I should write another post soon... I'll get on that within the week. Life's been busy, but not overly rewarding :/
Over the course of my college career, which is quickly coming to a close, I often wondered if I was retaining anything that the hours of lectures drilled into my head. I wondered if I could succeed in the field I'm studying in the "real" world. I imagine most students go through this on their journey through education. Many of which switch majors, or even schools all together. I have been blessed with one goal in mind from the start; to be involved in construction. However, through my general knowledge gain, other opportunities and interests blossomed. So now I occasionally wonder if I was truly meant to be a Structural Engineer or Construction Manager.
With each passing day my worries grow smaller. Somehow, from somewhere, I actually learned something. Some of you may know, I am involved in a Senior Design project to design a 14 story high-rise in downtown Milwaukee. This project has been a blessing in disguise. It not only thrust me into a role of leadership, but it made me realize that "hell I know what I am doing...". The scope of the project is incredibly daunting, especially when given an incredibly short deadline of one week to complete a full design of a high-rise building! I have to admit that I have been incredibly stressed this past week, but out of the pressure I seem to have succeeded. Well I have kept our group on pace to finish the design by Wednesday.
This project is a year long process that involved a research phase in the fall termed as "programing", an architectural design in the winter, and a full system design in the spring (Structural and MEP). I was nominated as project leader from the beginning; due to my experience from last year working on a much smaller project for my Structural Senior Design project. Don't think that I got the position merely on that fact alone, as there is another Structural/CM whom has the same experience as myself in the group. I took the responsibility with a bit of skepticism, as it is a large task and an even larger project. I accepted the job, and immediately took the team on the right path.
The programming phase went incredibly smooth. Our rough draft was finished a day in advance, and we received the highest grade between the 3 teams in the section. Then we continued to stay on track by finishing the final draft far ahead of the deadline, by establishing in-house deadlines days in advance. While the other groups were working late into the night on the weekend before the final product was due, our team was out enjoying a night on the town. Giving us time to grow as a functional team that enjoys each others company. Being comfortable with each other really helps to make a group succeed.
Now with Winter quarter upon us, the Architectural portion of our building (the most in-depth and time consuming portion) must be completed in a weeks time. Granted this first meeting, which will be in-front of two professional Architects and the owner, is merely a rough proposal so we can take feedback and correct any issues that they see. It doesn't nullify the fact that a high-rise building, much bigger scope than my 4 story apartment building last year, needs to be 75% designed. As soon as I was given the time-frame for this task to be completed, I wasted no time in producing a schedule that broke up the immense project into manageable portions to be completed by various people, and set-up two in-house deadlines so we were well prepared for Wednesday. It is now Thursday, the week before the deadline, and we have significant structure in place. We have our overall concept drawn in Revit, and we are on track to meet all on my in-house deadlines. Even after we switched gears and totally rethought our design once already...
I'm not in anyway trying to be full of myself. I am just amazed at the ability that I have shown during this project. I just may have picked up more than I thought over these past 4 1/4 years at this very expensive school.
NOTE: I am writing this late and after I just got done writing a paper titled "Green Globe vs. LEED", so I am sick of writing well :). Oh and I will be sure to keep you updated on my project; posting pictures of our building weekly so you can stay in touch with how the project is moving along.
Update! The presentation on Wednesday went well. The owner liked our overall design, with a few things that he would like changed. Now that we have a substantial design completed, the next 6 weeks just might be a bit more relaxing.
With each passing day my worries grow smaller. Somehow, from somewhere, I actually learned something. Some of you may know, I am involved in a Senior Design project to design a 14 story high-rise in downtown Milwaukee. This project has been a blessing in disguise. It not only thrust me into a role of leadership, but it made me realize that "hell I know what I am doing...". The scope of the project is incredibly daunting, especially when given an incredibly short deadline of one week to complete a full design of a high-rise building! I have to admit that I have been incredibly stressed this past week, but out of the pressure I seem to have succeeded. Well I have kept our group on pace to finish the design by Wednesday.
