does anybody read vanity fair anymore or watch charlie rose (which is how I found out about it?)
I've challenged COTE to come up with the top green buildings since 1980 (since VF fails to list any, except maybe Menil Collection with the daylighting fins).
I find all quantification/qualification systems for what makes a "green" building... "green," interesting. On one hand, seemingly objective quantification like LEED or formulaic analyses seem to arbitrarily simplify OR complicate the issue. On the other hand, qualitative assessment can be perceived as lacking a sense of authority or legitimacy. The same can be said about our profession in general, which I've always seen as a big piece of our profession's identity and recognition (or lack thereof).
That said, COTE's "measuring" system looks pretty holistic from what I can tell.
For those in the ridiculous heat wave, hope ya'll stay cool.
not in any order, a few of my nominations of the best green buildings from the last 30 years (most aren't even Leed certified):
-Lewis Center at Oberlin
-Biosphere II (it showed us how little we knew about ecosystems)
-Dockside Green
-Hearst Tower
-Heliotrop Rotating House
& there are a few more that I can't remember the names of right now over in Germany & the UK
If there was a slot for a rating system or benchmarking program, I'd give the spot to:
- Living Building Challenge
But I'm going to think about this for a few more days before finalizing my vote. We'll see if I get any COTErs to play.
when LEED/AIA start talking about green building in terms of kbtu/ft2/a or kWh/m2/a, it'll paint a realistic picture. for now, you won't find them talking in these terms because most LEED buildings still aren't performing as well as they could or should if they were truly 'green'.
this is one of the things about passivhaus that i prefer, the metrics are met or not, and you can compare energy demand between different projects.
the entire LEED system is pretty ridiculous, and routinely gamed by developers and architects alike to maximize status for lowest cost.
then, you get people claiming to do green buildings but failing to even certify or register them (a la allied works).
talking about energy metrics is, to me, the best and only measure of 'green-ness'. until the energy issues are resolved (and i'm talking substantially) does it really matter if the primary energy inputs for your counter top are only slightly lower than normal?
when you've solved the energy problem (e.g. passivhaus, net zero, plusenergiehaus) THEN the other things become more valuable.
designed an airtight building? sure as hell want low/no-VOC materials
in net zero building, the embodied energy of construction materials plays a larger role than in a code or most LEED buildings.
to me, there is a synergy between these different systems... but it's not being adapted well in the U.S.
and here would be my entries for a 10 greenest buildings since 1980 (in no particular order)
manitoba hydro place (~140 kWh/m²a)
kunsthaus bregenz (a thermodynamic game changer)
Arup's school in kadakh india (net zero)
BEDZED (net zero)
umweltbundesamt dessau (primary energy 76.7 kWh/m²a)
haus r-128 (net zero)
genzyme center
deutsche post tower (94kWh/m²a)
kapelle versoehnung
wohnhausanlage lodenareal (117 kWh/m²a)
TWo people from my office got laid off today. Not only am I surprised that it wasn't more, but that I haven't yet lost all the contents in my stomach from the stress. Anyone wanna buy a house?
holz - good list - now I'm going to have to put together mine...
just got back from a long weekend in NYC - I've seen some pretty spectacular fireworks displays in my life, but watching the NYC fireworks from the top of a 30 story building is going to be hard to beat.
*m, hang in there! I hate layoffs...
Any patterns with who got let go? any writing on the wall that you need to be paranoid about? Did the bosses handle the process well or have they killed the last shred of moral in the office?
so who is this troll who is popping up being a sexist and just generally being an ass, on so many threads lately? not sure i understand the psychology of this type of person. childishly offensive, but more than that just obnoxious and disruptive. i don't get the motivation. is it about finally having a place where they can't be made to shut up? it is unquestionably annoying.
is it wrong to ask that why all just ignore such comments? some of the exchanges are getting elaborate and long and completely get in the way of things interesting people (like donna!) have to say.
jump, not sure who you are talking about. but if it is bothering you that much, drop Paul and company a line...I imagine if is is bothering you must be bad.
Just saw the film Carbon Nation and spent a nice evening talking with the filmmaker, Peter Byck, afterwards. The joys of GSA. Great movie, great message, entertaining too.
