no experience, necessary

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Well, SA didn’t work out.  I got a phone call yesterday stating that they need someone with experience as they’re heading into a project that I gather will be a challenge.  They don’t want a newbie at the helm.

I’m continuing to work on the architectural drawings from the college (corrections from the instructors) and my own “work” to put into a portfolio.  What I showed them at SA was basically me trying to show them that I’m serious about learning, fixing mistakes, becoming more fluid with using Revit.  What they want to see, I take it, is more of a finished product.  I get that.  So back to work I go.

TB, on the other hand, is now working.  CY found employment in Calgary right away, as did K.

Kim Jung Un’s “dismantle the nukes” party and more

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North Korea‘s Kim Jung Un is apparently having a ceremony marking the dismantlement of one of their nuclear weapons facilities.  USA Today  Now there’s a reason to have a party.  He comes up with all the good ideas.  Now why didn’t I think of this.  Probably because I don’t have any nuclear weapons.  Facebook

Something else hitting the headlines is parking lines in the downtown core of Lethbridge, Alberta.  Yes, painting lines on the pavement – to assist with parking.  But not just any lines.  They’re perpendicular lines, not angled lines.  Now I know what you’re thinking – this is big.  And rightfully so.  No word on if they’ll follow civil guidelines and use white or if they’ll cheap-out and use orange like the WalMart / The Home Depot parking lot in Lethbridge.  There they used orange to separate two lanes going in the same direction.  Like a hand-painted stop sign – you just know it’s not a civil project.

They’re also adding one hundred seventy parking kiosks downtown.  No, not as big as the parking lines, but exciting just the same.

The next newsworthy article is a bit misleading. Horse owner calls for introduction of safeguards to prevent slaughtering without consent  Well, if I were in this, I’d want to have a horse’s consent, too.  To do otherwise would be unfair.

This is not something that made it into the news mainstream today.  I was riding my bike northbound on the designated bike street adjacent Mayor Magrath Drive South when a guy and his friend told me to ride on the street.  I apparently scared him.  …  He could see me coming for about a block away but told me “a guy on a bike barrelling down on me” scared him.  I said “sorry” and rode by.  Then he offered that I should ride on the street.  <sigh>  I 180ed to go talk with him (which surprised him again, I supposed).  I told him that there are signs posted all along MMDS stating no bicycles are allowed and that this, in fact, was the designated bicycle street.  In fact they’ve been there for so long that they’re faded and hard to even see anymore.  It’s always been this way.  It’s a shared-use thing.  He apologized for the misunderstanding stating that he wasn’t from around here.  I was, at that point, tongue-tied.  Too many things to say.  1) you’re in a new environment; don’t tell people how to behave or you’ll look like a damned fool; 2) if you’re new, read the signs; 3) I didn’t mean to scare you, but … I really scared you?  How old are you?  You’ve lived this long and not died of a heart attack? 4) to avoid problems, don’t stand in the center of a “sidewalk” if you see someone coming – bicycle, pedestrian, horse running away from a slaughterhouse, Kim Jung Un’s nuclear-powered trucks – anything – just move to the right of the sidewalk so as to let both oncoming parties pass.  Has the whole world gone mad?

But this did make it.

Sweetgrass

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Yesterday I went with O to Sweetgrass, Montana, USA.  He had to apply for a work permit, and doing it online would take minimum 45 days.  It was a really nice drive there.  We talked politics, religion, culture.  I told him about various places to see, but he didn’t seem to interested in tourism.  Just the same, it made me want to get out on the highway again and see the countryside.

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interview at SA, Revit

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I have an interview at a local architectural company!  This should happen Friday sometime if all goes well.  TB‘s been there part-time for a few weeks now.  I guess he’s found something else in the mean time.  The company?  I’ll call it SA for now.  I’ll tell you later if all goes well.  For what position?  Glad you asked.  It’ll involve using Revit, architectural drawing software from Autodesk, that seems to be replacing CAD (like AutoCAD) in the industry.  The company has been using CAD for all of its drawings and need someone knowledgeable in Revit to switch over and teach them how it’s used.

The main tasks I’m trying to master now with Revit is a) linework (various line types and thicknesses with various symbols and / or letters) and b) editing families (editing and / or creating from scratch objects useful in creating drawings, like window frames, custom stairways, paving bricks that actually look correct, etc.).  It’s not something they covered to much in class as it’s sort of an advanced level thing.  But, to create accurate drawings, it must be learned, practised, & mastered.

