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Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 174
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Monday, January 02, 2006 - 01:27 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Copied this post from another thread by me, thought we needed our own thread:
Brett - Top Ten Uses for 2006 Sweets Catalogs?
Just got back into town and sure enuf the two boxes of sweets catalogs were there next to my front door, blocking it, so I guess the first possible addition to the 'Top 10 Uses for the 2006 Set of Sweets Catalogs' was for security, any one breaking in would not be able to get out cause the catalogs were blocking the door; and since the door light had burnt out while I was gone, they made an excellent stool to reach up and change that light bulb, damn, these sweets catalogs are sure useful, and they are still in the box...imagine what uses we will find once we get them out of the box..now if I could only lift these boxes...ok folks its all up to you, you remember how we played this game last year, I may have a sick cents of humor, but I need help creating this list, so respond please, add your use, don't be ashamed, however sick, or perverted, hell I'll even except an actual professional us.....well maybe not, but its still early and this list has plenty of time to grow, so consider the possibilities...no cheating now, don't go back and use any items from last year's list, this needs to be new, inventive, timely...for example - how about using them to hold down them there blue tarps on everyone's roofs, why the tarp will disintergrate way before the sweets catalog does, of course the added weight may be a problem, so we may need an engineer's thoughts on that one...you know if we donate them to the Army Corps of Engineers maybe they couls be used to reinforce the levees...you get the picture, as the list grows, I'll update it here and we can all vote on it...well maybe not...
John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: bunzick

Post Number: 448
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 09:17 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Sweets Catalog? What's that?
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 277
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 09:51 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

A hefty, but fast diminishing, set of catalogs displaying sweets of all kinds-- candies, cookies, truffles, brittles, barks, and other confections for your use, as you see fit!

Still function well as door stops, compressive weights on laminated work, and shelf supports.

Advice to the wise-- get hold of at least one volume and keep for your grandchildren to take to the Antique Roadshow, for evaluation and auction value [that should be interesting!!!]
Tracy Van Niel
Senior Member
Username: tracy_van_niel

Post Number: 151
Registered: 04-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 01:40 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

We did not order the 2006 set, but they still arrived anyway, addressed to someone who told me that they did NOT order them. They were immediately returned to sender.

I have two volumes from an older set that I have behind my sofa at home to keep the back from hitting the wall.
Anne Whitacre, CCS CSI
Senior Member
Username: awhitacre

Post Number: 278
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 01:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

they're really great for pressing flowers.
Melissa J. Aguiar, CSI, CCS, MAI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: melissaaguiar

Post Number: 30
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Tracy Van Niel,

During all the previous discussions here on 4specs.com on what to do with our sweets cats, your post was the most useful to me! :-)

Using them to prevent a filthy dirty line on my wall where my couch sits is a great trick.

I have been putting off buying a piece of furniture for at least 8 years to put back behind my couch to prevent this ring but now there are my sweets! WOW! I just tried and the stain magically disappeared! Thanks Sweets!

Forget repainting the house every 2 years now due to Low VOC regulations which changed our paint coatings to watercolors - just use a little sweets and the stain disappears forever.


I always love a great laugh!

Melissa
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 175
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Melissa...ahh!! some humor at last....keep the responses, email, cards, letters, etc. coming folks - this is what I was talking about...
Lynn Javoroski
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 276
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph,

Antiques Roadshow! The best use yet! You would probably appear on the panel at the end of the show with the ones who are disapointed that their treasure turned out to be a dud!
Russell W. Wood, CSI, CCS
Senior Member
Username: woodr5678

Post Number: 42
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

I haven't checked our new catalogs yet....but do they still have saunas with pictures of naked (semi) women?
Lynn Javoroski
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 277
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

"semi-women"? What the heck is that?
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 176
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Russell
Aren't you too young to be a dirty old man??
hmmm, now that I think about it, I definitely will be opening the box tonight, esp. since my wife is out of town visiting my inlaws.
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 177
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

If I did not have such scarce space in my office, they would make great legs for a table or a printer stand; but alass I need all the storage space I can get under those tables, Sweets just won't do.
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 178
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 04:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph, might you have some history on Sweets that you could share? I take it there is (or was) a Mr. Sweets out there?
George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: geverding

Post Number: 91
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 06:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

The first Sweets was published in 1906 (Sweet's Indexed Catalogue of Building Construction. New York: Architectural Record Company, 1906), so this year (or last year?) would have been the hundredth anniversary. Did they make a big deal about that? I never use the real Sweets any more, and hardly ever use the online version, so if there was a big birthday party, I missed it.

What I wonder, though, do young architects use the virtual (online) Sweets to hold their virtual (computer generated) models together while the glue dries, like we used real Sweets when we used to build models in the real world?
Brett M. Wilbur CSI, CDT, AIA
Senior Member
Username: brett

Post Number: 85
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 06:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

The new Sweet's we got last week are not green anymore. They are Gold and are the "Centennial Edition".

