maybe its the cragginess that makes you look homeless and not the stubble... :)
i typically shave every morning in the shower before work, but i let it grow over the weekend to give my skin a rest... i will occasionally shave on the weekends for special events... and i sport selective facial hair to reduce the area that needs to be shaved and the time it takes to do it...
sorry i don't have a good news yet.
our girl daisy know being investigated for neurologocal problem. she'll have mri and than we'll know if she needs a surgery or not...
she can't use her back legs yet. we are on the phone with the dr's and some family friends who will help us with the high cost of these things. if i have to, i'll work in starbucks to pay for all this. we don't know yet, what the situation is. they still didn't rule out poisoning.
she has pretty much collapsed out of the blue yesterday morning.
i have slept few hours but pretty much up all night. rupi is super quiet today and totally worried about his sister. but he did sleep.
thanks for the well wishes.
I'll start the Daisy vigil by howling at the non-existent moon tonight
In regards to the shaving, if I have a chin like Vado (sexy as hell), I've shave everyday and show it off. Which I think is what he really wanted to say.
Best wishes for Daisy. I hope things work out for her.
I'm feeling better today, especially now that I've taken a sick day, caught up on my sleep, and gotten that damn 25-page paper done. I still have a couple more short assignments to do for another class, but for the most part, my spring quarter is over. Somebody please tell me I won't have to write research papers for an M.Arch. degree.
With the spring quarter (mostly) behind me, I now get to concentrate full-time on my fast-approaching move to NYC and subsequent job search. Time to dust off the resume and start working on a prototype cover letter... right after I take a nap.
my wishes are for a speedy recovery of Daisy. my 21 lb kitten got sucked into the tainted pet food scare, but is fine. just got a refund check from the vet for the blood work since the pet food co is reimbursing
everybody...
now onto the chin discussion:
ms. tk & tk at coachella... notice the unshaven chin...
Police in Sussex are increasing the numbers of officers on patrol on full moons becasue of the increase in crime on those nights. My mother used to work in an emergency ward in a large hospital and it was common knowledge that on full moon's to expect more injuries, more violence, more craziness...
Hope the afflicted four-legged family members feel finer - how's that for alliteration...
Just found out that our internet-surfing margarita-drinking bad-joke-telling contract employee (who is on vacation again this week) makes $85 an hour. I'm about to flip out. This profession is a joke, the management at my firm is a joke. I can't fucking believe this. I am NOT lying or exagerating. Now I know why he is always in a good mood, and I thought it was just the rum.
$85x40 hours = $3,400 a week (he probably doesn't bill 40 hours a week but let's pretend he does. Shit, he probably bills 60 hours a week).
$3,400x52 weeks a year = $176,800
sounds outrageous straw, but i immediately think:
- i'm billed out at $90-$100, the difference between my salary and my bill rate being to cover overhead, insurance, electricity, etc.
- does he use his own equipment? his own space? electricity?
- does he get health insurance? if not he's got to buy it himself.
- he has to pay self-employment taxes from that pay.
doesn't make him less of a goofball, but it may be fair market-rate contract pay.
What is his position, Straw - is he the marketing person, bringing in all the work? if so, that amount may not be out of line. $85/hour seems super high for even managerial in a smallish firm, though - are you sure that's not billable rate?
The other thing to consider is if he is working thru and agency. They also take a good cut out of the pie. Interestly recently the State of Connecticut has been cracking down on Visiting Nurses, Nurses Aids,
and Caregivers. The question comes up who is to pay the workmans compensation. One would think it would be the agency contracting the individual, however the Attorney General is supporting just the opposite. The people using the agency are getting hung with the workers compensation. I believe the same would hold true for someone contracting in Architectural firm, if they come thru and agency. Next thing you know Staw...is he is going to be tripping over something and claiming an injury.....like a twisted pinky.....and take leave from the office so he can enjoy his high mountian retreat.
I am totally worried about Daisy! Also I feel terrible that I am neglecting my kitty these couple of weeks. But she'll live.
