All eight trailers are now at TechShop RDU and we can start emptying them ..... now. Well, not right now, it's 11:30 at night, but tomorrow we can.

We can move in and set up almost everything that goes upstairs immediately and will be doing it as quickly as we can with what help we have. We will also need to hire a couple new facilities/maintenance employees soon. I have made a list of things to do and it will be updated as things get done.

We'll also be moving things into the downstairs and filling up the back building. We need to get those trailers empty as soon as possible. They're rather expensive.

Don't forget the Maker Faire coming up on April 25th. Wouldn't it be great if we could have our opening on the 26th? We will try, but we'll have to see how it goes. For the first time, it's not about getting the money, it's about getting the help. Both hired and volunteers are needed. So if you can provide either, let us know.

Thanks,

Scott

Yesterday our back parking lot was repaired, we gained access to the back building and another lender came in. We're looking better every day.

Thursday our last three trailers will be brought over from the other location and we will start unloading all eight trailers.

We'll need help cleaning up the upstairs and unloading trailers if you care to help. I'll be here at noon.

It won't be long now.....

Scott

It's official! We are no longer "looking" for money. We have a new investor today which means we have all the money we need to finish TechShop RDU and open for business. We even have two more investors in the "pipeline", so it appears our money searching days are over.

Thomas will have the painting done Monday or Tuesday and Mark will finish up the upstairs electrical during the same time. This means we should be able to start moving things in by Wednesday. Woo hoo!

The doors and locksets should be here by mid week and we could feasibly have most of the upstairs done in a week.

Once that is done, I will get the wood shop tools going as quickly as possible so we can build our kitchen. Look for the announcement for the first classes in the wood shop. We will be building our kitchen while learning to do it ourselves from an award winning designer and maker. Check the classes page from time to time or just wait for the email announcement coming up soon.

Talk to you again soon,

Scott

Big news today. We signed the lease for the back building that will become the plasma cutter and welding shop and the automotive bay. It's not completely empty yet, but it should be soon. Then we can fill it up again with our stuff.

Monday there should be a crew here to fix up the parking lot behind this building so the water drains off instead of making a lake back there. Once that is done, I can have the other three trailers brought over so we can start emptying them! Now that is exciting news.

We're hoping a lot of people will show up this Saturday and Sunday to help with the electrical. Once that is done, we can start filling the upstairs with equipment. I'm thinking it could happen this very next week if things go well.

Scott

Things are rolling again several folks have asked if they can help. The answer is yes, you can.

Thursday and Friday Matt needs help making window frames. He'll be here from about 10 in the morning both days. If you want to learn or already know about making custom window frames for nine foot wide windows, come on by. Or if you just want to help us move these big windows, we sure could use the help of three or four people.

Sat and Sun Mark will be doing more electrical and could use up to ten people. He will be installing lights and receptacles all over the building. If you are comfortable up on a ladder,you could help move some fluorescent light fixtures and hooking them back up. Once again, this will be with the power OFF! If you want to learn how to be safe doing this at home, this could be a great way to learn a bit about electrical hook ups. We have a ton of electrical outlets and switches to be installed as well. This is pretty simple work and if you don't already know how to do it, you will learn something you can use at home. Mark will probably come in around 10 in the morning to start too.

There's a whiteboard upstairs I'm told has some tasks on it so if you just show up and want something to do, you could check the list and grab something.

We really are getting close to moving things into our new facility. Once we have the electrical upstairs done, I will give the go ahead to start installing all the equipment in the Laser Lab, Sewing Studio, Vinyl Cutting Room and Plastics Lab even before we get the doors. We'll also be ready to populate the Computer Classroom.

Scott

Big news of the day. We're working again.

The sheetrockers were here and did the entire job in one day! Monday through Wednesday the mudders will be here and Thursday will be sanding.

I'll be buying doors and frames Monday or Tuesday and we can start installing those upstairs.

Mark P and Matt L were here today planning in the Laser room and getting the ShopBot items together so we can get it up and running. Jeff B was here as always and repaired some water damage in some of the walls.

