my 1 year review is tomorrow. wish me luck. do you think telling them that I'm a libertarian will help? oh, and I expect a "too much time on the internet" comment as well. that should be the worst of it.

urgh. I came in this morning to a server situation. However, someone else was already on the phone with our tech consultant, handling it. Yay, right? Well, I was asked be another junior-type person what was going on, and was heard by my boss to say, "They seem to be handling it, so I'm going to stay away from this one." Which to me is perfectly reasonable, considering I NEVER, EVER ASKED OR VOLUNTEERED IN ANY WAY to be on the goddamned cad/computer committee, was just forced into it, and should have to be dealing with this shit. This got me pulled into the bosses office for a talk about how I should be helping with this, should be offering my expertise. When I said that I don't have any expertise regarding hardware, I was told I should be learning. Jesus fucking christ- do you just randomly pick somebody and tell them they should learn a whole new skillset in which they have absolutely zero interest, and make it clear that it's now a part of their job whether they like or or not? Who DOES that? WTF???

I hope your day is going better than mine, Strawbeary.

Jeez, they sound like they're treating you like a kid. Yikes.

rationalist will you still grace us with your presence when you are a famous graphic designer? will we be using "rationalist sans-serif" to post on archinect in the 22nd century?




(**serious question, just wondering if we're going to lose you once you permanently cross to the other side)

also, i'm feeling a little down today. let's play the myriam game. everybody name one thing they can see right now in their immediate surroundings that makes them happy.

i'll start:

i see the little rose-bush by the window that my manf gave me for valentine's day last year, and amazingly it is still happy and green and getting bigger, even though i have no luck with mini-roses normally and this thing is almost 1 year old and has been shipped across country in a box AND carried across country in a jostly budget truck. Go, little red rose-bush! you are so grand.

I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic in the first comment- am I overreacting? Yeah, probably, huh. It's just become a sensitive issue with me because more and more of my job is becoming this, and I'm caring less and less about my job every day as a result. I need to chill out about it, just try to stop caring so much.

And no, you won't lose me. I may become scarce during school, out of time more than interest, but I'll always be here, for TC at least.

nope, not being sarcastic, being serious. that's pretty shitty treatment. like you are being a recalcitrant child or someting.

two photos of my adorable niece, Jordyn.

every rose has its thorn

just like every cowboy sings a sad sad song

hmm, I guess I need to personalize my workstation. I don't have a single thing. = (

I have a ham and cheese sandwich. Oh, and some thinmints... Mmmm!

B+W photos of my wife at the base of the Eiffel Tower

well rationalist, you can probably see archinect, right? ;)


mmm... thin mints. thin mints and eiffel tower. mmmm....

a great view of the empire state building from lower
manhattan. a prosciutto sandwich and snapple ice tea...mmm
a project that i'm actually interested in..and shop drawings of
that project

the snow is melting

a creepy little bust of an old man mounted on a plastic colored-swirl-faced red plaque, very much like an animal's head is mounted by a taxidermist except only about 3"x5". made by an artist friend of mine.

hanging directly under a model from my grad thesis and next to photos from a project i finished in '99.

magnetic space monkeys and a 'suburb-in-a-bag'

what makes up a "suburb-in-a-bag"?????

is it a bag of dog poop with some well-manicured grass stuck in it?

here's a cell phone picture



those crumbs in the bottom are various standard cookie cutter houses in various standard colors. and some specimen trees, i suppose

-a picture of the Valentine's Day singing quartet that showed up at my office 2 years ago, to serenade moi

-a fake site plan that SuperHeavy sketched up last year when we were working on a particularly unfortunate project. The fake version is much better than the real, complete with cliffs, lakes, and a ski jump

-my "Mind the Gap" coffee mug


I have to say, I'd have a lot of fun with that Suburb in a Bag....

the best I can do is this: when I don't have any programs up (approx. 30sec/day), my background is a photo from the rosebowl.