Hanging out last night with AP and Susan and my bestest bud from college was wicked fun.....photos will be posted on my Flickr page for those of you interested.
he doesn't have to pay for any equipment, except his car to go to a meeting, so maybe once a month he drives 20 miles. Computer, etc, work space, pencils, parking etc is taken care of. He does have to pay his own insurance, social security, taxes, etc. Unless that stuff comes to $100k a year, I think he's severely overpaid.
Here's the kicker. the project that he was brought on to manage, he doesn't do anything with. I am designing and drafting the whole thing (he doesn't do CAD or e-mail or redlines or anything). He kinda looks it over but he rarely has any comments so not really. He calls me "project architect" (probably just to flatter me, but it isn't too far off). I meet with the client, drive the daily tasks etc. He, with 2 other principals, wrote the contract and he answers questions when I have them and he did an outline spec for the project (actually I did one and then he filled it out a little more) and he did some code research and that pretty much sums up his contributions since he came on in January. He doesn't even sit at his desk, he hangs out in the other bosses office where they shoot the shit and tell boob jokes and talk about harley's. When he is at his desk, he is seriously, truly reading about boxing scores or baseball stats on ESPN.com, he doesn't even hide it. Everybody talks about him behind his back and it is getting worse everyday. Today I went to lunch with one of the senior associates who particularly hates him, he was making fun of him and I just sort of listend and giggled, till he told me what this joker makes. My eyes practically popped out of my head. I guess, no, I am not SURE he makes $85 an hour as I am taking this other guy's word for it.
My blood pressure is through the roof right now. As I see it these are my options, please give advice as you see fit:
1 - go to another principal at corporate and let them know what is going on
2 - talk to local (salaried) boss and talk candidly, calmly, and openly about what I see and what I think of it
3 - forget it all and pretend not to notice
4 - forget it, pretend not to notice but I would find a new job, keeping bridges intact
5 - convince my fellow co-workers to "gang up" on him by all of us addressing the issues with either the boss or corporate while "buddy" is on vacation
6 - catch him telling a boob joke on camera and file a sexual harrassment suit and retire with the winnings
The other kicker is that this one project is really, really interesting and fairly unprecedented. I can't really go into details but it has already made national news and I feel lucky to have so much control over it.
Following up on what Steven said, I've been told that a good rule of thumb is that you want to make twice as much as a contract employee as you would as a salaried employee, to be sure that you can cover all that overhead. Those self-employment taxes take a HUGE chunk out of your income. So him making that much is equivilant to a salaried employee making around $90,000/year. Which is a lot, but it's not nearly as much as it sounds like at first glance before you think about that stuff.
Liberty, I'd think that for a contract employee, their hourly rate and their billable rate would be a lot closer to the same than for a regular salaried employee, because there's so little overhead on him.
no agency, not marketing. I think I can ask the boss what he makes and get a straight answer and will do so tomorrow. they are trying to make him come on salaried as a principal. He is reluctant, perhaps I just found out why.
Strawbeary, I think if the project is that good you would want to stay on it.
If you see this guy's behavior negatively impacting the project and thus the firm's reputation, you should talk to someone about it. If the project is getting done despite the guy's slacking, probably not worth you appearing to be a whiner to the higher-ups. If you are doing more work than you're getting credit for, or spending all your time fixing slacker's mistakes and thus appearing inefficient yourself, those are points to raise with whoever oversees the project above the slacker.
If the project tanks, it will be on HIS shoulders - do you think that's likely?
it's not really a matter of the project tanking, it won't, or me fixing anyones mistakes, he doens't do anything so there are no mistakes to fix.
I DO have to put in some unpaid unexpected overtime (lunch hour emergencies, late nights, occassional saturdays) every now and then, but that isn't such a big deal. What is maybe the most impacting is that we get bonuses based on our team's performance, and I feel he is eating up our teams potential to turn a tidy profit and get bonuses. If he is billing say, 3 hours a day to the project that is is spending drinking and surfing the web, that is a lot of missed potential profit. More bothersome than that is the lack of ethics and integrity that I find despicable.
There is no question that the lack of ethics and integrity is shameful. I would hope - trying to see the shiny happy side of this guy - that even if he hangs out in the office surfing the web for hours he's only actually billing time that he works. Because you are right, the profitablility of the whole job could hinge on his performance.
