There's a reason for the title of this blog

To be fair, a lot of things make architects drink.  Like, Wednesday.  Not this or that Wednesday, but  the fact is, an architect can look at the calendar and go, "Holy shit, it's only Wednesday" and it's enough to make them drink.  We're a little hair-trigger that way.

This economy will make an architect drink, and how.  The AIA's Architectural Billings Index notes that there's been a slowdown in institutional construction spending for the first time in over four years.  A lot of it has to do with financing on the clients' side, and we've seen that at Design Associates lately for sure.  Projects that should have been a go were either cut back or put on hold, and some owners can't even borrow as much as they need and have good financial standing for because lenders are becoming more wary.  So, our office is slow.  And I've been filing and archiving projects for the better part of three weeks.  And I completely understand why some people develop a drinking problem.

I was finally able to start helping Jann with some typical room layout and equipment information stuff today, but I thought that the project number for that work had been put on hold.  But now it's not?  Or what?  A little help here?  Plus, it makes for really crappy blogging.  How can I really tell you what architects do when I'm not even doing it myself?  It would stand to reason that this would be a good time to indulge in my other hobbies and develop them more--things like reading as well as writing a couple of books (I have a couple of irons in the fire regarding books I need to write).  This is as good a time as any, except that not being busy most of the day makes me something of a sloth when I get home.

Oh well.  Bootstraps and all that.

Good mews

Maddy had blood drawn on Saturday to see how she was responding to the chemo, and it appears that she's doing very well with it.  Her white blood cell count was only slightly elevated, kinda like what you'd expect from a cat that was stressed out about going to the vet.  Everything else was pretty normal, and she gained 14 oz (just shy of a pound), so the vet oncologist reupped her Leukeran for three more months (whereupon we'll check her again).  Maddy's not overjoyed about taking meds, but she does pretty well on them, and she's surprisingly easy to pill.  So, yayz.  I'm feeling hopeful that we get a little more time with Maddy, and the time we (and she) will get will be good, happy, healthy time.

I have nothing to talk about today

I spent the week filing and trying to stay busy.  I'm tired of watching the stupid political ads on TV.  So, while I try to get back into reading actual books right after I fill out my mail-in ballot, I give you these pictures that Miss Kitty took over the weekend she spent with me recently.

Maddy, looking over my shoulder.  She's gained a pound in the past 4-6 weeks, and for the most part she's herself again: always hungry.

Hazel, looking annoyed on the dining room chair.  She hid most of the weekend while Guy's friends were here, but she came out to pee on my yoga mat on Sunday afternoon after everyone left.  There is nothing passive about that cat's aggression.

A light fixture at Z Gallerie.  I thought it was interesting, and it might end up over my dining room table.  Might.

Standing in line, marking time, waiting for the project dime

Yesterday and part of Tuesday, I was able to help one of the partners do a very rough program and square footage allotment for a possible new MOB for a client.  He had the meeting today to present the program to the owner, which left me working on transcribing my notes from the past couple of intern seminars until Winston the Befuddled met with me to pass on some redlines.  Perfect--I'd be helping his team today through Friday afternoon, making me billable for most of the week.  Winston and I were supposed to meet at 11am, but his morning meeting ran long, and I didn't find him until right after lunch.  With that continually slightly-mixed-up look on his face, he said he needed to print some things first and that the redlines would only really take me this afternoon.  Damn.  45 minutes later, Winston comes to my desk to tell me that a member of his project team was freed up sooner than they expected and they wouldn't be needing me at all, but thanks.  Double damn.

So, it's back to typing up my notes.  I racked my brain: should I check with Howie first? Jann?  I finally decided to give Howie first dibs on my help.  I mentioned to him what happened with Winston, then told him what I'd been doing with my intern seminar notes and that I'd been helping Jann sort and file her stuff and could do that unless he had something else.  Howie said to continue helping Jann clean off her desk (and y'all, we've barely made a dent in her disaster of a desk), and then he turned fully around from his computer (which is something he rarely does) and spoke in slightly hushed tones.

"And, y'know, Alex, and Gregg, and Jann, and Skylar and I all," [gestured with a circular motion] "talk on a regular basis about what everyone's doing, and it sucks, because you're a star and we don't have anything for you right now, y'know?  And I--we really appreciate you trying to keep yourself busy, even though really, that's our job, to keep you busy . Just...hang in there.  The project we just did the master plan for may not do anything for at least six months, that's just how those little projects are."

"No sweat," I replied.  "I hate bothering you, but I just want you to know I'm not trying to rest on my laurels over there, I wanna be helpful."

"I know, I know," Howie said with a smile.  "Just hang in there.  Did that master plan with Sven ever go anywhere?"

"He called me right before lunch actually," I replied, just remembering a phone call from the partner I'd helped yesterday.  "He said that the master plan might be a go any where from tomorrow to a few weeks from now, so we've both got our fingers crossed."

