between/under the seats of the car? coat pockets? I hate this time of the year when you start using more clothing and lose things all the time.

Looked. Nothing. Checked the office, the gym, my car. :(

Try cancelling all your credit cards - I always find my wallet immediately after I do this.

It's probably right where you left it.

Can you check online when/where you made your last purchase?

Already know where I made my last purchase and we monitor or credit cards online for purchases to track our spending. So fart only the normal stuff.

My best thought is that it is sure to be in the last place you look for it. :)

It’s always in the last place you look. Try looking there first.

If it helps, my wedding ring has been misplaced for months.

Found it! I knocked it into the small trash can in our laundry room.

To many pockets in the winter time. Seems like I'm always putting car keys in the wrong pocket when I go to the store and have a arm full of groceries go to grab for my keys and well they are not in the pocket of the free arm. So have to do the shift of groceries from one arm to the other. Same thing happens at the Packie.

Glad it turned up. Points for tintt and NS on the dad joke (not sure if it is technically a dad joke, but since my dad used/uses it all the time it's a dad joke to me).

lost a fee payment check yesterday, must have fallen off my jacket pocket between getting in the car and walking to the office, fortunately the client is friendly.

I found my ring! At a pawn shop. They sent my ex-housemate a postcard about it.

Wait, what? Tintt, you must elaborate on this.

Wow! That's fantastic news, and I imagine will be a good story for future dinner parties.

Chad, I took in a friend that was struggling last summer. My ring went missing around August or September. I kicked out the friend about 3 weeks ago for various reasons that are unmentionable and quite serious. Today, a postcard from a local pawnshop showed up addressed to this friend to remind her to come reclaim her jewelry.

Just remember that if its crime committed in the name of mental health or poverty you need to suck it up and excuse them. It's the right thing and I'm glad Seattle is paving the way.

archidude, tell me more. What do you mean by Seattle is paving the way?

you might need better friends tintt. or just stick with archinect. we wouldn't pawn your wedding ring and let you find out a few months later.

tintt: I think Seattle is making poverty, addiction, mental illness allowable legal defenses in certain crimes such as theft, vandalism, etc. Effectively, they become get-out-of-jail cards. Look for this kind of nonsense to spread. Wokeism gone wacky.

Ah I see. Oh geez. I just got back from the pawnshop where another layer was added to the story. They had seen my ring but currently don't have it.

Actually, if white collar criminals were put in prison for their malfeasance at rates that poor people were incarcerated, I'd definitely be more woke.

I mean, geezer, there are circumstances under which those conditions - poverty, etc - actually *should* be an allowable legal defense for small crimes of property. Unless, of course, you're an inhumane ghoul.

Sorry for all the drama, internet friends. Only think I can think of is that the ring was stolen, pawned, then returned before I noticed. I found it in my jewelry box where I had looked before. Glad to have it back. Desperate times can make people do desperate things but that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad people, they just do bad things. I fear white collar crime much more because you can't just call the cops or piece together a mystery in a few hours with the help of the very nice pawnshop lady.

I'm glad you got your ring back tintt. What an ordeal!

Tough position to be in. Friends and trust. People and cherished property. Difficult all around. I'm glad you got your ring back.

Donna could you please give a scenario where a small property crime should be excusable due to being poor?

Archi, I believe the thought here is decriminalizing, like many places are starting to do with drugs, and instead focus on rehabilitation instead of tossing people in jail. I don't think anyone is giving away licenses for petty crimes.

Formula, if a desperate mother needs to feed her isn't, and can't get access to formula, and can't get the baby to latch. If that mother is fined, or charged, then we should burn down cities.

Difference there is you are harming yourself with drugs. Decriminalizing crime? You are allowing harm to others. And yes they are, you can google the thugs making headlines in Seattle and NY who joke about being arrested multiple times in the same day. You can look at the new DA of LA who is for decriminalization of crime in favor of rehabilitation even though under his tenure as DA in SF implementing those policies for 10 years property crime doubled in those 10 years. You can actually talk to cops who are actually hard working individuals who spend all day responding to calls and have them tell you about arresting GTA perpetrators who laugh, spit in their face and say "I'm gonna do time served and be back out here next week pig." Stick your head in the sand more though. Decriminalize crime....jesus.

Archi, see how my earlier reply was both thoughtful and intelligent? Give it a try.

So, your friend left 3 weeks ago already and now your ring has magically reappeared...maybe talk to the husband ;)

Check with him about what, random? Did you miss the part about the pawnshop confirming that this friend of mine had an account with them, that she brought them several rings, and they were in possession of my ring for a while? Hopefully your architect skills are better than your PI skills. It isn't hard to follow petty crime by desperate addicts, they leave clues everywhere. ;)

Don’t know how I missed that, am the worst PI...

tintt: well, actually I don't see the part about the account, several rings,etc. either. If you read your above postings, the sequence of events is a little confusing. No matter, since apparently things are resolved and the "friend" is hopefully out of your life.

Well shit then, geez. I'll try harder next time.

Hopefully there won't be a next time.

can you talk them up from residential addition to 300 unit multifamily podium? if so, i think i can help.

Zoning, shmoning!

I'm a Minnesotan living in Colorado so if this home owner wants some log cabin / mountain resort fusion type addition done to their LA home you can have them call me. Their addition will be 'unique' and 'eye catching'. :)

Donna, if you can't find anyone, I have done work in LA from a distance and I have some contacts there I work with. I'm familiar with the codes and standards. Depends on what the project is I guess.

Sent you a message, Donna...

Thanks citizen! A friend asked for a recommendations and I swear my mind just emptied. I *know* I know LA architects, I just couldn't think of them!

Im an architect in LA, but wont be able to help you as nothing I design gets built !

LOL @ sameolddoctor

sameold, that's a great strategy to avoid getting sued

Indoor Waterfall Starter Kit

Gross... glass block.

Fucking. Hate. Glass. Block.

nice tile cutting work to make that L-shaped octagon on the column left face - shame it lines up to absolutely nothing!

Be careful in the dark when reaching for the newell post....

Non, really? The glass block is what jumped out at you? ;-)

Not a fan of the stain on the wood stair either WG, but felt that was a minor item.

This makes my new fireplace/baby crib invention look even better!

I like glass block, it is just never used correctly.

I never thought I'd call out glass block in a project, but I recently did just that. Was inspired by this house. https://www.archdaily.com/248077/ad-classics-maison-de-verre-pierre-chareau-bernard-bijvoet

Nothing wrong with glass blocks: https://ofhouses.com/post/154276545244/376-tadao-ando-glass-block-house-ishihara

I got to use glass block correctly exactly once - on a renovation of an art deco school house in Shanghai.

I have one surviving from this beauty:  

(Not sure precisely which block, but it's a nice one.)