They have MasterFormat 2004 number, but do not have MF95 cross-over, would have been nice. Now I have to keep both sets.
Ron Beard CCS
Senior Member
Username: rm_beard_ccs

Post Number: 93
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 08:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Got mine in time to get the 2005 set over to the Friends of the Library in time [Dec 30th] for a 2005 charitable donation.
Melissa J. Aguiar, CSI, CCS, MAI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: melissaaguiar

Post Number: 31
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - 10:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Item No. 1 - response posted earlier. hee. hee.

Item No. 2 - I brought my shiny new gold treasures down to my office and my 4 year old uses them as her high chair to type on the computer. [Well, ok you all, (notice a Southerner did not say ya'll - I am trying)I must admit she fell off twice and hurt herself because she told me they were so slick.]

Item No. 3 - If it ever snows here in Arkansas, I am thinking about getting some Duct Tape and making myself a lightning bolt sled! They are not as heavy as they were in the past and they are so slick and shiny surely they would move pretty fast on snow or ice. hee. hee.

Item No. 4 - Take your Duct Tape again, gold treasures again, some nice pom pom fuzzies, shoe strings and you can fasten yourself a nice pair of snow shoes. Again the weight is light enough to keep you from plowing to the bottom of an 10 foot snow drift and with the tape you will not slip while sliding across snow. Yeah, Yeah, I am wishing for a little snow. It is hard to call it winter here when you have 65-70 degree days. :-)
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 278
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 07:11 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

A housekeeping post:

Lynn, that's "semi-naked women", not semi-women [which sounds like very fearful creatures, to me, if they exist!].

Russell, less explicit but still "interesting" were the ads for "frosted glass".

I can remember Sweets as a 16 volume set of books all over 3" thick, and about 7-8 feet long.They carried a near-biblical status and were THE source! Reliable, full of information, and comprehensive in that no manufacturer worth his or her salt would think of not being in Sweets. It was the sole source of comparative info since you would have to find other info on an individual basis.

Blumcraft used to have an insert every bit of 1-1/2" thick, and paint companies included colors, and extensive infomation. It was easy to move from one manufactuer to another for comparative features etc. And you know, you could ALWAYS find the name, addreess and phone number of the firm, quickly, without "clicking" 14 icons, registering all your personal data and giving a pint of blood!!!

As you progressed in your profession you came to value even cherish Sweets because it was so helfpul, so available and so comprehensive. I remember seeing some held together with rubber bands and tape, with pages torn out to be copied, and all kinds of markers and stickers and "dog-earing". For a student to "come=by" a set was a minor miracle but ever a desire. I've seen 10 year old sets in some schools, still being used PROPERLY.

Really for an old guy, it is a little sad to see the adverse comments in discussions like this, and how Sweets has come to such ill-repute, but certainly it is understandable that we have moved on-- Something I think Sweets must do, some how. For the record I am not a fan of the electronci Sweets-- lack luster, incomplete, and not all that friendly
Russell W. Wood, CSI, CCS
Senior Member
Username: woodr5678

Post Number: 43
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 09:11 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

We were in Nashville last week during the holidays and learned the following definitions from the locals:
Nude means unclothed. Naked means unclothed but with bad intent! So I'm not sure where semi-naked gets us?
Melissa J. Aguiar, CSI, CCS, MAI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: melissaaguiar

Post Number: 32
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 10:01 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph,
Sorry to offend. I do remember when they were the source. I remember where I first worked and there they were on the shelves, an endless line of information for the commercial industry to use on our projects. I was like a kid in a candy store. I use to sit at my desk and go page by page and just be in awe of the wealth of info those books housed. After that I knew I wanted to be a specifications writer.

Nowadays I open the books and almost every page says SEE WEBSITE. I know due to money concerns it is more cost effective for manufacturers to use their own webs. They control content, costs incurred, etc. I do miss the old SWEETS and I do not use their online site.

But to me, if you do not laugh at things you will go insane and become bitter and I do not want to be bitter. I am already insane.
Lynn Javoroski
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 278
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 10:05 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

You may not be sure, but I have the feeling that you'd like to know! Maybe if you gave the woman in your life a little gold and sweets, she'd show you what it means! (and you can get the gold and Sweets together now!)
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 279
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 10:31 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ladies!

Melissa- no offense, just trying to respond to Jerome's request for some history. I do not seek to hold to the past at all, and have the same reaction as you. Not sure where I am in your bitter/insane matrix.

Lynn- She GOT gold this year! and would dispatch me post-haste if sweets appeared. I "get" Sweets only at work. As to "show you what it means", I do not remember what you are referencing!!!!
Ron Beard CCS
Senior Member
Username: rm_beard_ccs

Post Number: 94
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 11:37 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph:
You forgot to include the tagged and well dogeared Viking Sauna pictures in your description of the old Sweets.
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 280
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 12:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Hey, Ron, look above. I'm in enough hot water with the ladies without getting into your suggestion.

