O-
is there a cistern under izmir like there is under parts of istanbul? I've heard stories about people fishing in the roman era lake below the city... yeah, we all miss you. Give our regards to the imperialist visitor from rome!

oh my god I am so freakin' tired! I've had such a difficult day - vado called me at 10am and I said "Wait, I'm busy, can I call you in a few minutes" and here it is 8 hours later and I haven't even returned his call...sorry vado. Talk tomorrow, OK?

I have two projects under construction which is heaven but! They are both trying to finish by the holidays (one will make it, the other won't). So I'm busy through to 2 January - just told my family out west they won't be seeing me until after the holidays this year.

Bad news today: Our local awesome hardware supply company is closing its doors EEEEEKS!!!!! So I madly put together a big order and got it in this afternoon so I'll have my stuff by Monday because as of Friday they will be gone! I can't believe it.

But good news, a new ground-up house is starting in January yay!! I love construction so right as two are ending another will begin.

It's been a good day but exhausting and will be more work into the evening hours...later all.

Cameron that damn bunny makes me laugh my ass off too.

Now that's just teasing the rest of us, Cameron!

Cameron that's awesome!!!!! Is that Adam Greenfield standing behind you?! And those red boots in the front row make me giddy!!!! Yay so cool...you are a supah-supahstar, Mr. Sinclair and definitely for all the right reasons.

But can someone please photoshop Cameron's pic above to show a pancake on his head? Pretty please?!

Congratulations, Cameron.

I marvel at the 40 under 40 (or in your case 21 under 40) lists. It's nearly unfathomable to me to think that I would ever stand a chance to be on such a list. And I wonder: do people TRY to get on these lists, or are they just so great that others naturally notice their contributions and decide to put them on the lists?

well, first, I must remind everyone of the original and classic bunny with a 'pancake bonnet':

and now, CAMERON with a pancake bonnet!

DCA - these lists are usually created to fill a whole 'zine. You can do 40 under xx and write a paragraph on each - voila a 10 page spread.

nice Rationalist. I'm sure you can make versions with various breakfast products.

"Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown Documentary" keeps requesting me as a friend on myspace. Is it one of you guys? If so, identify yourself or else I am going to keep denying it.

cameron im coming to see u in march at ball state. i will bring syrup.

Nice nice nice thank you rationalista!

Where has le bossman been lately? Every time someone calls me "lb" I think they must mean le bossman, the other "lb", and sometimes I get confused.

Strawbeary, that's funny and so sadly emblematic of the whole notion of a RV/DSB documentary. I respect them and respect their work immensely but the movie has this weird "Me too!!!!" attitude that makes me shiver. And they just keep requesting "be my friend...be my friend....."

strawbeary is my friend. friend good.

vado I was just thinking this morning we could do a "Ball/Cameron" road trip to go see him together! Wahoo, you bring syrup I'll bring whipped cream!!


(OK, I think I may have crossed a line - sorry)

sorry i didn't leave you a turkey vado. but yes, we are friends.

when it comes to syrup and whipped cream,

feel free to cross whatever you'd like, lb...


nice one rationalist. i think fity could use a waffle...or better yet a legit bonnet, like an easter sunday at church style bonnet...

dammitalltohell I just found out the track lighting system I spent hours figuring out and showing samples of to the client for approval and planning every aspect of is priced at FOUR times what I expected, aka twelve-fucking-thousand dollars.

Yeah right.

Crap.

syrup pancakes and whipped cream all very appropriate for muncie indiana, one of the fattest towns in america.

thanks, guys! one last resume question:

did y'all keep that "accomplishments" section on there? it has my like, dean's list and mentorship stuff from college, but i haven't won any awards or anything since then (years ago by now). i guess i'll keep my interests category on there, why not. i like the pixelwhore example--it may be a conversation-starter, who knows...

and wonderk--i ain't doing your cussin' dirty work for you!! i can't stand trolls, i stayed away from that thread after like the first three responses. ;) if you need some cussing coaching, i'm happy to provide mentorship services on the side, however! i'll send you my card.

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF?!

This office is retarded. Completely retarded. It has no capacity for progress, and no will to fire those who inhibit it. I voluteered to develop some standards in an area we are sorely lacking in (everyone does things willy-nilly in that area of work). I got started on them yesterday, and one guy comes and stands over my shoulder for like five minutes while I work, badgering me why I'm bothering basically. He claims that we already HAD standards in this area, he just never brought them in from home. I'm sorry, but standards that only exist at somebody's home, that have never been seen by others, ARE NOT STANDARDS!!! Now he wrote to one of the principals about it and then she involved somebody else and there's this big four-way email crap going on where he whines, and I try to say 'Fuck Off!' as politely as possible. Gah!

omg. your office sounds more and more hellish every time you talk about it.

i can't help but think, maybe that's partly why you want to get out of architecture... :( which is sad.

man, I hate being unemployed. I miss work. Specifically the work at my old firm. Argh.

well, it's not just this office. It's that I've NEVER been at an office that didn't drive me crazy. 1st office = good people, crap work. 2nd office = half-decent boss, no standards, medium to crap work. 3rd office = great work, crap boss. 4th office = mind numbing boredom. 5th office = crazy, conservative people, medium but uninspired work, crazy office politics. They are collectively responsible, can't lay it all on this firm.

myriam, I will gladly take that cussing coaching! BTW, I am keeping my accomplishment-type stuff on my resume, but the next people to see it will be admissions committees, if that makes any sense.

rationalist, I think you are coming to the conclusion that I came to a few years ago, which is: you (like myself) are not meant to work for other people. You are really probably meant to run your own office. As soon as I figured this out, I tried to make sure that my career path would include learning how to run my own firm. I have already learned a lot about how NOT to run a firm, that's for sure.

i learned, running my own business, that it doesn't work if you hate billing, paying bills, and other business (as opposed to project) administration tasks so much that you don't do them.