This project is a year long process that involved a research phase in the fall termed as "programing", an architectural design in the winter, and a full system design in the spring (Structural and MEP). I was nominated as project leader from the beginning; due to my experience from last year working on a much smaller project for my Structural Senior Design project. Don't think that I got the position merely on that fact alone, as there is another Structural/CM whom has the same experience as myself in the group. I took the responsibility with a bit of skepticism, as it is a large task and an even larger project. I accepted the job, and immediately took the team on the right path.
The programming phase went incredibly smooth. Our rough draft was finished a day in advance, and we received the highest grade between the 3 teams in the section. Then we continued to stay on track by finishing the final draft far ahead of the deadline, by establishing in-house deadlines days in advance. While the other groups were working late into the night on the weekend before the final product was due, our team was out enjoying a night on the town. Giving us time to grow as a functional team that enjoys each others company. Being comfortable with each other really helps to make a group succeed.
Now with Winter quarter upon us, the Architectural portion of our building (the most in-depth and time consuming portion) must be completed in a weeks time. Granted this first meeting, which will be in-front of two professional Architects and the owner, is merely a rough proposal so we can take feedback and correct any issues that they see. It doesn't nullify the fact that a high-rise building, much bigger scope than my 4 story apartment building last year, needs to be 75% designed. As soon as I was given the time-frame for this task to be completed, I wasted no time in producing a schedule that broke up the immense project into manageable portions to be completed by various people, and set-up two in-house deadlines so we were well prepared for Wednesday. It is now Thursday, the week before the deadline, and we have significant structure in place. We have our overall concept drawn in Revit, and we are on track to meet all on my in-house deadlines. Even after we switched gears and totally rethought our design once already...
I'm not in anyway trying to be full of myself. I am just amazed at the ability that I have shown during this project. I just may have picked up more than I thought over these past 4 1/4 years at this very expensive school.
NOTE: I am writing this late and after I just got done writing a paper titled "Green Globe vs. LEED", so I am sick of writing well :). Oh and I will be sure to keep you updated on my project; posting pictures of our building weekly so you can stay in touch with how the project is moving along.
Update! The presentation on Wednesday went well. The owner liked our overall design, with a few things that he would like changed. Now that we have a substantial design completed, the next 6 weeks just might be a bit more relaxing.
ENR (Engineering News Report) just released an article about the state of the construction industry. The news was not what I was hoping for. When looking at the overall unemployment for all industries across the US, the unemployment rate improved from 10.2% in October to 10.0% in November. This may seem underwhelming, but when compared to the projected increase in unemployment it is a relief to see it going in the right direction. There are a few indirect factors that may have produced the turn around, which I wont get into, but none-the-less it puts our minds at a bit of an ease. Well at an ease if your not depending on the construction industry like myself and my entire family. The construction industry has an outstanding unemployment rate of 19.4%. Fairly simple math can determine the unemployment for construction is nearly double that of the rest of the country. Ouch!
The November unemployment was an increase from 18.7% for that of October. Granted this number is not adjusted for seasonal factors, as construction greatly slows in the winter months, but is still not where I want it to be at.
If one were in hopes of getting a job in the construction field, such as myself, the infrastructure field is really the best bet. The government is/was pumping money into public projects to try to stimulate the construction field. Unfortunately the private sector is still in the dumps. I personally built roads and bridges for two years of internship, and it wasn't the direction I wanted to go. I want to build up not out. I might have to bite the bullet however.
It is good to see that overall our economy is starting to turn around, but the unemployment rate is still double what a healthy economy should be at. Then look at construction unemployment which is double our overall, so quadruple a healthy economy. Times are still tough, and I imagine they will be for a few more years yet. I also don't believe the housing market will ever reach the high it had just a few years ago before the collapse.
ENR: Construction Jobless Rate Climbs To 19.4% in November
The November unemployment was an increase from 18.7% for that of October. Granted this number is not adjusted for seasonal factors, as construction greatly slows in the winter months, but is still not where I want it to be at.
