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raj

strawbeary...
one of their courses of action could be (esp. if they are like all the homebuilders here) they have their own architect...so they are pushing you off the project and just want to use your work.

we had that happen recently. uggh. i hope not...it is a HUGE pain to deal with!! good luck.

i hate when principals talk tough...and then when it gets down to it...they tuck their tail between their legs. this is of course why BAD GCs do this crap!

Sep 20, 06 1:46 pm  · 
 · 
garpike

Hey lb. This happened to me last month. I was advised to back up my work, but I couldn't even turn on my computer. This is what I did:

1. I bought an external hard drive case ($20 - cheap!) and removed my laptop HD and put it in the case and dragged all my files to my other computer.

2. returned the HD to the laptop and reinstalled Windows. No repairs or anything, just a clean install.

usb HD enclosure I used.

XP clean install. Skip all the precautions (famous last words, but seriously) if you have backed up everything. Repairs won't be necessary. Just a clean install.

Sep 20, 06 1:47 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

Beta-
your cat is out of the bag- yet nobody noticed with the IT drama swirling about. I'll take you up on blue lable scotch to unpack/unload!

LB- best of luck getting the computer back to health. if you do buy a new laptop, get a mac.

Sep 20, 06 2:10 pm  · 
 · 
e

yeah AP, i know. i had an external drive fail on me once. some of the information that was on that drive was not on my desktop. to recover that client work, i had to pay my tech guy $450 to retrieve it. can't go through that again. and what does one do if there is a fire? i'd be screwed. at least there is hope with the second drive in a fire safe that sits in the basement with only concrete walls around. i feel your pain lb.

Sep 20, 06 2:19 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

all this computer talk is making me wet!

Sep 20, 06 2:31 pm  · 
 · 
AP

interesting thread alert: Infrastructure vs.

Sep 20, 06 2:33 pm  · 
 · 
liberty bell

I hate to continue the hardware talk, because really it's not that interesting, but there are two big obstacles to going Mac, although last night I swore to my husband that I was ready to do it: I can get a new pc laptop for $1,000 or less, while a new Powerbook - at least one as good as my husband's, which I would have to get because I am sick and tired of him having all the nice toys - would be $3,500. Am I wrong?

And then there's the drawing software issue. My partner and I have discussed going to CheifArchitect and getting macs (in part because we are both tired of hearing our SO's brag about how cool and reliable their macs are) - but that would mean a significant outlay of capital we don't have right now. If my machine ends up needing repairs to the tune of more than $750 to get it going again, we will talk about it. But the IT I talked to today said he thinks it's just basically what AP and DubK said: wipe clean, reinstall the mirror from my external hard drive, and I'll be good to go. Except that I think I may have broken my touchpad left button last night pounding on it too hard - like I said, I tend to beat on the objects in my life and somehow macs seem so much more delicate than stupid ugly black-plastic pcs.

e, you are mac, right?

Also, yeah, I saw the start of a good discussion on the infrastructure thread this morning - Steven, you are so smart you scare me.

Sep 20, 06 3:18 pm  · 
 · 
e

lb, i am on a mac and need to be, but as you know i don't have issues with the software due to the nature of my work. i have a g5 15" macbook pro and it set me back about $3500. i also have a desktop that set me back equivalently + a 23" cinema display that currently will add another $1000. multiply that by 2 and i can understand your position lb.

Sep 20, 06 3:30 pm  · 
 · 
larslarson

lb and all...
the new macbooks can run both windows and osX right?
so you could run any drafting software on them now i believe.

however, to all that say this doesn't happen on a mac...not true.
i just had my harddrive completely fail on my powerbook...it was
dropped months ago..and apparently if you drop it it's not a question
of IF the harddrive will crash..but when. or at least that's what they
told me at the 'genius' bar. i have also found apple's customer
service to be completely unhelpful. my hardrive was fixed, but
during the repair they scratched my screen.

they offered to replace it for free..but somehow the box hasn't gotten
here..and i've called them twice. each time you call apple you get
to stay on hold for 15-20 minutes. they have one main number for
all of their products so your call is answered in the order it came in..
i don't believe they have online help..or that you can email them
regarding repairs. my issue with them has been unbelievably
frustrating...they keep sending things to the wrong address...so i
have to call them each time to provide a change of address..which
is extremely time consuming.

anyway. i still love my powerbook..and insurance gave me enough
money to buy a new laptop instead of just paying for the repair...
twice as much money as i asked for...so that was different.

