Drinking in the morning has an undeservedly bad reputation . . .
Of course, it’s a three-day holiday weekend and if I want to start the day by enlivening an otherwise ordinary glass of cola with a splash of tequila, that’s nobody’s business but mine.
But I also think that on weekdays, most workplaces would be more interesting and fun if people had a glass or two of wine before coming in to the office . . .
My son and I walk into Trader Joe’s . . . there’s a big sign that says “KIDS! Find the hidden dragon and win a prize!”
“I’m going to find the dragon,” the boy announces. “I bet it’s at the free sample stand.”
Not surprisingly, it’s not at the free sample stand, but while we’re there we’re able to drown our sorrows with some free baked beans and hot dogs . . .
My son’s learning to drive . . . pulling out of a parking lot, he turns right and clips the curb a little bit.
I ask him, “Did you look left to make sure no one was coming?”
“I saw no one was coming.”
“How did you see that if you didn’t look?”
“I saw it in my peripheral vision.”
“Did you also see that curb you just hit in your peripheral vision?”
A Facebook friend recently posted a set of Washington DC photos. Almost all of the photos show people standing in front of easily recognizable landmarks, but all of them are dutifully captioned — White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc.
The one exception is a photo of two people in an ornate lobby with the caption: “I forget where we are here.”
I asked a facilities person about the cleaning crew situation . . . turns out we did recently hire a new outfit.
Her theory on why they keep moving the watebasket: “Maybe they want you to notice that they emptied it.”
People who run a family business and call it, for example, Dawson & Dawson. That’s stupid. Call it The Dawson Company. Or Dawson, Inc.
What if another family member joins the business? Do you rename it Dawson, Dawson & Dawson?
The only acceptable reason for doing this is if the people involved are completely unrelated but both happen to be named Dawson.
[From Conversations with Frank Gehry by Barbara Isenberg. Gehry (Class of ’54) is a USC grad — like me!]
On the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright:
I studied every section drawing, model and building of Frank Lloyd Wright. Everything.
I went to see what he did in Oak Park. I went to see Robie House. I went to see Unity Temple. I studied Taliesin East and Taliesin West. I studied his planning ideas at Broadacre City and his ideas about the high-rise and his Mile High Building. I read everything I could about Wright’s life, and I visited the buildings in Marin County that were built after his death. I knew Frank Lloyd Wright.
On the competition to design Walt Disney Concert Hall, eventually won by Gehry:
My European colleagues thought I had the inside track, but it was quite the opposite. I was the long shot. In fact, in the beginning, I was invited by Ron Gother, the Disney family lawyer, to come to his office and meet with him. He told me that I should get out of the competition because it was a waste of time. They knew my work, and there was no way the family would have Walt Disney’s name on a building I designed. He actually said that.
On the possibility of perfection:
At the University of Southern California, they had cut in stone above the door a quote from Michelangelo which said, “A work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” I like that because it got me off the hook.
On architects not being recognized until late in life:
It takes a long time for people to trust you and for you to develop a unique language. You also have to develop a way of building that unique language so it doesn’t leak, so it can be done on budget and all of that. It takes a while. So by the time you get there, you’re in your late fifties or sixties. And that’s the tradition. Louis Kahn didn’t get anything until he was in his late fifties. Frank Lloyd Wright was the same. Corbusier. Mies van der Rohe. It’s just a profession that peaks later. And then it’s all over so fast.
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[W]hat … meetings are doing is playing out an emotional drama–conflict, blaming, flirting, one-upsmanship, random outbursts, anger, and so forth….the soap-opera aspects of meetings are the most exciting parts of their jobs….
Indeed, these people are often upset if I show them how to conduct well-run meetings, because I’ve taken all the joy out of their lives.
TIJUANA, Mexico — The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in this border city, two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs, U.S. officials said Thursday.
“Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Bessie, the Interrupting Cow.”
“Bessie, the Interr–”
“MOOOOOOO!”
Two TV antennas fell in love and got married. The wedding was nothing special but the reception was excellent.
It’s done but we’re still working on a few things.
Then it’s not done, is it?
It mostly works, but it still needs a lot of testing.
How do you know it mostly works if it still needs a lot of testing? Isn’t that what testing is for — to figure out if it works?
I’m not making these up, by the way . . .
I’m at Target shopping for a new watch. My son is with me. He’s 15 years old.
“Bah,” he says, sizing up the display. “Where’s the platinum stuff?”
“Look,” I say, “all I need here is an inexpensive watch that’ll tell me what time it is.”
A guy behind us chortles. He knows what I’m talking about; he’s browsing through a rack of $19 Ray-Ban knockoffs.
“Buy what you want then,” the boy says. “But my watch is very attractive to the ladies.”
“What kind of watch do you have?” He’s not wearing one so I have to ask.
“I’ll give you a hint,” he says. “It starts with an ‘R.'”
“Very funny. What kind of watch do you have?”
“OK, it’s a Casio. But it’s got a really cool band.”
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.
We had Mother’s Day brunch at Todai Japanese buffet in Orange.
Unfortunately, directly in my line of sight at another table was a 500-pound bald Asian guy — a beast of a man — stuffing huge handfuls of food into his gaping maw.
And when I say “huge handfuls of food,” I mean he seemed to have a python-like ability to unhinge his jaws to accomodate the volume of food he was cramming in there.
Buffet managers must die a little inside when a guy like that shows up.