Sorry I appear to be 'necting while drunk tonight, I'm not! My muscles are tired and I'm not spellchecking, so my posts are all a mess. Now I'm off to do some RCP redlines. Later all.
what does he do? he is the other bosses buddy who he hired to manage this one large project, and to potentially come on as principal/part owner when the project took off, which it has.
i SHOULD find out how many hours he bills to the project before freaking out too much. he is there anywhere from 3-8ish hours a day, but "working" maybe 2 of them, perhaps that is all he bills.
wow beary, i have worked at firms where it was verboten to know what each other made, especially for this reason. i'd tread carefully unless your firm does not have a policy.
speaking of animal problems, my wife and i think our cat Sigmund needs to have his anal glands purged.
on another front, i got a haircut today and i am not sure i like it. see i have or had a modlet - a modern mullet - it was looking cool, long, hair curling at the collar, getting tougher to handle, i was starting to look good. well, i asked her to clean it up a bit, and she pretty much got rid of my modlet. now i have to wait for it to grow back!
visited miss daisy this afternoon for 15 minutes we were allowed. i went around noon but they were doing mri on her. so we had to wait till 4-5 pm.
we went there the whole family, myself, tina and her brother rup.
she was glad to see us and we were to see her, when they brought her on a cart. she maneged to shower me with kisses and her brother got to work licking and cleaning her ears.
the mri came back with some suspicious areas in the spinal cord. we will know more when the spinal tab results come back tomorrow. her vertabra is good and no disk problems. she will not be operated on.
all i want to believe is that she'll survive. she will most likely stay at the hospital two more days and when she comes out, she will be doing a lot of physical theraphy. she is in good hands of a young french canadian dr. from montreal, dominique pquette. she is really sweet and dedicated, specializing in animal neurology.
the whole thing happened so sudden, i still didn't get a chance to sit back and digest it all except writing these notes which are a way to cope with it. tina thanks all of you as we read your well wishes together. thanks. i hope i am not depressing you guys because this will be an uplifting love story between people and dogs...
orhan, sorry to hear what's going on with Daisy. i had to take my grandmother's dog to the aspca to be euthanized, one of the most excruciating things i have ever had to do, so pets in pain makes me quite sad....is daisy a french bulldog?
Straw, I've worked as an independent contractor before, and it was hell. Well, I was making between $8/hour and $13/hour depending on the job, so that's not exactly equivilant to this guy's situation... but anyways, the government took a ginormous portion of my paycheck despite the fact that I was well below the poverty line. If you're your own business, they feel justified in taking your last friggin penny. As an independent contractor, his taxes are at least twice what yours are (unless he cheats on them pretty badly), plus he has to pay for his own health insurance, dental, optical, and any licensing stuff or other perks that you get covered by the firm is coming out of his own pocket.
Techno, I'd argue that that's the way life should be. I always feel a little bitter that most architects could not afford to hire themselves to do a house (if that makes any sense), that people cannot afford to live in the neighborhoods in which they work, or shop in the stores they manage without employee discount.
to expand on that last bit a little, I'm realizing lately that I'm leaning towards a wierd socialist buddhist philosophy that is most unlike my former self. These days I find myself thinking about things that get me riled up like the stuff mentioned above, healthcare and insurance, all that shite, and wondering why it has to be this way. Isn't everybody's job (ok, except telemarketers) necessary? Shouldn't everyone doing a job which is necessary and we would be sad to lose the services of be able to make a wage that allows them to live comfortably? Are people who pick fruit or work in the grocery store or teach or clean our offices and homes some lower form of life that doesn't deserve to live as well as bankers and lawyers and *gasp* architects? Sorry TC, just thinking strange thoughts tonight, thought I'd share.
sounds like you are making the first to becoming a socialist - makes the nic rationalista even more significant.