I occasionally go on a ignore/ban drive by on facebook. Good to see so many high-school acquaintances don't have their shit together, but I don't want that crowding up my feed while I click like on my real friend's kids pictures. But I have no active user set to ignore. It's a free source of renewable heat... good for the environment.

I hear you, but I have to watch by blood pressure

Yes. Maybe even 2 points.

Unless the inside of that present is bourbon.  Then add +1 point.

As an architect you should be housing all presents in custom made ipe wood boxes scribed with your custom logo.

Tinfoil, can’t go wrong and when it does it even looks better!

if you drink that bottle of bourbon before starting wrapping, then the problem with wrapping is not you, it's the bourbon.

Hey now, lets not start blaming the bourbon. All it's ever wanted to do was help.

I'd fox that typo, but I don't have the energy.

While we're at it, an option to delete a post or comment would also be nice.

I don't like the idea that people can say shitty things and then delete them to avoid consequences.

The current 5 or so minutes to edit for typos or flow is sufficient for me.

My other favorite car movies; Two Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point

Ever notice the real winner is the guy in the green bug? No matter how many times they pass him, a few blocks later he's ahead of them again...

I read that it took five weeks to shoot the entire sequence. The film editor won an Oscar... deservedly so.

Anything that ties your business to Facebook is a questionable investment. With that said, we use the rift. It's cool to be able to see the space in proper scale. It's also now deprecated and Facebook will probably remove support before it's old enough to be broken that's how they roll, suck all the data from the user base, then force upgrade by revoking support, usually by adding features you don't need.
I'd look into the vive if I was in the market.

I followed the rabbit hole to his home in Marfa, so dishonest, they showed it in Living big in a tiny house, and the girlfriend never mentioned she lived with the architect. I'm tired of these grifter-hipsters.

There are a few people I've encountered who should start wiping their butt.

this ad is everywhere this week! i love how the internet has united us with crappy ads.

Please tell us that pun was just a horrible mistake....

[shit eating grin] :D

At last, the hope and promise of the information superhighway fulfilled!

I raise my 10.5% Belgian quad and offer a cheers.

Wait... we're supposed to credit the images we steal from the interwebs? I'm in big trouble.

welcome to twenty twenty won :(

I just didn't want to give the impression that I created it, you don't have to worry too much citizen...

I saw that... I'd love to see a situation where the 1/4 round needs to match the floor...

Hot tip: THERE ISN'T ONE

The only time I’ve ever made the trim match the floor is when ceramic tile is involved.

The trim needs to match the drapes, y'all.

That may be the first time base shoe raised my blood pressure.

SneakyPete

I think that's a little personal to be making rules for other people to follow.

Or match neither. In our previous house (ca 1897), we had wood floors, some stained wood base and some white base, various wall colors, and we went with black for the shoe. It started as an experiment, a "what if...", but we loved it and let it stay.

First we need to define what "match" means.

Usually I take a vacation around this time due to firm being pretty generous with holiday PTO but it felt so different this year. Since cases have come down a bit in Chicago I’ll probably start going into the office more.

so going into the office is the new vacation!

So exotic!

I never stopped coming into the office during the pandemic. :(

we're in lockdown again this month and this week is the first week where we're doing virtual learning (juniorK) and my wife is doing virtual teaching. The schools could not organize themselves in time for the previous lockdown back march-july, and neither do they have it figured out now, but now we've got to balance 3 schedules. So, instead of going into the office downtown, I'm back in the home office working sporadically whenever I get the chance as their school schedules allow it. This means I can the bulk of my full day done in the evenings.

NS, sorry to hear that. My wife has been teaching remotely this whole time. We're lucky to still have our daycare option available or I'd be in the same boat taking care of the 3-year-old during the day and devoting any spare moment to work but the bulk during the evening. I might have to do that occasionally when we give our daycare (i.e. my mother-in-law) the day or week off, but it's been a huge help and we're very lucky to have it available to us. 

On a related note, and we can take the discussion elsewhere if we need to, my wife and I were discussing the other day how people in our area are wanting the schools to open back up, but won't make other sacrifices to get community spread under control. Simplistic, but if presented with the option of 1) have your kids in school or 2) continue eating at restaurants, drinking at bars, and going on vacation ... most seem to favor option 2 (at least based on their collective actions). Disheartening to say the least that as a community we can't focus on what might be in our best interest collectively and make some individual sacrifices. Timely and relevant: The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant --The Atlantic

EA - I've been screaming this for months. American (and, frankly, many western nation) hierarchy of what people care about has been laid pretty bare here. Given the option of reopening schools or getting drunk in a bar, many places are choosing the latter, despite the *performative* yelling about reopening the schools - think of the children!

yep ... this was also floating around my twitter feed this morning:

EA, I'll take a look at the link later, perhaps in between periods when Canada destroys team M.ercia in hockey world juniors tonight. Anyways, schools were reopened in septembre in my province while retail/dining/gyms have flopped between restricted to flat-out closed. Currently, we're in the later stage and schools were tossed in the mix because adults can't be trusted not to vacation or travel and gather during the holidays. The thing is, those who will gloss over the most stringent of restrictions will laugh at reasonable ones and by this point, there are too many people tired of back and forth closures + media & inane political news feeds so this group of wankers keeps growing. Eugh. We do our best to do our part, but even within my relatively intelligent group of friends, I see cracks forming.

I'm becoming more strict. I woke up in a cold sweat the other day after having a distanced outdoor evening meet with one or two close friends thinking about how I couldn't live with the knowledge that my actions caused the illness or death of someone I love.

Wait til you actually get older. :)

I'm 42 so I have a bit to go . . .

Wait, you're 42? What in the actual fuck? You look so much younger. My snark is no longer legitimate.

The first time I said "I'm getting too old for this shit" was at about 35; at every "milestone" age since then I've looked back at the last milestone and sighed, "Oh, you sweet Summer child..." I'll be 54 in about a week.

Now I'm curious to know how old SP is.

I'm curious to know how old one thinks I am.

Yup, my cherubic face makes me look young. Even more so without a beard.

 Fun fact:  humans are born with their acromion bones in 4-5 separate pieces held together with ligaments.  That's how your shoulders can fit through an opening the size of your head. 

About ten years ago I had my acromion screwed together because it never fused right. 

Baby face AND baby shoulders. So THAT's your secret.

SP, I don't know ... but your snark about Chad waiting until he is actually old, and then the take back when you found out his actual age makes me think somewhere in your early 40's.

Was that older or younger than previously thought?

Just turned 37 recently and the only thing I'm thankful for is this recent 4 week lockdown (until Jan 23) will allow my hands to heal. Injured both middle fingers at the same fucking time slipping off a nice pointy bouldering feature. Figure I was getting old... you're saying it gets worse?

I honestly hadn't thought about your age previously. Maybe older if I had to guess.

Edit to add ... I probably think anyone who regularly posts here is either in their mid 30's to early 40's, or much older (like retired or should be retired in their late 60's or older). Exception would be Donna who I'm pretty sure is in her 50's.

