Is Covid over, & a book release

 Well it's been over a year since I lost used this blog, I could so easily blame Covid, but no, its little to do with Covid, that for me was a background story that caused so many changes.

First, I stopped live, or face to face teaching and went online, this to some was the end of the world, for me it was pure joy, I love the internet as a teaching median, it allowed me so much freedom in teaching methods, I used both Teams, and Zoom, and a variety of streaming methods to show my slides.

OBS or open Broadcasting System  was, and still is my favourite, the way is allows you to be a tv studio for free is amazing.

So for the bulk of the time or Covid, I stayed at home, no more commuting, and no late trips home because of missed trains, or over crowded trains.

I did miss though the office interaction and students, but Teams was so good, surprising really, I hate Microsoft, but Teams just worked o my Mac and Chromebook, 

At the end of 2021, I decided to retire, and left the university, to pursue, well retirement, with a little book writing and the publishing of Mitchells 1906 introduction and advanced books together with his 40 plates of construction drawings. 

These are now available online via the Routledge web site:

https://www.routledge.com/Mitchells-Building-Construction-and-Drawing-1906/Mitchell-Scaysbrook/p/book/9781032199047 (ISBN for both Volumes 1 & 2) 978-1-032-19904-7

 

https://www.routledge.com/Building-Construction-and-Drawing-1906-A-Textbook-on-the-Principles-and/Mitchell-Scaysbrook/p/book/9781032199061 Ebook isbn: 978-1-003-26147-6

 

 

https://www.routledge.com/Building-Construction-and-Drawing-1906-A-Textbook-on-the-Principles-and/Mitchell-Scaysbrook/p/book/9781032199641 Ebook isbn: 978-1-003-26167-4

Next I decided to rewrite the current edition of Mitchells, its sadly out of date and needs a lot to bring in into the modern age, looking forward to the IoT and what ever Climate change will bring.

So is covid over, I doubt it, I still wear a mask in most indoor public spaces, and use so much hand gel. I tend to think Covid will be as part of out lives as the common flue. As for retirement, well I might get round to it, but I am as busy as always with writing, and now as chairman of the Active House Association .  I love the concepts and plan to the on the challenge of getting the UK brach up and running and accepted at a real alternative to PassiveHaus. Our new web site is up and running and will soon be filled with new and articles on our aims and successes. www.activehouseuk.org

My fourth Career move

Its that time of my life when I suddenly realise its all over, 50 years working and I am seriously considering that final move to retirement. I had dinner with a friend last night and although he retired 20 years ago, he is busier than ever.

Will that be for me, I wonder. I take a look at what's available, I could go as a consultant and earn a little, but that means forming a company again, accounts and insurance, and that is just not appealing. No that's not the right route for me. Can I start writing, Mmmmm now this seems to be more like what I want, a little writing each morning sound good, but what do I write about, old work-related subjects or something completely new, or perhaps a side of my business life that I have never delved into?

This last thought has me thinking, and the more I dwell on the subject the more I think, this just might be for me. I have my Scays web site and I wonder if this is the tool for expanding this new area.

Scays.co.uk, was and still is my site for my lectures, this might prove a basis for all I want to do, expand my thoughts out of the normal lectures into something a little bit more out of the box, so to speak.

Scays has for the last few years been a place where students, ex and present, can find the slides I use at my University lectures on construction, themed around the role of the Architectural Technologist.

Expanding it into this new area is beginning to excite me, and might just be the fourth career move I have been looking for.

So where to start, well this blog seems the right beginning, a place where I can explore my thoughts, develop themes and work up ideas, that I can migrate over to scays.

In recent years I have developed an interest in photography, mostly about the places I have travelled to, but a little on photos to back up my slides, I have placed some of these on Flickr, so search scays to see my collection, or follow the link. I intend to enhance the collection with more from my Google Photo repository.

So here it is, retirement and my fourth career, oh did I mention travel, part of my writing will be travel, and yes I intend to travel widely. Mostly by trains, and including cruising. But some airlines will be inevitable.

Today's photo is of the monolith in Hudson Yard, it's not just the buildings or the truly stunning Architecture, but the construction itself being situated over the station and railway tracks. More on this later, but for now just one of my many photos of the complex.

It's Raining

OK, it's raining, and going out dog training, looks increasingly a bad option, the coffee shop and pastry, looks like a much better option.

In one of those office conversations, I had the idea for overcoming the problem of ceating sections, in Vectorworks where the wall has no detail, no brick coursing or for that matter material heights, I'm trying to work it out, so the moleskin is going to get a bashing today as I sketch and pull idea together.

I had an Architect mate of mine make contact with a new job, so it looks like I shall be busy for a few weeks creating two house types and a site plan, plus all the usual details.

I have had my paper for ICAT accepted, so its a race to get the paper written, well finished, I have had about 10 pages fleshed out with notes and research needed, so its just a case of head down. I have an appointment with one of the professors who lectures in big data at Birmingham City Uni, next week, so questions pilling up.

The CIAT AGM is looming, and guess what, I have to teach on the 27th, so looks like I shall not get the Scotland till late on Friday night, the flights do not work, so its train or Drive, currently driving is the cheapest option, although it's a long old haul, so looking at the train times and cost before a decission is made.

Google Keep has introduced more function, but it still lags behind Evernote, notably the way I can so easily save a site, or the way I can send scans, and photos , the OCR is just so useful, see my notes on reading my Kindle, saving a page, and the OCR putting the photo into the search, so nice try google, but a way to go yet. Search from the Google home page is great for evernote, it shows all the internet, and what I have in my Evernote account, Google keep has yet to add this simple function.

Thats it, Saturday sorted, I have the FT weekend to read, and a couple of films I want to watch. oh and did you see Rachel Welsh on Pierce's show, 75 and not looking a day over 50, dam fine lady. As for Sunday, well the garden is full of leaves, and our new dog, a Flat Coated Retriever, is keen on digging so some repairs the make, walks to be done and perhaps the FT weekend to finish.