I'm actually impressed that my house keeper makes so much. And she owns her own houses (plural). Her mortage is about a 1/3 what I pay for rent, and its this massive beautiful house that she lives in with her husband and daughter. She is sweet, and I love her. She allows me to live the bachelor lifestyle I like, albeit probably can't sustain
i am socialist (like most canadians), and buddhist (zen), but try not to be philosopher (no brains).
the general shittiness of capitalism is clear...on other hand the general shittiness of other systems is also clear. i suspect humans are just nasty pieces of work...
in other news...the prince was in the hospital at my uni today. he had a polyp removed. kinda cool in a weird way.
speaking of princes: while i was scrolling through archinect last night my wife was flipping channels on the tv. what a treat to randomly catch prince performing with sheila e on the latin music awards!!
as a quasi-capitalist pig-dog with socialist leanings, i used to appreciate that new books and music were among the few things that tended to cost the same for everybody. if i wanted the new umberto eco book or the new police album, the price i paid was pretty much the same as the price that warren buffett paid and the same as the price that the kid that works the counter at mcdonald's paid. (of course if you collected firsts or special editions it was different, but those were exceptions - and not necessarily new.)
now, as with everything else, this model is complicated and undermined by discount retail via internet, 'free' music, e-books, etc. those with access (i.e., $$$) can often get things for less than those without access. hummph.
i'm 48 the country is just about as fucked up as its been my whole life. except for the fact that women and minorities now get to go work at the same shitty jobs that only white guys used to do its business as usual. i used to care but things have changed.
well, that and the fact that - in a two adult household - both adults HAVE to work to maintain the lifestyle that a one-worker household used to maintain.
i wanted to watch the republican debate, but it didn't come in on broadcast TV (i choose not to afford sattelite or cable tv). Did you see it over the www, puddles? I will try to find it tonight.
come to think of it...they look alot like a slightly older version of myself
they keep talking about being leaders and then they all wear the same dark conservative business suits...they look more like the herd than any leader. you'd think at least one of them would have the guts to forego the necktie in favor of an open collar...holy shit, that'd shake things up
funniest part was when lighting kept interrupting juiliani's response to his position on abortion. i'm atheist...but that did have me thinking
I didn't watch the Republican debate. I find it impossible to watch people embarrass themselves and I find most of the Republican positions on the issues embarrassing.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around being so busy for the next week and a half, and I'm wondering how many pages of TC I'm going to have to catch up on when the dust clears....3 or 4 maybe?
I pretty much oscillate between libertarianism and socialism these days.... I know that it is and should be each individuals responsibility to get themselves through life, to save money for healthcare instead of blowing it on a macbook pro, to make sure that we don't screw anyone else over too badly, and in exchange we should be able to do pretty well whatever we want with out money, property, bodies, everything we can concretely call 'ours'. So, on my optimistic days I'm a libertarian. But on my pessimistic days I'm a socialist because I know that humans as a whole aren't actually responsible enough to get by like that, and what's wrong with a little pooling of resources (i.e. taxes) to fund the important things (i.e. health care)?
I also frequently oscillate between caring and not caring about things, because I care too much for a while and then get burnt out on it and wonder what the point is.
daisy girl is going to recover... she might have a little limp on her front right leg but in time even that might go away.
diagnosis is, she had a cartalage sprain in her spinal cord, a form of stroke. dr. says in about a week we'll see a great deal of improvement.
nothing is for sure of course, but you can imagine how a big hope and prediction by a dr. goes far. we are going to hospital right now for a visit and give her a moral boost.
tina and i seperetly tried to take rupi for a walk this morning and he just plants his foot by the car, communicating that he wants to drive and see his sister at the hospital.. some people say what's dog right? well, there is much more to it than what's on the surface...
we are elated. more to come later.
we thank over and over and again and again to all of your well wishes. truly greatful for all of your positive energy... thanks a million...
Thread Central
maybe its the cragginess that makes you look homeless and not the stubble... :)
i typically shave every morning in the shower before work, but i let it grow over the weekend to give my skin a rest... i will occasionally shave on the weekends for special events... and i sport selective facial hair to reduce the area that needs to be shaved and the time it takes to do it...
hi tumbles!
i thought i heard howling.
sorry i don't have a good news yet.
our girl daisy know being investigated for neurologocal problem. she'll have mri and than we'll know if she needs a surgery or not...
she can't use her back legs yet. we are on the phone with the dr's and some family friends who will help us with the high cost of these things. if i have to, i'll work in starbucks to pay for all this. we don't know yet, what the situation is. they still didn't rule out poisoning.
she has pretty much collapsed out of the blue yesterday morning.
i have slept few hours but pretty much up all night. rupi is super quiet today and totally worried about his sister. but he did sleep.
thanks for the well wishes.
