SubscribeLast week I had the good fortune to do a presentation in one of my favorite cities, New Orleans. The AUGI New Orleans user group was primarily comprised of architects and civil engineers - many of whom were involved in the rebuilding process after Hurricane Katrina. It was a humbling experience - and I'm grateful I had a chance to share with them some AutoCAD tips that just might make their jobs a little bit better. I stayed around for the weekend putting a little money back into their economy. I also had the opportunity to see first hand, some of the devastation from the hurricane, and the breached levees. It is absolutely heart-breaking and something you just can't imagine if you don't see it for yourself. There are still complete neighborhoods that will need to be flattened and rebuilt - and of course the need to insure that something like this never happens again. At the end of the posting I'll share a few of the pictures I took...
For you New Orleans fans, or those of you who have ever wanted to go there, this is a perfect time to go. Hotel rates are low, and the local businesses will show you hospitality above and beyond. New Orleans needs your business - and just about everything is up and running in the French Quarter. There is no better food anywhere in the world (be sure to diet a few days before going!) and the music is phenomenal. They need our support to keep their economy fluid - and you're guaranteed to have a great time...I'm happy to offer any of you restaurant, tour or music advice if you plan on going...just drop me a line...I've been documenting New Orleans hotels, food, etc for many years.
The solidarity of the people is amazing...it's as though they all have a unique bond that has pulled the entire city together...
Well on to an AutoCAD Hip Tip...An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Speedy Plotting:
By default, if you use the PUBLISH command, AutoCAD will kindly plot away in the background while you continue to design. For some reason, this is not the case for the PLOT command (where you're just plotting one drawing at a time). Though we love the handy dandy PUBLISH command, we often just jump right into the PLOT command (especially us old veterans who are already pre-programmed just to Plot). If you'd like to tell AutoCAD to stop wasting your time and banish the plot to the background then just hop into the OPTIONS command, Plot and Publish tab and tell it to also Plot in the background as seen below.
So there is your Plotting Hip Tip after a long weekend...and here are those pictures I promised you.
Here you'll see a house that was picked up during the flood and landed on a car. Many of the wooden houses were knocked off their foundations and ended up elsewhere.
Here's another house that ran into two other houses.
And one that stopped when it ran into a telephone pole.
and this house stopped moving when it ran into a tree.
And here is a family with a true sense of humor as they are picking up the pieces of their life and moving on. This family has actually rebuilt their house already (it's very lovely) but they are still surrounded by devastation (and no neighbors right now).
New Orleans will take many years to rebuild some of these neighborhoods - if you want to know how you can help go to Hurricane Katrina.