Tales from the Steppes

2004-04-07

2:29 p.m.
Too much sun

Yesterday I got my first sunburn of the Spring season - cheeks and lips, not the full facial experience. To be fair, I should note that I get sunburned in the winter as well; it just takes a little more effort. I wish I could report that I was doing something fun outside when this overexposure occurred. But no, I was merely driving in my car to YET ANOTHER WASTED MEETING WITH MY STUPID GROUP.

Ok, I'm better now. Our task yesterday was to resolve the placement of the buildings on the block we are designing. You would think that we were trying to make water from oxygen and hydrogen using only our bare hands. Most of the problem stems from a distinct lack of ability and desire to design in a group setting. The only architect, Santosh, to show up for the meeting kept going off by himself to work on the design. When he finally had something he liked, he brought it back and Steven and I looked at it, not at his invitation or anything. By the time I was done with my comments and he had reshaped the plan, it looked a whole lot the plan I had developed 4 weeks ago. And we didn't even finalize it. Aaaargh!

I really could not care less who's plan we use; I just don't want to be embarrassed when we present this. I certainly don't mind compromising on the design, but if you are proposing 1 and 2 storey structures, when the OC guidelines specifically ask for 3 and 4 storey, you should at a minimum be able to defend your deviance. Even better is to be able to go on the offensive and suggest why their proposed height is ill-conceived.

Ah well, I am blowing off class on Friday to do something fun with the mongols, so I will not have to deal with it this week. I have to get my portion of the work done early and emailed off so I can do this. You might be wondering whether the professor will say anything about this departure. The answer is no. He probably hasn't read the project guidelines from Ocean City all that well. But when we present to the guys from OC next week, they will say something and we will look like bozos and be graded upon that. For most of our projects we have clients who may or may not be paying the school for our services and we are expected to address their needs and concerns.