Admittedly, I had romanticized working at the Medici a bit because it is such a fixture of my childhood and beyond. And then I got a lesson in real life.
I learned a lot about people in general while working there. How to smile even when completely ticked off by customers. How to politely say no. How to deal with people constantly asking for random extra this and that. What is it with guys, who some may consider physically attractive, asking for discounts and free things? Do they think they have some kind of a reprieve just because they have a cute smile? Strange.
Then again, I will probably come to miss this era of working low-wage jobs while anguishing over the poetics of light for architecture studio. After all, it's not really that stressful to deal with obnoxious customers. You smile at them, watch them leave, laugh at them with co-workers afterwards, and then forget about them. In contrast, I actually care about architecture assignments, and I can't take them lightly at all.
Goodbye, Medici, where Obama eats.
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Lakeshore Drive? Really, Obama ???
So far it's been pretty cool being from the same neighborhood as President Obama. They mention Hyde Park in the news, and every so often I even see shots of restaurants I frequent. I mention Hyde Park, and people don't give me blank stares. Rather than the quiet, nerdy neighborhood that it actually is, it sounds kind of awesome.
However ... there are unfortunate side effects as well, it turns out. I already mentioned the people on his block that get ID'd to go home, but today they shut down the entire Lakeshore Drive!!! WHAT !!!
My mom and I were driving to Oak Park, when we had to make a u-turn where we usually get on Lakeshore Drive. Ok, tried 47th St, 35th St, all closed! The very least they could have done is made some kind of announcement that they were going to do so, then we could have gone a different route. It ended up making us late :( Then again, I guess they do need to be careful because he's African American, and many people find him difficult to accept. But... Lakeshore Drive!
However ... there are unfortunate side effects as well, it turns out. I already mentioned the people on his block that get ID'd to go home, but today they shut down the entire Lakeshore Drive!!! WHAT !!!
My mom and I were driving to Oak Park, when we had to make a u-turn where we usually get on Lakeshore Drive. Ok, tried 47th St, 35th St, all closed! The very least they could have done is made some kind of announcement that they were going to do so, then we could have gone a different route. It ended up making us late :( Then again, I guess they do need to be careful because he's African American, and many people find him difficult to accept. But... Lakeshore Drive!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Obama!
Addendum:
A really bizarre part of living in the same neighborhood as the President of the United States is that you always know when he's in town! I was driving home on Lakeshore Drive one day, and all the way back from the McCormick Place, my mom and I saw about 20-30 police cars gaurding the exits. Also driving on Woodlawn and 51st Street with Bernard once, we saw the street blockaded off with more police cars. I feel bad for the people who live on that street now ... how crazy is it that they need to show ID simply to go home.
A really bizarre part of living in the same neighborhood as the President of the United States is that you always know when he's in town! I was driving home on Lakeshore Drive one day, and all the way back from the McCormick Place, my mom and I saw about 20-30 police cars gaurding the exits. Also driving on Woodlawn and 51st Street with Bernard once, we saw the street blockaded off with more police cars. I feel bad for the people who live on that street now ... how crazy is it that they need to show ID simply to go home.
Jack of all Trades
Been M.I.A. a while trying to figure out how to structure what I would term "real life."
Work Interviews: I had interviews at both Jamba Juice and the Medici Bakery, an interesting comparison of large corporation vs. smaller businesses. Firstly, for Jamba Juice, it was a group interview! I thought they only did those at giant consulting firms, but perhaps the economy is bad enough at the moment. They asked fairly standard questions such as: what Jamba Juice drink would you be, what can you contribute to Jamba Juice, what did you like about your last job, what was a difficult situation you were able to overcome, what do you consider a personal failing. Medici on the other hand, I hardly even knew the interview had started because it was more just conversational. I get the feeling, the manager knew I could handle the work since I'd graduated from Lab, and it was more figuring out if my personality type was a good fit for a place like the Medici. At the same, I also think she got exactly the information she needed to get from me, so it was a much more interesting interview. Medici was definitely the preferred choice by the way, because I would get to wear a shirt that says, "Obama eats here." And ... I will be soon! Medici hired me! Thus, I am soon to be serving fresh baked chocolate croissants, carrot muffins, and Kickapoo Fair Trade Coffee :D
Dry Cleaning: I'm now a permanent part of staff for the time being. I can work at almost all points of the sequence of dry cleaning: tagging shirts/clothing as we receive them, sorting wet shirts according to what day they need to be completed and quantity of starch, pressing tablecloths (pressing shirts is really tricky and takes time to learn), taking the tag off clothes to put on hangers, de-linting, de-pilling, bagging or boxing shirts. I like to count the number of Thomas Pink, Ermenigildo Zegna, Brooks Brothers, Tom James, and obscure Italian brand made in Milan shirts we get. It's a bit absurd how many we get of each ...