I miss bouldering. Haven't climbed since March.

I'll be 35 next week. Officially "mid" thirties!

Non, do not fuck with your hands, for real. They take about three months AFTER they stop hurting to fully heal, and if you've ever seen a pulley injury... *shudder*

Pete... I know what those are, one of my ex-climbing partners has one. It's one of the reasons he's no longer climbing. Taking the rest of your advise seriously tho. nursing them daily has almost removed all pain.

I can't recall if I've ever mentioned my age on here before, but like SP, I'm curious how old you all think I am.

33

42, That is the only relevant answer.

You were an intern in the late noughties, I think. You're not one to procrastinate, so I agree with archanonymous, 33-35.

I expected your estimates to be a little low. Because I embraced the intern title here until 2017 (coming up on 4-years post-licensure this year), people here tend to think I'm younger than I am. A bit of procrastination, but really it was because I specialized before getting the license. On the other hand, people I work with tend to think I'm older because my skillset is usually for older, more experienced architects. I don't look old though so they usually guess early to mid 40s. It was more shocking to coworkers when I was still in my 20s. 

I'm 36.

Well now I do feel old and slow compared to all of you young people.

tduds you’re too intelligent to only be 35. I refuse to believe it.

^kids these days, amiright?

I wouldn’t use the word intelligent there, that’s not related to age, I would use wise myself...but what do I know ;-)

It's funny, in real life people seem to assume I'm slightly younger - a combination of looks and the fact that I took a roundabout path through my 20's that left me 4-5 years behind in my "career advancement" (but much happier for it, and perhaps that's where the, uh, wisdom snuck in).

Either way I'll take the compliment! 

I didn't realize I was an elder statesman here, at 47. Bunch of whippersnappers.

You're OLD Wood Guy. :P

whipersnapper is the name of a great craft brewery real close to my house. Carry-on.

Oh please, Wood Guy. I'm almost 54. *I'm* the elder statesperson.

These kids.

There was a kink/fetish meetup for folks under 30 in PDX called "Whipper Snappers" and, while it's not my thing personally, I gotta respect that pun.

That is a good pun. Wait - tduds - you're too young to use puns.

 GET OFF MY LAWN!

these auto-generation meme quote websites have the best quote to background mashups.

Nicely done.  You can stand on my lawn.

I think I've got you beat, Donna - I'll be 54 in under a week.

Never too young for a good pun. I'm practicing my dad humor.

I'm almost ashamed to be 56 now.

I'm a long time lover of puns. Highest form of comedy, combining brevity, the absurd, and the unexpected. I think many folks don't like them because they don't think of them first.

I love puns. Have you guys been following the Bean Dad controversy and resulting dad jokes? Like "If I bring you a can of beans and a can opener that I don't know how to work what would you say?" Dad: I'd say you have a can't opener.

Holy smoke, I'm ancient. I have running shoes and eyeglasses older than some of you. On the plus side, my doctor did compliment me after a recent physical: "You have the supple prostate of a mere 43-year-old, Mr. Citizen.  And you really should return it to him."  (Ba dum bum.)

*snickers like a teenage boy* you said bum

Do you mean actual homosapien or dogs?

Actual people, currently in nesting doll form.

There’s no place like cloud nine!

Shh, not so loud.

Whatever you do, just don't say it 3 times...

he had a few posts over the holidays. Seems like he's been focusing on other things like studying to take the ARE, rather than shit posting on here. I personally think that is a good thing.

He seems to have now taken mainly to preparing long, elaborate posts complaining about the new changes to NCARB exams implemented during lockdown. I came across a bunch when searching out some help on specific subjects. Which I'm sure will keep him from actually taking the exams.

That's disappointing. I'm still hoping he follows through and takes at least one ... passes it too. After that I don't have strong feelings one way or another. But the dude needs at least something he can look at and say he's accomplished toward his goal of becoming licensed. 

Getting approval from WA state to take the exams is nothing, nor is simply having a NCARB record (these are things he's bragged about in the past). It won't give him any credibility to say he's passed one exam, but it at least will indicate he can accomplish something if he puts his mind to it. Who knows, with a pass on one exam, maybe he can impress an employer to hire him and he can work on his AXP hours. 

I think that is really going to be the thing that holds him back. He's expressed no desire to be an employee to someone else and has such a screwed up view of employee/employer relationships it doesn't surprise me. Regardless, if he wants the license he'll have to do it sooner or later.

holy shit you guys its like you want him to come back and fuck up the forum. 

Also its not polite to talk about someone like they aren't reading this when you know they are. And that goes for anyone, including Rick.

I know he's reading it, he emails me about it sometimes. This isn't anything I wouldn't communicate directly to him ... in fact posting it here is basically communicating it directly to him because I know he reads this (Hi Rick). As for messing up the forum, IIRC he can't post to TC and he seems more focused to a few select topics, or at least less willing to shit post lately. It's a gamble, I know.

I enjoyed his posts.

https://archinect.com/forum/thread/150143564/politics-central

Who's that?

Stacey Abrams.

Olenna Tyrell

I've done my fair-share of these as well. Those involving the inclusion of the tenant's design package (often from in-house folks + cheapest available drafting team) are particularly painful. How many of these TI are for spaces that also just happen to be in construction? Had one of these last year and we made some large changes to the building shell to accommodat their particular needs (custom OH door, relocation of under slab conduit & plumbing, move bracing for odd garbage doors, etc). Then tenant bailed on their signed lease agreement with the LL.

I've been running CA, remotely, on two TIs since October. I'm just about at the end of my rope. Both wrapping up in February (one nice thing about small projects is they finish quickly) so I'm hoping for something meatier in 2021.

The thing that really bothers me about doing shell projects is that I can't really design a building without a layout. For me the layout directly impacts the exterior. With the MOB shells I've been doing I basically have to layout the building then do the shell. The TI architects are always really happy with my shell designs because 'everything fits so well'. No kidding.

Chad, a few of mine had tenant input for the shell, but at the end of the day, my client is always the LL so they usually don't want too much customization in case the tenant disappears in a few years... but not always the case. Got 2 of them completed 2 years ago in a large retail commercial dev site that stand out well (but still "fit-in" the dev) because we had a decent tenant-shell coordination. Others won't care and stick opaque film to the windows and bolt on cheesy fabric canopies.

The shells that get designed without the interior being included will always be compromised, frequently terminally so. Columns in locations that make room layouts impossible, walls where there are no mullions, MEP that has nowhere to go, etc. etc. etc.

don't get me started on mullions that "end" in window panes... just... don't. I've just finished listening to badmotorfinger and can't be responsible for my actions for the next few hours.

I should of clarified. This particular developer has a partner and is courting several medical tenants. The tenant will give their input and so will the partner. This input may or may not be given to me by the developer - it depends on if he agrees with it. Sometimes the input the developer decided not to give me winds up being a deciding factor in the lease at a later date. Then comes the design changes.