The only pattern I can see was the amount of billable work everyone had. The biggest blow was that my work bff was one of the victims in the cuts. She was hired just when we started slowing down in 2008 and survived one prior cut. She hadn't had any real billable work since about October... just dribs and drabs here and there. I will really miss her. Another one was from our support staff. They are the first to go from this group and has over the past year become a really bad apple in the bunch. Hasn't really been doing anything the owners requested of them. The third... no clue. Was one of our surveyors and a little lazy. Was hired to work on an account that isn't bringing in any work, so I think that's why they were cut. I'm still surprised (and grateful) that I was not on the chopping block. I suspect it might be b/c I tend to be the person who cleans up the messes and is the designated LEED AP in the office though we have one other. Who knows. I am just biding my time at the moment, thinking about what to gather to produce a portfolio.
usually it doesn't bother me nam. this time a thread started by the great liberty belle was taken over by a troll. which also doesn't bother me in principal except this time the troll was being fed and the thread turned to muck. and i was kind of interested in the non-muck stuff before it got all squishy.
in the scheme of things it doesn't matter so much. i guess my feeling is that if the troll were ignored it would go away. this time it was fed regularly, which made things worser faster...
but really, nothing compared to what melt is watching going on in the office. sorry to hear that melt. friends at work are a great thing to have and losing a good work-mate, def not a good thing.
*M, cleaning up the messes is one of the most important jobs in an office. showing ownership attitude also helps keep your head off the chopping block. Hope you survive till things turn around...
melty, if I wasn't clear enough in my texting yesterday, I am sending you e-hugs and I feel very badly for you and my old coworkers. And of course, "mi Casa" is totally available for you should you want to pack up shop at any time, you know that, right? Obviously it's a little cumbersome being that I live 2500 miles away, but still. Also I didn't realize the support person you were talking about had become a problem... that's too bad.
The dishwasher saga continues.... This new guy told me its my water, and calcium buildup, and nothing he could do. Told me to scrub my machine, and then start pumping it full of phosphates whenever I use it.
Thing is, isn't there something bad about phosphates that I can't quite remember? There must be a reason that detergent manufacturers are phasing is out, right?
SH I'll leave the phosphates response to Barry (I wish I took his class despite what the snot nose students said so I'd know the technical answer to that question). If memory serves me correctly excess phosphorous when it reaches bodies of water is a catalyst for plant/animal growth and as such is considered a secondary problem.
Sarah I would suggest getting your dishwasher pulled down completely (separate motor from blades, housing, hoses etc) and give it a good clean down, possibly replace the houses, the studs, maybe even the bearings before running chemicals through it. However you'd need a pro to do that unless you/hubby are handy enough to remember where all the screws go.
I'm fried. My students are WAY behind in their work, so we've been radically shifting the gallery show at the last minute to accommodate the gaps. I take responsibility for their work not being as good as it could/should have been - we gave them too much, too fast, and they had no time to ponder, only react.
AND: I had a totally bizarre phone call today from someone pissed off at me because I complained to his editors about something he wrote. The double whammy of students demanding attention and this person accusing me of something about which I felt justified caused me to see him as a target for my stress: I went off on him, yelling and everything. But I didn't say fuck, so that's something at least.
melt, I'm sorry your stress level has bumped up so much at work. Things are still really tough out there, it seems.
eutrophication is bad with the fish farms too. i took a course on system design for one of my classes required in phd (my faculty was multi-disciplinary, environmental issues based) and we tried designing a way to prevent the problem with sea weed and mussels. It was mildly convincing and we were able to present it at a conference on biological system designs in Fukuoka, which was cool. i sneaked out of conference to go and see nexus housing (koolhaas, portzempark, steven holl, etc), which was even more cool.
hurray for LB and not saying Fuck on the phone !
but anyway, why would phosphates clean out your dishwasher?
sorry the students are behind, donna, but - as we always tell them - it's about the process and the learning. it's an introduction to what happens in arch school, after all.
you'll be happy and relieved and proud of them (and you) on closing day. and there's always drinks at atomic to look forward to.
I feel like white vinegar helps just about everything.
Donna - I too am glad that you did not drop the F bomb on the phone. Hope your stress dies down. In the end, I hav no doubt your students will make you proud.
SH - hope you are able to find a solution for the dishwasher saga. Do you guys have hard water down there? Do you use soft water tablets? Could that have something to do with it? I'm just pulling stuff out of my ass at this point. I have a dishwasher, but as I live a solitary life it rarely gets used for anything other that a fancy dish drying rack.
