becca - how long was the earthquake in Co?

I love a good power outage from time to time.  It's amazing how quiet and peaceful everything is, at least in my neighborhood.  People come out of their houses and talk to neighbors, it's great.

Jump - that video is awesome.  Can't imagine what it must have been like when they were doing all that by hand.  Skilled/master craftsmen are worth their weight in gold.

nam NYC is already in a seismic zone (as is most of America) so it is likely the codes already deal with that.

donna/jump - i moved to nyc in 2003...i was in boston on 9-11.  I had friends that were here, but didn't feel it personally.  the subways actually did shut down that day as well...and they've shut down several times that i've been here (for some reason any decent amount of rain seems to shut down parts or all of the system) but there haven't been any riots that i know of.  I guess if there were no cabs or busses that may be a problem...but on 9-11 most people walked home...same thing actually happened as well when the MTA went on strike for three or four days around christmas a few years ago.  There was forced carpooling/walking and shared cabs....new yorkers figure out ways to get home usually.

thats cool lars about the walking home stuff and how it is kind of normal.  a lot of people did that here too, taking 8 to 10 hours in a lot of cases.  i spent the night on a cot myself.  the taxies were gone in about an hour and bicycle shops had a booming business but in the end a lot of people just slept in the train stations and city halls.  After I got home it was not possible to go to work again for about 2 weeks. and when i did go back it was to enjoy a month of rolling blackouts, food shortages and radiation in the drinking water. 

i agree melt, the carpenters of old must have been damned amazing.  they are still pretty hot stuff, cuz not all the joints are made by robot and have to be cut on site.  they really got mad skills.

I'm a bit mixed on doing work for family - this time they're willing to pay (plus it's an interesting project with a decent budget) - but I'm not sure if I want to draw up a contract (since I'm working for someone else right now - i.e. liability) or charge as much as I should (because I can take my time designing) - any advice?

manta, didn't know that. thanks.

morning all, can i have a drink yet? it's been the kind of day where i haven't actually resolved anything but have like 5 pending issues.

btw - it isn't anything that would require an architect's stamp.

*melt, I don't know how long it lasted. I didn't feel anything. It was a 5.3, I am probably 200 miles away.

A google camera car is parked outside my house right now! DANGIT my yard is a mess.

toast, if you want me to email you a copy of one of my contracts email or FB me, I'd be happy to share.  If you want to do the project, I'd recommend you get your current employer's blessing -  tell your current employer that it's work for a family member.  Your employer will want to be free of any liability that could come about due to your client thinking that the work you are doing is being somehow overseen or sanctioned by your firm - you need to make it crystal clear, even write it into the contract, that the work is completely separate from the firm and all responsibility for it comes to you.

becca: "I didn't feel anything"

Is that what you're saying?

I saw and felt the earthquake....but the woman in the room next to us felt it alot more!  She freaked right out and Connecticut is a long ways from  Mills, Virginia, where all the chimneys in town toppled.  The State Government evacuated buildings....I guess they are getting ready for Hurricane Irene....who will be on our door steps later this week.

I just put up about 100' of 5' wide awning material on a trellis and I'm thinking about having them pull it off if were going to get blasted with a major hurricane.  Some things are not worth risking.

thanks, donna - that's helpful.  I think i'll take you up on your offer re: the contract - I don't have your e-mail, but I have nam's (and I'm not in the FB group).  I think my boss would be ok as long as it didn't interfere too much with work - he's been pretty good about that sort of thing in the past.

i just got to see pictures and a video from inside the printing facility in hong kong that is printing the book that i've been working on (as an editor and contributing author) for three years... i can't make them public yet (boooo), but it is really exciting to think that in about a month it will actually exist as something other than a bunch of indesign files...

Apparently my NY number is also the number that a Morningside Heights drug dealer gave out. I'm not sure if it's an actual drug dealer but I'm getting a lot of hilarious calls from really shifty sounding characters. I just know his name is Adam (pronounced Idam) and everyone keeps asking if I'm home and if they can stop by.

toast, can't we email one another via Archinect these days?  If you go to my profile page can you contact me?

Philip, congrats!  How cool to see the printing process, a bunch of electronic files and paper coming together into this object.  

