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Merry Christmas snook! Stay dry!

Dec 21, 12 11:43 am  · 
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snook_dude

Still drinking Beer and it is still raining.....4 hours till midnight....and the big nose Mayan has come for a visit...

Dec 21, 12 6:52 pm  · 
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vado retro

i hope everyone has a safe and fake column free holiday season.

Dec 22, 12 12:29 pm  · 
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snook_dude

I guess  Vado and I are the only ones  who the big nose Mayan didn't  get.  Two days and not even a peep here in Thread Central.

Dec 24, 12 12:35 pm  · 
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vado retro

merry christmas!

Dec 24, 12 10:21 pm  · 
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Merry Christmas TC!
Dec 25, 12 3:00 pm  · 
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∑ π ∓ √ ∞

MERRY Christmas, everyone!

Dec 25, 12 3:06 pm  · 
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happy christmas, all.  just finished conference and took a day or two off but back to work now before winter hols properly start.  no once cares about christmas here. i guess 90 have no idea that its a christian holiday even so the mood is definitely low-key, but new years is something everyone can get behind.  looking forward to the festivities next week!

wishing in advance that  2013 will be better than 2012.

Dec 25, 12 7:00 pm  · 
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snook_dude

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!   Sending out good thoughts to all those soldiers away from home and comfort.  Sending out good thoughts to all those young aspiring architects wondering if this recession is ever going to come to an end. Sending out the same message to all those Architects hanging on by their fingernails.  Enjoy your holidays with family and friends and wish for the best in 2013.

Dec 25, 12 7:37 pm  · 
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mantaray

First married Christmas was a smashing success.  Much better way to end what was, for us, not a super great year.  Looking forward to 2013 and I hope you all had a lovely holiday filled with love and family and laughter!  (no matter your religious views!)

Dec 26, 12 12:25 pm  · 
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hey TC! almost falling off the page again...

Just got back from seeing Lincoln, was a super inspiring moving film. Honestly haven't cried/teared up that much in a film in a long time.

Dec 27, 12 11:26 pm  · 
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vado retro

Yes, We must keep TC at the top. It should be at the top by default. Paul can you make it so? Thanks. I used to be an adamant movie goer but, for some reason I've gotten away from going to the movies. We did go see Argo and I thought that was brilliant. Guess I'm happy on the sofa with netflix.

Dec 29, 12 9:13 am  · 
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∑ π ∓ √ ∞

will someone please get me an ACAD file of the Moon, stat!!

Dec 31, 12 2:03 am  · 
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snook_dude

b I have been looking for  an ACAD file for Bedrock City.

Dec 31, 12 7:02 am  · 
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vado retro

yes my studio is doing a visitor center on Mars and i desperately need a 3d model of the red planet!

Dec 31, 12 8:38 am  · 
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I'm *almost* finished with Ender's Game - about 12 pages left, so don't tell me how it ends, anyone who has read it! It was really hard to come to work this morning without finishing it.

It's a very sad book, probably the first book about the frame of mind required for going to war that I have ever read, and it's rough.

We've been watching all the Marvel comics movies in our house this vacation. The Avengers is really good, and I'm enjoying the good vs. evil aspects of it all.  But I especially enjoy the internal conflict that superheroes have - the doubts about themselves and their motives.  Captain America has the strongest position of morality, but even he is full of doubt!  I should note I never felt this interest until watching Unbreakable - the best movie about super-hero psychology ever made.

I wish they had plans to make a full-length Black Widow film, but I can't see it happening.  Angus and I had a long talk about how women can be just as action-loving and crafty as men - gotta make sure my nine-year-old grows up feminist! I'd also watch a full-length Hulk movie *if* it starred Mark Ruffalo - he has the perfect level of self-hatred required for the Hulk.

So yes, spending my holidays thinking about good and bad tendencies and how they overlap and become indistinguishable and twisted sometimes. Anyone interested in this topic should also definitely read Bad Monkeys, by Matt Ruff.

On to work,.  Helping set up for our big Museum New Year's Eve party tonight!

Dec 31, 12 9:39 am  · 
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You'll have to get Angus a Black Widow belt buckle.

Bad Monkeys is an awesome example of one of my favorite almost-genres: the unreliable narrator novel.

IMA sounds like an excellent place to ring in 2013! I'm just hoping to make it home. This drive is long.
Dec 31, 12 10:05 am  · 
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curtkram

i have to recommend the newer doctor who series for self-doubting super hero.  that's my best hero-complex fix at the moment.