I'll start the Daisy vigil by howling at the non-existent moon tonight
In regards to the shaving, if I have a chin like Vado (sexy as hell), I've shave everyday and show it off. Which I think is what he really wanted to say.
which chin? i have several.
Best wishes for Daisy. I hope things work out for her.
I'm feeling better today, especially now that I've taken a sick day, caught up on my sleep, and gotten that damn 25-page paper done. I still have a couple more short assignments to do for another class, but for the most part, my spring quarter is over. Somebody please tell me I won't have to write research papers for an M.Arch. degree.
With the spring quarter (mostly) behind me, I now get to concentrate full-time on my fast-approaching move to NYC and subsequent job search. Time to dust off the resume and start working on a prototype cover letter... right after I take a nap.
my wishes are for a speedy recovery of Daisy. my 21 lb kitten got sucked into the tainted pet food scare, but is fine. just got a refund check from the vet for the blood work since the pet food co is reimbursing
everybody...
now onto the chin discussion:
ms. tk & tk at coachella... notice the unshaven chin...
more coachella pics here, a few weeks after the fact.
I am bearded - I trim to level 2. Not having to shave is brilliant.
When did Richard Rogers turn into Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners? I missed out on that one...
Police in Sussex are increasing the numbers of officers on patrol on full moons becasue of the increase in crime on those nights. My mother used to work in an emergency ward in a large hospital and it was common knowledge that on full moon's to expect more injuries, more violence, more craziness...
Hope the afflicted four-legged family members feel finer - how's that for alliteration...
Just found out that our internet-surfing margarita-drinking bad-joke-telling contract employee (who is on vacation again this week) makes $85 an hour. I'm about to flip out. This profession is a joke, the management at my firm is a joke. I can't fucking believe this. I am NOT lying or exagerating. Now I know why he is always in a good mood, and I thought it was just the rum.
$85x40 hours = $3,400 a week (he probably doesn't bill 40 hours a week but let's pretend he does. Shit, he probably bills 60 hours a week).
$3,400x52 weeks a year = $176,800
Who said architects don't make any money?
sounds outrageous straw, but i immediately think:
- i'm billed out at $90-$100, the difference between my salary and my bill rate being to cover overhead, insurance, electricity, etc.
- does he use his own equipment? his own space? electricity?
- does he get health insurance? if not he's got to buy it himself.
- he has to pay self-employment taxes from that pay.
doesn't make him less of a goofball, but it may be fair market-rate contract pay.
What is his position, Straw - is he the marketing person, bringing in all the work? if so, that amount may not be out of line. $85/hour seems super high for even managerial in a smallish firm, though - are you sure that's not billable rate?
The other thing to consider is if he is working thru and agency. They also take a good cut out of the pie. Interestly recently the State of Connecticut has been cracking down on Visiting Nurses, Nurses Aids,
and Caregivers. The question comes up who is to pay the workmans compensation. One would think it would be the agency contracting the individual, however the Attorney General is supporting just the opposite. The people using the agency are getting hung with the workers compensation. I believe the same would hold true for someone contracting in Architectural firm, if they come thru and agency. Next thing you know Staw...is he is going to be tripping over something and claiming an injury.....like a twisted pinky.....and take leave from the office so he can enjoy his high mountian retreat.
I am totally worried about Daisy! Also I feel terrible that I am neglecting my kitty these couple of weeks. But she'll live.
Hanging out last night with AP and Susan and my bestest bud from college was wicked fun.....photos will be posted on my Flickr page for those of you interested.
he doesn't have to pay for any equipment, except his car to go to a meeting, so maybe once a month he drives 20 miles. Computer, etc, work space, pencils, parking etc is taken care of. He does have to pay his own insurance, social security, taxes, etc. Unless that stuff comes to $100k a year, I think he's severely overpaid.
