My First Contribution to the Built Environment

I finally have proof that I'm productive at work! The field of architecture is a patient one. It takes months, sometimes years, to see the fruits of your labor. So, after two months, starting with the concept, moving to concept sketches, to structural steel shop drawings, to mock ups...this is my first structure produced as a professional. No, it's not a building, but I believe it's even something more important and special. It's public art! It's sculpture! And it was tons of fun to do.

The inception of this project started with a day care that moved into the building we designed (behind the sculpture in the picture). I had the task of designing the signage that is going to be attached to the building, but I quickly ran into a design problem. The day care has a logo attached to their name which is very dear to them (a family member created it for them). However, the logo is very colorful, and if it was put onto the building, it would have thrown off the whole color scheme and overall design of the building. There is another tenant in the building so it was our task to design something that wouldn't clash.

After pulling from some images from my travels I approached my boss with the idea of taking their logo that they are so fond of, and giving it it's rightful importance, as a sculpture. By pulling the logo off of the building, we can still keep the colors and since it is not attached to the building, it would not distract people or detract from our design of the overall building. The idea went through many schemes but finally we decided on this. It is made of tube steel, metal rods soldered to the frame, and four panels of sheet metal, painted the colors of their logo.

I, myself, am very proud and excited about the results. The clients were thrilled that we put so much thought into their wants and needs and created them something special and unique. It was even more special since it was donated/paid for by the contractor. All in a days work!

What the...?

Conversation recorded between Morgan and his friend, Stacy while waiting for the "Superman Returns" movie to start...

Allison: Who is the girl who plays Lois Lane?

Stacy: She was the girl in "Blue Crush", (something else I can't remember he said), and she's dating Orlando Bloom.

Morgan: No, she's not dating him anymore, they broke up.

What? Since when do men, espcially Morgan, know about these things? It's like they were two teenage girls gossiping.

Ok...so maybe it was funnier at the moment, but it's pretty damn funny to me still.

Something to bring back the anorexic days of old...

About two months ago I received a letter saying that my doctor was moving to Greenville, SC and that I would need to find a new doctor. They sent a records release form to fill out with my new doctor's information so my records could be transferred. I have not yet found a doctor so I decided to have them released to me and I would go pick them up...I probably shouldn't have done that.

I'm not sure how people normally are about personal records when they relate to themselves, but I've always been intruiged and love reading about what others write about me, even if it's just my medical history. I always learn something new. Heh. So, I had the records released to me and I started to read through them.

The information was pretty standard: height - 5'4 1/2", blood pressure - normal, weight...well, last year (2005) it was 122 (not bad) and they marked underneath of that they I was "well-developed" and "well-nourished"...everything was normal (although they didn't mark the box that said "no deformations". hmmm...

Anyway, the whole point to this story is that the year before (2004) I (according to my chart) weighed 136 (14 pounds more than the next year). That's not so great, but it's also not so bad (still in the range of normal body weight for my height and frame). But, underneath the regular stats they marked "well-developed", "well-nourished", "well-groomed", and, are you ready for this? "OBESE"!!!

I'm not going to bother explaining to you what happened next after I read this claim of me being OBESE. Just imagine any woman you know getting this type of information and think how it would affect them...picture it? yeah, that's how I was. As soon as I read obese (I was reading it to Morgan), he said "Oh great, here we go"...and away I went...claiming that I would never eat again, yadda, yadda, yadda. Luckily I don't weight that anymore (I'm still at least 12 pounds under that) because that would have been even more traumatic. Still, it almost sent me into the horrible spiral back to my teenage years when I was anorexic...not some place I ever want to be again.

So, my question is? Did my weight really warrant and "OBESE" label or was someone just feeling mean? That label can really do some damage to one's phychie. Please tell me that the nurse was the devil!!!