Strawbeary- how'd it go?????? I'm dying to hear.

nothing except I had a great day. (no time for my review)
somehow we got along like long lost sisters today. wierd.

too long of a day to write, here is a short recap;
i am selected as a jury even though i said everything from my bad experience with cops and growing up in a not so peaceful family and i might be prejudgemental because of my emotional nature etc.., i told judge i write for archinect and she asked me what i write about and i said you name it i will write about. she thanked me for being honest. oh, i gave honest answer to defendants lawyer's question in which he asked me if i can scratch out something he himself said or witness said from my mind if judge asks so and i said "probably not because i know how human mind works" that was pretty much was my ticket to be rejected in my thinking but they took it as an honest answer and thanked me for it. go figure. since i am planning to write an novel about this case, i can't really talk about it now. specially since judge knows what archinect is and everything.

staw....to ...WIERD....EITHER YOU WIN OR YOU LOOSE....DON'T HOLD US HOSTAGE.....MOST IMPORTANT....WE ALL THINK YOU WIN...
YOU WIN OVER THE TEEN VIXON...OR YOU MOVE ON TO GREATER PROSPECTS IN THE WORLD OF REAL ARCHITECTURE BECAUSE YOU ARE OUR FRIEND!

fantastic abra. thanks for the brief.

For myriam: I see a Mickey Mouse bobble head that our enxt door neighbor gave Angus for Christmas. It is on my desk because the other night when Angus was going to bed and I was working he came racing in his pajamas back to the family room and moved Mickey onto my desk "to be with me while I work". Adorable little tyrant, that child.

abra, I'm sorry to hear you were selected. I know you said you don't believe in the jury system, but I find it in theory to be an incredibly powerful idea and really the foundation of our culture. That doesn't mean it doesn't suck to be pulled out of your life for a $15/day job that has no guaranteed end date. But the defendant and plaintiff are both lucky to have you as I know you are honest and fair and big-minded.

My day passed with only one furious phone call to the cabinet hardware supply people who said the pulls would be overnighted Tuesday but today called to say it wouldn't be until next week. They fixed it after I put my foot down in a truly nasty outburst. I hate being angry but sometimes you have to let your stress out on someone else who hopefully truly is the cause of the problem. Argh.

Luckily then I met up with the cabinet supply folks - not the hardware, the actual cabs - and they convinced me to slow down for 15 minutes and have a beer while they finished their lunch before we got down to our business about a two-times-wrong-sized cabinet door. I'm not a big Sam Adams fan but that winter brew went down really, really nicely this afternoon!

Now I'm nervous until UPS shows up tomorrow with the cabinet pulls. And of course I have no idea what to wear to the party - I think I need to look "like an architect" and sadly with my current wardrobe I'm afraid that can only mean black turtleneck. I'll get some pics of the place!

actually as the situation progress i am finding the experience completely worth it. it is very interesting how attorneys construct their case and drop a beam or a column here and there. sort of musical construction they use. they use buzzwords when effective. they ask questions knowing it will be rejected by the judge. playing little nerve games with eachother. sort of constructing mental spaces etc. very smart and intelligent people with a lot of skills and talent. probably they are looking at architects and are saying they 'should' make more money than the architects. i don't know...
maybe the jury system is alright. but it makes very hard to convict somebody without a reasonable doubt. i think there should be more choices or different degrees of guilt for every crime. but probably i will know more about they within a day or two.

^this is exactly why you are abracadabra, to me at least - this keen ability to look at everything this way, and communicate it this way.

Yes, the attorneys can be fun to watch. And I was wondering if even though they are nasty to one another in the courtroom, do they actually dislike each other or do they get together after the trial for a beer and compliment one another on their strategies?