So I calmed down yesterday after a good nap and a successful quest to find replacement hiking boots. Unfortunately now that I am back in the office I am in complete and utter panic mode. I love not being able to breathe and feeling like I may lose my breakfast at any moment. Yippee skippy!!! :o/
Atechno - how are the pecha kucha preparations going?
Vinegar does help, but it doesn't help enough - I tried it. And phospates somehow bind the calcium and magnesium so they can't stick to the dishes, or something like that. I really don't have a solution yet. This wasn't a problem until this year, and nothing else is having issues. I'm conflicted for multiple reasons. It's easy to say "Ok, Cascade complete still has phosphates, I'll just throw down the extra bucks, and not worry." But I've got this blog, and it's about the environment, and while I normally don't go out of my way to save the world, I don't go out of my way to hurt it either. Husband will want a decision quickly, and if I choose to only handwash from now on, it will only be me in the kitchen.
No worries Melt. You're awesome enough to stay in the game, and if for some reason you don't, it's not a death sentence. You'll get unemployment for nearly two years - maybe longer if congress passes that extension!
donna, that reporter stepped across the line in calling you to complain. Call his editors and let them know how inappropriate it was - put his *ss on the line.
just finished smearing sun screen onto the shrub, now we're off to the kidde pool at the park...
we don't have dishwasher sarah. i sometimes forget how common such things are in the usa, but here is quite normal still to do by hand. it isn't much of a hardship in my mind.
watching tv tonight for first time in ages. it is still strange as shoot-heck, this Japanese tv. craziness seems to be the point of the shows. which is of course fun, but always we are left wondering if someone is writing this or is it all done ad-hoc and flaneur-style. turn the funk up to 11...
There's two reasons as to why one would user phosphates in washing dishes...
And these are two reasons are primarily why the design of the modern dishwasher is the way that it is:
1) Hypervalency--
Phosphates are hypervalent-- meaning, phosphorous has a high number of electrons in the outer shell (more than eight) in its phosphate state.
Why this matters? This gives phosphates the ability to have unique properties such as the ability to dissolve many compounds and to drastically alter pH while being technically non-toxic (it is non-oxidative in atmospheric conditions).
For the first part, its ability to dissolve other chemicals increases cleaning action. When mixed with other cleaners like surfactants and soaps, phosphorous allows for things like salts, soaps and oils to be dissolved that would more than likely be unable to dissolve into suspension give the heat and pressure of a dishwasher.
For the second part, phosphorous when mixed with other soaps can increase the pH level of dishwasher water to 12. This can allow the water to act like a strong liquid soap despite it having little to no reactivity potential. When mixed with other active detergents, the cleaning power is greatly enhanced by using phosphates as buffers.
A soap solution rich is phosphates is so powerful a cleaner that it can dissolve concrete (basically scale and lime deposits), glass and other stable crystallized forms of calcium and sodium salts.
2) Mechanical Action--
As noted above, phosphates can put a lot of things into solution. What this basically means is that when your dishwasher is pounding your dishes with jets of water, the cleaning action is enhanced by the dissolved solids. This also means your dishes stay relatively cleaner as scale is less likely to form.
But yeah, it's like using 20,000 to 40,000 grit (basically a liquid form of silver polish) sand paper directly on your dishes.
Is it possible for a person that has been working in retail, hospitality and corporate design for 6 years to make the switch to schools and medical? I feel like I've already made my bed and must now lie in it. Thoughts, opinions, experience?
I think you'll like it, but you won't get to spec as nice stuff as you can in commercial work.
plus - codes are slightly different (you'll definitely get familiar with state health codes - if you've ever had to deal with a pool in a hotel - think a lot more stuff like that) and there are a lot more things to coordinate, like crazy hospital equipment...
and the design process is slower - more meetings and reviews and people voting on things... even if it's a small job replacing millwork or ceilings or something...
anywho - it shouldn't be that tough of a switch - it might take a few months getting used to, but you seem like you'd be able to handle it.
I aree toaster/ They are two industries I've always been interested in (esp medical). I'm just concerned that b/c of my mainly retail background, firms that do such projects would take one look at my resume and just throw it by the wayside, that's all.
I am more than likely NY bound with a few acquaintances. We're splitting a hotel/motel room and traveling up together next week. We're all searching for jobs but this was kind of so last minute planned. Not sure what to do. I did get a snazzy sports coat though.