Sep 20, 06 3:51 pm  · 
 · 
liberty bell
....so that was different.

Very funny, lars.

Sorry to highjack TC so badly with all this. Just a reminder to everyone though to back up your info to some remote location regularly! Also, jump, no I've not tried Firefox, perhaps I should.

Strawbeary, the more you tell us the worse the situation sounds. And that attitude of just sucking up the loss and never doing work again for these people is so defeatist. I'm sorry it's your time and energy being wasted because your boss(es) won't fight this...sigh.

But on a happy note, I'm in an OK mood despite the computer trauma because today I am wearing boots - yay for fall weather!!!!

Sep 20, 06 4:01 pm  · 
 · 
aml

hmmm not a regular contributor here but while on the computer topic, i've found this to be incredibly helpful, not in the tech savvy way but in the whatthehellismakingmycomputersoslow way. it cleans away all the crap computers tend to store.

Sep 20, 06 4:11 pm  · 
 · 
myriam
Now they say that number was to be the ENTIRE project cost: design fees, landscaping

Oh man, we just had the EXACT same thing happen on TWO projects--luckily both are still in SD!!! But jeez, clients can be such annoying dumbfucks sometimes. I'm so sick of trying to get people to pay. So, so, so fucking sick of it. Don't they realize they are putting money into capital investments???? Capital investments that they get to ENJOY while they earn money??! All we walk away with are our wages and a few pictures, while they get to change their lives and financial portfolios.

Argh.

Sep 20, 06 4:17 pm  · 
 · 
myriam

yikes, that was vitriolic. Phew. Sorry guys. I just got out of a meeting in which these clients decided to let a sub get away with a HUGE egregious mistake, right on their "showpiece" floor, even though I did all the legwork to fight for them. Clients want to feel "magnanimous" toward fuckup subcontractor, I guess. Same clients are screwing us out of money. Argh. I shouldn't have wasted my time.

Sep 20, 06 4:23 pm  · 
 · 
WonderK

lb, and e, I think I must have bought my computer through some secret portal. I only spent about $2100 on my new Intel-chipped MacBook Pro, 15". Hmmm. Even without the portal though, I didn't think they were that much.

myriam, don't sweat it. your vitriol is one of the things that makes you, you :o)

Sep 20, 06 4:52 pm  · 
 · 
myriam

hmm, I'm not sure how to take that! And to think everyone in college thought I smiled too much not to be mentally deficient... ;) I'm not like this in person, I swear.

Anyway... yeah I got my trusty 15" powerbook for $2500 all told. I'm pretty sure that included the $300 AppleCare, though I can't remember. I did have to send it in once--I was one of the owners who got the notorious white spots on my screen--but they swapped out the screen (and the battery, for good measure) and that was 2 years ago and I haven't had a problem since... knock knock.

Our office has a bunch of macs and a $0 IT budget. I'd say it pays for itself in how cheap/easy it is to do things like network/set up servers etc. We can do all of that in-house and save bundles on yearly maintenance costs. Besides how many compliments we get on our screens... ;) It's so nice to push the screen back to where it's easy on the eyes, and yet still have it be big enough to see easily!

Sep 20, 06 5:17 pm  · 
 · 
e
15" macbook pros

start at $2k. get a few upgrades, get apple care, and add tax and the price can approach $3500.

Sep 20, 06 5:51 pm  · 
 · 
liberty bell

Vitriolic anti-client rantings is one of the most enjoyable aspects of TC, myriam. And the line "annoying dumbfucks" is so appropriate.

I'm loving vado's dog in college thread, but he's at some office furniture wine-n-network event right now so he's not here to enjoy it. See you later, vado, will you have a buzz?!?

Sep 20, 06 5:59 pm  · 
 · 
Ms Beary

hmmm, Permagrin was one of my old nicknames. Before architecture of course. Today, it is more like Permascowl.

My honeymoon pictures looked like they had been deleted from my hard drive a few weeks back. Eventually found them. But that was enough for me to back up all my photos and music on my home computer. I just burned them on CD's, I should reread e's post on properly backing up files!

myriam, those are some big words you are throwing around, I can tell you have been intellectually stimulated this afternoon.

Sep 20, 06 6:01 pm  · 
 · 

all specification review all dayyyyyy. snork. urg.