It's nice to hear good news.  My checking account just got hacked to the tune of $1,500.  Fucking criminals, I hate them.  I'm ready to call for the death penalty for stealing these days....not really, but you just feel so violated when someone steals from you, ya know?  Fucker.

That's horrible Donna. Was it an online scam? Never use checking card for anything online. Does your bank offer any protection? All CC's do, but only some banks are willing to help... 

Shit. Wow, you had $1,500 ? :)

Sell your apple stocks ya'll.  That is all.

shitty donna.  hope bank is helpful.

Donna,  Hopefully it wasn't the IRS  Hacking your Bank account for back taxes.

Yeah, bank is great.  And no, I don't ever use my check card online, only the real credit card, which has also in the past been stolen and used by others but a few phone calls and whatnot and it's all taken care of.  Amazingly, I called the 800 panic number for my bank, which is a local Naptown bank, and when they heard my problem they transferred me to the guy at my own branch who is the guy who opened my account!  He knows me by name and asked if I could stop by the branch to sign some paperwork - ten minutes of my day and the bank will now take care of it all.  It is SUCH a pleasure to work with a local provider - it's like my bank is Cheers (guess you have to be over 30 to get that reference?).

Yeah, applet, imagine my shock when my balance was down to double digits!  Thankfully overdraw was barely avoided.  The bad charges were all under the name PCS Inmate Calling Svc.  So, it seems, someone has been using my checking account to pay for prisoners to call their families, perhaps.  There's a *slight* chance that it was a valid mistake, as PCS helps prisoners do online money transfer and someone may have entered an account number incorrectly...but more likely someone is continuing their ability to commit crime from behind bars, on my dime.  Sigh.

Whatever. I'm pissed but have way too much on my plate right now to give this problem any energy.  Off to calculate fabric yardage for a bunch of window coverings!

donna - my bad - I see i can get to your work e-mail from your profile page.   expect an e-mail from me this weekend.  we cannot e-mail via archinect anymore probably because I do not have a real person profile.

shit donna that sucks! I am not sure what i would even do if that happened to me. not using debit card online does seem like good advice that i don't follow.

 also i didn't think emailing through profiles was configured yet?

nite nite.

so sorry, donna!  it happened to me a couple of years ago--i had a credit card that was linked to my checking account  and covered overdrafts...the bastards took ALL the $ in the account, plus OVERDREW the max amount off the credit card---left me with  -2500 or so.  Yep, they managed to steal $2500 more than I actually had.  Fortunately it was in CA, on the other side of the country, so it was pretty clear it wasn't me.  It took a bit of time, but the bank took care of it.  I'm sure they will fix it for you too, but it's a rotten feeling nonetheless.  I was told it was done with a counterfeit ATM card, so now I always cover the hand I use to type the PIN. At the time, the security expert told me the PIN is usually stolen by installing a little camera that records people's hands typing in the numbers.

Brian talks about his work.

To bed, finally, until tomorrow.

I went to bed last night only to be awakened at around two thirty in the morning to an car alarm going off.  It turns out it was our car alarm. Someone tried to break into our car, so I called the police to come cruise the neighborhood.  Of course the burglar was long gone by the time they arrived, and nothing was taken from the vehicle.  So it was a toss and turn night after that for both me and the Mrs. Snooker

Whoa! Snook has a car AND responsive cops. Donna has thousands in cash. Are you guys the New World Order Illuminati everyone talks of?

I'll shine your shoes if you let me live.

Donna and snook - That totally sucks a donkey's dong.  Glad to hear the bank is going to take care of the losses and that nothing was stolen from the vehicle. 

a question. Technically it is not a WWTCD as it is a theoretical query. But. For my case study for my architects registration - I looking at a project that was financed by a NGO and built (500k upgrade) without a contract in place.  My question points directly to Donna in your current role teaching contract law/policy, Jump as I'm aware that many projects large and small in Japan are built without formal contracts, and anyone else practicing. So my question is why? It seems foolhardy to venture into something so potentially liable with just a handshake

David, because drafting contracts (I used to do that, but I'm hardly an expert outside standard AIA recommendations) is pain in the ass, and often they are meaningless on small projects. You can't just do a two page contract. In case of a dispute you will be called out for not including every possible stipulation. You either go full retard, or not even bother. 

