DJ - I'm in Philly. Please do send some positive energy this way. I'm gonna need it.

So is talking about the title and what the thread was about that Unicorn started wrong? I guess I missed it entirely. I've been trying to not log onto archinect while at work.

tumbles!!!

Re: the traveling me too this year minus the goats as a reason. Although some is getting ready to happen for me.

Also, I got a chance to catch up with Aaron Plewke for the first time in too many years.

And slart, re: the Archinecting at work that has had to drop off for me a bit recently with the pace of work and will even more in upcoming months.

Nam! was great to hang out the other night. it had been a while, but at the same time it felt like we picked right up where we left off...

Orhan, Nam and I (and our lady partners) ate at one of my favorite spots from my time in Gainesville - the Top. This pic was taken with you in mind:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronplewke/5000449140/

where is the top? i'm wondering if it was around when i was in gainesville since i haven't heard of it...

it's on Main Street one block north of University. I don't think it was there when I started at UF, so it wasn't there while you were still around. Next time you visit Gville, you should check it out.

question for TC...
(no, this isn't the 'big' announcement). For spring semester, I've been tasked with developing a new course (that I'll also be the lead instructor on), LA 1001 Sustainability by Design. The draft syllabus is due in one week. The class will be part of the University wide Sustainability Minor & the Landscape BED curriculum with an expected enrollment of 100-120 folks. I have several questions about developing a class for freshman that I want to crowd source to the archinect, but don't know if this should be a 'regular' thread or a School Blog post?


Teaching LA1001 will replace teaching the mega-lecture LA 3501 that had 176 students last year, I'll still be teaching the MLA urban design studio. Plus I'll be involved with the Scarcity and Abundance' symposia and a job search...

that symposium sounds interesting would love to stay abreast.

Barry might as well start a thread i'd say.

definitely thread. they get more traffic, i think.

if it's not another huge class, it would be great if the result of the semester was a project that had been thought about holistically - albeit a different focus each class/week: starting with siting and working your way in.

Steven, we're expecting ~100 students, but we'll have 3-4 TAs for grading. Think the format will be 2 weekly lectures plus recitation. I'll post more details of where I'm thinking about going on the thread.

mdler's back!

congrats barry and good luck. I have a few courses I'd like to add to the curriculum as electives, but it doesn't look like I'll have the time to write them anytime soon. I was hoping to make one an informal design studio more attune to the group dynamics of charettes.

barry, send me an email and i'll forward you the syllabus of a similar class that is being taught at penn for the first time this semester... it is being taught by mark alan hughes, former director of sustainability for the city of philadelphia (and the "architect" of greenworks, philly's sustainability framework) who is now a senior fellow at penndesign...

hi tumbles

Every time I leave a Radio Shack I feel abused. So much for supporting my local businesses - next time I need heat shrink tubing I'm ordering it online.

I must be a salesman's worst nightmare. Mr Salesman calls me twice and e-mails me once (called once while I was on the golf course, the other time I was at lunch). He e-mails me again to say he is "worried" that he hasn't heard from me. I send him an e-mail to apologize for not picking up the phone, and I ask him some questions on his product. No answer. This was a few days ago. I'm "worried". Should I report him missing!?!?! Lol. Or maybe my questions were too hard?

I'm taking a quick survey. If someone were to give you a 5.5" x 8.5" Moleskine, would you prefer to open it up and see:

a) blank paper inside

or

b) gridded paper inside.

Your answers will be kept anonymous! I mean, after you post them here :o)

ruled, actually. since i mostly use them for keeping notes/tracking work

Crap, holz. You're screwing up my survey.

This link has had me snorting laughter at work for the past 5 minutes. Specifically the video of the Duck vs. the Cougar... spectacular.

http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/09/post-781.html.php

i go with grid. too small to be real loose with sketches, and the grid always seemed to be the most flexible...

I'm jonezing for the whiteline gridded notebook. but any grid smaller then 1/8th inch would make me smile.

I get that size for Abe's sketching, but in the watercolor paper since he's rougher on paper than most.

I buy the gridded, smaller ones for myself. It enables me to draw straight lines quickly when needed, and its light enough to draw over when it's not. Besides, it makes me feel more Architecty. : )

Oh, and Subbing went swimmingly. I didn't have to get there until 12:30, then sat in the library, just waiting, until 2:30. Then I went to biology, but it was a co-teach thing, and I just watched the teacher. After that, I went to the track to take roll, and watch the track team run 6 60 feet sprints. Fun! That was it. The hardest part was being confused for a student by students and faculty alike.

gridded, I like the structure.

Finding out the hard way that maternity coverage is not offered in individual health plans (as opposed to group plans). That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. What is a self-employed young woman to do? I guess that is why there aren't too many of us, and those of us that exist aren't having kids. Fvck the health care system. Are any self-employed women able to advise?