Steven, that will be what my hypothetical business manager will be for. Who might also double as my husband, depending on how I arrange things.

ha! hope that works out for ya myriam. seriously.

...just a funny thought: depending on how I arrange things.

I've considered this part, Steven, and hope to 'run' a practice with a creative partner and a business partner. the creative partner might also double as my wife, depending on how I arrange things.

huh. I was just thinking that I hoped to run a practice with a business partner and a creative partner, but I need to hang around some business schools or something to pick up the other half. I would however, as creative partner, maintain the power to fire idiots at any given time, with no warning to the business partner. And I would want IQ tests administered as part of the hiring process, because I just can't stand working with idiots.

That's not too much to ask, right?

not at all, rationalist! you could even require a handwriting sample for analysis at hiring time, like they do in france. could be fruitful...

Update: Just recieved a long, poorly written email saying that he hadn't meant to criticize. BullSHIT.

Hey, coinkeedink, I took an IQ test last night and my IQ has dropped 12 points since college. What does that mean?

How do you just take an IQ test? Was it one of those free online things? If so, I wouldn't put too much stock in it....

On a side note, if anyone is looking for a giggle break, I'd suggest post-neo's contributions tothis thread.

I got pissed off.

That you're being assimilated. I used to be the random kid who could pick up a rubik's cube and solve it, no problem. Now I can't wrap my head around that stuff at all.

So I responded to the email in the most coldly civil way I could manage, and I somehow drew the truth out- he's mad at our employer for giving me this assignment instead of him! He's mad at how much we all complain about his precious CAD standards. I wish I could just bloody get away from them. He totally doesn't understand that I'm just trying to help the office out, working with what I've got. No, he'd rather be pissy at me for doing what our boss asked me to do. Jesus Christ, can someone get this guy a time out? Preferably on one foot, on a brick, in the corner?

Is this one of the same two dudes who bicker at each other? Or is your office simply chock full of childish idiots?

nice myriam...I replied with a retroactive-rant of my own.

rationalist, one of my childhood punishments was to stand in the corner on my tip-toes. I decided, as a youngster, that by switching feet periodically I would better handle the fatigue. I received this punishment often. I have unusually large calves...

indeed it is, myriam. This is the one I referred to as CADguy. I felt a lot more sympathy for him before this incident!

I like my job.
no office rants, pissing contests, or tribal initiation rites. oh, they seem to cash to burn on professional development and special company events... while not a cool as a garwondler tee or an arch sucks limited edition fashion forward garment, the firm gives jackets to every employee after one year.

This is too funny. Update on contractor redlines. I sent him a 31 page ASI with details revised on 8.5 x 11 sheets. He calls and asks "What is this crap?" I tell him it is all his redlines plus the remaining VE items I had to pick up (window sills/heads/jambs was pretty much all I had left for that). He tells me he wants new full sets of everything(even sheets that haven't been revised). I tell him he doesn't need to do that, and to just take the stuff I gave him and tape those sheets into the sets or write stuff in. He yells at me and tells me that that is a paperwork nightmare and we would stand the chance of missing some information or someone not getting the most recent documents and that it is unacceptable AND COSTS MONEY and orders me to reprint the sets. I explain to him the ASI is formatted to be faxed, and he can send it out to all the planholders and they can be responsible for their own set of docs being up to date and it isn't that hard for him. He also told me that the structural engineer is a pompous ass that didn't do half of what was asked of him. I have to send the redlines back to the contractor because he doesn't believe they were picked up. I checked them personally, they were. The contractor wants all the steel elevated (no top of steel notes for this chum.)

So now, I have to call all my consultants and tell them that what they did on 8.5x11 is not going to cut it and to do it full size. By tomorrow. Man, they already hate me. Sorry guys.

Beer me.

S....think we should double beer you!

ditto on the Venturi myspace thing, who are you??? what do you want from me!!


also, did the flourishing ass thread get deleted? i figured that would be acceptable if listed under culture.

so the contractor gets to order the architect around? that's a new one on me. and this is in america right? you know what straw, ignore the fucker and send him everything the way it's done and the way your firm does it, and then when he bitches and moans, issue that fucker a CCD.

Hmmm. The ass thread is gone, as is the horse thread. Perhaps they were offended by your knees, SH?

Oh wait, might have been the Jessica Alba thing, hmmm.

Strawbeary, I'm sorry, did you say he wants the steel elevated? Are you serious? WTF. I think this guy is taking you for a ride.

bye bye booty...

which reminds me...57...a girl I dated in high school used 57 as her beeper code, 'cause it reads like ST, her initials. my beeper code was 33, as in 3rd son of 3 (when i was a wee-lad my dad had a beeper, and he assigned myself and 2 older brothers with the codes 333, 222, and 111...I now have 2 add'l siblings, and everyone has a cell phone).

So what do you do when an owner's in-house contractor swears up and down that the design team sucks, is slow, and incompetent, and the docs are a puzzle?

Consult a 3rd party?

Have a "heart to heart" session, come to an understanding and attempt to proceed?

Stawbeary, Just be sure he gets a case of Single Malt Whiskey for Christmas! Then have a heart to heart with him.....as a contractor he will not be offended....as and in -house contractor....it is like well your not such a bad guy.....then blast his ass good and hard after the New Year....!

or send him some steaks from Omaha. Might be a better gift for actually having the building built plumb.

wonderk i was looking for that ass thread to see if you posted wearing those jeans? zwinky...

tomorrow after i return from brunch i'm going to institute a new firm-wide policy: after one year's service, everybody will have earned an "architecture sucks" lapel pin

we're trying to look more corporate around here