Dec 31, 12 10:11 am  · 
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curtkram, I watched a lot of Doctor Who in the 80s, and always found him and his sidekicks annoying.  But a lot of my mom friends are sharing the new Dr Who with their kids; I'll have to see if I think Angus would like it.

Of course Michelle Obama is still my main super hero.

Dec 31, 12 10:58 am  · 
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vado retro

Happy Almost New Year, TC

Dec 31, 12 11:42 am  · 
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I am a big fan of the new Dr. Who have been for a few years, but then again i liked the cheesy older series too.

As for Avengers I was really surprised how much i did like it, watched it on the airplane a few months ago. Made me want to go out and see other Avenger's universe films...

I am at work currently but hopefully leaving early. no big plans but will get some drinks with a couple of friends. hoping maybe to start off new year right with yoga tomorrow am. guess sit depends on how much i drink!

Dec 31, 12 11:55 am  · 
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mantaray

good and bad tendencies and how they overlap and become indistinguishable and twisted sometimes

I think the Russian novelists dealt with this question too, no?  I have been meaning forever to finally make it thru some good classic russian lit but I always get snagged on the indistinguishable character names right about page 10 and give up in despair. 

Watching Lincoln has finally made me follow through on my circa 2005 promise to myself to read Team of Rivals.  And boy is it ever good... I'm crafting a 2013 reading list based on what "the rivals" (& Abe) read.

Happy Holiday, everyone!  (I'm assuming you're celebrating my sister's birthday too, right?)

Dec 31, 12 5:08 pm  · 
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Happy new year everyone!

We're out at family home in the country this year. Crazy comfortable and luxurious. Nice to be a bit spoiled for a change.

@donna, Enders game is a fantastic book and pretty good as series although the prequel stories are clearly just written to milk a bit of cash. If you are into that kind of thoughtful SF also reccomend most anything by Robert sawyer. He came up with flash forward but has much better on offer, like "calculating god" and "rollback".

We saw avengers this week too. My wife found it boring and we all thought the final battle could have been swapped with the last transformers movie and no one would have noticed. That was pretty dissapointing. Great actors made it much better than it might have been. Assuming there is a sequel I hope they spend a bit more time on the story.

Would be nice if starck would hire better architects too :-)
Dec 31, 12 9:24 pm  · 
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snook_dude

I have been pouring thru " The Art of Intelligence" Lessons from a Life in the CIA'S Clandestine Service by Henry A Crumpton.  It is a fascinating read, Opened my mind to the State of Warfare we  have been involved in since way before 9-11.  I thought it was tough to get a building permit,  this agency has to deal with a whole different level of hoops to jump thru to get anything done.

Jan 1, 13 8:35 am  · 
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Sarah Hamilton
Now, see, I'm conflicted about my superheroes being conflicted. I won't let Abram watch Spider-Man or Batman due to the dark natures and internal conflicts. While I agree it makes for a nice story as an adult, I want Abe to know there is absolute, unquestionable good in the world, right now, anyway. I want my superman to be all good, all the time. He is a superhero for gods sake. He should be better than the rest of us.

As for Russian lit, I love it. It's so complex!
Jan 1, 13 8:57 am  · 
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mantaray

If you like Ender's Game you'd probably like Asimov's Foundation series.  Amazingly thoughtprovoking conceptualisation of an alternate possibility to the universe.

The Art of Intelligence - that sounds interesting, snook.  Thanks for the plug.  I'll check it out.  One of the things that amazes me is how little most Americans know about how much the CIA has been involved in shit in other countries.  When I mention particulars - only as it comes up in convo, of course - I typically get discounted as a conspiracy theorist.  But it's all stuff that's fairly out in the open nowadays, and yet nobody likes to believe that fucking around killing people covertly in other parts of the world = Your tax dollars at work!  Ah well.

Sarah, what russian books do you recommend?  I need a good place to start b/c apparently I keep starting with the impossible stuff.

Jan 1, 13 3:58 pm  · 
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mantaray

ha ha, will, isn't the country home the one with no heat? Different idea of wintertime "comfort" than mine!  ;-)  Kidding, I would love to experience actual life in real Japanese classic design, tatami mats and all.  You should invite us all sometime, hint hint.

