Off-beat Specifying

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Author Message Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 759 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 09:50 am:    ‘TIS THE SEASON by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Cincinnati, OH Wow! The holidays are here! I’m just catching up, and beginning to get the spirit. More than likely it is because of all of the very broad, and thinly veiled hints my wife has been giving me. Ah, gift giving! Wonderful concept, bad activity! Never find exactly what you think the other will like or appreciate, nor the right color [“out of stock” usually], or availability [“not available for Christmas delivery!]. And then, of course, is trying, eternally to match pocket book with price. 'Course going on-line is new and growing and really quite good. At least, there, you don’t have to muffle your cursing at the outrageous treatment [by sales folks] or the prices. And you don’t have to drive and try to find a parking place on a repeated basis. 'Tis a gift there in itself. But I guess there are some of you looking for gift ideas, still [am I]. Perhaps a colleague is stumping you. To that end some suggestions: - a full pack of red BIC pens for your Project Leads - an alarm clock set prior the 11th hour to alert the need to address the specs - a printer with an endless supply of paper without re-loading - a communications system tied to each of those who are supposed to give you information. - a whoopee cushion or buzzer for those who languish in gving information. - a megaphone to hint to those who still haven't verified some info. - a fruitcake [well, you well know they go to their namesakes in your office and in your clients’ office; just note as “From Santa”, however. - a set of snow tires for you folks who “experience” winter [well, guess that’s all of us] but still have to get the specs out. - a pat on the back or hearty handshake [if you really are as cheap as they say] - a bottle of ________________ Oh, never mind there, I keep the bottle for my gift for myself to celebrate another year of “well done” -- hey, I’m realistic, none of you were going to do that for me, were you? But I’m a really nice guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So never leaving my demeanor, may I specify the happiest of holidays to each of you and your families at the office and at home! Doug Frank FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: doug_frank_ccs Post Number: 207 Registered: 06-2002 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 10:00 am:    I'll add one item to the gift list,, an "Easy Button" !!! and I echo your sentiment Ralph; Happy Holidays to all and "God bless us, Every One". Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 679 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 01:31 pm:    here's how you tell when its Christmas (ie, "the Holidays") in Southern California: 1) cars have costumes on. there is one in my parking lot that has antlers (at the side windows) and a nose (on the front grille) 2) women switch from wearing flip-flops on their feet to Uggs. there are festive Uggs now with "jewels" and metallic leather 3) small dogs are all wearing coats. they are not wearing antlers, which are mostly reserved for dogs in the Northwest. 4) more people are surfing. Winter storms north of here means high surf between here and Mexico! 5) snow tires? -- only if you go up to Big Bear. 6) pieces of palm trees litter the street after a windstorm. 7) anything below 60 deg. F is described as a "cold snap" on the evening news. (yes, I think that's weird.) 8) and finally the roses come into their second bloom Happy Holidays and good luck with those December 21 deadlines! John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 818 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 01:47 pm:    My deadline is the 18th. Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 760 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 02:27 pm:    Hey, MONDAY the 24th is a 1/2 work day!!! Have 2 going out-- one electronically, and one has to make Santa's sleigh!!! "...........and to all a good night!" Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 589 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 02:41 pm:    I have specifications for one project due on Jan. 2nd and a code plan review for another project due between Christmas and New Years. I hope I get a good bonus this year! :-) Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 157 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 03:49 pm:    4 projects due Dec 21, 3 more Jan 15 and a casino on Jan 31. I am closing down shop between Dec 24 and Jan 4. I started telling my clients about it in September. No negotiations. Ron - i was in your boat once. I repeat - once. After than, I started shutting down over the holiday break and, somehow, the earth keeps rotating and the clients give giving me more work! Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 590 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 04:01 pm:    Robin, now I know why you weren't at the chapter Holiday Party Wednesday. Richard L Matteo, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: rlmat Post Number: 252 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 04:13 pm:    Anne, Talking about decorating things other than trees in Southern California - Don't forget the boat parades! Going home last night from Newport Beach it looked like a whole bunch of floating Christmas trees on the Bay! Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 470 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 06:30 pm:    Ron What's a bonus? Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 471 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 06:38 pm:    Hey gang I just issued a "Permit Set' for a job that I started on 12/6 - a definite rush job issued as a favor. Ten minutes after I issued the specs I got this query from my client: "Are you going away anytime during Christmas and new years. We want to finalize the specs by the end of the year." I answered this email as follows: "I doubt the specs will be done in your time frame, I have a lot of other clients who are looking for the same thing. Every December is the same, so the way I handle it is the clients who have paid up all their outstanding Invoices will get my attention while I'm working XMAS week on their specs, and those who have not get BUPKIS - ask your boss what BUPKIS means...your firm has an outstanding Invoice on one of my jobs that we need to receive soon to avoid your receiving BUPKIS from us." Helene, Dave, explain to them what Bupkis means!!! Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 472 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 06:39 pm:    Ralph What are snow tires? Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 591 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 07:55 pm:    Jerome, Bonus: When all my clients pay any outstanding invoices before the end of the year. Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 592 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 08:02 pm:    Jerome: My wife is Jewish and her late grandmother was from the "old country" and spoke yiddish, so I'll answer for you: Bupkis: It really means beans, but in the common use it means "nothing." PS: Her grandmother was the only one laughing when the Indians spoke Yiddish in "Blazing Saddles." Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 473 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 10:02 pm:    Ron I recently bought my 18 yr old daughter the book: "If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Say It In Yiddish" - very funny...yes and Blazing saddles remains one of my favorite movies, along with the Frisco Kid, oy veh. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 474 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 10:06 pm:    Ron Several years ago I sent several of my gentile clients an abbreviated book on common Yiddish phrases for Xmas, surprisingly the ones who did not get a copy were upset and the following year I wound up sending out many more copies, seems a lot of them had been using yiddish terms or heard them during meetings without realizing what they actually meant. Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 158 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 05:13 pm:    Bonus: Getting to go somewhere that doesn't get cell-phone reception and sleeping-in for 8 blissful days! :-) I hope to get out a bit more again next year - had to set AIA and CSI to the back burner this year. Ron - at this point, you actually want your cients to wait until January to pay you - defers the taxes another year! Oh, the joys of self-employment! I hope everyone has something peaceful and joyful to look forward to this holiday season - we work hard all year and certainly deserve it! Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 690 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 09:16 am:    I grew up in New York City, a WASP, but as Lenny Bruce once said, anyone who grew up there is Jewish. So I knew what bupkis means (and lots of other Yiddish words, too, simply by hearing them over and over in context). I'm an in-house specifier, and so really can't set my own time/schedule. But since most folks in the office will be gone over the Christmas-New Year week, I've decided to take the time this year. It's important to "re-create" oneself every so often; I expect to come back in 2008 with more enthusiasm and energy. Happy Holidays to all who read this. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 166 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 10:32 am:    Ralph Snow tires? Don't you mean chains? Even I'm old enough to remember using chains. Happy Holidays to All! Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 691 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 10:39 am:    Snow tires, which my dad would put on our cars right around Thanksgiving, were (or maybe are) tires with extra deep tread having a particular design intended to propel the wheel through snow with great ease. For a short period of time, you could even buy "studded" snow tires. These had metal protrusions like cleats or spikes that were supposed to grip, even on ice. During the summer, these tires were stored in the garage, because you could probably get at least 2 seasons out of a set of snow tires. Since radials became the norm, most people don't use snow tires, but you can still buy them. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 819 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 10:52 am:    Yes, tire chains! The streets in my neighborhood were packed snow for days--great for sledding--so chains were very useful. The application of tons of salt to roads was just not done then. Maybe they spread some cinders or sand to get traction on some of the hills. And people actually knew how to drive in snow, even with rear wheel drive. Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 593 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 10:58 am:    Snow? What's "snow"? Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 761 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 11:23 am:    Snow- white, often powderly stuff that falls in lieu of rain during winter season; simliar to sand in dry arrid climes where the un- or over-privileged live! Can be icy, packed into round missles for venting frustrations [sounds like a good new product for CSI]. Always becomes wet, slushy [with no flavoring], slippery, and a pain in the ----- back to shovel [scoop like device for picking up material!] Chains-- either strap or full [those were sweeties to put on, particualry AFTER the snow fell]. All cars equipped thus jangled and ringy-dinged for several weeks durng the worst. Prototype and early model of tracked vehicles now being used in both snow and sand!!!! Cinders-- Geez, the clinker stuff that won't burn in coal-fired furnaces [predecessor to heat pumps] Rear wheel drive- the old line locomotion for such cars as Packard, TerraPlane, Graham, Nash, Hutmobile, Dusenburg, Zepher, etc. And to all the old [on this thread who will admit it], good night! Happy senality [if only I could remember what that is!!!!] To the others here-- your day is coming!!! Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 475 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 11:34 am:    Ralph, it got down to a brisk 52 last night...maybe I'll send you a coconut, trying to break into one of those suckers and you won't complain about shoveling snow again...but than again opening coconuts is not a required activity...just the way I vent frustrations...and there is that yummy coconut meat. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 820 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 11:53 am:    Whereas we had 8 inches of snow on Sunday morning, which turned to rain in the afternoon, and then the temperature dropped to the low 20s last night at which point the 6 inches of slush on the sides of the roads and on sidewalks and the three foot high piles in the gutters froze solid, including the plowed piles from Thursday's 12 inches, leaving narrow chasms at intersections for pedestrians to navigate through provided they did not fall on the black ice first and cars frozen into their parking spaces by heaps of plowed snow, which is fine because the streets are grid locked with broken traffic signals and roads narrowed by the snow piles. Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 763 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 01:13 pm:    Brisk 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bet you look outstanding in your Speedo and gloves! Really, Jerome, you're getting on my nerves!!! We had a spiffy 16 and wind chill of -4 this morning and Lord only knows what John and Lynn had in their upper tier environs. Of course, we were rather successful in sending that Suday stuff to John.............. Ron Beard CCS Senior Member Username: rm_beard_ccs Post Number: 244 Registered: 10-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 03:41 pm:    <<It's important to "re-create" oneself every so often;...>> So Lynn, if this happens, what are you coming back as? <g> Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 396 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 03:58 pm:    I drove in the snow once. Messy business. Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 693 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 03:59 pm:    Well, if I'd written "...to recreate oneself...", folks would have thought I was just playing OR using a word poorly! Whereas, to get to the true meaning of "recreation", I pulled it apart into its component pieces. That being said, I'd probably want to come back as a Lauren Hutton clone, as she was about 40 years ago. Or maybe a house cat. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 476 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 07:30 pm:    Ralph I have not had an opportunity to enjoy this glorious weather, my daughter has been in the hospital for the past 36 hours for unexplained seizures, so between running back and forth to the hospital and trying to complete those oh too many end of the year deadlines, a few hours of sleep in between, its been a wonderful start to the week...but I will send you a coconut soon, that's the least I can do for getting on your nerves. Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 695 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 08:06 am:    Jerome, please keep us informed of your daughter's situation. Meanwhile, with your permission, I'll keep you all in my prayers. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 292 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 12:29 pm:    Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, great tasting, less filling, pleasantly stimulating, fully satisfying, gender-neutral celebration during the time period which falls on, precedes, or follows the winter solstice, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or your choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all, and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, mental capacity, temperament, religious faith, sexual preference, choice of computer platform or software, or use or non-use of MasterFormat 2004, of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with or without alteration to the original greeting with the explicit agreement that if you send it, you are responsible for the content. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 696 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 12:35 pm:    And the same to you, buddy... Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 595 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 12:42 pm:    Where do we sign? Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 764 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 01:00 pm:    Wonderful convoluted greeting from Sheldon-- thanks much and same to you and yours. Nice to know one of us has no pending deadlines!!! Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 293 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 02:04 pm:    Don't I wish! We have eight projects going out this week, four next week, six more the week after. Of course, they'll just sit on someone's desk until mid-January 'cause they're all enjoying the holidays. ;-( Gotta have a little fun! Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 682 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 02:49 pm:    four deadlines NEXT week? who sets these deadlines? masochists? or someone trying to use up their "calendar year 2007 " budget? Richard Howard, AIA CSI CCS LEED-AP Senior Member Username: rick_howard Post Number: 157 Registered: 07-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 03:34 pm:    I just have three more projects to get out by Friday and then next week is all mine to enjoy. People who set deadlines before holidays are the same people who would not be able to relax during their time off if they didn't have their minions working overtime to get every project to some arbitrary level of completion. It's not about getting it done right; it's all about getting it done, right? Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 683 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 04:26 pm:    its not even about getting it done, since we all know that when you rush to meet an unreal deadline, you just finish the job later, but call it "addendum", "revised bid package", "conformed" or some other name that means "okay, this is what we really meant to do". my current deadline is for what was originally a 100% set, but has now been retitled "permit set" to get it under the change-of-code deadline, and the "this is what you build from" set comes later. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 294 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 05:03 pm:    In the last couple of years, the term "bidding phase" has been replaced by "addendum phase". Following that logic, "construction phase" will become "change order phase". John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: john_regener Post Number: 362 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 04:03 pm:    The Night Before Christmas (as written by a technical writer for a firm that does US government contracting) 'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual Yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward edge of the wood-burning caloric apparatus, pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among whose folkloric appellations is the honorific title of St. Nicholas. The prepubescent siblings, comfortably ensconced in their respective accommodations of repose, were experiencing subconscious visual hallucinations of variegated fruit confections moving rhythmically through their cerebrums. My conjugal partner and I, attired in our nocturnal head coverings, were about to take slumberous advantage of the hibernal darkness when upon the avenaceous exterior portion of the grounds there ascended such a cacophony of dissonance that I felt compelled to arise with alacrity from my place of repose for the purpose of ascertaining the precise source thereof. Hastening to the