Here's the kicker. the project that he was brought on to manage, he doesn't do anything with. I am designing and drafting the whole thing (he doesn't do CAD or e-mail or redlines or anything). He kinda looks it over but he rarely has any comments so not really. He calls me "project architect" (probably just to flatter me, but it isn't too far off). I meet with the client, drive the daily tasks etc. He, with 2 other principals, wrote the contract and he answers questions when I have them and he did an outline spec for the project (actually I did one and then he filled it out a little more) and he did some code research and that pretty much sums up his contributions since he came on in January. He doesn't even sit at his desk, he hangs out in the other bosses office where they shoot the shit and tell boob jokes and talk about harley's. When he is at his desk, he is seriously, truly reading about boxing scores or baseball stats on ESPN.com, he doesn't even hide it. Everybody talks about him behind his back and it is getting worse everyday. Today I went to lunch with one of the senior associates who particularly hates him, he was making fun of him and I just sort of listend and giggled, till he told me what this joker makes. My eyes practically popped out of my head. I guess, no, I am not SURE he makes $85 an hour as I am taking this other guy's word for it.
My blood pressure is through the roof right now. As I see it these are my options, please give advice as you see fit:
1 - go to another principal at corporate and let them know what is going on
2 - talk to local (salaried) boss and talk candidly, calmly, and openly about what I see and what I think of it
3 - forget it all and pretend not to notice
4 - forget it, pretend not to notice but I would find a new job, keeping bridges intact
5 - convince my fellow co-workers to "gang up" on him by all of us addressing the issues with either the boss or corporate while "buddy" is on vacation
6 - catch him telling a boob joke on camera and file a sexual harrassment suit and retire with the winnings
The other kicker is that this one project is really, really interesting and fairly unprecedented. I can't really go into details but it has already made national news and I feel lucky to have so much control over it.
Following up on what Steven said, I've been told that a good rule of thumb is that you want to make twice as much as a contract employee as you would as a salaried employee, to be sure that you can cover all that overhead. Those self-employment taxes take a HUGE chunk out of your income. So him making that much is equivilant to a salaried employee making around $90,000/year. Which is a lot, but it's not nearly as much as it sounds like at first glance before you think about that stuff.
Liberty, I'd think that for a contract employee, their hourly rate and their billable rate would be a lot closer to the same than for a regular salaried employee, because there's so little overhead on him.
no agency, not marketing. I think I can ask the boss what he makes and get a straight answer and will do so tomorrow. they are trying to make him come on salaried as a principal. He is reluctant, perhaps I just found out why.
trace, do you ever read thread central? you know him...
Exactly, rationalist.
Strawbeary, I think if the project is that good you would want to stay on it.
If you see this guy's behavior negatively impacting the project and thus the firm's reputation, you should talk to someone about it. If the project is getting done despite the guy's slacking, probably not worth you appearing to be a whiner to the higher-ups. If you are doing more work than you're getting credit for, or spending all your time fixing slacker's mistakes and thus appearing inefficient yourself, those are points to raise with whoever oversees the project above the slacker.
If the project tanks, it will be on HIS shoulders - do you think that's likely?
lb and others, thanks for your thoughts.
it's not really a matter of the project tanking, it won't, or me fixing anyones mistakes, he doens't do anything so there are no mistakes to fix.
I DO have to put in some unpaid unexpected overtime (lunch hour emergencies, late nights, occassional saturdays) every now and then, but that isn't such a big deal. What is maybe the most impacting is that we get bonuses based on our team's performance, and I feel he is eating up our teams potential to turn a tidy profit and get bonuses. If he is billing say, 3 hours a day to the project that is is spending drinking and surfing the web, that is a lot of missed potential profit. More bothersome than that is the lack of ethics and integrity that I find despicable.
what exactly does this consultant do, I'll do the same plus wash the windows for $75/hr
rationalist, if you are right, it equalling about 90k a year, it doesn't sound so bad. our salaried boss makes 85k.
(see part of what i like about my job is that I know what my boss makes.)
There is no question that the lack of ethics and integrity is shameful. I would hope - trying to see the shiny happy side of this guy - that even if he hangs out in the office surfing the web for hours he's only actually billing time that he works. Because you are right, the profitablility of the whole job could hinge on his performance.