I hope your contract specifies that design changes made after the initial design is approved will be included via additional services.

Oh of course. I also make sure that at the end of each phase the client signs a release on the drawings stating that they agree with the design and any changes may require additional services fees. It's just frustrating and time consuming.

You're my kinda architect.

You are all singing my song.

I need to move and work there now. https://loveschackarchitecture.com/

Nice work! I do hope there's at least one staffer there with a beehive, though.

And their projects must have rusty tin roofs. And lobster.

^ Yes!  Also, I love that the partners are Lindsey and Lindsay.

Right?! Plus it's majority woman owned.

I wonder if they and their employees need to refer to them as "E" and "A" to differentiate in the studio ... ?

^ I wondered the same, Bench. 

I worked at a place when I was a youngster where we had a Steve, a Steven, and a Stephen. When a fourth Steve was hired, he volunteered to go by 'Kyle.' Not a middle name or anything, just an alias he'd always wanted to try.

I prefer to use brand-new containers. You don't know who else had their stuff in there before.

.

citizen that's perfect.

I would go with a pic of James Hetfield circa Master of Puppets.

not nearly as studly.

See?

This veers a bit into punk, but the correct answer is Glenn Danzig.

We can debate the musicianship but I think on "stud legend" status it's hard to top Diamond Dave.

ewwwww, Danzig? If we're going punk at least go Rollins.

If it says "provide," then provide! Take him to the counter with you when you resubmit.

Note:  Sammy Hagar will not be approved as an acceptable substitute.

I would say I’m a Metal Stud, given my love of the genre.

Young Rollins:

^ It's like looking in a mirror...

Henry can get it.

I...I...I'm having a hard time thinking straight after seeing that image of a young long-haired Henry Rollins. Good lord. I'm melting like cheese.

Like, I'm feeling inappropriate even letting my mouse arrow linger on his torso? Eff it, I'm not getting anymore work done today... (I worked til 1am last night so it's cool)

My thinking, also, not so straight right now. ;) Happy friday.

I'm not gay but you have to appreciate a healthy specimen like that. Plus Henry's always been cool. Wish I liked his music even a little bit...

^ Not that there's anything wrong with that, WG.

Stop being horny on main, y’all

Total sploosh.

Ngl, I haven't gotten much done since I found that picture of Rollins.

I mean, no homo, but I’d totally do a tequila shot from Rollin’s navel.

The only metal stud.

Lemmy is God

his face looks like a bag of hammers

striking, but not handsome, I'd say.

what defines a stud, anyhow? orientation? use? fastening? material?

@ Wood Guy - I never loved his music either, he wasn't even the best Black Flag singer and Rollins Band was always a little... off. But I do absolutely love this spoken word weird mashup hidden song they did on one of their albums, and I bet you would too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_R2Iy7XBko

Worth the 20min.

I'd attach both the real thing and the photo. If they have a problem with it the world is worse off than I already believe.

is this related to the large volume of work you had coming in? Those aren't such bad battles to have...

Arch, it came up in my feed while I waded into Politics Central, so that was at top of mind. But it applies to all aspects of life, or at least mine at the moment.

Amen, brother.

"Cuckload"

Amen. I hate project management.

Is the abyss staring back?

The abyss needs that RFI back, like, yesterday.

All the abyss says to me is 'oh, one more thing' . . . .

If you don't give the abyss what it needs, it's going to delay the construction schedule, and the abyss will submit a change order.

Also, the abyss has a concrete pour scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Actually the abyss wants: 

Design concepts for three different buildings by Friday

CA on two core and shell projects

CD's on a TI.

CD's on a freestanding mechanical screen for the public side of 10 story bank

Contact a potential client. 

this doesn't sound sustainable.

The abyss wants you to get those studies done by tomorrow, but don't start until we get a signed add service which hasn't been written yet.

Oh the abyss knows that I don't do anything without a signed contract and all scheduled dates are from the day the contract was signed.

I could use a little quality abyss time. Today is my 17th day straight in the office, 194.5 hours booked since Boxing Day, as of 19:00 last night. At least I got Christmas and Boxing Day off.

There's a little word I'd like to introduce you to.

No.

AN- that's nuts. I'm busy but I'm only doing 40 hours a week.

Currently my abyss has switched to firehose mode. It's coming at me so fast I can't gte anything done.

Thanks, Pete & Chad,

This is an extraordinary situation, not the norm at all at this company. Prior to this project blowing up, I had rarely worked any OT here, and never more than a few hours.

AN - that's how I am here as well except I don't allow myself to made to work overtime. I just had the mechanical screen project assigned to someone else - thank gowd. I suppose some could view this as a bad thing but meh, I've got a lot going on and appreciate the help!

"Firehose" sounds about right. Not happy with my employer right now--he took on way too much work. Unfortunately he is me.

I keep telling you Wood Guy, you need to take that stuff up with HR or your employer will keep walking all over you and exploiting you.

AN, that's a bummer. Hopefully it will end sooner rather than later and they hit you with a big raise next year.

I know, sorry to keep complaining here. It's borderline comical at this point. Or I'm borderline, perhaps.

Certifiable. Also passionate, competent, invested, well-intentioned, and important.

I don't know about "important." Competency is a goal I strive toward. Otherwise, yeah.

You've increased the collective knowledge of the profession, I consider that of import.

Humble too

Well, this 10% trappiste brew ain't gonna drink itself. Carry on.

Non, sounds heady. And wise.

The abyss was quite powerful today but luckily there is this island of light called home with the wifey and some solid waves a couple blocks away. Keep everything in perspective everyone and let's all learn to say "no, how are those hires you promised 6 months ago coming?"

Curious WG - if you're so busy why haven't you added some staff? I think you said you've relied on a network of colleagues/freelancers in the past to get by with the flux, is that still the case?

(I'm not copping for a job, just trying to think more like management)

Bench, I have four architects freelancing with me, which is definitely helping. But there is still a lot of management to do, and many of my projects are small, weird renovations that I can't delegate effectively. I'm working on being better at business, though. A bookkeeper just started, and will take a few months to train (mostly her training me).

What about hiring project managers who are specifically NOT design minded so they keep their eye on the ball instead of chasing their true calling at the expense of the job they were hired to do? I am projecting here...

Thanks Pete. I have kind of an unusual situation, I think. I've become something of an expert (or perceived expert) in relatively affordable, high-performance, low-carbon homes and renovations on tight budgets. I also do unusual projects: coming up are a 50' x 120' goat barn, turning a 1790 timber framed barn into a house, etc.. I work out of a guest bedroom in my house and don't have room to expand, so I can only have remote help. I live in a very rural area but almost all of my jobs are 1-2 hours away, in all directions. I'm not an architect so fresh grads don't want to work for me and experienced architects often have an attitude, perhaps justifiably. I am fast and provide a good value, though I've steadily raised my rates and I believe I'm competitive with architects in my area.