casement, I forthwith opened the barriers sealing this fenestration, noting thereupon that the lunar brilliance without, reflected as it was on the surface of a recent crystalline precipitation, might be said to rival that of the solar meridian itself - thus permitting my incredulous optical sensory organs to behold a miniature airborne-runnered conveyance drawn by eight diminutive specimens of the genus Rangifer, piloted by a minuscule, aged chauffeur so ebullient and nimble that it became instantly apparent to me that he was indeed our anticipated caller. With his ungulate motive power travelling at what may possibly have been more vertiginous velocity than patriotic alar predators, he vociferated loudly, expelled breath musically through contracted labia, and addressed each of the octet by his or her respective cognomen - "Now Dasher, now Dancer..." et al. - guiding them to the uppermost exterior level of our abode, through which structure I could readily distinguish the concatenations of each of the 32 cloven pedal extremities. As I retracted my cranium from its erstwhile location, and was performing a 180-degree pivot, our distinguished visitant achieved - with utmost celerity and via a downward leap - entry by way of the smoke passage. He was clad entirely in animal pelts soiled by the ebony residue from oxidations of carboniferous fuels which had accumulated on the walls thereof. His resemblance to a street vendor I attributed largely to the plethora of assorted playthings which he bore dorsally in a commodious cloth receptacle. His orbs were scintillant with reflected luminosity, while his submaxillary dermal indentations gave every evidence of engaging amiability. The capillaries of his malar regions and nasal appurtenance were engorged with blood which suffused the subcutaneous layers, the former approximating the coloration of Albion's floral emblem, the latter that of the Prunus avium, or sweet cherry. His amusing sub- and supralabials resembled nothing so much as a common loop knot, and their ambient hirsute facial adornment appeared like small, tabular and columnar crystals of frozen water. Clenched firmly between his incisors was a smoking piece whose grey fumes, forming a tenuous ellipse about his occiput, were suggestive of a decorative seasonal circlet of holly. His visage was wider than it was high, and when he waxed audibly mirthful, his corpulent abdominal region undulated in the manner of impectinated fruit syrup in a hemispherical container. He was, in short, neither more nor less than an obese, jocund, multigenarian gnome, the optical perception of whom rendered me visibly frolicsome despite every effort to refrain from so being. By rapidly lowering and then elevating one eyelid and rotating his head slightly to one side, he indicated that trepidation on my part was groundless. Without utterance and with dispatch, he commenced filling the aforementioned appended hosiery with various of the aforementioned articles of merchandise extracted from his aforementioned previously dorsally transported cloth receptacle. Upon completion of this task, he executed an abrupt about-face, placed a single manual digit in lateral juxtaposition to his olfactory organ, inclined his cranium forward in a gesture of leave-taking, and forthwith effected his egress by renegotiating (in reverse) the smoke passage. He then propelled himself in a short vector onto his conveyance, directed a musical expulsion of air through his contracted oral sphincter to the antlered quadrupeds of burden, and proceeded to soar aloft in a movement hitherto observable chiefly among the seed-bearing portions of a common weed. But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible immediately prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of visibility: "Ecstatic Yuletide to the planetary constituency, and to that selfsame assemblage, my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifyingly pleasurable period between sunset and dawn." Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 684 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 08:00 pm:    oh my goodness.. this is exhausting just reading it in my head. I can't even imagine saying it out loud.... however, when my dog and the dog across the hall play together, I would swear that between them they have "32 cloven pedal extremities". Marc C Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 263 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 11:00 am:    Unfortunately a dog or any member of the family Canidae is standing on its phalanges, the even-toed ungulates of which the apologue above spoke, are standing upon two of their toe nails. Specifically the toes corresponding to the 3rd and 4th digits of the human hand. To be fair to the entire group of ungulates, the portion we would think of as the nail would be the front and sides of the hoof. The sole of the hoof has no direct counterpart in most other mammals except perhaps in thick headed business associates. Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 596 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 11:14 am:    Boy, Marc, that bit of information must really come in handy when writing specs! ;-) Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 686 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 12:49 pm:    Marc is an ANTHROPOLOGIST and actually I bet that information is far more useful when dealing with Architects than one might think..... Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED™ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 697 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 04:36 pm:    A degree in psychology also helps (abnormal psychology might help even more)... Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 160 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 04:46 pm:    hey - I am looking for someone with some spare time to help me write some specs... anyone know any spec writers with to much spare time on their hands? :-) Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 477 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 08:29 pm:    Lynn, I think your prayers helped and those of my other colleagues and friends, and you too Ralph, my daughter came home today, although after being home for a few hours she had another seizure, the doctors so far are scratching their heads as to what is going on, all the tests are normal readings; the best they can come up with that she is major stressed out over my wife recently being diagnosed with cancer. But than again being an 18 year old girl these can't be so easy. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 478 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 08:29 pm:    Robin - what is this term you use - "spare time" - what is that?