"Oh, good!" Howie said.  "That's good news.  Just keep doin' what you're doin' and hang in there.  We're all trying hard going after a lot of work."

Howie's discussion with me today felt like he was trying to reassure me that I wasn't next on the chopping block and that I was still valued.  So, I spent the rest of the afternoon transcribing my notes and feeling slightly less twitchy about the economy and the near future.  But man, I wish somebody would hire DA to build a hospital or clinic or som'n.  Shorty needs to get her architecture on.

Yes, another post about needing universal health insurance

I know I've been posting on this topic a lot lately, but in my feeble head universal health care = more patients in the system = more buildings and spaces needed to serve them = more work for me.  I find this article interesting and question-provoking, not the least of which is: WHY?  After reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, I have to wonder if something very, very subtle is a work here.  Does minority = not worth givng the very best of care?  Or does non-insured = not worth saving? Minority, uninsured trauma patients more likely to die in ED, study suggests

Black, Hispanic, and uninsured trauma patients are more likely to die in U.S. EDs compared with white patients, but insurance status has the stronger association with mortality after trauma, according to a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery. To determine the effect of race and insurance status on trauma mortality, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and colleagues analyzed outcomes for 376,897 patients in the National Trauma Data Bank. Treated between 2001 and 2005, the study sample included 72,249 black patients, 41,770 Hispanic patients, and 262,878 white patients; patients ranged in age from 18 to 64 and had moderate to severe injuries. Overall, 47% of patients had insurance, but blacks and Hispanics had higher uninsured rates than whites. The researchers found an adjusted mortality risk after trauma that was 17% higher for black patients and 47% higher for Hispanic patients than for white patients. Meanwhile, the researchers found that insured patients had a lower crude mortality rate compared with uninsured patients, at 4.4% and 8.6% respectively. The absence of health insurance increased a patient’s adjusted mortality risk by nearly 50%. According to the lead author, the dramatic differences in mortality risk between insured and uninsured patients were unexpected, given that access to trauma care in the United States does not hinge on insurance status. However, among insured patients, both Hispanics and blacks had “significantly” higher mortality risks compared with white patients, suggesting that “racial disparities in trauma mortality cannot be completely explained by insurance status alone.” As such, the researchers recommend further research into the “underlying reasons for these differences, which will enable to development of interventions to close the gap between patients of different races and payer statuses” (Haider et al., Archives of Surgery, October 2008 [subscription required]; Phend, MedPage Today, 10/20; Reinberg, HealthDay, 10/20). Either way, this study at least suggests that having insurance might save your ass in the ED.  Let's also remember from some earlier posts here (and studies elsewhere) that the ED is the main place where uninsured people go for all healthcare because they can't be turned away.  It may be more likely, I dare posit, that the uninsured have a higher mortality rate in the ED because they wait too long for treatment and come to the ED when it's too late.  Which is a condition that universal health care would very likely alleviate. I know my posts have been shoddy lately, and I intend to rectify that as soon as possible.  It's hard to talk about architecture when I've actually spent 3.5 days this month cleaning my desk and not working on a whole lot of real architecture.

Back to the same old same old

I dropped Miss Kitty off at the airport this morning and headed back to Denver and my pedestrian life.  Lawd, did we have a wonderful time over the past 3.5-4 days.  Massages and pedicures at the spa, shopping, lunch with my coworkers, dinner at our favorite restaurants (including, oddly enough, Chipotle), an evening cookout with Guy and his mouthbreathing knuckle-dragging friends (okay, some were much less mouthbreathing and knuckle-dragging than others), shopping, rifling through the  DA office interiors library to pick out some plastic laminate and wall tile for Kitty's home renovations, an evening at the bookstore, and--oh, yeah, shopping.

Words cannot express how wonderful it was to have Kitty here for 3+ days, and to take time off with her to hang out and do girl stuff.  We would luvved to have had Baxtersmum and her puppeh with us, but the fates conspired against us.  Augh!  This only means that I will have to come to Las Vegas for a visit.... [shifty eyes]  It was relaxing and yet exciting to talk and eat and walk and shop and mock things and oooooh-cute! over other things with someoen who knows you better than anyone else and still likes, nay, loves you anyway.

I'll be home for an entire week in Small Town this year between Xmas and New Year's, and Guy will be going home early to enjoy some alone time with the kittehs.  But Lawd, Kitty and I are gonna have a blast.  I. Cannot. Wait.

How well can you eyeball?

Holy crap, this is fun.  Try your luck eyeballing distances and angles and see how well you do.  If you're feeling gusty, post your score in the comments.  The first time I tried it, I got a 6.0, and the second time (just now) I scored a 4.87.  Evidently, I cannot make a parallelogram to save my life, but otherwise I'm ptrry good at eyeballing the center of a cirlcle or an angle.  I wager Wilderness Gina will do well on this.