If one were in hopes of getting a job in the construction field, such as myself, the infrastructure field is really the best bet. The government is/was pumping money into public projects to try to stimulate the construction field. Unfortunately the private sector is still in the dumps. I personally built roads and bridges for two years of internship, and it wasn't the direction I wanted to go. I want to build up not out. I might have to bite the bullet however.
It is good to see that overall our economy is starting to turn around, but the unemployment rate is still double what a healthy economy should be at. Then look at construction unemployment which is double our overall, so quadruple a healthy economy. Times are still tough, and I imagine they will be for a few more years yet. I also don't believe the housing market will ever reach the high it had just a few years ago before the collapse.
ENR: Construction Jobless Rate Climbs To 19.4% in November
After coming back from Thanksgiving break, and visiting the rental store often, the DVD option has been a bit dull for entertainment these past few weeks. This lack of hot titles lead to picking up "Terminator: Salvation" last night. The roommate even brought it back in blue ray, so I was able to view it in HD. I have to say I was skeptical of this one, which is why I did not see it in the theater, but how did it turn out?
Corny and stupid. These two words do a lot to describe the action and things that happen in this movie. Things like a character being shot in the leg by a 50 caliber rifle, and walking on it within hours. Those of you whom do not know what a 50 caliber rifle is, it is a sniper rifle that, in other movies, creates much much more damage. She should not have had a leg left to stand on. Without giving to much away, there were way to many instances where my roommates and I were like "WTF, that could never happen." You may be thinking, "Well they are robots", but these crazy things that defied science were done by humans...
Moving past the ridiculous directing, on which I actually said "this director must be retarded," The plot and story is actually entertaining. If you followed the original Terminators at all, the story alone will keep you watching the movie. The story has so many instances where it pulled from the previous movies, and really made it feel like part of the overall story. If you did not follow the other Terminator movies, then you will not get the same sense of a great story. As a stand alone movie, the plot and story are quite lacking. The first 10 - 15 mins, I asked "What is going on?" It is a fairly hard plot to follow unless you are informed on the overall story, which I had to be reminded occasionally by my roommates.
Overall, I will say this is merely an entertaining movie. By no means can anyone say that it is a good movie. The action was ridiculous (in a bad way), the plot was hard to follow, and the acting by Christian Bale was a bit over the top (not unlike his role in Batman). Only pick this film up if you like unlikely action scenes, or if you followed the Terminator saga.
5/10
So I'm playing Modern Warfare 2 with a bunch of friends, and two of them are always talking about listening to this "Fireflies" song. I assumed they were talking about Breaking Benjamin's Firefly. Nope. Figured it was some good pumping up music. Nope. Here is what they are talking about... HAHA
Follow QUIM Design Build, as we innovate the way design and construction of buildings is done. Ok maybe that's setting the bar a bit too high, but I have created a website to showcase our project as it is completed. I probably wont update it everyday, because I'm a busy person, but at the end of every term I will do one bulk upload. Check it out if you are interested.
The project is to design a parking structure to hold 1500-1700 vehicles as well as a high rise, with commercial and residential capabilities. Our budget is 120 million, so it should be a fun project (or time consuming).
Anyway here is the link to the site, which will be continuously under construction as new information comes in and I get some time.
QUIM Design Build - Alpine Tower Project
The project is to design a parking structure to hold 1500-1700 vehicles as well as a high rise, with commercial and residential capabilities. Our budget is 120 million, so it should be a fun project (or time consuming).
Anyway here is the link to the site, which will be continuously under construction as new information comes in and I get some time.
QUIM Design Build - Alpine Tower Project
I figured I would post up some of my projects in hopes that others may benefit from examples. I know I like to work with examples when going starting a different project. Some of the formatting got messed up when I uploaded it, but it is basically correct.
Site Specific Safety Plan
Oh, and I just found Scribd which allows you to upload full documents (Except Publisher Documents). I am very impressed and amazed at the things the internet can accomplish.
Site Specific Safety Plan
Oh, and I just found Scribd which allows you to upload full documents (Except Publisher Documents). I am very impressed and amazed at the things the internet can accomplish.
