tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-289478172024-03-08T18:11:22.260-06:00ProjectsThis is where I will talk about my various projects. This includes home improvement, woodworking, tayloredtruth.com, robotics, and more.Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-51104967256166308762007-09-08T08:46:00.000-05:002007-09-08T09:12:58.192-05:00The End of the Projects BlogSince I've been having trouble consistently posting to this blog, I've decided to stop altogether. Actually, I'll still post updates on my projects on our Life Blog. I'll use the (relatively) new labels feature with Blogger so if you are only interested in blog entries about my projects, you will be able to find the new ones at http://www.tayloredtruth.com/life/labels/projects.html. Also, I've Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-72990266990310651752007-07-27T20:29:00.000-05:002007-07-27T20:48:06.491-05:00Cool Web StuffIn an attempt to better tell the story of my most recent work trips, I used a couple of new (to me) web tools. First, I used the My Maps feature on Google Maps to create a storyboard of my journey (with my coworker and friend, Andrew) around Cape Canaveral Air Force Base looking for the Apollo I launch pad. Next, I used Zooomr to create a couple of picture boards that allow you to see a more Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-84545187080250425302007-07-04T09:14:00.000-05:002007-07-04T09:44:49.775-05:00Headboard ProgressI haven't made any progress on the headboard in close to a month. The combination of rain and other activities has really slowed me down. I hoped to work on it today but I'm not sure I will because of the rain again. It's not that I can't work in the rain, but it isn't particularly pleasant. Anyway, I thought I'd put out a brief update on what I've got so far. I updated the design slightly to Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-30131381219058389892007-06-17T10:40:00.000-05:002007-06-17T11:48:37.835-05:00Little ProjectsI haven't done a real projects update in a couple of months. The main reason is that I haven't made a lot of progress on anything big and with all the rain we've been having it really feels like I haven't done anything. However, when I think about it, there are many one day projects I've done that are still fairly significant. So this post is going to be a quick catchup and then I'm going to try Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-46966415386845385102007-05-16T20:36:00.001-05:002008-08-04T22:49:45.981-05:00Google AnalyticsSome of you probably know that I am a bit obsessed with all of the tools, toys, and services that Google has to offer. Well, I've just made a basic update to the web page to take advantage of yet another. It is Google Analytics which lets you view statistics about traffic on your site. I've been using Stat Counter from the beginning and I haven't gotten rid of it. The little number at the bottom Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-7078012433684000232007-04-01T13:39:00.000-05:002007-04-01T13:58:55.652-05:00More Garage Lighting and Upcoming ProjectsE and I have decided that our next big project will be the "headboard" for our bed. I put that in quotes because it isn't exactly a headboard but I can't think of a better description either. It's actually more like wall art over and around the bed. Confused yet? The picture below is a rough sketchup of the design.There are actually a few details missing. There will be small tables on each side Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-76127659793157835472007-03-17T09:48:00.000-05:002007-03-17T09:49:17.185-05:00Customizing Outlook TodayThis post talks about how to customize the Outlook Today page. This is something I worked on a while back when I was trying to increase productivity at work. I wanted to have everything that I look at in one place: calendar, tasks, unread mail, and mail marked for follow-up. Here's a screen shot of what my Outlook Today page looks like.So, it's not beautiful but it is functional. It just uses Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-91644360327594494202007-02-26T18:56:00.000-06:002007-02-26T19:25:06.374-06:00Lighting ProjectsOver the last couple of weeks, I've done three lighting projects. First, we had these really ugly outdoor lights on the back patio that we wanted to replace but hadn't gotten around to yet. One of the bulbs burned out so that was our motivation to take care of it. Sorry I don't have any before pictures but I've included an after picture. Not that it is particularly exciting, but there is also a Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-37836825566167200022007-02-18T20:47:00.000-06:002007-02-24T11:36:37.555-06:00Computer Desk: Part VI - Finally!The computer desk is done! Actually, it has been for a couple weeks but they have been a very hectic couple of weeks for E and I. I went to Washington, DC last week for work and E joined me for the weekend. We've also been really busy at work. Anyway, that's why it has taken a while to get this entry published. We've completely moved into the desk now including computer, accessories and files. Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-29788559700136023342007-01-18T13:39:00.000-06:002007-01-18T13:59:09.227-06:00PCI SATA RAID cardI've been wanting to setup our desktop computer to act kind of like a server for the laptop. Basically, we'll store all important data on the desktop and the laptop will access it through the network and use Windows' offline folders capability to make sure the laptop also has a local copy. I figured that before switching to this approach, I would change my current setup of 2 independent serial Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-86049260044050818712007-01-11T22:28:00.000-06:002007-01-14T14:46:16.438-06:00Computer Desk: Part V - Finished?Well...not quite but it is starting to look like it. The top, doors, keyboard drawer, and baseboard have all been installed since the last time I posted a picture. The top hasn't actually been secured yet because we are going to take it and have glass or acrylic cut to fit to protect the top. I'm leaning toward acrylic because it will be easier to work with, can be really thin, and is cheap but Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-45599813785568776302007-01-09T20:14:00.000-06:002007-01-09T20:17:17.899-06:00Computer Desk: Part IV - The TeaserI worked on the desk a lot last weekend and E did some painting. We got the doors finished and the top is currently being painted. Sorry, I'm too lazy to go take pictures right now but I just wanted to let you know that progress is being made. I expect it to look finished by the end of the coming weekend. It still won't have some of the innards though.Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-19210859717992340862006-12-28T08:33:00.000-06:002006-12-28T08:53:54.561-06:00Computer Desk: Part III - DrawersElizabeth and I worked on the desk yesterday and will do a little more today. She started painting some of the sliding shelves that the components will sit on and the center section that will house the keyboard drawer. Once these are done and the center section is installed, I can work on the doors and then the top so it finally seems like I'm getting somewhere.In the mean time, I built a couple Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-74939180060291857092006-12-15T11:47:00.000-06:002006-12-15T12:00:13.762-06:00Site Feed IssuesI recently 'upgraded' to Blogger in Beta. It has tons of great new features most of which are completely useless if you publish to your own website like I do. That doesn't bother me though because I wasn't looking for new features, I was just upgrading because I figured it needed to be done at some point. What does bother me though is that there are site feed issues that have appeared.First, Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1164932049412303292006-11-30T18:05:00.000-06:002006-11-30T18:14:49.446-06:00Computer Desk: Part II - 'Oops!'Progress has been slow on the desk lately and I recently made it harder on myself. First, E has of course done her job of painting the bases and they look great. I've started working on the drawers, shelves, and the center section that will hide the keyboard behind a fake drawer. It took me a long time to decide how I wanted to do everything. I finally, built the center section though and E Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1162955129978687042006-11-07T21:01:00.000-06:002006-12-15T11:52:22.662-06:00Broken Garage DoorToday I was surprised with an emergency project. When I got home from work, I pulled into the garage as usual and then pushed the button to close the garage door. I was rewarded with some loud grinding and crashing and the garage door beginning to fall off of the track. This is not exactly what I was hoping for especially with my car in the garage. Fortunately, Elizabeth's car was not there or itRosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1162080481659126262006-10-28T18:58:00.000-05:002006-10-28T19:08:01.673-05:00Yard WorkOkay, so yard work is not particularly exciting but since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would let you know I haven't been completely idle. E and I spent about half the day today doing yard work in the front. She weeded the flower bed and cut the plants back and I pruned crepe myrtles, bushes, and trees. It was a long day and we filled up 2 trash cans and 4 very large trash bags. Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1159746474444161182006-10-01T17:49:00.000-05:002006-10-01T18:51:49.320-05:00Computer Desk: Part ISo, I've mentioned this desk that I am building for the breakfast nook in the kitchen several times and I am finally going to fill in some details on the project. Since we moved in, we've had a table and chairs set in the breakfast nook, and it has been nice to have as an extra place to sit and eat. However, when we remodeled the kitchen and put in the new countertops, we added seating at the Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1158511874483344752006-09-17T11:22:00.000-05:002006-09-17T11:51:14.526-05:00Kitchen ShelvesWhat do you do with a really long blank wall in a kitchen? How about wall shelves. But not just any wall shelves...fancy, large, funky, creative, 'S' shaped wall shelves. Though not a completely original design, these shelves are yet another brilliantly functional and attractive design from my lovely wife.As far as design, I think the pictures say all there is to say and, in fact, there is not Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1157292772629588162006-09-03T08:48:00.000-05:002006-09-17T11:22:12.590-05:00Kitchen Makeover: Part IIIIt is easy to forget exactly how much work we have done in the kitchen until I start trying to document it all. We left off with the countertops having just been put in. After that, we had professional tile layers come in and put up the backsplash. We, also, added knobs and handles to the cabinetry and painted the walls in a tan color. With these changes, the cooking area of the kitchen was Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1156010252578118402006-08-19T12:17:00.000-05:002006-08-19T13:03:12.666-05:00Kitchen Makeover: Part IIElizabeth and I have done a lot of work on our kitchen. Like I said in Part I, we really didn't like the kitchen when we moved in so we started making changes immediately. However, there was some fairly significant design changes to make, so we started off slow (again, see Part I). I am now going to start talking about the major changes. Unfortunately, we did not document the work very well in Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1155942192001781592006-08-18T17:54:00.000-05:002006-08-19T12:15:38.683-05:00ReindeerSorry it's been so long since I posted. I'm sure there are hundreds of people that have been disappointed when they checked in every day. ;-) Anyway, the next project that E had me do was some reindeer for Christmas decorations.One of her coworkers has some like these and she stole the idea from her. These were pretty simple to make. I just used the jig saw to cut out the patterns and then sandedRosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1155184793872689862006-08-09T23:27:00.000-05:002006-08-19T12:14:51.360-05:00Finished Coffee TableThe coffee table assembly was not particularly difficult. I just cut the wood down to size and rounded the corners slightly. I then used a drill press to drill the appropriate holes. Of course, hole placement is very important so I used a jig to help with that.I bought the 1/4" polished aluminum from a metal place on I-45 but I had to buy a 12 foot piece and cut it down. I used a hack saw which Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1154313128401396862006-07-30T21:09:00.000-05:002006-08-19T12:13:16.153-05:00Coffee Table DesignOnce we had the ottomans built, we had to decide on a table design. E and I had talked about several but I had a real hard time picturing the one she liked most so I looked for drawing programs that would help. I stumbled on POV-Ray, a ray tracing program with which people can make some amazing images. I figured if people could make such incredibly realistic images, that I could pull off Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28947817.post-1154206252936621762006-07-29T15:19:00.000-05:002006-08-19T12:08:54.916-05:00OttomansAfter a little distraction, it's time to get back to documenting my woodworking and home improvement projects. The one I'm going to start talking about today is the coffee table and ottomans that I built. Elizabeth had gotten this idea to build a glass-top coffee table with room for four ottomans to add more sitting room in our living room. She picked out the fabric she wanted to use early on butRosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752640269975435448noreply@blogger.com0