Shop Tati: I started volunteering at J's shop. I learn how to build bikes about 25% of the time. So far I've learned the basics of putting on a headset, bottom bracket, cassette, cyclo-cross style breaks, and lacing up a 3 cross wheel. From previous bike learning from awesome Illini friends such as Dillon and Jamie, I already knew a certain amount about configuring cable housing, cables, and tuning front and rear derailleurs, pedals. The other 75% of the time, we discuss what the shop will carry, the color theme, stripey socks, the shop layout, folding bikes, leather saddles, and the "lifestyle" that we want to market. Wouldn't it be great if we could change Hyde Park from mostly car based to mostly bike based? Why wait for the city to create bike paths. Convince people that riding bikes is fashionable, more convenient, and less expensive, and create the demand for more bike friendly roads. It's interesting that J designs his bikes very much the way an architect should design a building, to correlate with the needs of their way of life. I find the entire shop to be a fascinating design project ... can't wait to see it in full action :D
Wild Duck: This past Friday, Bernard and I received free tickets to The Wild Duck, a play directed by Charles Newell of Court Theatre in Hyde Park shown at the MCA Chicago. I had no idea that Charles Newell of UCVC was in fact the person who runs Court Theatre ... he seemed a normal enough cyclist the few times I had been on group rides with him. I was very impressed with the production ... it revived fond memories of 7th and 8th grade when Lab School kids could skip class to attend the matinees for the entire Court Theatre season. The set mainly featured these giant loft style windows stage right, black painted steel stairs stage left, a few spare furniture items, and these giant suspended wood doors. Very converted factory building style ...
Food Shelter: Today, my mom and I went to serve food with our church at Cornerstone Community Outreach. It was interesting ... It was strange to have purportedly homeless people making demands upon us almost as if we were a restaurant (e.g.: "I want coke, not Sprite."), and my mom said she even saw that a lot of people didn't even finish the corn and green beans. She remarked, only in a food shelter in America will you see homeless people throwing food away. Absolutely ridiculous, and even outrageous in a way. A very few people even tried to come back for another tray, and some kids came up asking for more. It's not that I want to sound patronizing, or that I want these people to act servile towards us, but I would have thought that they would at least realize that it was not our job to be there, that the food we brought was bought from private donations from church members, that we were serving them food on an entirely voluntary basis, that they didn't really have a right to make any demands from us. Then again, I've never been in a situation where I had to go to a food shelter for food.
Work Interviews: I had interviews at both Jamba Juice and the Medici Bakery, an interesting comparison of large corporation vs. smaller businesses. Firstly, for Jamba Juice, it was a group interview! I thought they only did those at giant consulting firms, but perhaps the economy is bad enough at the moment. They asked fairly standard questions such as: what Jamba Juice drink would you be, what can you contribute to Jamba Juice, what did you like about your last job, what was a difficult situation you were able to overcome, what do you consider a personal failing. Medici on the other hand, I hardly even knew the interview had started because it was more just conversational. I get the feeling, the manager knew I could handle the work since I'd graduated from Lab, and it was more figuring out if my personality type was a good fit for a place like the Medici. At the same, I also think she got exactly the information she needed to get from me, so it was a much more interesting interview. Medici was definitely the preferred choice by the way, because I would get to wear a shirt that says, "Obama eats here." And ... I will be soon! Medici hired me! Thus, I am soon to be serving fresh baked chocolate croissants, carrot muffins, and Kickapoo Fair Trade Coffee :D
Dry Cleaning: I'm now a permanent part of staff for the time being. I can work at almost all points of the sequence of dry cleaning: tagging shirts/clothing as we receive them, sorting wet shirts according to what day they need to be completed and quantity of starch, pressing tablecloths (pressing shirts is really tricky and takes time to learn), taking the tag off clothes to put on hangers, de-linting, de-pilling, bagging or boxing shirts. I like to count the number of Thomas Pink, Ermenigildo Zegna, Brooks Brothers, Tom James, and obscure Italian brand made in Milan shirts we get. It's a bit absurd how many we get of each ...