Anyway, that was supposed to be short--your idea is interesting and I can see that being a good goal. Before I do that I need to get away from the concept of selling myself, which has become easy, and instead sell what my firm can do.

One of the architects helping me right now is great and lives in my primary market area. I'm trying to treat him as project designer, but because he came on after the client hired me and wanted to work with me, I'm staying involved for now. But he could be perfect as a project architect, if he was happy remaining a subcontractor. I'd be happy to hire him as an employee but I don't think he's interested in that.

WG, your description of your practice sounds like exactly what I am looking for when my time in my current firm is up! (not that I'm looking for a job or anything). Point being, I'm sure if you keep looking and keep the word out you'll be able to keep finding good architects like the one you describe.

WG, sounds like you can raise your rates higher and increase your schedules?

Archi_dude, yes--my current batch of jobs are all on my previous rate, but I increased it 15% about a month ago for projects going forward. I'm scheduling new work for "sometime around June or later." A few people are willing to wait.

Archanonymous, I will say it feels great to be in demand! I made a big career change about six years ago and have had a few big missteps since then. It's only been about a year and a half that I'm really focusing on this as a business, or at least trying to, and it's paying off--largely just being in the right place at the right time, but I'll take it.

No double double ?!

- Just kidding, I take my coffee black. Great find!

Left any tip?

so 2 different types of potato and a coke?

Soy latte from Starbucks at the Hilton, don't think I could manage more coffee haha. 

I prefer paying on card and giving tips in cash. 

Not the most exciting menu as we had a coach to catch and were killing time while we waited.

could have at least ordered a Canadian maple doughnut.

"Canadian maple" ...redundant?

tduds, Canadian maple is a cream-filled (is that a gigiti?) pastry with maple flavoured icing... not to be confused with the maple dip, which is a regular doughnut without fill but with the same maple icing. The Canadian maple is essentially a boston cream with maple icing instead of chocolate. See exhibit A below.

Yum.

Waaaaait a minute. How have I spent so much time in Michigan and never heard of a Canadian Maple donut? That sounds amazing! Is it a Tim Horton's thing only, because I've never been to one.

Love the receipt, Jaetten! Husband and I honeymooned in Niagara Falls!

I once had a whirlwind roadtrip romance in Niagara Falls (and elsewhere in Canada). I always tell people it was like taking a honeymoon with a total stranger.

Incidentally my actual honeymoon was a roadtrip. Guess I've got a type.

The Canadian maple is a Tim Horton classic. Their baked goods are pretty terrible since they come pre-baked and frozen. Their coffee is also pretty bad, but it’s cheap and there is a Tim’s at every street corner up here.

Sounds like Dunkin without the sharps containers in the bathroom stalls and the crackheads out front.

ArchA... There are plenty of Tims near my office where I don't even think my steel-toe boots will protect me from the needles.

Thanks Non, I'll have to find a vegan recipe and make my own maple doughnuts!

I kept an old metals catalog around for years because a project I worked on was featured on the cover. I finally tossed it in the last office cleaning purge.

My "15 minutes" can be seen here: https://eventscape.com/portfolio/miss-sixty/

was the human specifically backlit for the photo or is it really that translucent? Neat shape, reminds me of my favorite lamps.

Yes, they really were translucent, although I'm sure the backlighting was also enhanced for the photo. The stretched fabric was roughly tee-shirt weight.

Thank you for letting us know.

Did it over a year ago, the forum is much more enjoyable without having to sift through conspiracy theories.

I'm still not sure how x-jla can spend so much time here yet claim to own and run a business.

owners own, workers work

Not really but sure.

Owners with the wrong priorities and a misguided and wrong understanding of their business merely own. And after typing that, it makes so much sense...

i think you understood my point Pete ;)

I had him muted for a bit, then thought perhaps I could just not engage. I failed. Back on mute for a few weeks.

I just unmuted because I'd see about 5 of his replies to my one comment. Couldn't help myself. Left him a note in politics central higher up on the page and put him back on mute.

It's a real shame, being unable to have an actual conversation in that thread. There were some potentially interesting ones, too.

I came across a proverb recently that seems extremely relevant to the Politics thread: "You cannot wake a man who is pretending to be asleep."

Getting old is not for the faint of heart. Good luck. Hope everything goes well.

have you tried unplugging it and replugging it back in?

I've started having trouble getting to sleep because I wonder when my first health issue will crop up. Been extraordinarily lucky for four decades, I imagine it'll be a doozy.

Honestly what's contributing more than anything to my aging is sitting all the damn day long. I do walk the dog frequently, but sitting is evil. Hope your procedures go well, Chad!

Hope things go well Chad. The MRI dye is a real treat. Fucking burns so bad going in, but if you go somewhere good they mix it with some IV Valium so you hardly remember it! 

 @Donna, the clock is ticking on my current job, and I think something design-build, forensic, or in the field is top-of-list for what's next. I'm so much happier when not at a desk all day.

Thanks for all the well wished. 

NS - I don't think my wife would like the shutdown and restart option.

The irony is that I take rather good care of myself.  All of my ailments are genetic.  Grrrrrr. 

Oh, the MRI is for my bad shoulder and not related to the rouge wiring my body decided my heart needed. Neither condition is serious, just painful and annoying.

rouge wiring? how fancy.

I started taking a pill for high blood pressure 2 days ago, getting old really sucks, but bad genetics sucks even more. Good luck on your procedures!

Rouge wiring is fancy! So much so that without insurance it costs $15K to fix because the cardiologist has to use the fancy medical instruments to fix.

how much is it if they use the old rusty stuff in the broom closet?

$3.50.

If I'm being honest, I prefer most (remaining) examples of Art Deco and older buildings to 99.9% of modern stuff, but there's such complex and varied reasons for that. And the reasons we can't build like that now are so extensive. Kinda laughable to ask about it on Twitter.

because of a few things such as cost, lead times, material sourcing, available quality trades... lack of revit plugins too.

Good taste, among other reasons.

capitalism

Clients with the money to pursue such an endeavour appropriately

I think it's mostly the lack of Revit plugins /s

While not quite that ornate, woodworker friends of mine approach that level of work. I can't share images but check out "projects" here: https://www.tidewatermillwork.com/.

Let's not forget labor laws and the EPA. Darn government requiring workers to be paid for their time, given time off, and not letting us use toxic materials and procedures that kill the workers. It's all socialisms fault I say.

Find a client who wants it, we'll get it done. What's that you say? They don't want to pay for it? Oh. That's that, then.

Ah the memories...

There's also maintenance and upkeep. You still see a little of this in ostentatious residential design--where owners have fulltime staff around to dust, wax, shine, repair, etc. I can only imagine the facilities/grounds crew on most of the commercial projects I've worked on showing up and realizing I specified a chandelier with 1,000 Swarovski crystals.