Sep 20, 06 6:12 pm  · 
 · 
e

strawbeary, make sure backing up to a cd is a temporary solution. cds are not a long term solution as they can fail over time. i'd hate for you to go back to your wonderful picture only to find your drive can not read the disk.

Sep 20, 06 6:15 pm  · 
 · 

hah, funny to hear complaints about contractors and clients. most of the above i have had the fun of experiencing as well (though thankfully not lately), which says something...about architects, the business, the world, i don't know...but something.

lb, firefox is def better than ie. tabbed browsing is nice, but more than that are all the add-ons cuz it is open source; like weather report for tokyo in the top corner, auto-copy (chose word/s in browser and it copies it to clipboard without ctrl-c), and navigation-by-mouse; click and drag mouse in the right direction and the browser goes forward, backword, etc. love it. now i can waste time on the internet much more efficiently.

Sep 20, 06 7:35 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

yes i did get me a bit of a buzz on at the herman miller "my studio" office furniture wine and cheese event. now im going to add to it from my private stock.

Sep 20, 06 8:00 pm  · 
 · 
some person

A carpet rep bought a full service ice cream truck to our front door this afternoon. The ice cream was good, but the weather was cold...

They are getting more creative with their sales visits....

Sep 20, 06 8:20 pm  · 
 · 
Ms Beary

i got a turkey sandwich from a rep today... :/
let's play guess the rep! Was it brick? roofing? skylights? none of the above?

Sep 20, 06 8:23 pm  · 
 · 
some person

Was it a straight-up no frills turkey sandwich with a packet of mayo on the side and chocolate chip cookie in plastic wrap? (Guess: exterior sealant or mortar net company.)

Or was it an oven roasted, freshly sliced turkey sandwich on artisan bread with cranberry dressing and havarti cheese? (Guess: premium wood company.)

Sep 20, 06 8:30 pm  · 
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vado retro

yeah we had ice cream too. but it was during the summer. there's another wine thing next week with the knoll rep.

Sep 20, 06 8:47 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

i cant find my freakin remote!!!

Sep 20, 06 8:50 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

Strawbeary- more important, was it from a fast food chain like subway or quizno? (then it was from a rep of a large chemical company selling adhesives) or from a local deli? (then plyboo or that premium wood company). Did you get a brownie too? Haven't encountered a home cooked turducken or any home cooked meals from the reps- maybe it's time they did that.

My job search news today: I had the 2nd round of interviews with a large national firm that will stay nameless for the short-term. Nice people, great office location, ok projects (they won't be risking offending any clients)- now I just get to sit back and wait for an offer. I'm feeling fine with the idea of working for this firm, as I can polish my technical abilities and project management skilz- just won't be polishing my designabilities. Of the potential seven interviews lined up before landing in the northwoods- 4 have played out so far - all I need is one offer and my student loans will keep on being paid offffffff! Since this place has an interiors studio, probably will be getting lots of free lunches (but not as good as that turkey sandwich sounds right now).

So now that our dogs are going to grad school, what other pets are next up? Gerbils, goldfish, parakeets, cats?

Sep 20, 06 8:53 pm  · 
 · 
b3tadine[sutures]

i think my cat joined the doggy thread, she has OCD and likes to build this





with her cat litter...

Sep 20, 06 10:18 pm  · 
 · 
WonderK

My cat isn't going to school but if she keeps peeing on my couch she's going somewhere.

Sep 20, 06 11:37 pm  · 
 · 
A Center for Ants?

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

Sep 21, 06 12:05 am  · 
 · 
myriam

I spent two hours tonight battling moth larvae in my kitchen. All over the foodstuffs, in the packages, hatching moths that flew in our faces... all in all it was kind of nice to attack and destroy something. 'N turned out not to be such bad timing since they ran a Project Runway repeat, those bastards!

Now I am doing laundry. Heading to Chicago for the weekend for some lovin'. Woohoo, someone will take care of me and hold my hand! Life may not be so bad after all.

Sep 21, 06 12:34 am  · 
 · 
evangelicalbunny

Dear Friends,

I think it is time to bring Christ back to Thread Central. How do you feel about sharing your thread with Jesus? Or would you rather share it with Per Corell? Or Paris Hilton?

