All You Wanted to Know About Sheds
Did you know that there are people deeply interested in sheds and how to build them?
Did you know that there are different types of sheds such as garden sheds, tool sheds, firewood sheds, and storage sheds?
And did you know that sheds can be big, small, made of metal, vinyl or wood? And lastly, did you know there is a Shed Design Competition for 2009?
The Contest
The folks at the secrets-of-shed-building.com website are dedicated to the construction, admiration, and knowledge of all things pertaining to sheds. This year’s contest is offering an Apple Ipod Nano mp3 player to the winner.
The Rules
You pretend you are starting your own business (or perhaps you already have) and you need a shed to store your items or use it as a small studio or work area.
What would it look like? What sorts of features would it have, and how would it fit your needs?
That’s where your ideas about your shed come in.
Would it be eco-friendly? How large would it be and what sorts of amenities would be available? After you have written a description of your “dream-shed,” the next thing to do is to submit a drawing of your idea.
Entries will be judged upon aesthetic value of the illustration, creativity, and practicality of the design. For some tips on what the contest sponsor is looking for, click here.
How the Winner Is Chosen
The finalists are selected from the top five submissions that receive the most votes on the website. From these a winner will be chosen. The winner will be notified through email.
For a complete listing of the rules, click here. The contest deadline for entries is October 31, 2009.
Do you like pumpkins? Better yet, do you like pumpkins and can you draw them with flair? If so you are a prime candidate to enter the
Half Moon Bay 40th Art and Pumpkin Festival and Poster Design Contest.
. Half Moon Bay, located near San Francisco, has had a long tradition of displaying pumpkins in all their glory to the delight of families, children, and the local residents.
. The Pumpkin Festival began in 1971 as a way to raise funds for improving Main Street in downtown Half Moon Bay. The resulting festival was so successful that it has become an annual event that residents and visitors look forward to and enjoy thoroughly.
. Former City Manager, Fred Mortensen said, “The Pumpkin Festival has done more for this city, by far, than any other thing in the city’s history.”
. Now you have a chance to become part of this history by entering the poster design contest. The guidelines stated by the contest sponsors are:
. Entries must be submitted electronically and received by September 25, 2009.
- Artwork files are to be vector based and submitted in both EPS and PDF formats, in CMYK.
- Artwork is to be submitted electronically to Pumpkin[at]coastalartsleague[dot]com or using this link:
- The design must include the words 40th Annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival.
- Entries must be appropriate and versatile for numerous promotional marketing purposes including printing, silk-screening and hot stamping in 4-color, 2-color, and 1-color and scale-able for small and large applications up to 15.5″ x 16.5″
- Artwork must be original and not copied.
- For any questions regarding format please send email to: Pumpkin[at]coastalartsleague[dot]com
Awards
First Prize - $1,000 (one)
Second Prize - $500 (one)
Third Prizes - $250 (two)
Peoples Choice Award - $ 250 (one)
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Other Info
There is a $20 entry fee. Additional entries are $5 each up to a total of four submissions per artist. For the full guidelines and submission instructions, click here. The deadline for entries is September 25, 2009. The announcement of winners will be on November 14, 2009. A list of winners will be published at: CoastalArtsLeague[dot]com
On the Road Again
If you are like a lot of graphic designers or those who work intensively with images and media, you probably take your work “on the road” on occasion. Or in other words, you work on your laptop at a location away from your desktop.
Working On Your Laptop and Desktop Computer
Working on your laptop is great for mobility, but what happens when you return to your main computer? You’ll transfer the files that you were working on over to your desktop.
And if you do your project on your desktop and want to take your work with you on your laptop? It’s transfer time again. This can get pretty tedious and confusing doing all the back and forth to keep your files synchronized.
Fortunately there is a program called GoodSync, produced by Siber Systems, that can effortlessly synchronize all your files between computers, removable media, or network storage.
GoodSync to the Rescue
GoodSync installs easily and effortlessly. The main screen shows an easy to understand interface. There are two sections; a right side and left side.
You determine the source and the destination of the files and set the synchronization to go either way or only one way. You can set up different sync jobs between computers, hard drives, or network drives.
If you set the program to synchronize both ways, this will take care of the headaches that come up when you have to make sure that a desktop and a laptop are always in sync.
When you work on projects while away from the office or home, there are no more problems. When you come back, it’s as easy as clicking two buttons to synchronize everything on the GoodSync program, and you’re done.
Being In Sync Is Good
The beauty of this two way synchronization is that your laptop and your desktop files can always match each other exactly.
All of this is done wirelessly through your available office or home hi-speed Internet account by networking and sharing your folders. Or you can do your synchronization or back ups to a USB drive, or external hard drive. Easy peasy. (Click on image to the left to see the GoodSync interface.)
GoodSync can also be set up to do one-way synchronization (back ups) to preserve the source’s contents from being overwritten by the destination files.
A Good GoodSync Story
In the modern world, it usually takes a lot of effort to get through all the red tape to get companies to listen and actually do something for their customers.
The people at GoodSync are truly the exception in this case. They not only listen you, you’ll actually have at your disposal the entire programming team to help you fix any problems. Really.
Here is a real case in point:
- Wednesday PM - Sent in a support ticket request to customer service about a minor bug in the program
- Thursday AM - Technical support replies with suggestion for solution. There are several back and forth emails about the matter
- Thursday Early PM - Tech support requests that information be sent about the modules that seem to be affected by the bug. Details were sent in
- Thursday Mid PM - Customer support says that the issue is with XP and that they are working on a solution and will give notification when it is fixed
- Friday Late PM - Message is sent that a new version of GoodSync has fixed the bug and is ready for installation
- Friday Late PM - We sit in disbelief. The fix works! How do we know the patch just wasn’t something that was already made previously? We check the version number and when it was made; it was programmed and released on Thursday.
Good Support, Good Program, GoodSync
We’re not sure how many companies can respond this quickly to customer issues dealing with its software, but the people at GoodSync should probably be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest response time for fixing a bug.
If you need a solid synchronization program for all the computers you work on, GoodSync is definitely a good choice. And if you ever need technical support, rest assured, they’ll definitely take care of you. (Thanks Natalie!)
GDB gives GoodSync 5 out of 5 pencils.
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