Between the Lines

Volunteer Design and Make Projects to Help People Breathe

Yesterday an acquaintance I know Gui Cavalcanti was recognized for participating in a volunteer open source effort to design breathing ventilators for those that may need them due to the COVID-19 virus. Its a blend of makers and engineers creating mechanical designs and the 3D printing parts. The Futuristic Solutions the Internet is Crowdsourcing to Cure Coronavirus – Newsweek “A Facebook group called Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies, which consists of over 13,000 members, is trying to find solutions to... Read more →

Digital Happy Hours – We Must Stay Connected

We held a Digital Happy Hour via Zoom last evening with 6 amazing people. This is just something of an experiment to connect and support each other and raise a glass and laugh. It was good and we all needed to laugh, share what was going on in our lives, and interact while most are working from home isolated and keeping social distances in real life. In the end it was unanimous to hold it again and several indicated others... Read more →

We All Need a Happy Hour – You In?

With so many working from home or feeling anxious and isolated due to COVID-19 uncertainty, I thought it might be a good thing to get together at least digitally to talk about tech, life, laugh, summer plans, and just socialize. We must not get isolated and sad and instead find new ways to reach out and connect and support each other. What do you think, would you join a free Zoom video call to connect? It would be a Happy... Read more →

Tips and Tricks for Working Remotely

Many of us out of caution by our employers may be finding themselves working from home, and need a support group with tips on how to effectively work from home and perhaps the social isolation that creates from colleagues. The Autodesk community has started a thread for people to share their tips and tricks and it might be a good resource for you. Having a community helps in challenging times. “Tips and tricks for working remotely https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/the-community-room/tips-and-tricks-for-working-remotely/td-p/9374553 Hello Autodesk community!... Read more →

Thank You Bill Adams

Bill was a rare human that no matter what was going on, Bill made you smile or laugh. Bill Adams has been a longtime smiling Revit BIM and Star Wars loving Autodesk community member at AU, AUGI, the Internet (yes the entire Internet) and honestly everywhere where he could. He was always, and I mean always the first to wish this blog a happy anniversary even making a cake at 7 years or wishing me a birthday especially since he... Read more →

Happy 161st Birthday

Happy 161st Birthday to my beautiful Oregon! Here are a couple of my favorite photos I have taken of Oregon. Read more →

Be Mine

Happy Valentines Day Read more →

Psychedelic Sunrise in Portland

This morning was amazing with the sunrise in Portland Oregon. My jaw dropped seeing it at my house and in all the posted photos. Here are photos I captured from my home as I left for the office. Here are two amazing photos from a local friend and former colleague now at Nike. Ritza Garzia captured it best with her sweet pup. wow… I want this each and every morning! Read more →

Snagit Magic

I have used Snagit for over 20 years as a customer on an almost daily basis for work and images for this blog. This software is one of my most essential tools and I am always finding out powerful features all the time. Today I learned I can replace areas of an image much like Content Aware cut and paste in Photoshop without the big price tag and large install footprint. Sometime you just need something to do your basic... Read more →

Join the Autodesk Inventor Team in Portland

We’re hiring a senior software engineer for the Autodesk Inventor Platform team. This position is based in sunny Portland, Oregon in our awesome award winning building. Autodesk Portland is One of the Best Places to Work in Portland Oregon The key requirement is really C++ programming experience (7 years+ with a bachelor degree) and passion for what you do and make. Interested, Read more and apply Here Read more →

Happy Holidays

Its that time of the year for many Autodesk employees to spend time with their families and friends for the holidays and take our annual week of rest off. I will be back to work January 6th after my time with friends and family including my new granddaughter Brook an my other granddaughter Charli. Have a very safe and joyous holiday season, and a happy and healthy new year! -Shaan Read more →

Autumn Colors in Portland

Just a quick post on the amazing colors in Portland Oregon currently with the sudden onset of Autumn. Yesterday I went to the Hoyt Arboretum especially my favorite of the Maple Loop and then hiked the Wildwood trail to Portland’s prized treasure the Portland Japanese Garden. It was amazing walk with the beauty of Washington park and the park changing colors for fall. Read more →

Fall is Here

I love the fall and today is the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) for those of us in the northern hemisphere. I love the end of the summer heat and the beginning of crisp mornings, garden harvests, the fall rain and fog, the wine harvest, Halloween, and most of all – the fall colors of all the leaves. I love change, and the change of seasons is a good one. In NW Oregon we should be peak leave fall... Read more →

