Oh and btw that detroit techno song sucked! I really love electronica - glow sticks and all, but that song was sooooooooooo slow and near depressing. So I am proposing this example instead
nah, beta, I'm quite ok with reaming the guys at AIG...I mean, wtf, there are so many put upon and downtrodden people in this country you could put in a good word for and you choose those dimwits? I admit they are scapegoats right now for people's anger, but why do they deserve bonuses? for what, bringing their company to the brink of ruin?
Technically the government owns about 80% of AIG so in theory, we should ALL be getting bonuses.*
*This 80% is actually based on something I overheard on the radio earlier so I could be off. Still, with all the money we gave them, I don't think it's too much to ask to get some of it back. Those turd-muffins.
jump: I'm confused about Japan's real estate. How do people never sell their houses? What about when someone dies, do their kids take it, and were the kids living in rentals until then? (*Is* there a rental market, or do people buy units that they refer to as houses?) Do new houses just keep getting built and the old ones abandoned? I'm very confused.
And very tired. Single parenting is too hard, I don't know how people who have to do it full time manage.
The problem with this push to castrate AIG and the people getting these bonuses is that it's doing damage to our own interests. WE own the company, so how are we supposed to recoup any losses if we can't sell the divisions that are not responsible, if we keep beating down the value of the company?
you're management knows that - whether it's convenient or inconvenient for you - those interns need experience working on projects, they need to feel the pressure so they know how to operate under pressure, and you have the potential to be a good mentor. your job is just as much to bring along the young'uns and make them good architects that CAN be useful to the firm as it is to meet today's deadline.
look beyond your computer screen, dude, and figure out the larger context of what's going on!
I would imagine that those interns, unless unpaid, need to show that they are billable too. I understand the need to take ownership, but at the same time, in order to be an effective manager one has to be able to delegate certain tasks to the right people and not spend valuable time and money on tasks that interns, at their billable rate, get paid to do. I would imagine LIG your billable time is higher than the interns.
i'm also still learning. this year i'm learning that you HAVE to let go and trust that your team is going to do what they have to do. if you're determined to do it all yourself, not only will you kill yourself and eventually take on so much that you will fail, you will cease to grow and you will stagnate - you can't be the clean-up guy and keep moving forward.
when the team doesn't do it, doesn't finish and/or when everything is thoroughly muddled and you have to come to the rescue, you still have to trust them the next time.
Puddles, I completely agree. I see that quality/trait in every rich person I know. It seems to be the major difference between the wealthy and underclasses.
Well, good managers *do* know how to use people - not abuse them, but use their talents so they feel they are contributing while simultaneously teaching them to expand their abilities.
it's like playing tug of war with a dog - you have to let them win every now and then, so they stay engaged in the game. Or a better example is those sniffer dogs that find people after a building collapse: their trainers let them "find" a planted victim every now and again, so they get the reward of success and stay motivated to keep looking. If a dog never succeeds, they get frustrated and bored. Then people die (insert ominous "bum bum buuuhhhhmmm" music here).
There, vado, I changed the subject. Let's see a pic of your Rottie now.
Help needed: What's the name of that French surrealist walk-around activity, the thing where they walk around Paris and looked at the city, engaging in whatever crossed their path?
Dérive, the Situationist practice of drifting about a geographical space.
Flâneur comes from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it".
YES! thank you dlb! I'm still not clear as to how derive and flaneur are related; in my mind one IS a flaneur and goes on a derive, but I'm easily confused.
I think the comments above about interns are interesting. I don't know if "Use" is the right word though. Interns are a resource just like everyone else in the firm/office/studio, no matter how "high" they are on the totem pole. I don't think its a clear cut hierarchy in an architectural practice. Its more of a balancing act - cheaper "labor" doesn't mean that person is of less value, it means that person can have the luxury of LESS responsibility/liability, less stake in the outcome, and more time to experiment and learn.
Maybe its because I'm in that awkward phase where I get responsibility but still not yet licensed (will soon be able to test pending 4 more IDP credits) - or that I have a unique perspective on management/leadership/authority.