When I say “drawings”, usually the first thing that comes to mind for most people is hand-drawn pictures of buildings.  No, this is a sketch.  ‘Drawings‘  are more the technical specifications side of things.  Have a look.  All the red marks?  Instructor’s marks.  All the green?  Me doing my homework.  My goal is to do all corrections the instructor(s) supplied me with.  After all, I paid for these red marks!

I had it in mind that I’d try to complete as much as I could in these corrections before going out and meeting architectural people (except for Joe Matthew, that is) so as to have some sort of nice looking portfolio.  But this opportunity with SA came up!  Very cool!  So I’ll keep you posted about this.

Convocation 2018

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It’s done!

I spent 3 years at Lethbridge College in the Engineering Design and Drafting Technologies diploma program.  The Convocation ceremony lasted from 1:00~4:00pm.  About 12:00 inside the “Player’s Entrance” (the back door) of Enmax Centre we gathered into groups according to program and then alphabetically.  People soon dissipated – it was obviously going to take a while.  I texted the scoreboard a picture of Mom & me and a message in case they came.  They came, but they didn’t see it.

Thanks Mom and Floyd for everything!!!  Could not have done it without you!!!

Pending application and approval, I’ll be a Technologist in Training (T.T.).  After two years of working in the field, I’ll earn my C. Tech (Certified Technologist) or C.E.T. (Certified Engineering Technologist).

preparing for convocation

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Today is Convocation 2018.  It’s 10:30am.  Been keeping busy today so as not to get too nervous – doing dishes, reading the paper, doing Architecture homework.  We (convocates) should be there, lined up in order, no later than 12:15pm, so I’ll leave in an hour or so.  The ceremony is from 1-4pm.  I’ll be wearing my black gown, cap, & tassel and Lethbridge College green stole.  Good thing it’s a nice sunny day today.  It’s now 14°C and not a cloud in the sky.  My hair is cut, my gown & stole are pressed, my shoes shined.

I don’t think Mom & Floyd can make it.  Mom is pretty weak.  I know she really wanted to go, but she’s been unwell the past few weeks.  We took some pictures yesterday – Mom, Floyd, me in full dress.  The ceremony today is kind of like PBR (bull riding) in that it lasts for about 3 hours, it’s mostly sitting and clapping, and at the end of it hordes of people will be leaving.  Except this time, I’m a successfully graduated soon-to-be professional, and that’s no bull.  But I understand why she cannot go.  She has a hard time getting her breakfast and coffee down, let alone this.

I am missing my favourite formal black shirt.  It must be at Father’s house.  The last time I wore it was at Father’s viewing on Sept. 12, 2017.  It’s probably still hanging in the closet.  I’ll put on a tie – not sure which one yet – and head there early, on foot of course since it’s so close and I don’t want to fight for parking.  I’ll bring an e-book with me to keep me occupied.

I’m supposed to meet Clara there after the ceremony.  She said she’d come down from Calgary to see me.  I’m sure she has other people to see, too.  All my peeps from class will be there too, I’m guessing, except Aaron.  He said he’d not attend the convocation ceremony.  Actually, he said he’d attend as an audience member!  <sigh>  Well, maybe I’ll see him there later, along with Tyson, Randy, and my other teammates and classmates.

Gotta go graduate.  Catch you later!

quiet winter

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Now I remember why I like winter.  I enjoy summer, yes, just as much as spring and fall.  But it now, suddenly, occurs to me why I enjoy winter – no loud muscle cars, screeching tyres, Harley-Davidson bikes with noisy lag pipes, and Japanese motorbikes wound up to 9000 RPM.  It goes on and on forever.  I should hear birds, people talking, kids on bikes.  I only hear 4×4 trucks revving.  <sigh>  Living in Ilsan, Korea, a 2.5-million-person satellite city of Seoul, was more peaceful than this.  By the time the world runs out of dinosaur fossil fuel and runs on something quieter, I’ll be a deaf old man.

ode to Euler, Bernoulli, Leibniz, and many many more

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It seems to me that the book Leonhard Euler and the Bernoullis by M. B. W. Tent should be standard optional reading before starting any Calculus course at college.  It seems to me to be a read worthy of a read before the course to put a bit of history behind the whole concept of Calculus.  It puts into perspective how all the mathematic sciences have evolved over time.  It was suggested by one of my Instructors at Lethbridge College, Braum Barber.  If anyone wants to give it a read, they can find it here.

12/3/2017  9:04 AM      2664775 Tent – Leonhard Euler and the Bernoullis.pdf