Do I just kind of blanket send out resumes/portfolios and ask for a tour or some info or if I could swing by their office?
I don't really have a portfolio either. I did mention to someone who I've kind of shown a few things too (mostly how to make quick snazzy white renders) to post their portfolio on here. Hopefully that will provide you all with some cheap entertainment [he's not very good].
Next stop? Probably getting arrested for being drunk in public.
*melt - I think retail/commercial work translates pretty easily to front-of-the-house type stuff in hospitals. lobbies, waiting areas, food courts... same "big space" issues.
if you have space-planning and interiors experience you should be fine - you just won't get put to work designing an entire school your first day. I'd play up your more general technical skills and experiences and your design skills..
of course there's a learning curve when switching project types (learning the kinds of "stuff" that goes into different project types is always a challenge), but you should have plenty of support if the office has been doing this kind of work for a while.
Dishwasher story. Not that long ago I ran into my x-wife in the grocery store. She ask me if I knew where the dishwasher soap was and I said I don't have a dishwasher. She looked at me and she said, "You sure Do." I never liked those damn machines and I guess she remembered it. I always would wash things by hand. It is the only way to know for sure if their clean...in an old fashioned way.
Thread Central
hi all. Steel pulse was wicked. other than that is is storming big time here, has been and will keep up for rest of weekend.
Yeah, nothing like a 4th indoors!!!
wow, slow day. So how did the 'nect miss this?
does anybody read vanity fair anymore or watch charlie rose (which is how I found out about it?)
I've challenged COTE to come up with the top green buildings since 1980 (since VF fails to list any, except maybe Menil Collection with the daylighting fins).
ooh, christ... that would beinteresting.
and would the COTE limit those 10 to only AIA-designed buildings?
I find all quantification/qualification systems for what makes a "green" building... "green," interesting. On one hand, seemingly objective quantification like LEED or formulaic analyses seem to arbitrarily simplify OR complicate the issue. On the other hand, qualitative assessment can be perceived as lacking a sense of authority or legitimacy. The same can be said about our profession in general, which I've always seen as a big piece of our profession's identity and recognition (or lack thereof).
That said, COTE's "measuring" system looks pretty holistic from what I can tell.
For those in the ridiculous heat wave, hope ya'll stay cool.
not in any order, a few of my nominations of the best green buildings from the last 30 years (most aren't even Leed certified):
-Lewis Center at Oberlin
-Biosphere II (it showed us how little we knew about ecosystems)
-Dockside Green
-Hearst Tower
-Heliotrop Rotating House
& there are a few more that I can't remember the names of right now over in Germany & the UK
If there was a slot for a rating system or benchmarking program, I'd give the spot to:
- Living Building Challenge
But I'm going to think about this for a few more days before finalizing my vote. We'll see if I get any COTErs to play.
slart,
when LEED/AIA start talking about green building in terms of kbtu/ft2/a or kWh/m2/a, it'll paint a realistic picture. for now, you won't find them talking in these terms because most LEED buildings still aren't performing as well as they could or should if they were truly 'green'.
this is one of the things about passivhaus that i prefer, the metrics are met or not, and you can compare energy demand between different projects.
the entire LEED system is pretty ridiculous, and routinely gamed by developers and architects alike to maximize status for lowest cost.
then, you get people claiming to do green buildings but failing to even certify or register them (a la allied works).
talking about energy metrics is, to me, the best and only measure of 'green-ness'. until the energy issues are resolved (and i'm talking substantially) does it really matter if the primary energy inputs for your counter top are only slightly lower than normal?
when you've solved the energy problem (e.g. passivhaus, net zero, plusenergiehaus) THEN the other things become more valuable.
designed an airtight building? sure as hell want low/no-VOC materials
in net zero building, the embodied energy of construction materials plays a larger role than in a code or most LEED buildings.
to me, there is a synergy between these different systems... but it's not being adapted well in the U.S.
heliotrop!
rolf is a hero in my book, barry.
and here would be my entries for a 10 greenest buildings since 1980 (in no particular order)
manitoba hydro place (~140 kWh/m²a)
kunsthaus bregenz (a thermodynamic game changer)
Arup's school in kadakh india (net zero)
BEDZED (net zero)
umweltbundesamt dessau (primary energy 76.7 kWh/m²a)
haus r-128 (net zero)
genzyme center
deutsche post tower (94kWh/m²a)
kapelle versoehnung
wohnhausanlage lodenareal (117 kWh/m²a)
LEED is not working hard enough to achieve its own obsolescence
Holz, great list. BEDZED should be on my list too.
that reminds me that many of AFH's projects are very low energy and have very good LCA performance with their use of local materials.