Please route same to Russell Wood [see above, this thread]
Brett M. Wilbur CSI, CDT, AIA
Senior Member
Username: brett

Post Number: 86
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 01:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph,

sounds like you could use the old Sweet's to make a hat... or a boat... ha ha. Picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue!

(I love old movie references (Airplane)).
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 281
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 01:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Sniffed glue once, and the cap stuck in my nose!

I'm going home now on this newly minted holiday-- Pick-on-Ralph Day!

Luv you all [as in all of you, not "y'all" drawl.]

Beware though and keep looking ove your shoulder, Ralph is somewhere back there and may be gaining!!!

Then again-- maybe not!
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 179
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 01:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

RALPH
YOU KNOW ALL I DID WAS ASK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SWEETS SINCE YOU SEEM TO BE THE 4SPECS DISCUSSION BOARD HISTORIAN...and I get more posts regarding your glue sniffing adventures than the Top Ten Uses of 2006 Sweets Catalogs - I think you need your own thread...but, for the record, never sniffed glue, hell the odor of mineral spirits gives me a migraine, I don't need one from glue...SO HOW ABOUT WE GET BACK TO THE SERIOUS ISSUE AT HAND - THE TOP TEN LIST - BTW, if I can find a worthy organization who wants my set of SWEETS, they can certainly have them, just as soon as I finish studying the Sauna and Frosted Glass catalogs.
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 282
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 02:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Jerome, glad to see you got back to the serious side in your last sentence!

Did you see my sincere and innocent attempt to give you some background and history as you requested, only to be vicously attacked on this thread!

I DID NOT SNIFF GLUE-- I HAVE ALLERGIES AND CAN'T EVEN SNIFF MANY GOOD ODORS.

Also, Jerome, please forward your address so my attonrey can issue you the summons for causing me irrepairable harm by inciting juvenilized adults [many on this thread]into attacking me personally and professionally [and I got 60 copies of this thread as evidence].
Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: lazarcitec

Post Number: 181
Registered: 05-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 03:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Ralph - good one, another use for Sweets Catalogs that I had not heard of - Defense Against Attorneys, boy these darn Sweets catalogs are sure heavy, I can hardly throw one volume.
Brett M. Wilbur CSI, CDT, AIA
Senior Member
Username: brett

Post Number: 89
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 03:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Wait a minute, I’m not juvenile, no need for such drastic measures. It was a joke. Doesn't anyone remember that old movie called Airplane!? Man, there’s some great one liners.

Surely, you remember those. "Shirley, who's Shirley." Ha, ha.

Anyway, no harm no foul.

Here's an idea, how about using the Sweet's catalog at the Rose Bowl tonight. You can drop them on the floor whenever someone scores, they make a huge noise like a cannon.

How about making a stage with them for the half time show?

Okay, closer to home. I remember a couple months back we had a thread talking about indoor firing ranges. We could use them as back up to stop bullets.

(I may need them to stop bullets if I can’t back pedal my self out of this one.)

Okay, yes, I am juvenile.
Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI
Senior Member
Username: rliebing

Post Number: 285
Registered: 02-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 03:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Brett, its "juvenilzed" as in slightly tainted.
[as in having ridciulous fun at a non-juvenile age] Take a deep breath, you have not regressed to the near fetal position, and really I think you need a vacation!

Airplane, airplane-- oh, that's by the little person on the island with Ricardo Monteban. [I'm a small screen person]
Brett M. Wilbur CSI, CDT, AIA
Senior Member
Username: brett

Post Number: 91
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 03:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Did I forget to breathe again?
Lynn Javoroski
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 280
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 04:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

The latest research tells us that adolescence continues until age 34.
Anne Whitacre, CCS CSI
Senior Member
Username: awhitacre

Post Number: 279
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 - 05:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

that last comment certainly explains a lot... especially about my office.
Tracy Van Niel
Senior Member
Username: tracy_van_niel

Post Number: 152
Registered: 04-2002
Posted on Thursday, January 05, 2006 - 12:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Brett: I liked it best when the flight attendants told everyone to assume "crash" position.

Lynn: Please don't tell me that ... my son is 11 right now and that means I'll have to wait 23 more years before he'll be considered a "grown up".
Lynn Javoroski
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 281
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Thursday, January 05, 2006 - 02:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Tracy, I have a son who turned 35 in November. He may have FINALLY reached adulthood. On the other hand, his younger brother has been an adult since about age 16 when he decided that being rebellious didn't serve any purpose and that, as he put it, his parents were "pretty cool". So it's a toss-up (to put it politely). Have fun and enjoy the ride.

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