Jeff B and Mark P will be heading up a group of volunteers installing switches and receptacles upstairs on Sunday the 21st.

It's good to be able to present some news about progress again. Nothing can stop us now.

Scott

We are now waiting for two investors money to arrive. We have all the money we need to finish the buildout pledged. It's just not here yet. And so we wait.

We sold a lot of annual memberships last May when we had a big sale. We have had two people who bought annual memberships back then offer to pay a little early to help us move things along more quickly. Actually one of them suggested we ask for people to pay their annual memberships early and maybe we could offer them some incentive to do that. He suggested a free class or something along this line. What do you think? Should we offer something extra to motivate people to pay a bit early? And if so, what should it be?

Or should we just ask everyone to pay early with the only incentive being that it will help us get TechShop RDU open earlier?

You can reply to this thread or email me at scott at techshoprdu dot com

Thanks,

Scott

Hey, I thought it might be a good idea to start a waiting list for private rental spaces. Right now, all 13 of the spaces we have built are already reserved. while no one has actually paid yet,we do expect they all will once we actually open. But things happen and some may become available either when we open or down the road. In any event, we should maintain a waiting list for those that open up. Plus, we will be building more once the other spaces become available to us in the next couple of months. Letting us know now, what size rooms you would like will help us in our planning when the other spaces become available.

One question I have is whether we will have a tenant for the large suite at the front of the building. It will go for more than the smaller spaces. We will be telling you more about these spaces as time goes by and we learn more about them. For now, if anyone is thinking they might want a larger more upscale type of space at TechShop, now would be a good time to start a discussion on the subject.

And if you would like to be put on the waiting list for the rooms we have already, shoot me an email at scott at techshoprdu dot com I'll get you on the list.

=====================================================
Just a friendly reminder about CarolinaCon this weekend.

There's a lot more information on their website, but here's just a teaser.
=====================================================

The current list of speakers and talks is as follows:

* We Don't Need No Stinking Badges - Shawn Merdinger
* Locks: Past, Picking, and Future - squ33k
* Cybercrime and the Law Enforcement Response - Thomas Holt, Professor Farnsworth
* You Spent All That Money and You Still Got Owned - Joe McCray
* Something Smells Phishy: The Evolution of Social Engineering - Chris Silvers and Dawn Perry
* It's Not A Vulnerability, It's A Feature - Deral Heiland
* The Search for the Ultimate Handcuff Key - TOOOL
* The Art of Software Destruction - Joshua Morin and Terron Williams
* How the Droid Was Rooted - Michael Goffin
* Smart People, Stupid Emails - Margaret McDonald
* Mitigating Attacks with Existing Network Infrastructure - Omar Santos
* OMG, The World Has Come To An End!!! - FeloniousFish
* Physical Manifestation of Software: Microcontrollers 101 - Nick Fury
* Protecting Systems through Log Management and System Integrity - David Burt
* Why Linux is Bad for Business - wxs
* Hacking with the iPhone - snide
* Metasploit - Ryan Linn

Our good friend Nick Danger has posted a few pictures with captions showing the new facility in it's present condition.

Thanks Nick, they look great. All but that first one anyway (:^)

Scott

Wow, I missed a few days.

Here's the latest.

Thomas has done all the priming upstairs and has finish coated over 7000 sf of walls up there too. There's still more to go because we're having the entire upstairs painted. It just wouldn't have looked right to leave some of the old green walls. It takes time, but it's being done right.

We've been working out the details for the new kitchen cabinetry class and jewelry classes. These are really looking like they will be great additions to our class line up. Chuck is writing them and we will let you know when it is time to start thinking about signing up for them The cabinetry class will be first. There is a description of the class on the forum and several people are saying they will take the class when it is offered.

We've sold a couple of lifetime memberships and are expecting our next investor to have funds in about a week. By the way, what he has done, is to create a Self-Directed IRA so he can move funds out of his existing IRA and invest it into TechShop without paying any taxes. If anyone else would like more information on how he did this, let me know and I will get it for you.

Thanks,

Scott