That said, one of the places I used to work for would (quite frequently) get new clients asking us to write these contracts for them. Guys that were in industry for 30+ years, never had to do a contract in their entire careers, and one day they got burned. Badly.

donna, it is pretty cool imho that brian included your son in such a big way into his practice. allowing them to share in each other's passions. nice looking show. 

Donna sorry about the stolen cash, thats never a good feeling. I've had it happen once or twice before always after a bit of travels. Congrats about Brian too

@david, we don't do much without a contract.  we use JIA standard contract usually which probably is not going to count for much in the big league but for our level is ok.

we are moving office this week and hired one of our contractors to do demo of the existing building interior and then renovation.  for that there is no contract.  budget was decided through consultation and that was about it.  nothing big though. 600 ft 2 or so/  and it's people who we have long working relationship with, so is cool.  but anything bigger we would not work that way.

what you describe sounds like a good opportunity to be taken to the cleaners.  in jamaica it often works that way?

melt....we  didn't loose anything but sleep....and wtf....

U= wish you could make a BILLION DOLLARS IN A DAY LIKE  OUR FINANCIAL WIZZARD

WARREN BUFFETT, AFTER BUYING BANK AMERICA.....SHIT THAT IS ALOT OF GEORGE WASHINGTONS....

THINK  I WILL GO SLEEP ON THAT! 

David, it must be a cultural thing?  An NGO probably does not have a longstanding relationship with a contractor but may be in a culture where written contracts are considered overly restrictive or governmental or something.  I'm not sure - we never risk more than a couple thousand on work w/o contract in place, and usually much less than that (a few hours of time, plus measuring, so under $1,000).

I wonder if anyone can sleep on the fact that Rick Perry is the anointed one?

the person after me is comment  #44444 :D

... somethign meaningful...where to get super clients?

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6260646431723948415

what would a high-rise/medium density dwelling or 'suburb' of architecture professionals look like?

@Jump & Donna - whilst we are no where are litigious as the US or UK we know when something is a bad deal. A great deal of construction projects are dealt with standard contracts and mostly FIDIC if it involves a donor agency. It seems like a potentially shitty arrangement but I was racking my brain wondering what I was missing.... 

The Harvard Design Magazine earlier this year published a case study of two projects by Maki & Associates - one in the US, the other in Japan that did not employ building contracts. A worthwhile read. 

@david....really?  that surprises me.  he is pretty conscientious man.  wonder if he knows about it?  if it was with takenaka construction might make sense since that is his family company but otherwise am curious.  is it downloadable?

you know when you put in a 3 hour movie after 10pm for the purpose of background noise, that you have given up on the idea of sleep.

@jump, it doesn't look like the story david is talking about is available for download...

earthquake and now a hurricane.  this should be a fun weekend.

afternoon all spent morning waiting in line at dmv for new license, the photo for which looks like a mug shot.

all you NE necters be safe this weekend. batten down the hatches et al.

Is it typical to work without a contract David?  Or is that usually something that one does with smaller projects?

Erin - hope you were able to get at least a small amount of sleep

is there something wrong with me for really enjoying doing submittals?  maybe I was meant to be a bureaucrat - or maybe it's a time on the project just before things start falling into place - or maybe I just really like stamping shop drawings because it's like an exclamation point before you get to check it off the submittal log...

When I open my own office this will be the shop drawing stamp:

Clear communication is for boring people.

haha, rusty!!

so i did a little 'hired gun' work for my husband's firm--a competition proposal---for the last couple of weeks.  it was the first time we worked together, and was surprisingly enjoyable!  but it meant we weren't home much, and, well, the contents of our fridge weren't pretty.  so today i cleaned it out and walked over to the supermarket to buy some bleach and baking soda...only to encounter armies of neighborhood crazy people lining up to stockpile supplies in advance of the hurricane.  this was the cheapo supermarket, so there weren't any normal people there...jut off-the-wall lunatics buying things like....multiple jars of maraschino cherries...someone's going to ride out the storm in a cocktail-induced haze.

i bought peanuts, chips, and bananas.  this should ensure our survival for the next week. 

good luck, east-coasters!