Rants of A Coyote

As a programmer, I encounter one of the same main issues that Builders/Contractors face: Change Requests.

To be honest: I hate Change Requests, ESPECIALLY Change Requests that change core business logic that a company has been based on for 20 years.

A couple months ago I encountered this, and I didn't say 'NO' to the request. Bad mistake. The system worked, and it worked well. Was it perfect? No. But was it broken? No.

Is is broken now? Many parts are as we encounter areas that do not fall under the new business logic, or that are operating in an unplanned manner. I was almost in tears today trying to fix something that was already working

No more. Next time Clients want change requests, It will be at DOUBLE what their normal rate is. That will deter about 90% of the change requests I see now that are frivolous and un-necessary.

Finally got the planter box going. Brandon was kind enough to help me get the cuts I needed and get some initial work going, but once that was done I got out my handy drill and box of screws and proceed to start assembling! All that is left is to sand, paint, line and fill!

Well, I think I have all of the parts that I need to make the planter box now. The only 'optional' thing that I did not grab was the landscaping foam. Seeing as I don't need that part yet, I will wait until the box is assembled until I get it (I can pick it up from the local Fred Meyer, seeing as Home Depot for some reason did NOT carry this type of spray foam stuff.)

As mentioned, the box will be about one foot deep, 2 feet wide and 8 foot long. I am going to attempt to slant the base on the interior so the water will drain off at one side of the box, thus allowing for "drier" plants, and account for plants that require more moisture. At the end of the box I am installing a faucet so I can drain off the excess water and re-use it to water other planting areas.

Overall, all of the materials only cost $75.00, which accounts for all of the lumber, bricks and fasteners... as well as the faucet and black plastic lining. If I get the can of landscaping foam, it will add $10 to the price.

Since I plan on having this planter against the house, the 2ft depth will come in handy when it rains. The overhang on my house is only 1 ft, so it will allow for at least a foot of width to get watered evenly when it rains, and since I will have the option of WHEN to drain the planter, the water will have time to wick through the rest of the dirt to allow for even watering.

I know it is a bit late in the season, but I have finally started getting around to getting my planter box put together. It should allow for quite a few different plants to be efficiently planted and grown.

The finished bed will be 2 feet by 8 ft and will be 28" high to make it easily accessable  for the weelchair. The planter bed itself will be 12" deep to allow for plenty of solid root structure.

Rather surprised that I am still getting as much traffic as I have been getting. About a month ago I manually shut off Guest commenting on my Blog (The difference being is that you just have to have an account here to post or comment, big deal), and I have been greeted by mostly silence in email inbox.

Let me be clear: I love comments. I lover interaction. I HATE SPAM. I was getting 10-30 spam comments a day that you all never saw, because I have my account set to set the comments as pending upon review. So each day I had to delete all of those comments, Just wasting my time.

My blog system also doesn't have a soft-switch to turn off commenting if someone is not logged in so I had to go and find the locations manually and build a hard switch.

So much programming over the last few weeks, and none of it seems to have been for myself. Fabricline.com is keeping me very busy right now, as we are working on tying in the ordering process right now.

Till next time

Q