Sorry I appear to be 'necting while drunk tonight, I'm not! My muscles are tired and I'm not spellchecking, so my posts are all a mess. Now I'm off to do some RCP redlines. Later all.
techno, i'm sure you'd do it better too.
what does he do? he is the other bosses buddy who he hired to manage this one large project, and to potentially come on as principal/part owner when the project took off, which it has.
lb, who picks up your redlines?
i SHOULD find out how many hours he bills to the project before freaking out too much. he is there anywhere from 3-8ish hours a day, but "working" maybe 2 of them, perhaps that is all he bills.
wow beary, i have worked at firms where it was verboten to know what each other made, especially for this reason. i'd tread carefully unless your firm does not have a policy.
Haha, Straw, I drew the redlines in the meeting with the client, and tonight I draw them in the cad files. I'm my own cad slave.
But at least I can do it in my pajamas.
I found out that my housekeeper makes the same as me. Granted she works for a couple different people
speaking of animal problems, my wife and i think our cat Sigmund needs to have his anal glands purged.
on another front, i got a haircut today and i am not sure i like it. see i have or had a modlet - a modern mullet - it was looking cool, long, hair curling at the collar, getting tougher to handle, i was starting to look good. well, i asked her to clean it up a bit, and she pretty much got rid of my modlet. now i have to wait for it to grow back!
give me back my modlet!
thank you, that is all.
visited miss daisy this afternoon for 15 minutes we were allowed. i went around noon but they were doing mri on her. so we had to wait till 4-5 pm.
we went there the whole family, myself, tina and her brother rup.
she was glad to see us and we were to see her, when they brought her on a cart. she maneged to shower me with kisses and her brother got to work licking and cleaning her ears.
the mri came back with some suspicious areas in the spinal cord. we will know more when the spinal tab results come back tomorrow. her vertabra is good and no disk problems. she will not be operated on.
all i want to believe is that she'll survive. she will most likely stay at the hospital two more days and when she comes out, she will be doing a lot of physical theraphy. she is in good hands of a young french canadian dr. from montreal, dominique pquette. she is really sweet and dedicated, specializing in animal neurology.
the whole thing happened so sudden, i still didn't get a chance to sit back and digest it all except writing these notes which are a way to cope with it. tina thanks all of you as we read your well wishes together. thanks. i hope i am not depressing you guys because this will be an uplifting love story between people and dogs...
daisy says, "hi tc."
orhan, sorry to hear what's going on with Daisy. i had to take my grandmother's dog to the aspca to be euthanized, one of the most excruciating things i have ever had to do, so pets in pain makes me quite sad....is daisy a french bulldog?
Sweet little Daisy, get well!
Straw, I've worked as an independent contractor before, and it was hell. Well, I was making between $8/hour and $13/hour depending on the job, so that's not exactly equivilant to this guy's situation... but anyways, the government took a ginormous portion of my paycheck despite the fact that I was well below the poverty line. If you're your own business, they feel justified in taking your last friggin penny. As an independent contractor, his taxes are at least twice what yours are (unless he cheats on them pretty badly), plus he has to pay for his own health insurance, dental, optical, and any licensing stuff or other perks that you get covered by the firm is coming out of his own pocket.
Techno, I'd argue that that's the way life should be. I always feel a little bitter that most architects could not afford to hire themselves to do a house (if that makes any sense), that people cannot afford to live in the neighborhoods in which they work, or shop in the stores they manage without employee discount.
to expand on that last bit a little, I'm realizing lately that I'm leaning towards a wierd socialist buddhist philosophy that is most unlike my former self. These days I find myself thinking about things that get me riled up like the stuff mentioned above, healthcare and insurance, all that shite, and wondering why it has to be this way. Isn't everybody's job (ok, except telemarketers) necessary? Shouldn't everyone doing a job which is necessary and we would be sad to lose the services of be able to make a wage that allows them to live comfortably? Are people who pick fruit or work in the grocery store or teach or clean our offices and homes some lower form of life that doesn't deserve to live as well as bankers and lawyers and *gasp* architects? Sorry TC, just thinking strange thoughts tonight, thought I'd share.
sounds like you are making the first to becoming a socialist - makes the nic rationalista even more significant.