Good luck for a speedy but interesting trial.

i was at a jury selection process and one guy said that his religion do not tolerate such and such crime...and he got out...i wanted to serve since i wanted to experience it...my first time ever since i got my u.s. citizenship (same day when i had to vote...my brain got drained that day but it;s cool)....

i was back up juror #12 and the case was posession of methamphetamine...during the questioning i told them that i have tried methamphetamine, known some folks who have used methamphetamine and have their lives ruined, and have two misdemeanors...this is shameful...but it was so liberating...the judge thought it was too complicated to even justify putting me in the jury...he was like "you know what?...we should just get another candidate"...i actually thought about lying and not bringing all that but i just unleashed it...i got out of the jury service (unfortunate...i wanted to serve, man)...i met an old man during this whole thing and i asked for his opinion about lyring in court...and he made me feel better by saying that at least i told the truth...and...really cringe inducing...i was a man for doing so as long as i don't repeat the dumb stuff...

i saw a guy wear shades and he said he couldn;t see too well...he got out...

another was a veterinarian who said that she runs a small clinic and there are animals on intensive care and having just the assistant be there wouldn't be enough...

another person said she had phobia of heights and the courtroom was on the 6th floor...she was dismissed

thanks for that AP.
donna i hope ups w/man shows up with the pulls tomorrow.

abra, sorry you got picked but they couldn't have picked a better world reporter and cultural historian, if you ask me. I know it will be a while but I already look forward to reading about your experiences there!!!

I am still so excited that heterarchy is back.

fear of heights?! that's a good one.

'night everyone.

I've been called for jury duty three times, but have managed to get out each time.

First time, the parties settled the case just before jury selection. We were all given our checks and sent on our merry ways.

Second time, I got called for jury duty in Philadelphia three months after I had moved to NYC.

Third time, I got called for jury duty in NYC after I had already moved to Oregon.

Now that I've been back in Chicago for a while and will be here for at least a few months longer, I have a feeling my luck will run out soon.

i love lawyers and sometimes still finding myself wishing that i'd gone to law school since i generally enjoy confrontations and mixing it up with people. i also enjoy presenting...and i personally feel that more architects would benefit if they viewed their work less as "making a building" and more as "presenting a case & winning the argument" because let's face it, most people don't want the confrontation and would rather not fight so if you bring it to them then you already have the advantage...and anybody who has ever played tennis knows how good it is to have the ad.

also, one of my fav movies is the verdict. aside from the good acting of paul newman, charlotte rampling and james mason amongst others, and the general empathy that i feel for the protagonist—and in spite of some of its religous overtones—i really dug it when the lawyer gave his summation addressing the jury at the end of the movie, quoted in full here:

"You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.
[he sits down] "

italics added for emphasis of my favourite line.

i fucking love paul newman and james mason, as well as good ole courtroom drama. i will check this out. thanks pouddles.

that is a beautiful quote. and beautiful comments from those of you w ho particispate ind the myriam game. thank yhou vey r much.

I was dismissed from trial duty as when they read the lawyers name he shared the same name as a paralegal who worked on our immigration case and the person on trial was afflilated with one of our clients. Turns out we did the graphics for the annual report for the Hospital where he worked. It was the first day of jury selection so there was a large pool of people to select from, so I walked.

I did have a friend who was called to jury duty and the trial lasted several months. It was at a time when he was building a house, so when he wasn't sitting on jury duty he was home building.

i've never been called for jury duty despite always being interested in participating. i'm pretty sure you can volunteer, but i'm not sure how that's perceived by those who would select and i'm also not sure how i would explain it to my employer.

tell us about the party, lb!! are you hung-over? did you get new clients? did the cabinet doors stay on? did you flirt with the ceo of eli lilly?

lb run to the fashion mall get a new outfit and charge to your expense account. its all to do with business. make sure you wear your metal detector alarm boots.

Sadly vado as you know there is no expense account for fashion. And really sadly my cool black/blue glasses that my son partially broke last week when we were playing just snapped clean through this morning - so that completely changes my outfit possibilities as now I'll be forced to wear an older pair of tortoiseshells.

Party is tonight, Steven, so I'll let you know. My contractor just emailed asking "just out of curiopsity" if I prefer red or white wine, so crap, now I have to go find a gift to give him too! I'm lousy at this graciousness stuff!! But he is beyond a ddoubt the best contractor I've ever worked with so I think a small gift is in order.

