of great customer service in our small business.

Log Cabin (in need of restoration)

Last weekend Noella and I visited our grandchildren in the South and stayed at my old training school (now a hotel). I couldn't resist taking a walk around the grounds to see the log cabin we used as a changing room some 35 years ago. What a shock!

This once beutiful log cabin built from 120mm round logs has been allowed to start rotting due to lack of repairs to the roof. A lesson I suppose for shedworkers to make sure your roof is maintained. This cabin would cost more than £30,000 today (it was not built by us of course). The roof was covered in ordinary shed felt and has decayed under the trees over a perion of 30+ years.

The whacky A Frame on the same site once featured in architectural magazines has long since followed a similar path to complete decay. An interestingly designed tall triangle rising to 5 metres in height with two floors. (not suitable at all for the average garden)

Next week I will post pictures and information on our current project a 6m Garden Studio with storage. Weather remains good for outdoor building. Our workshop telephone and broadband network is working now after the long battle with BT and Openreach.

More on log cabin visit and A frame at http://www.aarco.co.uk/log_cabin_at_branksome_hilders.htm

A bit of frustration with our communications

We need broadband and fixed line telephone in the workshop.

Telecommunications are a vital service for the progress of mankind. It is appalling that the individual should be denied choice in the selection of a company that can connect or repair communication faults. The cost to our nations progress is colossal. Anyone who has tried to get an openreach engineer will understand this.
This week I have made 120 calls to my service provider BT trying to get an openreach engineer to connect 7 wires. The connection of these wires is important to me so much so it has become a personal crusade.

How can the nations productivity improve when a monopoly control the communications infrastructure. It reminds me so much of the environment I faced when trying to build a photocopier factory in Leningrad in 1990. Where there is no choice there is no progress.

George is so right in his analogy.

George Pitcher is an Anglican priest who serves his ministry at St Bride's, Fleet Street, in London – the "journalists' church".

He says and I quote "It seems to me that BT’s Open Reach is symptomatic of two service-industry ills in Britain. First, it’s a service company that has no direct customer contact; that’s a recipe for sub-soviet style arrogance and neglect. Second, it’s a symptom of the over-enthusiastic privatisation of the Eighties. BT was sold off effectively as a monopoly and has been pretending not to be one ever since to satisfy the regulator. That’s why Open Reach is allegedly “separate” from BT, but can behave with all the disdain for customer-service that the old nationalised industry had."

Back to my comment:

In the Soviet Union there was no concept of competition no advertising, no property ownership, no insurance, no carrots, no windscreen wipers, no tractors, no internet etc etc etc and no hope. Photocopiers were locked in guarded rooms and regarded as potential weapons against the state. Thatcher and Reagan knew that communications through satellite and internet would be an unstoppable conduit for change.

I witnessed this first hand. When choice is introduced freedom can develop and productivity can improve. These are lessons for us all so why can’t I buy the services of a telephone engineer to connect my phone.

There is no way to contact an openreach engineer they have a Soviet style monopoly and will not speak to end users. This monopoly must go if we are to progress and not be overtaken by our Russian friends who have seen the light.

Richard

Our entry for shed of the year 2010

Our entry for the “shed of the year” competition 2010

"A virtual paradise for home-working"

 
Nestling in the Cumbrian hills at the bottom of a beautifully self landscaped garden, overlooking a 240-degree panorama of arguably the most picturesque countryside in the UK. Our client (a planning consultant) commissioned us to build his new garden office/shed!!

The design a combination of the client’s vision and our own input fits into a discreet area. Separate from the house with views / views and views the building is contemporary and discreet. Small but adequate it floats above ground on a slope with an entry deck cantilevered over a wildlife pond.

Fully insulated and double-glazed windows are placed with uninterupted views of the garden and the 240-degree Cumbrian panorama.

A virtual paradise for home-working and a great pleasure for us to build.

http://www.aarco.co.uk/

My shopping today

How to buy from B&Q
Richard Grace 12/7/10
B&Q are owned by Kingfisher Group – buying from kingfisher is a bit like fishing – put your bait (money) in the right place – stand on the right river bank. This is how to do it.
1. You need to understand this information first.  B&Q, diy.com, screwfix, electricfix, plumbfix and Trade Point are all part of the same organisation. They sell the same products from the same manufacturers packaged and delivered in the same way. They sell to trade and public taking cash, card or bank transfer. Their pricing policy is difficult to understand but if you do you will save money.

2. It is a good place to buy they have good products and good after sales service. If you want to save money visit any one of their outlets or do it on-line. Decide on your product then check if it is available at one of the other outlets or counters and what will be the price will be there. Do not assume that all products are the same price as there can be as much as 40% difference for the same thing.

