Storage Unit and Shelving Solutions

It was a busy weekend around the homestead.  Two really long days of moving stuff and putting some finishing touches on the cabin.  We cleaned out the storage unit with two trips full of stuff.  The wife has to make one more stop on the way home from work and we are released from throwing $85 a month away to store our stuff.  It is all at the cabin now, or in the shed.  A wonderful feeling.

It rained off and on sunday so we made a couple runs from the little house to the cabin with stuff.  Between the thunder cells we either unloaded, loaded or worked inside.  We got a whole bunch of stuff moved, mostly building materials and tools.  We did loose a wheelbarrow on the highway at 40 mph.  It came right out of the trailer 2x.  Once landing upright the other, it cartwheeled spectacularly.  I am glad to report that it is hardly even scratched.  True Temper makes a solid wheel barrow.

In another big step we started organizing the rooms and putting stuff in place.  The rumpus room is pretty much set up, and I installed the shelving units by the door and in the bedroom.  I really like the closetmaid system.  We used it at 3200 and took it with us to install here.  With no closets, it is nice to turn a whole wall into a closet in about 1 hour.  It is very easy to work with and very sturdy.  It is totally modular and can be reconfigured at will.

Now on to cabinets, I should have the wood in for the cabinet doors on Tuesday, now i need to order hinges and drawer slides as well as some pulls.  Come on Norvado, install my fiber cables, we are so close to moving.

 

Window Casement Trim

I foamed, installed the window jamb extensions, and then trimmed all but the undersides of the windows.  We grilled some steaks and potatoes, and the wife painted the supports for the wash stand and desk.  Moving along, I should finish up the windows in the morning tomorrow and then do some more work on the table tops, polyurethane and paint.  It was a nice end to a crappy week.  Good riddance week, we are ready for the weekend.

Vinyl QR Barcodes

QR Barcodes or 3D barcodes are something that has interested me for a while now.  These codes are used by optical scanners much like any barcode on products at the supermarket.  The main difference is that instead of just holding letters and numbers, these codes can hold a lot of data.  Depending on the version of the code they can hold up to 1,852 characters.  A normal barcode would have to be like 40 feet long to hold that much data.

Here is what they look like:

I am not sure why these codes fascinate me so much but I think it is their potential uses.  They have been used in manufacturing and shipping for years.  They can be read by computers to move things around or sort items.  With the increase of smart phone use, their usefulness has increased greatly.  QR codes can hold email addresses or websites and many of the scanning apps available for smart phones easily recognize them.

With some of the vinyl graphics work I do, I had always wanted to try cutting out of vinyl to put on a truck or shop window.  After creating a mobile website for one of my customers a few weeks ago the opportunity to use a QR code reached fruition.  The company, Hoppe Tree Service, just bought a new truck that happens to need graphics.  I pitched a QR code on the truck and we decided to try it out.

I cut this one out in a 12″ X 12″ after making one mistake and cutting out the first one in mirrored format.  I still had that selected by accident from the last thing I cut, a T-Shirt for my Halloween Costume.  It was surprisingly easy to cut and weed.  Each pixel on the code is about .475 inches square.  Meaning they are very easy to work with. The photo is a camera phone photo, I will replace that when I get a better shot.

The interesting thing with this QR code is that it directs users to the mobile version of their website.  Hopefully, technical customers will be able to scan the truck with their phones and email, or call for tree work.  We will have to see how it all works out in the end but it is an interesting concept that no one is doing around here yet.

Generate your own codes here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/