Great commentary, como sempre! I enjoy reading your experiences with "the process" as we too, went through that with our reno in Porto. Our architect (who was also the previous owner/seller of our house!) did the legal oversight AND was our general contractor...and we're still friends. It all went pretty much to plan, with small revisions as we went... except for the timeline. Portugal Time is a world of its' own! I've been writing a blog about the construction (mostly, and without your dedication to getting posts out regularly!) Anyway if you care to take a look: peckabergershome.com is the website. And I wish I had read yours before I committed to WordPress, which is evidently much more tedious to use for we part-timers.... Anyway, obrigado for your posts.
I had used WordPress for an pickleball blog about 5 years ago. While Substack is even easier, both are excellent tools. I find it incredible that someone like me with no technical background has the ability to use any of these tools. I'll take some time to look at your blog...thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the update on your project. We are not envious of any of it, but we know that you'll have a beautiful, bespoke home when you're done.
I have a couple suggestions for your problem about translating PDF's. Since the end of last year I've used two tools that make the job easier. One is the Lingvanex Translator app. I have it on my Mac and my iPad. (Could put it on my phone, but just haven't got there, yet.) It does the on-demand translation, just like the Microsoft or Google apps. But it also lets you import a file and translate it. I used their free version to translate a complex document from our insurance company. Then bought the Pro version. I think its less than $100 for a year.
The other tool is the Foxit PDF Editor. It lets you slice and dice PDFs, edit them, merge them, highlight text. And I'm sure I've only scratched the surface. I needed to create one big file for a tax return so my daughter could print it and mail it for me in the US. The Foxit Editor allowed me to easily copy and paste pages from multiple forms and files into one document. I think I spent about $125 for a license. They also have a free version, which I think is an online tool, but I haven't used it.
Great commentary, como sempre! I enjoy reading your experiences with "the process" as we too, went through that with our reno in Porto. Our architect (who was also the previous owner/seller of our house!) did the legal oversight AND was our general contractor...and we're still friends. It all went pretty much to plan, with small revisions as we went... except for the timeline. Portugal Time is a world of its' own! I've been writing a blog about the construction (mostly, and without your dedication to getting posts out regularly!) Anyway if you care to take a look: peckabergershome.com is the website. And I wish I had read yours before I committed to WordPress, which is evidently much more tedious to use for we part-timers.... Anyway, obrigado for your posts.
I had used WordPress for an pickleball blog about 5 years ago. While Substack is even easier, both are excellent tools. I find it incredible that someone like me with no technical background has the ability to use any of these tools. I'll take some time to look at your blog...thanks for sharing.
You are very brave! Best of luck on a speedy completion.
Thanks for the update on your project. We are not envious of any of it, but we know that you'll have a beautiful, bespoke home when you're done.
I have a couple suggestions for your problem about translating PDF's. Since the end of last year I've used two tools that make the job easier. One is the Lingvanex Translator app. I have it on my Mac and my iPad. (Could put it on my phone, but just haven't got there, yet.) It does the on-demand translation, just like the Microsoft or Google apps. But it also lets you import a file and translate it. I used their free version to translate a complex document from our insurance company. Then bought the Pro version. I think its less than $100 for a year.
The other tool is the Foxit PDF Editor. It lets you slice and dice PDFs, edit them, merge them, highlight text. And I'm sure I've only scratched the surface. I needed to create one big file for a tax return so my daughter could print it and mail it for me in the US. The Foxit Editor allowed me to easily copy and paste pages from multiple forms and files into one document. I think I spent about $125 for a license. They also have a free version, which I think is an online tool, but I haven't used it.
Have a great week!
Thanks for the suggestions!