Did a crazy asbuilt of an extremely ornate hotel from 1880. I'm sad I lost the CAD I made of it. Building department immediately shot down the renovation requests. Thank god.

i love classical and even baroque architecture, but interiors like this are totally gross. i can't understand how anyone actually likes them, though i am impressed by the intricacy. art deco or fairly pure gothic are great.

My office had a client in the 80s who wanted something like this, including gargoyles and all that, on their new apartment complex (to this day, I believe it's the single largest building in my province, covering an entire city block). They sent one of our architects to live with an old sculptor in Germany who sculpted all these figures which were shipped back to Canada. It's all super tacky but very impressive and it'll never happen again.

Oh also it has a revolving restaurant on the top floor, because of course it does.

Damn BB, that sounds like some project.

It's no Bjarke or Zaha, but it has its merits.

BB, Fort Garry Place?

Been watching too much Colbert.

No, it’s everywhere! I swear early this week McMansion Hell did a sea shanty tweet and then I heard about sea shanties every day including NPR talking about them Friday night WTF?

I have seen the sea shanty trend as well, so i don't think it's just you . i think it started on tik tok

I wish it were sea shanties, not just 1000 versions of the same one.

You're looking great!

Wow, nice work, Josh!

Envious kudos, Josh!

And since I can't find any other fault to make me feel good about myself, might I point out the unmade bed? (Okay, a teensy bit better.)

You’re not the first one to call me out for the unmade bed in most of my progress pictures.

Why make the bed? You're just gonna get back in it tonight.

.

There's something relaxing about getting into a made bed.

For Christmas I asked for and received a coverlet that is a line drawing of a map of Indianapolis. It is wonderfully centering to get into bed and see, on the map, exactly where I am at that moment as I get into bed. It reminds me of the Steven Wright joke about drawing a map of the US at 1:1 scale.

I love Steven Wright.

I read somewhere that it's actually better to leave the bed unmade, so the bedding airs out. At least, that's what I'm going with.

Looking good, Josh!

I got something similar today as well. We're not involved in a large tenant fit-up, but we did the base-building (9 storey office building). Tenant GC sends me RFI on friday for a tenant required partition (it's rated therefore cannot be dealt with by the interior designers under contract by tenant). I then get another RFI this morning to call the GC about the RFI. Sorry bud our contract is with the landlord and I'm not jumping hoops to suit your schedule and without landlord approval of additional fees. RFI due date is this wednesday anyways.

You ought to be nice to the contractors. A day will come when they'll cover your ass. Teamwork man, teamwork! Can go a long way.

Aps, for my situation, we are not under any obligation to answer this GC's questions. In order to answer them, we need the go-ahead from the landlord since it's the landlord that pays our bills. The RFI I've received requires a few stamped sketches as well as a modification to an existing building permit so it's not something that can be resolved with a simple phone call. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, I agree. I often try to negotiate with the GC when issues arise so that both parties look good in the eyes of the client (depending on who's fuck up we're talking about this time).

It's a two way street. I have great rapport with plenty of contractors, but they gotta respect my time as well.

i'm ready for the day when a contractor covers my ass. i'm sure there are stories from the '70s when this happened.

This happened to me once. Contractor submitted an RFI that to me, was clearly a wood truss submittal, and I said so I'm the response. Later on, because I "revised and resubmit" the thing, I got the resubmit, but curiously from a different supplier. I wrote my comments, and also put in the submission "see previous submission for additional comments". Meaning of course, that the contractor needed to review previous submittals, because you know they never review submittals themselves, and make note to the sub of the other comments...! Well, wouldn't you know, the parapet truss framing, was not per the contract documents, or the submittal comments. Assholes.

for those interested, I just got another rfi for the same item. Apparently the trades are on site "waiting" for my response. Hummm, I guess no one told this GC the communication rules.

Aps, that would be a great idea. The thing is, we’re only involved in case the fit up GC has questions about the built base-building (completed in 2016). They are asking, and trying to pressure us, to give them immediate details (at our cost since not authorized by landlord) that are significant life safety items & new construction. The funny thing is that even if the LL green lights our scope, they won’t get shit for several weeks since it will need to go to the city as amendment to a permit.    

Communication rules ironed out. After 3 requests over 2 days, our client cleared out the confusion with his tenants' GC and what they (the GC) expected to be a detailed answer, turned out to just be a one-liner " please refer to drawing X, note Y" type email response. The bulk of the work is now in the court of those actually responsible for the scope.

effing a**holes

If I get quarantined then I can't work from home - don't have a computer. I'll just have to take a leave of absence and the firm can pick up all my work.

You have no idea the security I have to pass to get into my sites. QR code --> confirmation text with identity --> online screening test --> entry. But it's worth it because I know I (probably) won't be standing next to a covidiot when I get inside.

I would not go to a meeting with a maskless client.

Holy shit, that’s awful! What an ass! I’m sure though your bosses will allow you, with your workload, to take your workstation home and work remotely...

Hope the test came back negative.

And just to add to that, I have been hyper aware of how stressed out everyone is since March, so I have been incredibly forgiving of everyone else I come in contact with. You lost my pizza order? No problem I can wait. You forgot to send my tax form? No worries, just send it now. You left me on hold for 10 minutes? It’s OK we’ve all been there. Everyone is doing the best they can right now, except apparently they ALL aren’t because it seems like I’m the only one being patient?!

I hear ya. The crushing anxiety of it all definitely ebbs and flows for me. This has been a good week.* The typical boundaries between work-life and home-life have blurred to the point of invisibility this year, & the best thing for me was to construct new boundaries. The most important thing you can do is fully unplug when you punch out. Work stays in my office, to the point that I'll leave my phone in the office to eat lunch in my dining room. When all else fails, there's long walks with the dog and evening hot tub beers. Finally, it should be more accepted that mental health is health and sick time for "mental health days" is absolutely yours to use. I constantly remind myself that there's only so much I can do and ther e is nothing in my job that's more important than my sanity.

 (*He said, on Tuesday morning)

Like, I don’t even have time to go to the bathroom. I’ve come to work without makeup this week because I ran out and haven’t had time to go to the drugstore to get any. And tomorrow at 1pm the whole country might collapse anyway.

And I COULD have plenty of time to go to the bathroom if I didn’t spend 1/3 of my workday finding the correct online shared excel spreadsheet then uploading it to the two separate project management sites instead of just picking up the phone and calling someone to tell them the answer. I really hate contemporary practice.

Retirement! That's what I did. Fuck everything.

And on top of it all I get a text update on my phone every day of how many Americans died of Covid that day. And my unhoused friend STILL can’t get a roof over her head, and yesterday was a new report that something like one quarter of American children live in food-insecure homes. And we’re all supposed to carry on as if everything is fine?!?!

Hah, retirement. That's a good one.

A few months ago I told my recently-retired dad that I'm too young to retire and he corrected me: "No, you're too poor to retire."