Dérive is an active journey/wandering through the city seeking accidental juxtapositions of the surreal. Guy Debord would shred a map, then reassemble it randomly to chart the path for his Dérive.
Flâneur is a passive act of observation. yes, you can be walking around and be a Flâneur, but you can also sit in a cafe and watch the world go by.
Points taken about the intern, and I agree in principle. I've actually got him working on some drawings for my project at the moment. I think it was the constant interruptions that provoked my ire more than anything else.
Thanks, tk! Duchamp, DeBord, Surrealism, Situationists...I'm so sloppy about all this. My brain conflates things that don't belong together but sadly never manages to make a new cohesive thing that's more interesting than the unrelated parts were to begin with.
i know what you mean LIG. when i was in london was first time i really had to take responsibility for teaching other people in the office. it was unexpected and frankly it needed to be pointed out to me that it was my job. which is embarasssing, but in my defence i had worked until then in office where they hired a group of young folks all at once so there was no hierarchy except us looking up....but it is in the end the real job of architecture, all that management. building is the goal but the best archtiects are the ones who can get there without looking at a computer screen at all. who knew all that time spent learning to design buildings was less important than people skills?
about the housing in japan. basically houses don't go on sale very much, and if they do the price is limited to the value of the land. the house is just garbage that someone left on your land. i am not joking. when elderly folk pass away or decide to move on the land either becomes vacant indefinitely or someone comes in and buys the land and builds something new. there are no disincentives to tearing down and building your own place, and that happens a lot. if the land is worth 200k, then you get a loan based on that value and build a home. the trick is to buy land cheap, build a nice house and watch land values go up so the house on the land is a bonus.
however to put all of that in perspective, most people stay in the home they buy for most of their life. if they are lucky the value of the land goes up in the meantime. if not then the house is worth zero by the time they are done with it and their kids get the joyful pleasure of figuring out what to do with the land...
for whatever reason there are no homowners associations of the type made fun of in america. nobody can complain about the color of your house or anything like that. this is a nation of individuals. very different from usa where money justifies being pushed into conformity. i personally find that very very ironic ;-)
That's my problem... I consider myself an above-average designer and I'm pretty good at cranking out a set of construction documents, but my people skills are generally pretty shitty.
beta, are you serious?! But I want to watch the President on Leno!
Got my hair chopped off today. That was fun. I just needed a change.
The longer I stay in LA the angrier I get. I've decided I either need a complete change of scenery or I need to get the hell out. Less than 2 months till we have a better idea of what that might mean....ugh.
That's pretty much how I've been feeling about NYC lately. I figure if I don't end up back in Cincinnati for grad school, the Pacific Northwest is looking pretty good.
I'll just chime in to say that when I moved to Philly, I hated it for three years then figured out how to like and finally love it. Naptown has never been interesting enough to make me feel strongly either way about it, but after being here four years I'm starting to figure out how to enjoy it, at least.
So I'm saying: it might take several-many changes of the seasons in a new city to start to figure out how to feel about it.
Thread Central
Oh and btw that detroit techno song sucked! I really love electronica - glow sticks and all, but that song was sooooooooooo slow and near depressing. So I am proposing this example instead
nah, beta, I'm quite ok with reaming the guys at AIG...I mean, wtf, there are so many put upon and downtrodden people in this country you could put in a good word for and you choose those dimwits? I admit they are scapegoats right now for people's anger, but why do they deserve bonuses? for what, bringing their company to the brink of ruin?
Technically the government owns about 80% of AIG so in theory, we should ALL be getting bonuses.*
*This 80% is actually based on something I overheard on the radio earlier so I could be off. Still, with all the money we gave them, I don't think it's too much to ask to get some of it back. Those turd-muffins.
check this out if you want to smile. short lil' piece in progress by one of my best friends...
I'm still alive.... I think
Oh my goodness tk. That was lovely. It made me happy. Thanks.
Yes Tree lovely..
jump: I'm confused about Japan's real estate. How do people never sell their houses? What about when someone dies, do their kids take it, and were the kids living in rentals until then? (*Is* there a rental market, or do people buy units that they refer to as houses?) Do new houses just keep getting built and the old ones abandoned? I'm very confused.