With Love,

eb

Sep 21, 06 12:48 am  · 
 · 
A Center for Ants?

whadidja use? i would've gone for my vacuum cleaner. nothing beats sucking stuff out of the air. and you get that nice wh-thunk sound of success. (a small fruit fly infestation met it's match by the hand of my bissell (can't afford a dyson)).

Sep 21, 06 12:48 am  · 
 · 
sporadic supernova

why hello there ......been a long time, init ??

I'm am off for 2 months and look at whats going on ... LB crossed 3000 ?? .. like wow !! can't go through all the comments however !!

anyway .. am in london now went over to AA a couple of times .. term starts on the 25th ...

and yes .. I'm a married man it's been a month and a half and it still has not sunk in

found accomodation here in London ( why on earth is everything soooo expensive here !!!??? ) and i'm enjoying the city travelling to random places. best way to know a city .

the wife will join me in a month or so !!

Sep 21, 06 6:53 am  · 
 · 
myriam

yay congratulations on the wedding!!! wish I could see pics. was it a traditional kind of wedding?

Sep 21, 06 7:53 am  · 
 · 

she married you BEFORE you went back to school?! what, was she looking for some alone time? wanted someone to split rent on a place she could stay in by herself?

congrats, ss. have fun.

Sep 21, 06 8:05 am  · 
 · 
liberty bell

Hey sporadic supernova!!!!! The last week or two I've been meaning to post "I wonder if sporadic got back from his honeymoon and settled in London yet?" and here you are yay! Welcome back.

I remember reading once about a guy who got married and it didn't really sink in until one day a few weeks later he was sitting at a red light with his arm out the window and patted the door panel of the car in time with the music and heard a "thunk" of his wedding ring dinging the paint - and then he got it.

I'm on my husband's second Mac today - Art Insititute of Chicago, bless their souls, gives a Powerbook to all their professors for the term of their contract, so we currently have two in the house - and it is a lovely, lovely object. Though I just tried to print a fax and when I thought I had successfully added the printer instead it shot out one page of gobbledygook and 15 blank pages until I stopped it...sigh. I'm a black hole of computer karma.

Three walk thrus of a big house remodel project today with three different contractors - I need to look tough!

Sep 21, 06 8:16 am  · 
 · 
vado retro

myriam if you want some good lovin gone bad, i live in indy just south of chicago.

Sep 21, 06 8:23 am  · 
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AP

yo sporadic! welcome back!


congratulations on the marraige, and best of luck @ the AA...

lb, the wedding ring story is great. compact visual poetry.

Sep 21, 06 10:55 am  · 
 · 
treekiller

I can't stand the suspense- TP has been lingering at 4099 for too long!
hello page 42!

Sep 21, 06 11:21 am  · 
 · 
e

hello

Sep 21, 06 11:25 am  · 
 · 
treekiller

doesn't it feel nice to be on a fresh new page?

ahhhhh- just like taping down a clean sheet of vellum and starting a new drawing. (damn those paper cuts!)

Sep 21, 06 11:28 am  · 
 · 

supernova, congratulations and welcomeback. did she make you stay away from computers?
hey at list you can see all the flickr photos you've been missing in dubai.

Sep 21, 06 11:29 am  · 
 · 
e

it does. but is also brings a sense of nervousness. fear of the blank sheet. do i still have what it takes? will what we say here still be as freash and worthy as others that have come before us? gawd, i don't know.

Sep 21, 06 11:31 am  · 
 · 

who worries about fresh and worthy?

Sep 21, 06 12:09 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

created my flickr page last night! and have starting to post my digipics from my cross county adventure -[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/treekiller/]here[/ur]. Now I need to find a good foto lab to process the real photos from the 11 rolls of film I took - I'm so old school!

a blank sheet is nothing when compared to the desert vastness of nevada and utah...

Sep 21, 06 12:16 pm  · 
 · 

treekiller - nice pics, kinda reminds me of the remake of The Hills Have Eyes that i saw recently (on a plane, ok, i didnt go to the cinema to see it!).

Sep 21, 06 12:19 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

opps sorry bout the failed link
here this time
forgot the final L

Sep 21, 06 12:38 pm  · 
 · 
myriam

treekiller--hehehe, FRESH JERKY .com

hahahaha!

REALLY GOOD FRESH JERKY

and vado--thank you for your kind generosity, I shall keep that in mind! Remember, though, you've never seen what I look like............
:D

Sep 21, 06 12:47 pm  · 
 · 

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