Monday Visual Inspiration: Wise Words from the 1980s

Sign in the coffee shop at the Colfax Avenue Tattered Cover bookstore. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Rest in peace, La Mama del Guy

Last week, Guy's mom passed away after a long illness and a short hospitalization.  She was kind and thoughtful woman, devout in her beliefs and always concerned for her children. La Mama del Guy was a longtime reader of Why Architects Drink as well as my sister's blog, and she would frequently email me with thoughtful commentary regarding my posts.  She was a strong woman who raised three great kids, one of whom I thought was so amazing, I married him.

She will be greatly missed.

Fun with User Groups: feeling old yet?

Facilities Guy #1: We need a big exhaust fan in the maintenance shop.
Pixie: Right on, fan in the shop.
Facilities Guy #1: [turning to Guy #2] Did she just say "right on"?
Facilities Guy #2: Is she old enough to know that phrase?
Pixie: So, this fan...I'm thinking of the kind of fan I remember seeing in my high school gym.
Facilities Guy #3: Yeah, like that!
Facilities Guy #1: I get the feeling that it wasn't that long ago that she was in high school.
Pixie: Oh, come on, I'm 37!
Facilities Guy #2: [sighs] Our architect is two years younger than my youngest daughter.

Fun with User Groups: overheard during a review of the nursery with the OB nurses

Nurse 1: ...so in the Nurse Work Area, we need a blanket warmer and a small fridge for breast milk storage.
Pixie: [sketching on the plan] Sure thing.
Nurse 2: Will that fridge have a freezer?
Equipment Planner: No, not in a small fridge.
Howie: You freeze breast milk?
Nurse 1: Oh, sure, all the time.
Pixie: For what, smoothies?
Engineer: [under his breath] I bet they taste like vanilla...

......


Nurse 1: In the exam room, we prefer to do circumcisions on a countertop.
Pixie: [sketching on plan] Right on. 
Engineer: Do you need a card access lock on that exam room door?
Nurse 1: Hmm, I don't think so.  I mean, what would we lock in there? [turns to Nurse 2]
Pixie: Maybe you have to keep the baby in there while you're doing the circumcision?
Nurse 1: [laughs] Why would I lock him in there?  
Pixie: I dunno, maybe circumcising a baby is like trying to pill a cat--if you don't hang on to him, the little dude will scamper under the sofa and you'll play hell trying to get him out.
[Nurses, Howie, and Equipment Planner laugh]
Pixie: And babies won't come out for tuna like cats will, so you're gonna have to get him out from under there with something else. Maybe this is when you break out the breast milk smoothies, y'know? 

Happy Anniversary and general awesomeness, yo.

Guy and I are in Vegas having a great time, hiking and walking and relaxing and goofing off.  It's good to take a break from the intensity of our work schedules, which tend to leave us bereft of energy for anything much at all these days. Today is 8 years since we got married at an Elvis chapel here in Sin City, and while it's been work and not always a picnic, it's also been wonderful and rewarding to spend my days and nights with someone who is just like me in all the right ways and completely different from me in all the right ways.  Cheers.

Really? Again?! Are you kidding me?!?!

Both Hazel and Gracie went to the vet last week for a routine checkup and teeth cleaning. Everyone's blood work and urine came out fine, though the vet found a little lump/mass of tissue on Gracie's lower gums. She removed it easily during the dental cleaning and sent it off for a histology report.

It came back as low-grade fibrosarcoma.

Great. Now I have another cat with cancer.

So this week, we'll go visit the veterinary oral surgeon and talk about how much of Gracie's gum and lower jaw may need to be removed to make sure we get all the cancer cells. Supposedly, this surgeon is really good, and she won't look terrible or really really different after the surgery, but I'd like to see some before and after pictures. After surgery, we'll probably have to do some kind of follow-up treatment. I gave Maddy chemo pills for almost 18 months when she had small-cell lymphosarcoma during 2008-2010. Funny now that I think about it, Maddy finally crossed the Rainbow Bridge last week in 2010.

Thanks, Universe. Appreciate the hell out of this.

Wat? Ai no haz cansurr, just a hungree.  Ware iz tuna, mama?

Guy and I leave for Vegas later this week for our 8th anniversary weekend with Scarlett and Baxter and all the bad kittehs at their house.  Gracie will be fine for the duration, I'm sure.  I'm sure Hazel, the angry 15-year-old ball of chorb, will have the worst time of it at home with the Psycho Floof while Mama and Papa are off cavorting.

Monday Visual Inspiration: A new way to work

I recently stopped by The Desk in Capitol Hill in Denver for a pot of French press coffee, a croissant, and a bit of writing time.  It's an interesting concept in remote worindependent contractor or entrepreneurial office locations.  The Desk has a coffee shop that also sells sandwiches and snacks (and wine and beer in the evenings!) where you can sit and work for free (other than the cost of comestibles, that is). More ingeniously, it has a bunch of spaces in the back that are quieter and range from smallish open offices to boardrooms to acoustically-isolated booths perfect for recording or conducting a webinar or Skype session with a client.

More companies are going to open cubicles instead of private offices.  This is a trend overall in business, and I've definitely seen it in hospitals and healthcare settings.  The plus side of the open office is that it's easier to jump up and find someone if you have a question, and it saves space.  (Walls and ADA clearances at doors and halls take up a lot of real estate.) However, some studies are showing these days that people are slightly more anxious in open office plans because there's such a lack of privacy--one is always on display, so if a worker comes back from a stressful meeting with a client or boss or just needs a moment to breathe (or frequently in my case, if said worker needs to fart), they cannot do that at their desk.  It's necessary to go to the bathroom or in a conference room or even completely outside.

The Desk takes the open office concept even further as a workspace. Instead of having to rent an office somewhere, an independent contractor or entrepreneur can rent space in The Desk's facilities for in-person or virtual/web meetings or even as workspace for themselves and their collaborators. Space rental includes access to internet and printing/scanning/faxing services, plus drip coffee by Colorado's own ink! Coffee. I certainly found the open cafe area to be comfortable and amenable to concentrating, despite the activity around me (some friends catching up, a few people working, and a gaggle of yoginis looking for a post-asana chai for the road).