Every project I start with begins 1 way… sketchup. The irony of me using this is free tool is I have a degree and certification in 3d modeling in Autodesk Maya (a high-end modeling and animation package used for movie production). But, for rapid modeling and design work it’s hard to beat the simplicity of Google Sketchup. (besides I’m WAY out of practice with my “pro” 3d tools)

This is my first “furniture” project out of hardwood and using traditional joinery. I started tinkering around with woodworking a little over a year ago and after a very intense first 6 months of learning and rehabbing old tools I managed to burn myself out. Read more…

While demoing Snow Leopard during the recent geeksouth OS showdown, my Dell Mini 9 running OS X seemed to cause some interest. So, to answer any questions I’ll just give a rundown of my basic systems and their uses. (I’ll throw in some basic current prices in case anyone is interested in the budget to build their own.) All pricing comes from newegg.com (or dell.com in the case of the laptops). Read more…