Technology described as beautiful

I find it awkward when people describe technology as beautiful - especially software they wrote.  Why? Well, because people and technology are different.

• People
• When you build friendships you want them to last indefinitely. 
• Even if you don't build a close friendship with a person, you should still care what happens to someone after your interactions are done.
• You tend to not want people you really like to leave your realm of interaction.

• Technology
• For any technology I create/use, I don't expect it to last forever. 
• I enjoyed my first 80286 based computer but I don't care that it was recycled and turned into something else.
• I really liked OS/2 but I don't want to use it now since I have no use for it. 

Technology described as beautiful feels awkward 6 months later when something comes along that outshines it.  To me, beauty tends to imply perfection in some way. Is old technology still beautiful?  Is someone prone to dismay when a request to change/replace it occurs?  Does someone fight change because their beautiful technology can't be made better?  How does someone take a criticism (especially if done in a way intended to spur improvement) of their beautiful technology?

Technology is a tool.  It can be well designed.  It can fit a need well.  It can even be easy/nice to use.  If someone starts to call it beautiful or "My Precious" then I wonder how well they will accept it when it is time for changes or replacement?  

I've seen a few articles discussing how software should be beautiful.   In the end there are usually specific engineering traits that really represent what they describe as beautiful.  Such as:

1. Ease of use/interaction/integration
2. maintainability
3. ease of debugging

I think it so much easier to stick to engineering terms and principles because it can be less subjective.  I know each of my examples above is subjective as stated but it is POSSIBLE to perform analysis of each and produce actual metrics.  I can track how long it takes to integrate different competing technologies into a system and use that to define "ease of integration". I can track how many hours it takes to add a new feature to 2 equivalent technologies.   I can determine how long it takes to go from bug report to root cause identification.   Given metrics like those, I can do something useful like compare them within the context of some need that I have.  If someone just tells me that technology X is beautiful - it doesn't really tell me anything.  This is especially true when a new competing technology arrives.  Is it "more beautiful"?  Is it a better fit for my needs?

Using engineering terms means that you don't get into the "my technology is more beautiful than yours" useless conversations.  This is important as needs change and you need your technology to keep up.  A metric indicating that "it is 20% faster to get a new feature into technology Y" goes far in helping make decisions.  Even if you don't have numbers, a "the developers identified issues faster" is useful.

In the end, I don't want a bond with my technology - I want it to perform some task within some given constraints.  If some other technology can do a better job then I want to know the what/why/how much given some type of metrics. 

- Scott

1 Chronicles 16:27 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

27 Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and joy are in His place.

The master bath doors

Ok, so I am just at a loss for now.  The "saloon" doors below are the same doors that were there when we got the house except we tore the framing out when I updated the bathroom and we repainted the doors.  I really don't like the saloon doors but can't find anything else that both I and the wife both like.  She vetoed my "1970's hanging beads" door and a few others.  She prefers to have some door there.  The location is awkward because it is at an angle to the room so I can't really do a pocket door (ok, I have an idea but not sure it is a bright one - a bit like the first LED lights on the market years ago).

Anyways, here is the door prior to final mouldings and needing a bit of touch-up paint since I was a bit rough putting it back up. I probably could have gotten the doors another 1/16 - 1/8" tighter but finally decided that it really shouldn't be an issue..  I promise not to invite the neighbors over for an open house without mentioning it to my lovely wife.. :)  This time.. ahahaha.  Just kidding.

Obviously I am still debating what to do for the master bedroom flooring..  A project for another decade?

Hebrews 13:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

The new office room - the transformation

So the previous owners of our house had created "a room" in the large garage.  It had been used by one of their kids for a while as I understand it.  That time frame was a good number of years ago though.  The room was a pretty big disaster and was made a bigger disaster when we ended up tearing down some of the paneling for emergency use in the last big hurricane.  

When we got the house, this rooms flooring has half carpet and half bare concrete.  Apparently there had been water damage (the water heater is in that room as well) and there is an external door to the room as well.  The frame of the external door was rotted out and there was significant termite damage around the frame and the wooden "hut" around the water heater.

I replaced the external door and used solid PVC to frame it.  We took the old door and after repainting (thanks Mom!) it used it as the inside door to the room (which goes into the garage) - this replaced a busted up interior style door.  

We put up 1/2" insulating panels over the bare stud walls and what appears to be an attempt at insulation in places.  Then we put up 1/2" drywall and painted it.  

I replaced the fan/light combo with a much larger plain light (no fan) which made a huge difference and made the room actually usable.

We are putting in some Aquaguard laminate flooring from Floor and Decor which is pretty nice - much better than the stuff from the big box stores.  This goes together pretty well.  My only complaint is you have to be careful about damaged corners due due to rough handling somewhere in the supply chain.  It isn't always obvious until you open a box.

Here are some pictures of the slow transformation that is occurring..

After the exterior door replacement but before any other work outside of carpet/paneling removal:  (sorry about poor focus)

Below is the garage side of the room with the new 1/2" insulated panels.

Below is with the new light installed, new drywall and the green paint we picked.  That's my dad below - working hard too (many thanks for the help!)..

Below is the repainted old exterior door which is moved to the interior doorway (which leads to garage).  

We've got the flooring started below.  I'm struggling to move things around in the room though (bookcases, elliptical exercise equipment, etc).   

I still need to rip out the frame around the water heater (on right) and redo all that yet.  

It is getting closer though.  Still a bunch of work left.

I've started to put the electrical boxes back in. This isn't enjoyable right now - back kills me after working on the flooring.

I'll keep on adding to this post - lots more to do.  

There is lots of trim work to do around doors, ceiling, floor and I think we will put in some wainscoting as well.  The trim and wainscoting will be white.

I'm still debating whether I can do some work on the far wall (not photographed) to get a new dryer vent run inside it (with or without wall modifications) - that is a pet peeve I think I covered in another post and is still a big sore spot for me regarding this house.

I'm thinking about a ductless mini-split heat pump for this room (maybe multiple heads covering this room + a couple others).  There is AC run from the main system but there are issues..

I'll replace the window too - I want to put in a double pane window to help reduce the AC need and also fix some other issues with it. I've got some research to do before I tackle replacing a stucco framed window.

Ok, so I'll have to work on the "glory in our sufferings" from the verse below - I'm not there yet.

Romans 5:2-4 New International Version (NIV)

2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[a] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[b] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.