Busy day yesterday.
I used a microfiche reader/copier for the first time since the 1980s. We needed the dimensional plans of our house's familyroom for the drafter to use to design the new roof. That meant on Monday I looked up our home's building permits (online). Then I called the city's Department of Planning and Permitting with the appropriate permit numbers. Tuesday morning they called back to announce that their clerk had pulled the microfiche from the archives. We drove downtown, cleared security, got lost, wandered around for a while, finally found the right office, picked up the film, and sat in front of the reader moving the film around until we could highlight & print ($5) the areas we wanted.
Then we drove home, scanned the paper, and e-mailed the PDFs to the drafter. Unfortunately he doesn't have a PayPal account so I have to snail-mail him a paper check.
I suspect that we could've accomplished the same drafting data gathering with a tape measure in less time. But now the drafter has all the right numbers for all the little boxes.
The "good" news is that when the designer's plans are entered into the new permit application, it'll be archived online instead of in a microfiche file. (Of course we're hoping that this renovation lasts for 50 years, by which time it'll probably be a totally new technology.) I'm hoping that was our last visit to DPP-- we plan to pay the contractor to let him run the permits.
There's money in this for an entrepreneur who can figure out how to move microfiche data online for homeowners to access. It might even be as simple as having homeowners verify their ID with the department to obtain a login/password. I bet it's less money than trying to keep a 1980s microfiche reader/printer running.
Our renovations will only be partially visible to one neighbor, who's fine with our plans. But now I have to parse the fine print in our homeowner's association design rules to figure out if we have to tell the HOA what we're doing. I've learned not to volunteer the opportunity for an HOA to get involved.
By the time I was done with drafters & contractors, I was more than ready for taekwondo. Our dojang sent 48 people to the Junior Olympics/Nationals in San Jose, where they've been competing since yesterday and will continue through Sunday. One of the guys I regularly work out with is leaving Thursday for his Saturday sparring, and tonight is the last of our training sessions. He's doing fine on defense and the basic attacks, but he can step up his game with combinations and more punching. I don't think he'll have any problems. He's in his 30s, 6'2" and 190#, so he'll probably win his "Ultra" age/weight category. Not too many spar competitively at that age, and very few in that size.
I think I have the sense not to pursue a national championship in my "Geezer" age category. But this week has been fun, and it's made me want to start showing up for our dojang's Friday-night sparring again...
No no, the show! I think Greg Gutfeld is hilarious and he has me in stitches in the middle of the night.