I thought my private HI included maternity; now you've got me curious.

dubK... i go with the plain paper...

personally i use the 3.5x5.5 plain reporter notebook for my sketchbook...
and the 3.5x5.5 ruled cahier journals for note taking (one per class)...

barry... i found your UMN email address and sent you the syllabus...

SH - just read more about it... hope to be an expert soon, I'm not getting any younger. Maternity coverage for individuals is rarely offered, and in some states not offered at all. The logic is that pregnancy is a one time large expense (for the most part) and on an individual plan that is a large payout for an insurance company to make, so they don't generally offer it without a group to disperse the costs among. If they do offer maternity coverage in an individual plan, you can expect to pay a huge premium (like 4-5 times as much) and have a waiting period of a year so that you have sufficiently paid into the system. I'm sure I will continue to learn more, must get this figured out!!!

a) blank paper inside

Always.

lightly gridded.

I'm still alive

Strawbeary,

Some reading that might help you sort out things.

Good luck!

I went with gridded. Thanks all!

AGH Strawbeary fuck the health insurance system is right!!! Goddammit that's one of the things about our health system that infuriates me the most - it's blatantly anti-women. Birth control? Not covered. Abortion? Not covered. Pregnancy care? Not covered. If you have a severely health-compromised baby after getting NO care or advisement during the pregnancy, of course, the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to heal/maintain the health of the child will be covered from the second it exits the birth canal - until it hits its legal limit of coverage at half a million dollars, of course, which will be, for some babies, within the first six months.

FUCK this health care system and FUCK the jerks in our government - our hero Obama included - who don't have the balls to take on the health insurance industrial complex in favor of ACTUAL HEALTH CARE for actual people who need it! Goddammit to hell!

Sorry - I guess that's a little bit ranty, huh? I spent a couple hours today making a lasagna and cookies to take over to a friend who is undergoing chemo for breast cancer right now. If you've ever seen someone in the middle of chemo it reminds you how delicate we all are. And sure we've got trillions meddle and kill people in oil-rich countries but somehow can't afford to make sure American women have the best possible shot at giving birth to a healthy child? Fuck that noise.

OH, BTW Strawbeary that was the final straw that resulted in Angus being an only child - when I became self-employed we knew it wouldn't be covered.

plain paper.

fuck all insurance always. it's a nasty trick.

chris rock on insurance (aka in-case-shit)... (around 1:26)

Sorry to get so personal on the net, but I think this stuff is important to talk about: Looks like my best choice is to pay for having a baby out of pocket and hope for the best. I actually found many opinions of those that support plans not covering maternity and prenatal care because it is a lifestyle choice, not a medical one. I would like to remind those people where they came from, literally.

I'm going to call the office manager at the doc's office and see if I can pick her brain on this... will report back if she offers alternative advice. My other alterntive would be to make less money and get the gov'ment to may for my baybee. Don't we get it as a society that to make intelligent independent middle class women pay outrageously for pregnancy while giving money to low income uneducated women to have more babies is pretty fvcking stupid? My concern for society just got way bigger, on a level I hadn't yet realized. :( thanks friends.

This is the way to generate large amounts of uneducated cheap labor for the future.

And prison inmates.

blank... and i keep them that way.... i think i have 4 or 5 empty moleskins...

I mean, on the positive side, Strawbeary, you're young and quite healthy generally, right? You're not highly overweight, you don't smoke, you're educated enough to know what foods etc. to avoid during pregnancy - and educated enough to know to research those things you DON'T know if you DO get pregnant. So the chances of you having a normal uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery are very, very high. Most likely you could go midwife care and birth center delivery (for substantially less than a hospital delivery) and still have no complications, no problems, a healthy happy baby and mom at the end.

But it's a terrifying risk to take, frankly! Both my sister and I are very healthy overall but both ended up needing hospital care for delivery - we are both slim and gave birth to big babies; hers came with forceps and suction, I had a last-minute C-section (not emergency, but moving towards possibly being one). But I also have several friends who gave birth in birthing centers, no drugs, even one who delivered twice at home in her own bed - no problems for any of them!

Your point is exactly right, though: cutting maternity care out of insurance basically means limiting the options for the very responsible, tax-paying middle-class people we should want to be procreating. And IMO, procreating is not really a "lifestyle choice" - it's a much deeper human drive than whether or not to smoke or skydive.

My godmother is an obstetrician. Maybe I should plan on showing up at her house 2 weeks before I'm due and tell her I fell thru the insurance gap and need to borrow her scissors and bathtub.

But yup, totally healthy, but have been told by my godmother obstetrician since I was 10 that the hospital was the only safe place to have a baby and to do otherwise is akin to hiring the guy at the lumberyard to design your house, so I have that mindset.