Jan 1, 13 3:59 pm  · 
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mantaray

Sarah, what I love about the "flawed superhero" model (and I was a big fan of Spiderman comics as a kid) is that it shows the complexity of humanity, and the inherent flaws of humanity.  No human is perfectly good.  I can understand that that would be a scary thing to learn as a child though!  But, perhaps better to approach the concept first in fiction so better prepared / not as jarred by it during eventual life experience, maybe?  I'm not a parent so I have no idea how I'd approach this myself.

Jan 1, 13 4:02 pm  · 
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snook_dude

mantary, read the book and well you will find out they have  saved our ass from the bad guys. You will also learn most military generals are looking up the ladder and not paying much attention to the real world.

Jan 1, 13 5:35 pm  · 
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mantaray

They also created a lot of extra problems for us, too.  Many of our extra-curricular escapades have resulted in unexpected and unfortunate fallout we are still dealing with today, particularly in South America.  And there are a lot of limbless people in Angola currently having to import food because they can't till their own fields thanks to the mines our tax dollars planted there, in order to try to oust a communist government that is still going strong decades later.  Our mucking-about has also directly sowed anti-american sentiment that is reaping terrorism today (and, notably, on 9/11).  So, it wasn't all just saving our ass from bad guys.  Sometimes it was trying to save our ass from bad guys while inadvertently helping other bad guys, or creating whole new ones.

To be clear, I don't disagree with everything the CIA does, and am very grateful for much of it.  But it ain't a one-sided story.

Jan 1, 13 6:06 pm  · 
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mantaray

Yeah, I read an interesting profile of Petraeus recently that contrasted his work with other generals, and it was interesting to see where typical generals' focus was.  Agreed with your statement for sure.

Jan 1, 13 6:07 pm  · 
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Love Ender's Game. Can't wait for the movie, but also really hoping that the book doesn't get ruined for me because of it. I never got that much into the sequels, but I really enjoy Ender's Shadow. I think it's the alternate view of things that I find so appealing. 

Re: Avengers; I'd like to see some more full-lenth features on some of the other characters, especially Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Donna hit it right on the head. 

Interesting tie between Captain America and Dr. Who ... Jenna-Louise Coleman. My wife and I were watching the Captain America movie and my wife recognizes one of the girls that the captain and his friend meet at the world's fair, or carnival (whatever it was). Turns out to be Jenna-Louise Coleman, a girl that my wife went to school with in England while she lived there. We don't watch Dr. Who but some guys my wife works with were talking about the actress that was announced to play the new companion at work one day and she stopped them and asked who the actress was. They couldn't remember the actress's name exactly, (Jenna somebody). "You mean Jenna-Louise Coleman?" Yep. Small world I guess.

@manta and snook - I was shocked to learn about all the crap that went on in South America when I was working on my Spanish degree turned Spanish minor. Sometimes I think we like to live in our blissful ignorance rather than learn about what goes on outside our borders ... or inside for that matter. 

Happy 2013!

Jan 1, 13 6:14 pm  · 
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Sarah Hamilton
Manta, the only books I can tell you I've read are Dr Zhivago, which is complex with names, and Anna Karinina, which is fairly straight forward, and really makes you think about the histories leading up to WWI.
Jan 1, 13 8:07 pm  · 
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Sarah, Captain America is pretty unconflicted, plus he's super-polite and he never swears! I think he has doubts about his abilities, but no conflict about whether he's fighting on the right side.

Also, Sarah, I thought of you today when I finally felt some regret about not having a sibling for Angus.  My advice to you, as mother of a 9 year old, is go ahead and have a sibling for Abe. I think only children have it tougher in many ways.

New Years Day and I did some work just now and sent it off to be approved! Now bourbon.

Have I mentioned we're heading to Brussels for a week in February? I'm going to start a thread on it soon.

Jan 1, 13 9:12 pm  · 
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Sarah Hamilton
I agree completely on the Captain America movie. It was also my favorite of the bunch, but that's probably more due to historic storyline, than character.

And, Donna, it's funny you mention the sibling thing. I just brought it up, this morning, that this is the year we have to decide.
Jan 1, 13 9:55 pm  · 
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@manta for long time I felt same way, then i borrowed a Russian Lit anthology from a friend. Didn't feel that way after reading all 700 pages and was great way to sample a little of many authors/genres.

I am personally partial to anything by Chekov...

@donna Brussels for vacation? What about Bruges?