My Office View the Past Few Days

I took off to the Mt Hood National Forest to camp, enjoy the beauty, disconnect from screens, spend time with my girlfriend and her young kids, breathe in the fresh mountain air, escape the heat wave in Portland this week, as well as reboot my brain. Now I'm back and have so much to do this week and next. Shaan PS: Did you know it is the 20th anniversary of Autodesk Inventor in just two weeks? Read more →

Weekend Adventure Rewind – Timberline to Paradise Park on Mt Hood

This weekend I did some solo adventure hiking up on beautiful and iconic Mount Hood, an extinct volcano with an elevation of 11,161 feet. My route in the 58 degree cloud covered weather was from Timberline Lodge to Paradise Park Loop and then the Paradise Park Loop at 14.5 miles and 5900 feet elevation climb. I got rained on but mostly covered in clouds and cool temperatures, but still amazing and without the sun and heat it limited the sunburn... Read more →

The Biggest Welcome Flying Back Home to Portland

It is the view of Mt Hood welcoming me home when landing. I get excited viewing it our the aircraft window seeing all the trails, lakes, and memories of adventures I have had there, and those I will have in the future. Read more →

It Wasn't Itsy Bitsy

I'm a bit nervous leaving my house again knowing that my security system cameras may send me spooky videos. A couple months ago I was in San Francisco in a meeting when my phone buzzed with an alert from my security system, so I took a look. I was a bit shocked and surprised to see a big spider climbing over my camera. It continued to send me spider selfies for the next few days leaving me a bit nervous... Read more →

Last week

I took a road trip last week from Oregon to Utah to visit my kids and camping along the way. It was a good way to clear the head and also catch up with my kids. Here are a few photos of the beautiful and dramatically contrasting landscape in the western US. I camped at Clear Lake Oregon in Central Oregon where the water is of course crystal clear, but really cold due to being fed by a natural spring... Read more →

Proud by Design in Portland

What an amazing weekend of Portland Pride, with Autodesk as a sponsor again. We have a booth all weekend and in the parade Sunday. We had or Autodesk soapbox derby car for pride that was designed and built by employees and then will race at Portland Adult Soapbox Derby August 17th. Everyone loved climbing in the derby car for photos and also making bracelets and notebooks at our booth. Read more →

FAA Highlights Changes for US Recreational Drones

There are some big changes coming in the United States to people flying UAS (drones) recreationally, especially in cities and controlled airspace. I am writing this blog post from an area of class c airspace in downtown Portland Oregon. It basically levels the field for recreational and commercial part 107 UAS operators. There were times where I as a commercial operators couldn't fly in a controlled airspace without 3 months of an airspace authorization and waiver requests or more recently... Read more →

I love to Ride my Bicycle I Love to Ride my Bike

May is national Bike month and Portland Oregon is one of the most “Bikiest” cities around. Several of our employees commute to the office by bike and I have once again joined them as a I am a fair-weather bike commuter. I rode 7.73 miles in this morning to the Autodesk Portland office on mostly dedicated paved riding paths along the beautiful river. I would have made faster time, but a railroad crew felt it necessary and wise to inspect... Read more →

Reddit Accolades

A photo of me was posted on Reddit today with some some Autodesk Portland colleagues with the subject “Who are you, thank you very much”. We volunteered to clean trash from our local Portland neighborhood at lunch with SOLVE Oregon. Someone noticed & wanted to say thank you. They posted a photo of us cleaning up trash on our lunch hour with a large cat looking out the window and watching us. We love our new Portland office neighborhood and... Read more →

At the Heart of Travel

A little 5 year old girl snuck a heart she colored in my luggage 12 years ago that I only found when I was tired and far from home in Europe. It was one of the sweetest gifts a dad could ever receive from his daughter. I take that same little art everywhere I travel ever since. The heart went to Washington DC with me last week. Its been a little weathered from the travel and I placed in a... Read more →

Signs of Change

It is a great sign to see in the construction industry. I seen this inclusive sign yesterday during a visit to Factory_OS in Vallejo California. "Men and Women at Work" . when I posted this photo to Twitter @shaanHurley I got some replies saying it should have been now People at Work. I think People at Work would be great, but I personally believe this sign was intentionally including Women included in the sign wording. Read more →

Painting a Better Future

Friday during lunch, I picked up more interior paint for my home. I went with a recycled paint thinking it was good paint and the right thing to do. If nobody uses recycled paint what's the point of recycling the excess paint. Metro is an Oregon government entity that gathers up the paint from paint stores and municipal waste and recycling centers all over Oregon and then tests, mixes, and blends it to some selected colors as the brand Metropaint.... Read more →