Shop Tati: I started volunteering at J's shop. I learn how to build bikes about 25% of the time. So far I've learned the basics of putting on a headset, bottom bracket, cassette, cyclo-cross style breaks, and lacing up a 3 cross wheel. From previous bike learning from awesome Illini friends such as Dillon and Jamie, I already knew a certain amount about configuring cable housing, cables, and tuning front and rear derailleurs, pedals. The other 75% of the time, we discuss what the shop will carry, the color theme, stripey socks, the shop layout, folding bikes, leather saddles, and the "lifestyle" that we want to market. Wouldn't it be great if we could change Hyde Park from mostly car based to mostly bike based? Why wait for the city to create bike paths. Convince people that riding bikes is fashionable, more convenient, and less expensive, and create the demand for more bike friendly roads. It's interesting that J designs his bikes very much the way an architect should design a building, to correlate with the needs of their way of life. I find the entire shop to be a fascinating design project ... can't wait to see it in full action :D
Wild Duck: This past Friday, Bernard and I received free tickets to The Wild Duck, a play directed by Charles Newell of Court Theatre in Hyde Park shown at the MCA Chicago. I had no idea that Charles Newell of UCVC was in fact the person who runs Court Theatre ... he seemed a normal enough cyclist the few times I had been on group rides with him. I was very impressed with the production ... it revived fond memories of 7th and 8th grade when Lab School kids could skip class to attend the matinees for the entire Court Theatre season. The set mainly featured these giant loft style windows stage right, black painted steel stairs stage left, a few spare furniture items, and these giant suspended wood doors. Very converted factory building style ...
Food Shelter: Today, my mom and I went to serve food with our church at Cornerstone Community Outreach. It was interesting ... It was strange to have purportedly homeless people making demands upon us almost as if we were a restaurant (e.g.: "I want coke, not Sprite."), and my mom said she even saw that a lot of people didn't even finish the corn and green beans. She remarked, only in a food shelter in America will you see homeless people throwing food away. Absolutely ridiculous, and even outrageous in a way. A very few people even tried to come back for another tray, and some kids came up asking for more. It's not that I want to sound patronizing, or that I want these people to act servile towards us, but I would have thought that they would at least realize that it was not our job to be there, that the food we brought was bought from private donations from church members, that we were serving them food on an entirely voluntary basis, that they didn't really have a right to make any demands from us. Then again, I've never been in a situation where I had to go to a food shelter for food.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/20web-inaug2.html?hp
I feel differently about President Obama than any of the previous Presidents, probably because I once saw him from less than 10 feet away, after he spoke at my high school graduation. Because I've seen him in a setting other than TV, I have the sense that he is a real person rather than just one more famous name, which makes this inauguration more special for many Hyde Park people, I am sure. It is still difficult to fully grasp, but amazing to know that he is now officially POTUS.
There were an impressive mix of backgrounds and ethnicities represented during the ceremony: conservative White, Black, Jewish, and Asian. It's awesome that Aretha was part of the ceremony: what a rock star. Many people, amongst them my friends, criticized his choice of Reverend Rick Warren for the invocation. While I think he could have chosen a better person, I can see why President Obama would include him. If I learned anything from Bike and Build, it's that in fact, many Americans are still very conservatively minded, and it doesn't help the President to alienate them. Internationally, America may be known as New York and L.A., but in fact, there's all the land between the two Coasts actually comprising the bulk of this nation. Fancy that.
Some of the news reporters were mildly critical of his speech being a bit darker than his previous ones, but I see it as being more realistic about the times ahead. I only hope that people's expectations are realistic about him as well. I myself am cautiously optimistic. I believe that one person's charisma does have the power to inspire hope and confidence in the people of a nation. However, I do think that many more factors are controlling the direction of the economy than one person can handle, and I hope people remember that.
It's also interesting that Abraham Lincoln was from IL, and yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It all seems very symbolic of the direction in which this nation is going. I agree with President Obama when he says that the patchwork background of this nation is not a weakness but a strength, and it is time to embrace it.
I feel differently about President Obama than any of the previous Presidents, probably because I once saw him from less than 10 feet away, after he spoke at my high school graduation. Because I've seen him in a setting other than TV, I have the sense that he is a real person rather than just one more famous name, which makes this inauguration more special for many Hyde Park people, I am sure. It is still difficult to fully grasp, but amazing to know that he is now officially POTUS.