And very tired. Single parenting is too hard, I don't know how people who have to do it full time manage.
The problem with this push to castrate AIG and the people getting these bonuses is that it's doing damage to our own interests. WE own the company, so how are we supposed to recoup any losses if we can't sell the divisions that are not responsible, if we keep beating down the value of the company?
lig -
you're management knows that - whether it's convenient or inconvenient for you - those interns need experience working on projects, they need to feel the pressure so they know how to operate under pressure, and you have the potential to be a good mentor. your job is just as much to bring along the young'uns and make them good architects that CAN be useful to the firm as it is to meet today's deadline.
look beyond your computer screen, dude, and figure out the larger context of what's going on!
i'm not unsympathetic, BUT....
I would imagine that those interns, unless unpaid, need to show that they are billable too. I understand the need to take ownership, but at the same time, in order to be an effective manager one has to be able to delegate certain tasks to the right people and not spend valuable time and money on tasks that interns, at their billable rate, get paid to do. I would imagine LIG your billable time is higher than the interns.
The above is something I am learning as well, as I am a bit tightfisted on prjs.
i'm also still learning. this year i'm learning that you HAVE to let go and trust that your team is going to do what they have to do. if you're determined to do it all yourself, not only will you kill yourself and eventually take on so much that you will fail, you will cease to grow and you will stagnate - you can't be the clean-up guy and keep moving forward.
when the team doesn't do it, doesn't finish and/or when everything is thoroughly muddled and you have to come to the rescue, you still have to trust them the next time.
exactly, but man is it hard to burn the candle at both ends, and yet not wanting to do just that....?
please change the subject.
being able to use people is the number one attribute of the successful.
Puddles, I completely agree. I see that quality/trait in every rich person I know. It seems to be the major difference between the wealthy and underclasses.
Yes us, "Under Toads" .....we don't know how to use people....argh!
Well, good managers *do* know how to use people - not abuse them, but use their talents so they feel they are contributing while simultaneously teaching them to expand their abilities.
it's like playing tug of war with a dog - you have to let them win every now and then, so they stay engaged in the game. Or a better example is those sniffer dogs that find people after a building collapse: their trainers let them "find" a planted victim every now and again, so they get the reward of success and stay motivated to keep looking. If a dog never succeeds, they get frustrated and bored. Then people die (insert ominous "bum bum buuuhhhhmmm" music here).
There, vado, I changed the subject. Let's see a pic of your Rottie now.
Help needed: What's the name of that French surrealist walk-around activity, the thing where they walk around Paris and looked at the city, engaging in whatever crossed their path?
lb: maybe one of these??
Dérive, the Situationist practice of drifting about a geographical space.
Flâneur comes from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of "a person who walks the city in order to experience it".
YES! thank you dlb! I'm still not clear as to how derive and flaneur are related; in my mind one IS a flaneur and goes on a derive, but I'm easily confused.
Anyway, thank you!
Hi all,
SHz good observation, with an accurate caveat from LB.
And yes Jump, how does one sell a house then?
I think the comments above about interns are interesting. I don't know if "Use" is the right word though. Interns are a resource just like everyone else in the firm/office/studio, no matter how "high" they are on the totem pole. I don't think its a clear cut hierarchy in an architectural practice. Its more of a balancing act - cheaper "labor" doesn't mean that person is of less value, it means that person can have the luxury of LESS responsibility/liability, less stake in the outcome, and more time to experiment and learn.
Maybe its because I'm in that awkward phase where I get responsibility but still not yet licensed (will soon be able to test pending 4 more IDP credits) - or that I have a unique perspective on management/leadership/authority.
talking about the Situationists makes me happy!
Dérive is an active journey/wandering through the city seeking accidental juxtapositions of the surreal. Guy Debord would shred a map, then reassemble it randomly to chart the path for his Dérive.
Flâneur is a passive act of observation. yes, you can be walking around and be a Flâneur, but you can also sit in a cafe and watch the world go by.
the artifacts of Dérive:
1
2 check this blog out
Where is your name from, Slartibartfast? Swear I've read that before...
Points taken about the intern, and I agree in principle. I've actually got him working on some drawings for my project at the moment. I think it was the constant interruptions that provoked my ire more than anything else.