Happy 2013 all!

Jan 1, 13 10:08 pm  · 
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mantaray

Weird, we're thinking about a trip to Paris in February.

Jan 1, 13 11:54 pm  · 
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vado retro

If I'd have been a Russian aristocrat, i'd have certainly been Pierre Bezukhov.

Jan 2, 13 1:31 am  · 
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@mantaray. Yes cold as heck but the bath is big enough to swim in and with all the cooking being done by the inlaws the fact that the rooms turn to ice as soon as the heaters turn off is totally cool. We have futons to stay warm with.

@sarah, ditto about capt America. He's totally a black and white kind of superhero if that's your thing.
Jan 2, 13 3:46 am  · 
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i'll be in rotterdam for the last week of february and the first two weeks of march... we should have an archinect summit in europe!

Jan 2, 13 7:57 am  · 
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Philip I think I already saw that you were there but we're there the 2nd week of February so we don't overlap.  Manta we're considering a day trip via high speed rail to Paris. I'm conflicted about it but husband wants to, so we'll see. If you're there we could meet up!

Jan 2, 13 10:20 am  · 
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Sarah Hamilton
I'm so jealous. Everyones' lives seem so fabulous.
Jan 2, 13 10:35 am  · 
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sarah i feel the same way....

Jan 2, 13 10:42 am  · 
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mantaray

Well don't be jealous Sarah we just went through the budget last night and the trip probably isn't going to happen after all. :-(  Our airline is having a big miles sale for Feb and we have enough for us both to get to Paris and back... but no money to do anything once we're there!  So unless we want to hang out in Charles de Gaulle for a week it's probably not going to happen.  Doesn't help that my s.o.'s company rescinded all of his vacation for the entire year, so he'd have to give up wages to go.  Ah well.

Jan 2, 13 11:55 am  · 
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Here's a mistake I will not make again: My place of employment gave everyone a day off both NYEve and NYDay. There was a big fundraiser party on NYE, so m boss asked any of us who were willing to work NYEve to come in and then take today off in exchange.  So I worked all day Monday, and am home today.  Well of course everyone ELSE in the world is back to work today, so I'm getting tons of emails saying "Oh horrors we haven't worked on this for two weeks, so now I need these drawings and recommendations by first thing tomorrow!" Hey, *I* was at work all through the holidays, if you'd contacted me about these things before YOU left for holiday I could have had them done by now, but at the moment, I'm officially OFF. Of course I'm not off at all because I can't say no to anything I can possibly get done, so I'm at work even though I'm at home.  Sigh.

Jan 2, 13 12:08 pm  · 
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manta is that even legal? was it PTO from last  year that he didn't use so they aren't rolling over or did they just take this years time back/away?

either way sucks!

Jan 2, 13 12:12 pm  · 
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mantaray

Nam, it's really weird.  He switched from a manager-level (non-union) job within his company back down to a union job, which he had previous held for years.  The rules of the union job are that for the first full year you work there, you don't get vacation (you accrue it in advance for the following year).  BUT, he had worked there previously - however in the system they are essentially treating him as a new hire.  So the fact that he had previously accrued vacation time towards this year, which he will now not be allowed to take, appears to be handily overlooked by everyone except myself.  I have no idea what happens to that time.  Shouldn't they at least have given him the monetary value of those days?  It's so weird.  Unfortunately though, I am the one who is good at taking on the vagaries of giant HR companies (I am a bulldog, and don't mind making the hundreds of phone calls necessary) and since it isn't my job, I'm not really able to help with this one.  But yes, it is weird, no?

Jan 2, 13 3:24 pm  · 
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totally!

Jan 2, 13 4:01 pm  · 
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that's pretty screwed up... my trip to rotterdam won't be glamorous at all... i'll be spending 8 hours a day in the archives of the netherlands architecture institute, except for the days they're closed... on one of my off days, i might try to go to the westvleteren monestary in belgium on a beer pilgrimage for one of the best/most hard to get beers in the world... (if you're a beer nerd, check out this link for the crazy reservation process to buy the beer: http://www.sintsixtus.be/eng/brouwerij.htm)

Jan 2, 13 11:43 pm  · 
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Not really a beer nerd but I have heard about it. Good luck.

http://99percentinvisible.org/post/24136733632/episode-55-the-best-beer-in-the-world
Jan 3, 13 12:56 am  · 
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