TWo people from my office got laid off today. Not only am I surprised that it wasn't more, but that I haven't yet lost all the contents in my stomach from the stress. Anyone wanna buy a house?
melt, ugghhhh....
Strike that. There were three.
*melt - that sucks - hang in there.
holz - good list - now I'm going to have to put together mine...
just got back from a long weekend in NYC - I've seen some pretty spectacular fireworks displays in my life, but watching the NYC fireworks from the top of a 30 story building is going to be hard to beat.
*m, hang in there! I hate layoffs...
Any patterns with who got let go? any writing on the wall that you need to be paranoid about? Did the bosses handle the process well or have they killed the last shred of moral in the office?
that sucks melt
so who is this troll who is popping up being a sexist and just generally being an ass, on so many threads lately? not sure i understand the psychology of this type of person. childishly offensive, but more than that just obnoxious and disruptive. i don't get the motivation. is it about finally having a place where they can't be made to shut up? it is unquestionably annoying.
is it wrong to ask that why all just ignore such comments? some of the exchanges are getting elaborate and long and completely get in the way of things interesting people (like donna!) have to say.
just a thought...
jump, the word obtuse comes to mind.
jump, not sure who you are talking about. but if it is bothering you that much, drop Paul and company a line...I imagine if is is bothering you must be bad.
night all.
Just saw the film Carbon Nation and spent a nice evening talking with the filmmaker, Peter Byck, afterwards. The joys of GSA. Great movie, great message, entertaining too.
The only pattern I can see was the amount of billable work everyone had. The biggest blow was that my work bff was one of the victims in the cuts. She was hired just when we started slowing down in 2008 and survived one prior cut. She hadn't had any real billable work since about October... just dribs and drabs here and there. I will really miss her. Another one was from our support staff. They are the first to go from this group and has over the past year become a really bad apple in the bunch. Hasn't really been doing anything the owners requested of them. The third... no clue. Was one of our surveyors and a little lazy. Was hired to work on an account that isn't bringing in any work, so I think that's why they were cut. I'm still surprised (and grateful) that I was not on the chopping block. I suspect it might be b/c I tend to be the person who cleans up the messes and is the designated LEED AP in the office though we have one other. Who knows. I am just biding my time at the moment, thinking about what to gather to produce a portfolio.
usually it doesn't bother me nam. this time a thread started by the great liberty belle was taken over by a troll. which also doesn't bother me in principal except this time the troll was being fed and the thread turned to muck. and i was kind of interested in the non-muck stuff before it got all squishy.
in the scheme of things it doesn't matter so much. i guess my feeling is that if the troll were ignored it would go away. this time it was fed regularly, which made things worser faster...
but really, nothing compared to what melt is watching going on in the office. sorry to hear that melt. friends at work are a great thing to have and losing a good work-mate, def not a good thing.
sorry to hear about the layoffs, melt. Glad it wasn't you. Keep your chin up!
morning all,
Jump/donna which thread we talking about?
*M, cleaning up the messes is one of the most important jobs in an office. showing ownership attitude also helps keep your head off the chopping block. Hope you survive till things turn around...
Wow, I just keep losing entire weeks! I feel bad.
melty, if I wasn't clear enough in my texting yesterday, I am sending you e-hugs and I feel very badly for you and my old coworkers. And of course, "mi Casa" is totally available for you should you want to pack up shop at any time, you know that, right? Obviously it's a little cumbersome being that I live 2500 miles away, but still. Also I didn't realize the support person you were talking about had become a problem... that's too bad.
This World Cup game looks boring. Go Holland!
The dishwasher saga continues.... This new guy told me its my water, and calcium buildup, and nothing he could do. Told me to scrub my machine, and then start pumping it full of phosphates whenever I use it.
Thing is, isn't there something bad about phosphates that I can't quite remember? There must be a reason that detergent manufacturers are phasing is out, right?
So what am I to do? I know, I'll blog about it!
sarah - for some reason I saw "dishwasher saga" and pictured your story streaming across a movie screen star-wars style to the theme music.
a long time ago in a kitchen far away...
