Elizabeth, it's the big one!

Originally Posted:
Friday, August 1, 2008
6:30:00 PM CDT
Feeling Loopy

Four things rocked my world today.
1. First when I got in this morning I was an hour into working when the moving crew descended upon my wing and the t-squares and worksurfaces started flying. In a matter of minutes three people on my side of the studio had to MOVE MOVE MOVE. Me included. Callison does an interesting thing--- they move people around a lot. One minute you're looking at your neighbor John, and the next you've got a new seat and two new neighbors on either side of you. This moving process is something to see. The two guys who did it were in and out in a matter of 15-20 minutes. They unmounted five pensiula table worksurfaces, shifted them, reinstalled them, moved the bookcases and file cabinets that went under them, moved the pencil drawers around, installed a new 36x60 freestanding drafting table next to me and then vanished. Poof! Into thin air, they were gone. All that was left was the aftermath of having to move our own workstation's belongings and computer equipment around. My two new neighbors seem nice, but they are still moving in. The one to my left has a standing height Craftsman rolling toolbox parked (I should saw wedged) in her station. Smart lady. I like the toolbox idea, but it eats up her entire moving around space in her station. I'm sure she's been moved around a few times and has learned that a supply cabinet on wheels is the best way to go for making it easier to hop from one station to the next.
2. Microstation. I don't like Microstation. Actually, Microstation doesn't like me. I've tried to be nice to it. I've said please and thank you to get it to work right for me, but noooooooo, it's cantankerous. Trim. That's all I wanted to do. Just trim some lines. I spent over an hour unsuccessfully trimming, maybe, ten demolition lines. In AutoCad it would have taken me more time to find and open the file than to trim ten lines. Grrrrrrrr. Growl. Snort.

3. See this picture? It's my new project! Yay!!!! I have work to do!!! I met with the project team today and they all seem like they'll be good to work with (they're in a different studio. I'm on loan to them!). The project is in Shanghai, China and I'll be drafting the elevations and wall sections of the buildings. (Should I mention to them that I'm not an architect!?!) Nah. They are in a major time crunch and just need someone here to work along side the project architect rather than coordinating with our Shanghai office where, apparently, the details are lost in translation. All that you see glowing in the picture is what we're working on. It's about 3 million square feet and we've got two weeks to get the design development docs done. Whoa! That's some quick cad work. Good thing the drawings have to be done in Autocad. YAY me!!!
4. And the last thing (well, probably not the last thing since the day isn't over yet) that rocked my world today is....you see that picture above. My new project? Yeah, it's in METRIC. Oh. Crap. New math. I never mastered the old math. Help!