I can confirm that being too poor to retire is definitely a thing. My dad (71) was basically forced to retire 5-6 years ago, but still has a part time job and probably will until he physically can't do it anymore.

The only people who have enough money (pensions) up in Canada are former government workers or as we call them civil service. If you worked for a private company or for yourself, you're fucked.

Liberty Bell, I want to give you permission to not take on the weight of the world. It's not necessary. Help out where you can, but infinite potential futures really doesn't need to live your head rent-free. Seriously - what possible effect could you have on the presidential transition tomorrow? About worldwide hunger? I know it's great to think big and we all want to contribute to making the world a better place, but there are thousands upon thousands of actual experts in those areas, who work on these problems full time. You'll go crazy trying to fix everything.

b_b I know your heart is in the right place but as someone who struggles with anxiety, the suggestion that I can just "not think about" things beyond my control can come off as dismissive. I don't know Donna's feelings but it sounds like something similar.

If I could control them, they wouldn't be called emotions.

googles "Hang in there cat" poster... but then realizes he hates cats. I honestly don't get how y'all deal with what going on within your borders. Every time I look at the news, whatever is currently bothering me disappears for a few minutes. With that said, I was almost livid last week when my 4y old's school called us to justify his absence from online learning...

NS, I wonder how many hits the Canadian Immigration (and New Zealand, Australia, UK, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden) web site has gotten in the last few weeks. I certainly would have been checking if I hadn't already done my research about 4 years ago.

Architects are NOT desired in NZ...

bowling_ball, my therapist has many times pointed out to me that I'm a narcissist if I think I can solve every problem in the world. I concede both - no, I can't fix all the problems in the world and yes, I'm still a narcissist about it.

I just have trust issues - I not sure I can solve every problem, but I'm pretty sure nobody else can.

I didn't mean to come across as insensitive and I'm sorry if I did. We all have our struggles and sometimes I need somebody to remind me that some things are out of my control. I live with somebody who struggles with similar feelings and I see the toll it takes on her. Not easy.

No hard feelings! Like I said I know you mean well. For me, it doesn't matter a lick whether or not I have the power to influence something, sometimes I'm going to inexplicably fixate on it. I've developed some healthy (and some unhealthy) coping mechanisms over the past 35 years but that's anxiety for ya.

A good dump sure does wonders.

.

hand delivering a letter instead of wasting taxpayer's money >>> Chair of the Senate Budget Committee

All I want to know is: Are his mittens connected with a rope through his sleeves?

you know they are.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/06/bernie-sanders-civil-rights-movement-activism Bernie's clothing reflected that he still has a lot of youth in him. Just like he had since his Vietnam war era activism days with stylish protest clothing. He was and is a free-spirited intellectual who mastered politics to the humanistic ends and causes. I like the young groups he fostered in both houses and they are growing. It's time for America to have real leftists in Congress. I think the country needs it if just for a voice to be heard. Senator Sanders set the spirit of the democratic campaign and brought in the youth to vote Democrat for the right reasons such as the better distribution of wealth and wages, social justice, healthcare and housing, jobs, so on. Biden, a centrist, is lucky for being in the right place right time. The country needed a midfielder with a strong cv and he was there. His religious overtones are very American. IMO, he is trying to restore a romantic image of the American ethics and purity that was long gone, approx. Korean war and assassinations, followed by Vietnam, followed by Nixon, followed by being the crusader and the police everywhere in the world, and fast forward to this day as a big picture plus a plague. I am so glad Biden has a whole variety of good help around him. Bright modern and ambitious people. Democrats with the civil causes look very strong and I like some of the young politicians with Bernie's influence are under their umbrella now. Whether you like it or not, even though they are not talking about it loudly, social democrats won considerably this last election in the sea of a conservative and unique brand of American politics.

I live in a town of about 1200, average of 30 per square mile. It's a 30 minute drive to a town of 10K or more. It's 75 miles to a small city of 60,000. Most of my work is in or near that city (Portland, Maine) and almost none of my work is closer than a 30 minute drive. Knock on wood, I have always had more work available than I can do. But most of it is relatively utilitarian--not much Architecture, mostly modest new homes and renovations.

Totally not kidding, at this point in my career I'd be so happy to be doing modest homes and renovations. I love personal projects.

Donna, it's not easy and honestly I'm not perfectly suited for it, though I do my best. But I know you'd be really good at it. Is there a reason you wouldn't go back to residential architecture?

My goal for part-time work in retirement (since gods know I won't have enough savings to quit working altogether) is to design follies - kids' playhouses, doghouses, shed/studios. It'll probably have to be design-build, since I doubt it would be very lucrative doing design only, so I'll need to improve my carpentry skills.

Wood Guy, 100% the only reason I'm not self-employed doing residential remodels right now: health insurance. Thanks, American Exceptionalism!

don't get me started on health insurance...fuuuuck! That said, I love the flexibility of having a small practice. Assuming I can keep work coming in the door...LOL. [i mean, it's just anxiety, right? fingers crossed each & every month... ]

Our health care system is... well, you know. For five years my wife and I, in our mid-40s, no kids, were on the ACA. Some years our income was low enough to get a subsidy but most years it was about $14K per year for premiums and a $13K combined deductible. Neither of us saw a doctor over that time period.

Now we have insurance through her work; it's a slightly better value but not much. It works out to about $140/wk for each of us to pay the premiums, and we started an HSA to pay for incidental healthcare items without having to pay tax.

It's not ideal; we should be like civilized countries and have an actual healthcare system, not an insurance system based on sick-care. But if you are staying in a job you hate just for the health insurance, how much would you have to charge to pay for your own?

Any idea how? From that asshole client?

can you sue said asshole client?

If the meeting was at a jobsite (I think you mentioned that earlier), you might have a better chance suing the contractor who failed to ensure proper safety procedures were in place and followed ... but probably not worth it in the long run. Probably would have more of an effect if you just quit the project leaving the client without an architect. I know that's probably not an option though. 

Hope you're doing ok and that you suffer no long term effects.

I cannot comment on the who and how of the situation beyond what I've already said. . I can say this - if I quit the project I'd also be quitting my position with the firm I'm at.

so, tossing this out there, what would happen if you were on site and suffered an injury because the GC failed to cover a slab opening? Perhaps not worth the effort unless you can demonstrate permanent injury and can establish negligence. heal-up quickly.

The issue may be that my lung capacity could be permanently reduced to the point where I no longer could do what I used to. Also it would reduce my life span by around 10 years.

Chad I'm really sorry to hear this. I hope you are not one of the "long haulers". It's a scary illness.

I hope so too as I am NOT going to live like this.

Fucking hell, that’s horrible! “Get well, get well soon, we want you

to get well” https://youtu.be/N3TuOQkN7e0

Hahahahaha!

Here's hoping for a brief and light bout, quick recovery, and zero lasting effects for you, Chad. For the spreader, maybe some genital warts and a tax audit.