THE DISHWASHER SAGA
episode IV
phosphates
it is a period of great concern. plumbers, striking from a hidden base...
SH I'll leave the phosphates response to Barry (I wish I took his class despite what the snot nose students said so I'd know the technical answer to that question). If memory serves me correctly excess phosphorous when it reaches bodies of water is a catalyst for plant/animal growth and as such is considered a secondary problem.
*m sending you positive vibes from the island...
Sarah I would suggest getting your dishwasher pulled down completely (separate motor from blades, housing, hoses etc) and give it a good clean down, possibly replace the houses, the studs, maybe even the bearings before running chemicals through it. However you'd need a pro to do that unless you/hubby are handy enough to remember where all the screws go.
A-techno you were right. P + H2O = eutrophication. plus we're at peak phosphate mining, the world needs more guano!
SH, don't think the chemistry of P + Ca = clean dishwasher, but something like bones or coral...
Doesn't white vinegar help a dishwasher?
I'm fried. My students are WAY behind in their work, so we've been radically shifting the gallery show at the last minute to accommodate the gaps. I take responsibility for their work not being as good as it could/should have been - we gave them too much, too fast, and they had no time to ponder, only react.
AND: I had a totally bizarre phone call today from someone pissed off at me because I complained to his editors about something he wrote. The double whammy of students demanding attention and this person accusing me of something about which I felt justified caused me to see him as a target for my stress: I went off on him, yelling and everything. But I didn't say fuck, so that's something at least.
melt, I'm sorry your stress level has bumped up so much at work. Things are still really tough out there, it seems.
- now I know a new word
eutrophication is bad with the fish farms too. i took a course on system design for one of my classes required in phd (my faculty was multi-disciplinary, environmental issues based) and we tried designing a way to prevent the problem with sea weed and mussels. It was mildly convincing and we were able to present it at a conference on biological system designs in Fukuoka, which was cool. i sneaked out of conference to go and see nexus housing (koolhaas, portzempark, steven holl, etc), which was even more cool.
hurray for LB and not saying Fuck on the phone !
but anyway, why would phosphates clean out your dishwasher?
sorry the students are behind, donna, but - as we always tell them - it's about the process and the learning. it's an introduction to what happens in arch school, after all.
you'll be happy and relieved and proud of them (and you) on closing day. and there's always drinks at atomic to look forward to.
When it seams the darkest, the most students always pull it together in some interesting way in the end.
I feel like white vinegar helps just about everything.
Donna - I too am glad that you did not drop the F bomb on the phone. Hope your stress dies down. In the end, I hav no doubt your students will make you proud.
SH - hope you are able to find a solution for the dishwasher saga. Do you guys have hard water down there? Do you use soft water tablets? Could that have something to do with it? I'm just pulling stuff out of my ass at this point. I have a dishwasher, but as I live a solitary life it rarely gets used for anything other that a fancy dish drying rack.
So I calmed down yesterday after a good nap and a successful quest to find replacement hiking boots. Unfortunately now that I am back in the office I am in complete and utter panic mode. I love not being able to breathe and feeling like I may lose my breakfast at any moment. Yippee skippy!!! :o/
Atechno - how are the pecha kucha preparations going?
donna, let me say it for you - in my Jersey tone - FFFFFUCK YOUSSSSS!
Vinegar does help, but it doesn't help enough - I tried it. And phospates somehow bind the calcium and magnesium so they can't stick to the dishes, or something like that. I really don't have a solution yet. This wasn't a problem until this year, and nothing else is having issues. I'm conflicted for multiple reasons. It's easy to say "Ok, Cascade complete still has phosphates, I'll just throw down the extra bucks, and not worry." But I've got this blog, and it's about the environment, and while I normally don't go out of my way to save the world, I don't go out of my way to hurt it either. Husband will want a decision quickly, and if I choose to only handwash from now on, it will only be me in the kitchen.
No worries Melt. You're awesome enough to stay in the game, and if for some reason you don't, it's not a death sentence. You'll get unemployment for nearly two years - maybe longer if congress passes that extension!
i'm not a chemist, so don't have any more advice.
donna, that reporter stepped across the line in calling you to complain. Call his editors and let them know how inappropriate it was - put his *ss on the line.
just finished smearing sun screen onto the shrub, now we're off to the kidde pool at the park...
we don't have dishwasher sarah. i sometimes forget how common such things are in the usa, but here is quite normal still to do by hand. it isn't much of a hardship in my mind.
watching tv tonight for first time in ages. it is still strange as shoot-heck, this Japanese tv. craziness seems to be the point of the shows. which is of course fun, but always we are left wondering if someone is writing this or is it all done ad-hoc and flaneur-style. turn the funk up to 11...