Or just take the money it would cost and use it to adopt. :)

Phillip - that class looks amazing! Do you know if there will be podcasts of the lectures?

re: insurance - the US isn't very 'family friendly' despite all the rhetoric claiming otherwise.

I definitely had that mindset as well, Straw, but even with needing a C-section I can see that for most women - and the statistics prove this - pregnancy and birth is a pretty straightforward, uncomplicated process.

I did find it interesting that of all the woman-focused pregnancy books I read while expecting pretty much none of them talked about the cost of the delivery. The one book for expecting dads I read? That was the first chapter.

Oh no. Don't even get me started talking about insurance in this country, and how it doesn't provide adequately for women.

*shakes head, goes and opens wine*

Ok, y'all were right. Maternity care is not covered, but complications related to pregnancy are. What isn't clear is if c-sections would be covered, seems that could be a complication. If I'm ok'd to have another kid, I'd like to try a duola anyway, but birth is way to messy to do at home. Yuck.

Speaking of, my sister had her kid. Turns out if you aren't insured, you have to pre-pay for an epidural. I like that.

i would have said a blank moleskin Dj... The grid would be to Cartesian right...

As for insurance i have always seen an upside to HSAs as an option for young(ish) people.

Except for big unexpected expenditures, like maternity, probably. I haven't checked though.
As for the anti-women bias it's too be expected since their is a general bias against those with money and power..

birthing centers/midwifery are a great and at least cheaper(ish) option, for pregnancy.

Night all

Name me ONE SINGLE medical procedure men endure for which they have to pre-pay for their pain killer.

Bullshit. Bullshitbullshitbullshitbullshit.

Honestly, it's a reflection of how biblically-influenced and Puritanical this country still is: women are supposed to "bring forth children in pain" because of Eve supposedly being the original sinner. Epidurals are considered some kind of luxury that women don't need or deserve - never mind that giving birth is not only enormously painful, but you've also likely got a doctor slicing open the wall of your vagina a bit - with a scalpel! - to move things along. Again, name me a procedure for which a doctor slices into a man's body - or any other instance of a woman's body - with pain killer being deemed unnecessary?! gentlemen, would you like a doctor to wave a scalpel near your anus with no pain killer?

Women are the fault of everything, apparently, because once his insurance covers a man's Viagra it's no longer his responsibility if some woman spreads her legs for him and "gets herself" pregnant.

I'm sorry to be so crude but this is exactly the kind of anti-women bias that exists *totally unremarkably* in our society, just like my comment about that porn thread Unicorn started a couple days ago.

Strawbeary, I understand your concerns and frustrations (as much as an unmarried -soon to be uncle- guy would anyway), BUT I hope that you don't mean to imply that low income = uneducated = should not be having babies because it will lead to prison inmates. And I ask with complete ignorance, but are they really giving out money to low-income mothers to have babies?

Not to say I speak from pure neutrality, considering I come from a low-income, uneducated family background where my brother and I were the first to graduate from college (or even just attend), my grandmother is illiterate and I still get a fuzzy answer when I talk to my parents about them graduating or even attending high school. My father, not far from retirement age due to a pre-existing condition, can not afford health insurance; It would be literally thousands of dollars per month.

The point is not some sob story, its that there are many systemic issues at play here and health care is damn expensive for everyone, period. The least of which stems from resources going to low-income mothers - from my naive and ignorant understanding of how this works.

I found out that my last employer paid nearly $5000 a year to cover for my health insurance for a healthy guy in his 20's. And for the 4+ years I've worked for him, the few times I actually went to the doctor I had to out-of-pocket expenses anyway.

How do you make yourself fall asleep?

I've been having mad sleeping problems the past year. I've had many serious life decisions/issues on my mind the past year and find myself in bed staring at the ceiling forcing myself to go to bed. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. I usually end up sleeping about 3 hours or so. The majority of the time it doesn't effect me as I am naturally high energy. But it's beginning to take it's toll.

I'm hesitant about going to a doctor and taking any form of medicine for this. Do you guys have any tricks that help you? Advice would be greatly appreciated.

my ritual, n_, is:

- ONE drink to hasten the sleepiness (not more because then you get jumpy again),
- kill time for an hour or so (internet, tv, whatever),
- then go to bed with a book.

doesn't matter whether it's a mindless novel or a bio of sartre (just finished), if you're engaged with it, the other stuff can empty out for a while.

when your eyelids get heavy, click the light off immediately and get in your best sleep position. (very specific for me.)

it also helps if you've got yourself on a regular go-to-sleep/get-up schedule. if you don't, start working toward one. your body learns it and starts to regulate it for you. then, whether you're anxious or not, it doesn't matter so much because your body is doing what it does.