I'm actually impressed that my house keeper makes so much. And she owns her own houses (plural). Her mortage is about a 1/3 what I pay for rent, and its this massive beautiful house that she lives in with her husband and daughter. She is sweet, and I love her. She allows me to live the bachelor lifestyle I like, albeit probably can't sustain
btw is that not the f*cking coolest photo of Daisy with the hand gently carressing her head
hear ya rationalist.
i am socialist (like most canadians), and buddhist (zen), but try not to be philosopher (no brains).
the general shittiness of capitalism is clear...on other hand the general shittiness of other systems is also clear. i suspect humans are just nasty pieces of work...
in other news...the prince was in the hospital at my uni today. he had a polyp removed. kinda cool in a weird way.
speaking of princes: while i was scrolling through archinect last night my wife was flipping channels on the tv. what a treat to randomly catch prince performing with sheila e on the latin music awards!!
question: can you use capitalism as tool against itself?
Can I just say as a quasi-capitalist pig-dog; I love books!
Ben Nicholson - Appliance House
https://www.alibris.com/account/detail.cfm?salesorder=20025525%2D1
all those wanting to lead the glamourous life. say aye!
as a quasi-capitalist pig-dog with socialist leanings, i used to appreciate that new books and music were among the few things that tended to cost the same for everybody. if i wanted the new umberto eco book or the new police album, the price i paid was pretty much the same as the price that warren buffett paid and the same as the price that the kid that works the counter at mcdonald's paid. (of course if you collected firsts or special editions it was different, but those were exceptions - and not necessarily new.)
now, as with everything else, this model is complicated and undermined by discount retail via internet, 'free' music, e-books, etc. those with access (i.e., $$$) can often get things for less than those without access. hummph.
i watched the republicans debate last night...those guys all look the same
i'm 48 the country is just about as fucked up as its been my whole life. except for the fact that women and minorities now get to go work at the same shitty jobs that only white guys used to do its business as usual. i used to care but things have changed.
well, that and the fact that - in a two adult household - both adults HAVE to work to maintain the lifestyle that a one-worker household used to maintain.
hi guys just wanted to stop by and add my best wishes for daisy's health.
i wanted to watch the republican debate, but it didn't come in on broadcast TV (i choose not to afford sattelite or cable tv). Did you see it over the www, puddles? I will try to find it tonight.
come to think of it...they look alot like a slightly older version of myself
they keep talking about being leaders and then they all wear the same dark conservative business suits...they look more like the herd than any leader. you'd think at least one of them would have the guts to forego the necktie in favor of an open collar...holy shit, that'd shake things up
funniest part was when lighting kept interrupting juiliani's response to his position on abortion. i'm atheist...but that did have me thinking
I didn't watch the Republican debate. I find it impossible to watch people embarrass themselves and I find most of the Republican positions on the issues embarrassing.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around being so busy for the next week and a half, and I'm wondering how many pages of TC I'm going to have to catch up on when the dust clears....3 or 4 maybe?
I pretty much oscillate between libertarianism and socialism these days.... I know that it is and should be each individuals responsibility to get themselves through life, to save money for healthcare instead of blowing it on a macbook pro, to make sure that we don't screw anyone else over too badly, and in exchange we should be able to do pretty well whatever we want with out money, property, bodies, everything we can concretely call 'ours'. So, on my optimistic days I'm a libertarian. But on my pessimistic days I'm a socialist because I know that humans as a whole aren't actually responsible enough to get by like that, and what's wrong with a little pooling of resources (i.e. taxes) to fund the important things (i.e. health care)?
I also frequently oscillate between caring and not caring about things, because I care too much for a while and then get burnt out on it and wonder what the point is.
BEST news in few days....
daisy girl is going to recover... she might have a little limp on her front right leg but in time even that might go away.
diagnosis is, she had a cartalage sprain in her spinal cord, a form of stroke. dr. says in about a week we'll see a great deal of improvement.
nothing is for sure of course, but you can imagine how a big hope and prediction by a dr. goes far. we are going to hospital right now for a visit and give her a moral boost.
tina and i seperetly tried to take rupi for a walk this morning and he just plants his foot by the car, communicating that he wants to drive and see his sister at the hospital.. some people say what's dog right? well, there is much more to it than what's on the surface...
we are elated. more to come later.
we thank over and over and again and again to all of your well wishes. truly greatful for all of your positive energy... thanks a million...
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