Had Some Fun

First one ever.  The wood is cherry.  I also tried one that the wood was dyed pink but the blank blew up.

Also did this.  Mahogany.  I need to find a kit that either has a cap or lets you reverse the pointy bit into the handle.  

A Retirement Gift

My boss retired last month.  Best boss I've had.  Anyhoo, he is a woodworker so I made him this.  I wanted something small enough that if he chose not to use it, he could also display it.  I made sure to give it to him on his last day, just so he wasn't tempted to  use it as a head knocker.  :)

The Mess That Is Programming Visio

So I am writing a program that among other things will draw the diagram of a network.  Unfortunately the .COM interface to Visio is a disaster, at least from the OO model perspective.  First, here's how you create the Visio document.  This is C#, and I am skipping all the using statements you might need as well some variable declarations.

// create the application instance

 Visio.Application va = new Visio.Application();
            va.Documents.Add(@"");

//grab the document in the application
// since you can't just write a file in the .vsd format



Visio.Documents vdocs = va.Documents;

// now open it - of course casting arcane arguments as short
// makes perfect sense
// and no, I don't know what that does
      Visio.Document vc = vdocs.OpenEx(@"Basic_U.vss", (short)Visio.VisOpenSaveArgs.visOpenDocked);

// it gets a little better here, this is pretty straightforward
            
Visio.Document vd = va.ActiveDocument;
Visio.Page vp = vd.Pages.Add();

// but now we need to get the master shapes collection
Visio.Masters vMasters = vc.Masters;  

// and select the shapes we are using from the collection
// I had to open the collection in the debugger to figure out
// which ones I needed - there wasn't a way to just get a list
// oh and another annoyance - the C# convention is to have 
// members start with upper case.  For Visio, some do and some don't
           Visio.Master RectangleMaster = vc.Masters.get_ItemU(@"Rounded rectangle");
Visio.Master ConnectionMaster = vc.Masters.get_ItemU(@"Dynamic connector");

 Visio.Shape MyselfAsShape = null;
// now let's drop a shape on the page and set some parameters
// here's where the fun starts

 MyselfAsShape = vp.Drop(RectangleMaster, xaxis, yaxis);

// set the width - you can't just access a width property 
// on the shape                       MyselfAsShape.get_CellsSRC((short)Visio.VisSectionIndices.visSectionObject, 
                           (short)Visio.VisRowIndices.visRowXFormOut, 
                           (short)Visio.VisCellIndices.visXFormWidth).FormulaU = "1.0 in";

// same for height                      MyselfAsShape.get_CellsSRC((short)Visio.VisSectionIndices.visSectionObject, 
                           (short)Visio.VisRowIndices.visRowXFormOut, 
                           (short)Visio.VisCellIndices.visXFormHeight).FormulaU = "1.5 in";



Other operations on shapes and connectors are similarly arcane.  I won't show the code but to connect 2 shapes you first get the shapes, then you figure out where the connection points are, then you use code similar to the above to connect them. You can't just do something like:

shape1.Connect(shape2) 

The Pool Is Open!

After finishing the backfilling last night, the water looked really inviting, so I jumped in.  Perfect temperature and much bigger than the old pool.  I can acttually swim in this one.



Here's a better shot of the pump and chlorine generator

Almost Done!

The pool project is almost done.  The pump and filter are in.  Testing last night I need to add more water to the pool and there is a leak to take care of.  I also need to replace the pressure gauge on the filter, but I am still on target for swimming this week.  In the picture the line in the lower left comes in from the pool to the pump.  The line in the middle is the return from the filter.  The line on the right is the waste line.

The pump and filter setup:

The Pool Is Up

After a very long day Saturday, the pool is up.  We did final grading,  got the vertical supports up and got the wall up.  It took 3 of us about 3 hours to get the wall done.  In this picture I am shaping the sand berm inside the pool for the liner.  I installed the liner today.

A Setback

So... today was supposed to be setting the metal uprights for the pool and doing the finish grading.  The directions for the pool say the uprights should be 42" on center, except the metal pieces that span between them have holes at 45".  Needless to say I was rather put out after discovering this, so I spent the afternoon digging and resetting 9 of the 10 blocks.  This also has implications on the size of the pool.  When I bought it, the seller said it was 15x30.    The directions call for a 15x30, but they also assume 4 uprights each side.  I have 5, at 45" on center so  I am wondering if the pool is an 18x33.  Of course I bought a liner for a 15x33....