Douglas Adams, 'hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy'
Thanks, tk! Duchamp, DeBord, Surrealism, Situationists...I'm so sloppy about all this. My brain conflates things that don't belong together but sadly never manages to make a new cohesive thing that's more interesting than the unrelated parts were to begin with.
Ha ha, I KNEW it. Good book. Was Slartibartfast the guy who designed the fjords? It's been about 3 years since I've read it.
jk,
I believe that is correct..
I was once known as Philarch, not that anyone would remember anyway. There were so many close names - Philarct, Architphil, etc etc.
Yes, designed the fjords.
Anyway, back to the Thread Central...
It's been 18 years since I read HHGG.
Hitchhiker's Guide is the ONLY book that's ever made me laugh aloud uproariously, _besides_ Joseph Heller's "Catch-22."
God, I love those books!
jk,
I read Catch-22 for the first time maybe 3 years ago.
Man the descent into surrealism blew my mind...
The combination of humor with the realities of war was a good one - some parts of the book were chillingly sad.
But yea, the sheer lunacy of what goes on in those books is simply fantastic.
nobody's "designed" the fjords. if you've ever been to one...or even knew what a fjord was, then you'd probably understand this.
Puddles.
The sheer majesty?
I wish i could say i had, visited i mean.
i'm pining for the fjords. pining for the fjords? yes, pining for the fjords.
i know what you mean LIG. when i was in london was first time i really had to take responsibility for teaching other people in the office. it was unexpected and frankly it needed to be pointed out to me that it was my job. which is embarasssing, but in my defence i had worked until then in office where they hired a group of young folks all at once so there was no hierarchy except us looking up....but it is in the end the real job of architecture, all that management. building is the goal but the best archtiects are the ones who can get there without looking at a computer screen at all. who knew all that time spent learning to design buildings was less important than people skills?
about the housing in japan. basically houses don't go on sale very much, and if they do the price is limited to the value of the land. the house is just garbage that someone left on your land. i am not joking. when elderly folk pass away or decide to move on the land either becomes vacant indefinitely or someone comes in and buys the land and builds something new. there are no disincentives to tearing down and building your own place, and that happens a lot. if the land is worth 200k, then you get a loan based on that value and build a home. the trick is to buy land cheap, build a nice house and watch land values go up so the house on the land is a bonus.
however to put all of that in perspective, most people stay in the home they buy for most of their life. if they are lucky the value of the land goes up in the meantime. if not then the house is worth zero by the time they are done with it and their kids get the joyful pleasure of figuring out what to do with the land...
for whatever reason there are no homowners associations of the type made fun of in america. nobody can complain about the color of your house or anything like that. this is a nation of individuals. very different from usa where money justifies being pushed into conformity. i personally find that very very ironic ;-)
That's my problem... I consider myself an above-average designer and I'm pretty good at cranking out a set of construction documents, but my people skills are generally pretty shitty.
ha, yeah i know that feeling LIG. like all things, it gets easier with practice ;-)
You know the older I get and the longer I am away from NJ, the more I appreciate Bruce Springsteen.
Sad I know...
the first step to becoming a good manager is the realization that your people skills are shitty.
Colbert vs. Steele the rap battle happened 2-nite, check it, respec!
beta, are you serious?! But I want to watch the President on Leno!
Got my hair chopped off today. That was fun. I just needed a change.
The longer I stay in LA the angrier I get. I've decided I either need a complete change of scenery or I need to get the hell out. Less than 2 months till we have a better idea of what that might mean....ugh.
That's pretty much how I've been feeling about NYC lately. I figure if I don't end up back in Cincinnati for grad school, the Pacific Northwest is looking pretty good.
dubK how can LA make you angry? It's perfect weather should make everyone happy and filled with the spirit of light and kindness!
I'll just chime in to say that when I moved to Philly, I hated it for three years then figured out how to like and finally love it. Naptown has never been interesting enough to make me feel strongly either way about it, but after being here four years I'm starting to figure out how to enjoy it, at least.
So I'm saying: it might take several-many changes of the seasons in a new city to start to figure out how to feel about it.
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