There's two reasons as to why one would user phosphates in washing dishes...
And these are two reasons are primarily why the design of the modern dishwasher is the way that it is:
1) Hypervalency--
Phosphates are hypervalent-- meaning, phosphorous has a high number of electrons in the outer shell (more than eight) in its phosphate state.
Why this matters? This gives phosphates the ability to have unique properties such as the ability to dissolve many compounds and to drastically alter pH while being technically non-toxic (it is non-oxidative in atmospheric conditions).
For the first part, its ability to dissolve other chemicals increases cleaning action. When mixed with other cleaners like surfactants and soaps, phosphorous allows for things like salts, soaps and oils to be dissolved that would more than likely be unable to dissolve into suspension give the heat and pressure of a dishwasher.
For the second part, phosphorous when mixed with other soaps can increase the pH level of dishwasher water to 12. This can allow the water to act like a strong liquid soap despite it having little to no reactivity potential. When mixed with other active detergents, the cleaning power is greatly enhanced by using phosphates as buffers.
A soap solution rich is phosphates is so powerful a cleaner that it can dissolve concrete (basically scale and lime deposits), glass and other stable crystallized forms of calcium and sodium salts.
2) Mechanical Action--
As noted above, phosphates can put a lot of things into solution. What this basically means is that when your dishwasher is pounding your dishes with jets of water, the cleaning action is enhanced by the dissolved solids. This also means your dishes stay relatively cleaner as scale is less likely to form.
But yeah, it's like using 20,000 to 40,000 grit (basically a liquid form of silver polish) sand paper directly on your dishes.
Is it possible for a person that has been working in retail, hospitality and corporate design for 6 years to make the switch to schools and medical? I feel like I've already made my bed and must now lie in it. Thoughts, opinions, experience?
Hello,
I am ready for this weekend, are you all? Yes, having a 4 day week is nice but then I still have 5 days of work to complete....
Anywho, hope all is well?
*melt -
I think you'll like it, but you won't get to spec as nice stuff as you can in commercial work.
plus - codes are slightly different (you'll definitely get familiar with state health codes - if you've ever had to deal with a pool in a hotel - think a lot more stuff like that) and there are a lot more things to coordinate, like crazy hospital equipment...
and the design process is slower - more meetings and reviews and people voting on things... even if it's a small job replacing millwork or ceilings or something...
anywho - it shouldn't be that tough of a switch - it might take a few months getting used to, but you seem like you'd be able to handle it.
I aree toaster/ They are two industries I've always been interested in (esp medical). I'm just concerned that b/c of my mainly retail background, firms that do such projects would take one look at my resume and just throw it by the wayside, that's all.
I am more than likely NY bound with a few acquaintances. We're splitting a hotel/motel room and traveling up together next week. We're all searching for jobs but this was kind of so last minute planned. Not sure what to do. I did get a snazzy sports coat though.
Do I just kind of blanket send out resumes/portfolios and ask for a tour or some info or if I could swing by their office?
I don't really have a portfolio either. I did mention to someone who I've kind of shown a few things too (mostly how to make quick snazzy white renders) to post their portfolio on here. Hopefully that will provide you all with some cheap entertainment [he's not very good].
Next stop? Probably getting arrested for being drunk in public.
*melt - I think retail/commercial work translates pretty easily to front-of-the-house type stuff in hospitals. lobbies, waiting areas, food courts... same "big space" issues.
if you have space-planning and interiors experience you should be fine - you just won't get put to work designing an entire school your first day. I'd play up your more general technical skills and experiences and your design skills..
of course there's a learning curve when switching project types (learning the kinds of "stuff" that goes into different project types is always a challenge), but you should have plenty of support if the office has been doing this kind of work for a while.
Dishwasher story. Not that long ago I ran into my x-wife in the grocery store. She ask me if I knew where the dishwasher soap was and I said I don't have a dishwasher. She looked at me and she said, "You sure Do." I never liked those damn machines and I guess she remembered it. I always would wash things by hand. It is the only way to know for sure if their clean...in an old fashioned way.
"Dude" We have a spy amongst us...can you believe it?
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