An Engineer's Life

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Dig shit out of the ground, melt it down, pound it into something and sell it. Simple.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Economy

If the deadbeats that want a handout from us, well fine but, its on our terms. Here's how it should work; if mortgage co. X wants financial help, they need to PAY IT BACK! PERIOD. Just like the rest of us suckers that have mortgages, we have to pay it. All those companies that get a hand out, PAY IT BACK! Make a list of WHO and HOW MUCH. Very simple. If they don't pay it off in a reasonable fashion, well then do to them what they do to us, REPOSSESS AND SELL IT OFF. If the Neo-Cons want to "run it like a business" well then, lets do that. But, you can't have your cake and eat it to.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

CAD

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www.eltingmechanical.com

mechanisms

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Elting Mechanical Enterprises

www.eltingmechanical.com

EME rocks!

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Sunday, October 16, 2005

Diet Plan website

http://drlee.org/health/weight/fatfighting.html

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Real Estate - system example

My system is probably the most boring one I've come across:

-focus on about 10 neighborhoods in my city
-constantly scan the paper and other marketing avenues to know what the house for sale and rental markets are like
-constantly monitor developments in different neighborhoods, like new hospitals, demolition of housing projects, new shopping centers, etc.
-scan MLS, FSBOs, internet sites constantly, looking for properties that can get a 20% or higher COC at a reasonable discount from their list price
-have real estate agents that will work with me quickly to get in to see a place and put together an offer

-repeat all these steps to accumulate positive cashflow (20+% COC) rentals that I manage myself
-in a 3-7 year timeframe, move each property to management under a competent property manager, maintaining the ++cashflow
-accumulate enough properties in this method until rental income exceeds my standard living expenses by 20-25%, at which point i can do what I want

At this point I have 3 properties. I bought my first last September, second this May, and third this July. The first was a turnkey duplex that I united into a beautiful SFH and rent out. The second required remodeling...electrical, carpet, paint, minor plumbing, door framing, plaster, drywall. The third is a 3-unit that I live in and have one of the other 2 units rented out. The third unit in it will be my guinea pig to learn how to do tile and some electrical work.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The Changing Face of CAD.................................

Some of us started out striking lines with pen on mylar or pencil on vellum. When CAD arrived, all of that changed. In the beginning, CAD was just a "digital" equivalent to drafing. One still needed to know drafting practices. A designer was still "striking lines" but, now it was on a computer screen. This tranition was (and still is for some), painfull at first. But, time changes all of us. Some of us embraced the new technology faster and more willingly than others.
Then there came a major enhancement, solid modeling. Now, we could design in a way closer to how we think. We can now design and develop a complete machine in a virtual 3D environment. Designs can now be checked for fit and function in fraction of the time it used to take in 2D. As with any change, there is resistance. With CAD software evolution, newer and more efficient tools & methods of designing were made avalible. By adding these new tools, the software has become increasingly more complicated. Even design terminology has changed. "Feature-based, parametric modeling, etc." are just a couple of new terms for the design to understand. Simply adding a dimension in a 2D CAD program became appling parametric (number or equation driven) constraints.
Now we have yet another change in how we design. With the rise of "Information Technologies" in the 1990's, CAD software has now become