Been recently dealing with this kind of client at work....it hasn't been a fun experience...

Shae Allen's blog: If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers

This seems a little too appropriate since I'm currently ending a really terrible client relationship with an architect, but I thought other designers might enjoy. I'm sorry if this seems spammy, I really needed to share with people who understand.

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don't have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year. Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don't bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet.

However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers. Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor's house he constructed last year. We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can't happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I've given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can't handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case..

I just want to break down on my knees like Jerry Maguire and plea, "Help me, help you...help me, help you!" But some people are just too damn stubborn...

Check out more pics of my first Video Shoot for Pringo.

• i pood myself.
• i pood myself.
• i learned why you shouldn't touch irons.
• i told the barber that i wanted my hair exactly like the Karate Kid.
• i discovered ketchup.
• i discovered chicken mcnuggets.
• i watched a documentary on parasites that live in fish. i was so traumatized and gave up seafood.
• i went to the philippines for my first time.
• i discovered sweet n' sour chicken.
• i got into my first fist fight. i won...thanks to my tennis racket.
• i was tricked into watching Ernest Goes to Congress...my first porno.
• i got rid of the bowl cut.
• i wore the same shorts for 17 weeks straight because of a bet. i washed them once.
• i thought pamela anderson / baywatch / slow-motion was the greatest thing on earth.
• i thought i could eat as much as i wanted and i would never get fat.
• i learned communal shower etiquette.
• i had my first surgery (knee) and learned how to not eat solids for a week so i wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment of nurses assisting me when i take a dump.
• i had my first lapdance. vanessa and shannon.
• i had a 90 minute orgasm. ooooh maaan, good times!
• i learned the beauty of naps after lunch.
• i finally learned to let go.
• i learned that bad things happen to good people...and that's just life.
• after a half-hour speech, Chin and Neil convinced me that it's okay to pee in the pool.
• i learned that if you're always the one that's giving, you'll eventually end up with nothing.
• i'm just getting started...

For shits n' giggles, here's a pic of me in the office updated every minute.

Stalk on!

He's hung like a beast. Runs in the family.

We Catholics have been observing Lent for over a week now, and so far things have been great. I gave up elevators and escalators this year.

And yes, I'm serious. Ever since knee surgery I have been avoiding stairs like the plague. I figured this would be a good sacrifice since I normally use the elevator at work.

So I'm finally growing up and getting over my hatred for stairs. But what are some things I wouldn't be able to give up so easily? Let's see....

9. My butt backscratcher -- been scratching myself happily since Cathy gave it to me in Saudi.

10. Twitter.com -- cuz AIM Away Messages are so 2005.

11. Nerf Basketball -- my stress reliever at work.

12. Korean BBQ Thursdays -- since meat is forbidden on Fridays during Lent, I like to go all out on thursdays. Plus I've had this huge craving for Korean BBQ since summer.

13. Powernaps -- A little food coma after lunch = higher productivity for the rest of the afternoon. Been doing this since Alan introduced me to the concept in summer '02.

14. Ketchup -- Been asking for extra ketchup since 1982.

15. The word "gay" -- sad but true.

16. Teh Internet -- Downloaded my first porno file in '96. Been hooked ever since.

17. The word "dude" -- cuz it's just so damn versatile, dude. I've even caught myself saying it when talking to parents. :oh:

The client is always right.

Even when they are doing it completely wrong, the client is always right.

Even when everything in your heart, in your body and in your personal experience tells you that their plan is destined for failure...the client is always right.

Even if you want to go the extra mile and do it better for them because you genuinely want to see them succeed, it is them who are paying you to do exactly what they assigned you to do...

The client is always right.

That is Earth seen from 4 billion miles away, photographed by Voyager 1 on June 6, 1990.

Carl Sagan, Astronomer:

"That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

As a kid I was always amazed by the night sky. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an area where the atmosphere wasn't tarnished by a thick cloud of smog and crap. Everynight I was able to see the better part of the sky And I got to see the Milky Way in all of its beauty. City folks never get to see that. Or when they do get the chance, they hardly take the time to appreciate it.

I'm completely captivated every single time.

Science fiction likes to talk about time-travel, but what many of us don't realize is that we do that every night. The light we see from the stars above is millions of years old. Millions. The night sky that you see today is a snapshot of what was really there millions of years ago. Hell, even the light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth. If the sun blew up right now, we wouldn't know about it until 8 minutes later. Just thinking about the shear numbers of size, time and distance that I find completely fascinating.

But there's something about this photo that really gets to me.

It reminds me of my early grade school years when I finally learned my first constellations, like Cassiopeia, Orion and the Summer Triangle. It reminds me that no matter how much we change, some things will always be the same. And it reminds me that all the pain, heartbreak and jealousy I've endured is really just insignificant in the grander scheme of things.

But most of all, it reminds me that even the smallest things in life -- just like that tiny pale blue dot in the picture -- may actually mean the world to someone else.

It's just a matter of perspective.

Inspired by Futility Closet

:chill:

• Taxes rape you so hard it's not even funny.
• It's super easy to get your identity out there on the internet.
• ... but it's damn near impossible to take it back.
• It's true: job searching is all about who you know.
• Passion is everything.
• Drinking with an alcoholic around balconies is a terrible idea.
• Sugar is what makes you fat.
• At some point, age becomes just a number. You'll make friends with people much older or younger than yourself.
• Graduation is the greatest day in your parents' lives.
• Pop music is terrible these days.
• Never hold off on buying toilet paper.
• You only get one chance at a good first impression.
• Sometimes one chance is all you'll get.
• Always have an outlet for creativity.
• You can never take too many pictures.
• You can never write too many journals.
• There's a difference between lonely and desperate.
• Your personal time becomes a more valuable commodity when you start working.
• Clanking on a broken cellphone will not fix it.
• Don't download from Limewire; it's dirtier than a Tijuana whore.
• Karaoke is all about how much you drank.
• Close all windowblinds when you walk around the house naked.
• Buy more socks and less underwear.
• Your car is worth more than some people's annual salaries in other counrties.
• Private (high) schools are ridiculously expensive; props to parents with several kids.
• You cherish things more towards the end.
• The Butterfly Effect is real.
• Their little sisters grow up fast.
• It'll always be hard to say goodbye. Even to your hairstylist.
• Always find closure. Always.
• Buy a Tivo.
• Some people just aren't worth it.
• Over-optimism is a painful flaw.
• New Years and Birthdays get less exciting.
• Sometimes the best solution is to just let things run its course.
• After graduation, get used to seeing the exact same faces everyday.
• People bullshit all the time in their resumes.
• Sometimes the qualified ones just don't have interview skills.
• Relationships will only work if both sides are willing to put in the same amount of effort to make it work.
• Christmas is all about the youngest generation in the family.
• Pathetic people stab in the back.
• Respectable people stab in the front.
• They go straight to the buttsex in Brokeback Mountain without any foreplay or warning.
• Always negotiate with car salesmen just a little before closing hours; they'll get hella eager to make the sale so they can go home.
• Cool people use Macs.
• Wish "happy birthday" to your Myspace friends, or just delete them.
• There are such things as ugly babies.
• Some people are just not built for clubbing.
• There's a difference between ADD and lack of motivation.
• You never truly taste success until you have tasted failure.
• You'll never fully appreciate a massage from a girl 'til you've been massaged by another dude.
• Porn and farting will always be reliable conversation starters for men.

// idea from Scott the Nametag Guy.