June 22, 2014

     This week was mellow. We did not do anything this weekend. The Track and Field finals is next week, and I finally took control of my training, running about thirty miles. I only ran four days of the week because I have been a workaholic the past couple days. I never been a workaholic. I am going to have to learn a time balancing act of the never-ending work of an artist and the people in our lives. I would work diligently as I was hanging out with my friends, watching the world cup or playing video games. After writing about track and my workaholic experience, I will write about interest group efforts of this past week.

     Track has been disappointing. I went to the meet yesterday, preparing to run the 5K, and they were setting up for the steeplechase again. I thought that they would be alternating each week the 5K and steeplechase. I did not even stay around to watch my teammates run. They didn't offer the two mile race that I was aiming to accomplish goals in, and they don't even race the event that I have compromised my goals to be. I am pondering not running during the final meet. My competition has been weak all semester, usually having only one runner chasing me.

     I would like to share pictures of the tenant improvement that I designed. My teacher and teacher's aide were disregarding this assignment as one just to learn the program of REVIT, but learning design skills are important for architects. I am going to work proudly on my first official design project in BYUI, not letting my instructors to limit my effort on it. A tenant improvement is a temporary interior development for business owners to work in a building that is not completely constructed. It is also known as a TI. I originally planned to have the glass second half of the interior partition wall to be curved inward at the top, making the executive and the staff office like a dome. I was hoping that the parabolic shape of the glass would trap in more natural like from the outside in the building. The teacher aide said that task is too advanced for me at this time with all the due dates. It's not time now to learn it. I did make the glass curve with my curved walls, but I don't think that the glass is actually curved. It is just straight glass aligned with the curved walls according to angles. I don't have any lights in it yet because the reflected ceiling plan is due Wednesday, and I need to submit the floor plan, TI call out, and a door schedule on Monday. Those chairs are stretched because of the view. They are not actually benches. When I visited the Big D Signature office, they boasted a very open office, so the associates in the building can relate more easily. I made the walls completely glass framed with mullion between the executive office and conference room; and the staff office and the general office. Big D found transparency beneficial. I could have the mullion walls be completely retractable instead of permanent, but I have not figured that out yet. It would give the executive more room in his office. This is the view to the conference room from the executive office. The executive office is packed with two bookshelves, a credenza, a settee, two side chairs, a desk and executive chair. I am having the couch and chairs face each other as well as a monitor mounted on the wall for a display of visual aid tools and development. Space is so cramped that the executive has a student desk. I imagine that he will have the latest technology, so his desk is optional. He can use a tablet or wireless keyboard to access the monitor. When I was looking up monitors or TVs, I was surprised to find a forty-thousand dollar TV with a 85" screen from Samsung. I never imagined such a product before. 

     Group efforts has been interesting this week. My week ended bad because a due date surprised us. We needed to come up with 40 resources for a career research project. We failed at that, and we rushed an assignment, getting a bad grade in our lab. The lab for my Construction 120 class went well though. We had to construct a small set of stairs. Efficiency was a goal, and we did it intelligently. I took some pictures. There were candid photographs, so they are not taken well. I even stood on the stairs. Another experience that I had in a group setting that was interesting is an activity from FHE. It was part of a school assignment for the FHE group leader. We had two decks of cards, and one was set in a pattern on a table in the next room by the group leader. We had to work as a team to duplicate the pattern in another room. The group leader gave each person one of two roles. One was a team member, and the other was saboteur. Each person had about a minute to go to the table to memorize the pattern, and they would guide the group to organizing the cards when they returned. People in the group were able to vote members of the team out for being saboteur. During the activity, each member went up, and I could detect that no one had ill-motives. Members on the team insisted that a saboteur existed among us; although, we did realize that it is possible that no one may be a saboteur. A roommate decided that he could not trust anyone. The slightest odd behavior rose suspicion. Since I am not a normal person, odd teamwork skills brought me under damnation; although, I was not a saboteur. I was voted out so fast that I did not even realize it until they skipped over my turn to lead the crew with what I saw. Two other girls voted out a guy, but it was for fun. They conspired against him before we even were given roles. I thought that my roommate could be a saboteur because he was breeding distrust and leading the crew, but I realized that he would have to be an amazing actor. Unless ill-motives were obvious in people's actions, I was not going to judge anyone as a saboteur. It ended up that no one was a saboteur. I feel that this can be applied to people with trust issues and inferiority complexes. I had an inferiority complex when I returned from my mission. I felt like no one was really my friend, and they were either good friends or trying to avoid me and get me out of their lives. This illustrates that people can act in ways that may confuse a person, but that individual should not assume anything; unless, he is blatantly, trying to misuse you or some other ill-motive. I also learned that my input may not be presented in a way that people understand is good. When we were building the stairs, I repeatedly suggested that we need to subtract the header board width from the stair length by asking "Aren't we supposed to cut the header board width from the top stair?" They disregarded it though until the teacher instructed us to cut out that width. My suggestions in the saboteur card game were not understood/respected. I expect that it is because I have learning disabilities, and I don't work the same as normal people.