Realized this morning that I never spec'd a fricking toilet paper holder for the powder room!! It only becamse functional Wednesday so I'm wondering if the Owner just took care of it on their own out of necessity....

So there are my tasks today: cabinet pulls, a gift bottle of wine, locating anodized aluminum 1x2x1/8 angle, and finding a TP holder.

Later all. And yeah DubK I am also floored at the return of heterarchy!

steven, I thought you were self employed.

my experience on jury duty was well worth it. during selection I was secretly like, me, me! pick me! They did. I loved seeing the court system in action. It was like a play being acted out, with scenes, characters and scripts, the closing statements WERE as elegant and powerful as puddle's quote above. wouldn't trade it for anything.

It was on a bank fraud case for a young woman that was a branch manager for a bank who gave herself a loan or two, but paid it back or something like that, can't really remember. Her lawyer's nickname was Mad Dog. I thought he was so intelligent and looked like Richard Gere, that handsome smile, I might have had an eeensy crush on him after the trial. I thought some of the jurors didn't care at all and just slept thru the case while I hung on every word. One of the prosecuter's witnesses, a secret service agent, was a total dufus. Most jurors had thier mind made up right away, one old man even said he thought the feds were just playing thier games and brought a case to court that never should have. He had that arrogant old farmer way of speaking. Most of the jurors were old retired men. One was a lady who was a sheep farmer with 12 kids, also a motivational speaker. She was a student of my mom's and she recognized me. She told me about shearing the sheep. the prosecuting (federal) attorney was pretty unmotivated and just going thru the motions I thought, maybe he didn't think the case should have been brought either. After the trial me and few other jurors were outside saying our goodbyes. The defendant and her lawyer came outside and as they walked by us, the woman thanked us and hugged us. We filled out a questionaire afterwards where you got to "grade" the attorneys. I let the federal prosecutor know I thought he could have brought some more passion to it.

1. here's a holder patented 1877 & 1883. cradles the roll and has a saw tooth cutter:





2. brass toilet paper holder ... patented dec 22, 1885. reads "leased from scott paper co. limited philadelphia penna. on its side there is a glass window, presumably to see how much paper is left. the round knob would distribute the paper.



and...3. "it turns out that not all toilet paper is held for human consumption. this is an add on oil filter for early cars and trucks. you would unscrew the top and place a cheap (thick sheeted) roll of toilet paper in the aluminum canister as the filter. you could change your filter for pennies."





glad i could help.

abra- so are the lawyers like perry mason, matlock, boston leagal, moonlighting, or law and order???

hilarious steven.

lb, I'd go with the first one, for sure. it would go very well with this ceiling system...
good luck with your open house.

i hope i get fine and impartial folks like you all on my jury...

I, too have always wanted to get called for jury duty and never have. I feel yo' pain, Steven. On the other hand my dad gets called about once a year and he is not a US citizen! Every time he has to call them up and re-explain that he is not eligible. Makes no sense to me.

Also--lb--what is the aluminum for??? Do you need it asap, or in a couple weeks? I got some great extruded aluminum out of these folks in Anaheim that I would recommend, but they have like a couple week lead time. Are you interested? I could track them down.

OK, I know perfectly well that there are bigger problems in this world than five cabinet door pulls.

But G*DDAMMIT when you tell me Tuesday the pulls will be overnighted, then tell me Thursday they will be, then tell me Friday OH SORRY IT WAS PAST THE UPS DEADLINE WHAT AM SUPPOSED TO DO BUT HAVE A HUGE TEMPER TANTRUM!!!!!!

So I am off to Lowe's to see if I can find something temporary.

myriam thanks for the offer, we did find a supplier for the aluminum and it's not a rush thing, but if they fall through I'll contact you about your Anaheim company! Thanks!

ok! good luck! i would shove the phone down those people's throats! i hate it when suppliers pull that shit. fucking a. what is your job except to get me this product??? how hard can it fucking be???