Here is an example from my shopping today:
1. A Chrome washbasin waste is £32.46 on the shelf in the main store £11.06 + VAT at the TRADE-POINT counter and £9.85 including VAT at the plumbfix counter it is also available at the screwfix and electricfix counters at separate pricing. This is the same product in the same box made by the same supplier.

2. A slide mitre saw is available in store at £106.00 and at the TRADE POINT counter in the same store it costs £69.00 (both these figures include VAT). The same product in the same store taken to a different checkout.

3. A set of trifold doors in store at £1856.00 attracts no discount at any of the checkouts or different outlets – but if you have a Discount / loyalty card or if you are over 60 and buy at store on pensioners day this is £150 cheaper.

My shopping today - the facts:
Today I bought a saw a set of trifold doors and a washbasin waste and a few other things (not typical but true) – I needed them anyway and I made a total saving of £230 on todays visit using this knowledge. I spend approximately £600 per day on building materials. The total estimated saving per year for me at kingfisher outlets using this knowledge is £3000 – with this money I intend to keep on smoking, drinking and wasting my time blogging.

Try it but chose yourself what you do with the money.

Information here has been checked and verified by a journalist and verified with receipts vs store prices.

Small corner garden office

I was asked by a prospective client today about our standard single skin wall electric system and where the wires went. We completed this project ready for painting in North Wales today - here are a few photos including standard electric system:

The wires are between the base / subfloor and the floor (this is a heavy plywood floor being carpeted) Around the perimeter is a bullnose architrave skirt drilled 20mm for all wires to reach the patress boxes in white plastic conduit glanded to the box (lightswitch, consumer or double socket)

Lightswitches shown here inside the entry door are positioned at normal height and the conduit rises to lighting distribution at the wallplate.

Lighting shown here as four bar spotlights are fitted at wallplate height connected by flex back to lighting ditribution. It is easy to add or change lights.

Outside lights are fitted here under the eaves.

Connection is nearly always by steel wired armoured cable back to the main property. Safety systems at both ends of this cable ensure safety on route and in the building.

The building shown here is of similar visual design to the Lugarde summerhouse range (once dominant and still available in UK). Our version of these designs have many improvements. All the timbers are redwood which is denser, more stable and has longer life. The corner post frame structure is rigid and prevents timber shrinkage becoming visible. Most importantly we are able to manufacture these kits at 20% below the imported cost of the Lugarde equivelant due to economic changes over the last four years.

derek

derek asked me to remove this photo

More on Plum Tree Studio - Belfast sink unit fitted

Our client needed somwher to wash his hands and make a brew.

Here is the Belfast sink in unit designed for the building by us.

Best sink unit in a shed???

Plum Tree Studio

Weather remains good and World Cup has started. Plum Tree studio is finished - this is a therapy studio working building for a remedial massage therapist. The specification includes - entry porch with wheelchair access - disabled spec toilet, main room , treatment room separated by folding screen and two mezannine floors with ladder access. Floor area is 30 square metres. We have made a couple of videos including an explanation of the sewer system which pumps down a small bore pipe saving cost. see at http://www.youtube.com/ricardospizzeria

We are fitting a belfast sink unit in here tomorrow and then off to build a small garden Gymnasium in North Wales.

Outdoor Kitchens A List Celebrity "Must Have"

Phew weather is about as hot as it gets here in Chester.

Couldn't resist this - it seems I am in competition with Guy Ritchie, Jamie Oliver and Gwyneth Paltrow who all have (according to Times newspapers) see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article7133565.ece

Here are a few pics of  Ricardo's Pizzeria built in our own garden four years ago! Not practical but great fun.

Rona painted Plum Tree Studio starts heatwave arrives

As I am writing this the temperature outside is 27 degrees (officialy a heatwave in my commentary) I have a couple of pics of the veranda painted and Plum Tree Studio concrete base going in.

This is a good setting for this new project but quite a long way to barrow 8 tons of concrete on a hot day. It is sometimes best to use concrete and this is one of those projects which requires an extra strong floor with no give at all. The building is going into full time use as a therapy studio immediately on completion. I will feature other photos. Weather permitting we should have the roof complete on Thursday. So no excuses - this is what the building looks like today.

I suppose all projects start out as a drawing and a pile of materials - this is the wood pile in our workshop ready to be converted - 5 tons of it to be precise! The redwood tgv boards top right would stretch a full mile if laid end to end.

Alex Johnsons shed book arrives on 29th May and I will feature a review of this on my blog - you can buy from Amazon now use the link to shedworking from our links page.