Sorry to hear this @Chad Miller...best wishes for a short & full recovery!

Chad I keep thinking about you saying you can’t live like this, and I’m reminded of when I got my wisdom teeth extracted at age 34. The surgery and recovery pain wasn’t terrible, but I had some nerve damage at the back of my mouth that was extremely painful and miserable. A week or more after surgery, when I went back for a follow up and the dentist told me there was a slim chance that the nerve pain would not abate over time, I specifically remember thinking “If I have to live with pain like this I can’t live. I’ll off myself instead.” Thankfully, six months later it was just a small tingly irritation, and a year later up until now I only feel it when I floss. So: hang in there. Chances seem more likely that you’ll recover fully, over time!

One of my clients is in the hospital with covid and might not make it. He was a good one too. :(

That gives me some inspiration for the MOB shell I'm working on . . .

I want to know more about this cartoon

Am I the only one who doesn't understand anything about it?

I know, I keep reading it, and don't get it.

I get the gist (I don't know how to pronounce that word) of it, and I like the gist of it. Not sure I fully understand it all, tho.

WTF is a free range princess? And by "do" them, does she mean what I think she means? And how will that solve her architectural problem, exactly? The mind reels....

I have no idea but I dreamed about boobs last night because of this cartoon.

How many of them were in black face?

There are many people fucked up here and for the record none of them were out in black face, that's not a thing here ;-) The rioters are mostly just bored opportunistic urban youth and football hooligans (the spelling errors in their whatsapp/telegram announcements are typical) wanting to blow off some steam, fight with the police and loot some shops in the process...the usual really. It's because we now have a curfew since last week and are forbidden outside between 21.00 until 04.30 unless we walk a dog or deliver food.

Can you be more clear as to what you mean by "urban youth"? Do the rural areas not have youth? What about "urban" youth makes them more likely to riot, in your view?

randomized, your response sounds similar to saying "oh, another troubled youth" after some teenager guns down a dozen people in a schoolyard. I am curious how many of these "football hooligans are also ultra-racist Dutch movement members? Is there any info on that?

With all due respect to you of course.

European football hooligans are not your average politically left leaning people. Most have sympathies for Nazism, racism, hate, and shit-disturbing. Look at Lazio Ultras in Rome - bunch of thugs who think Mussolini was a great leader and all blacks (even black players on the their own team) should be shipped out of Italy - well, maybe at least sent to play for AC Roma. Every country in Europe has it's own football hooligans, and they're all racists. Netherlands is no different. Lead pipes and some teargas works well on them.

Okay, all at once: Rural youth is not that packed inside small boxes with nowhere to go, there’s more lebensraum out there and perhaps they all have dogs :) What’s been going on has happened primarily in our cities (with the exception of some small fishing village notorious for its youth “activism” and cocaine habit), there’s something about being collectively locked inside tiny apartments that sets people off I guess. Most of these rioters in the cities are children of migrants (most youth in our cities is), don’t think racism has anything to do with this, except maybe their racism towards white Dutch people (seeing which shops they target and which ones especially are left alone), but that’s just speculation. Our football hooligans are not necessarily or particularly racist, the ones from Amsterdam even identify as Jews (Amsterdam is also know as Mokum has/had a large Yiddish heritage/history) and you can see people from all backgrounds supporting them (white Dutch, Northern African and Turkish Muslims, Caribbean black, etc. side by side. They even fight as one together against hooligans from other cities and all they care about is the jersey. A famous hooligan that died in a fight between Rotterdam and Amsterdam hooligans in the late 90s (The Battle of Beverwijk) was black but so was the ring leader of the opposite team). Also our teams are completely mixed as are our streets and our national team.

wow.

any canadian hooligan youths in there rando?

the infamous maple syrup dealers? yes plenty!

good. happy to see representation up there.

The problem with Dutch is that they still have the old most liberal society in the world image of themselves that we all welcomed until extremist politicians like Geert Wilders start to surface with significant societal support as in the case of most contemporary European countries.

Wilders is not the cause but result or outcome of a rise of extremism in Europe though...

Sure, he is an angel in disguise!

Not saying that...but he does stand up for gay rights, women’s rights, heck even animal rights, got to give him credit for that...

Hitler was vegetarian, got to give him props...

he does stand up for gay rights, women’s rights, heck even animal rights...

As long as they are not Muslim or non-white immigrant, right?
Geert Wilder is a hate monger.

So I see your true colors... A racist politician sympathizer!

Now you're jumping to conclusions, I'm just explaining Wilders, not voting for him...people that support him don't hate muslims (necessarily) they 've lost their way of life and want it back.

Just like the German Nazis and their leader blamed the Jews for the loss of their way of life. The Nazis in The Netherlands were party to that. Today is the Holocaust Day!
You are sliding into that territory with your posts.

it's quite amazing how rando has the ability to find loads of nuance when attempting to explain the actions of his own country...

It's funny how standing up for gay rights, for women's rights or animal rights puts one in the Nazi corner...while suppressing women, hating Jews, beating up gays and mistreating animals is regarded freedom of religion.

what isn't funny, and never has been, is making sweeping statements about an entire country full of diverse people. Statements which are proven wrong just by reading what those diverse people are writing in THAT conversation. But you know, stupid is as stupid does.

I don’t want to be dragged down into this kind of conversation yet again, what for...if people want to brand me a nazi(sympathiser) for not bowing for a women suppressing, gay hating antisemitic ideology and instead standing for universal human rights, that’s all on them. I don’t need that bullshit just as I don’t need riots in my town because of a lockdown and curfew in an attempt to control the spread of COVID.

We know. All you need is a straw man to cuddle with and something you can pretend is BAD ON BOTH SIDES to keep you warm.

too late

Straw makes for a terrible cuddler.

Nah I’m good sneaky c.s. You guys have fun circle jerking, I’m going to cuddle my boys now! XOXO

You're just upset because the only people who seem to consistently find common cause with your blathering are the racists.

“The problem with Dutch is that they still have the old most liberal society in the world image of themselves that we all welcomed until extremist [islamists] start to surface with significant societal support as in the case of most contemporary European countries.” There, I fixed it for you Orhan :-)

So maybe not a racist, but definitely a bigot.

Tell me, what's wrong with opposing the extremist islamist ideology? Or to paraphrase dubya: If you're not against them, you're with them!

ya'll are killin it lately

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...

They stepped down so they can't be held accountable anymore, because they stepped down already, just in time to get reelected in March when the elections were anyhow scheduled. That's some really sneaky opportunistic political move right there.

You haven't earned the standing to be demanding anything. You're the one espousing views and you need to do the heavy lifting of justifying your views. I'm not doing your homework for you, especially when it's something we teach children: to not make sweeping generalizations to try and legitimize your fear and hate.

Jeez Louise! I'm not demanding anything here, please go on...

randomised 

Tell me