There were an impressive mix of backgrounds and ethnicities represented during the ceremony: conservative White, Black, Jewish, and Asian. It's awesome that Aretha was part of the ceremony: what a rock star. Many people, amongst them my friends, criticized his choice of Reverend Rick Warren for the invocation. While I think he could have chosen a better person, I can see why President Obama would include him. If I learned anything from Bike and Build, it's that in fact, many Americans are still very conservatively minded, and it doesn't help the President to alienate them. Internationally, America may be known as New York and L.A., but in fact, there's all the land between the two Coasts actually comprising the bulk of this nation. Fancy that.
Some of the news reporters were mildly critical of his speech being a bit darker than his previous ones, but I see it as being more realistic about the times ahead. I only hope that people's expectations are realistic about him as well. I myself am cautiously optimistic. I believe that one person's charisma does have the power to inspire hope and confidence in the people of a nation. However, I do think that many more factors are controlling the direction of the economy than one person can handle, and I hope people remember that.
It's also interesting that Abraham Lincoln was from IL, and yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It all seems very symbolic of the direction in which this nation is going. I agree with President Obama when he says that the patchwork background of this nation is not a weakness but a strength, and it is time to embrace it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
New York - New Haven
Bernard was chauffeur extraordinaire for me today. I am incredibly grateful that I didn't need to navigate the train system and that we could decide our own schedule.
We started out really early, in case there was traffic. We actually got there really early, so we had a chance to grab coffee, wander around and explore the area. The campus area is incredibly reminiscent of the Oxford campus (I learned later that this was completely intended by the original founder). It was definitely a college town, but it had a permanence and stateliness about it. The shops were boutique-like and upscale compared to Champaign-Urbana. There were more people wearing skinny jeans and fantastic overcoats and jackets with glorious lapels.
At one point I remembered that this was where the Bienecke Library (the rare books library) was built, so I dragged Bernard over to see it. It wasn't technically open with construction on the inside, but we stepped in just briefly, and I was able to see the light seeping in through the marble panels ... This building definitely is not very photogenic from the outside. I liked it a lot more on site.
Nicholas' class apparently went overtime. The crazy thing is that as I was waiting for him outside the building, I ran into Professor Moon! I'd sort of forgotten that he had moved there from UIUC. We could only talk briefly, but he helped me find Nicholas, and we chatted a bit while Nicholas came to find me. I'm really happy for Professor Moon. U Illinois students didn't appreciate how good of a professor he is at all, and he deserves better. He was the type of professor who would try to get us to understand the theory and basis for what he was teaching rather than just give us equations to plug numbers into. I will probably remember how to construct a shear envelope for the rest of my life.
Nicholas looks to be thriving here. We caught up on how his job went back in Europe, and he gave me a concise and loaded tour from top down in the historic Yale School of Architecture building designed by Paul Rudolph. The resources available here for model making are amazing; there's a first year grad program involving designing an affordable home that is design/build; some studios coordinate crits with foreign universities such as Tongji in Shanghai and Hong Kong University; etc. etc.
Afterwards, I got together with Matt Lawlor from Lab !!!!! We shared some biking across America stories since he went with Habitat Challenge, caught up, and tossed around how other friends from our Lab School group were doing. He's considering math in stead of physics as a major, and he is considering staying in academia, which I find unsurprising. He had a way of making ridiculous intuitive leaps in class, but he was also able to explain things so it was really easy to understand. He looks like he's doing pretty good too :D
We began the drive back around 4pm just to make sure the traffic didn't hold us too much. Bernard dropped me off by the Grand Central Station, where I met up with Jeong and Lauren for dinner at a Mexican place !!! Delicious. Talked architecture, Versailles, school, working, Lauren's and Rob's marriage plans (!), all over shrimp burritos and refried beans. Oh it was good times all around.
AND BARACK OBAMA IS PRESIDENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We started out really early, in case there was traffic. We actually got there really early, so we had a chance to grab coffee, wander around and explore the area. The campus area is incredibly reminiscent of the Oxford campus (I learned later that this was completely intended by the original founder). It was definitely a college town, but it had a permanence and stateliness about it. The shops were boutique-like and upscale compared to Champaign-Urbana. There were more people wearing skinny jeans and fantastic overcoats and jackets with glorious lapels.
At one point I remembered that this was where the Bienecke Library (the rare books library) was built, so I dragged Bernard over to see it. It wasn't technically open with construction on the inside, but we stepped in just briefly, and I was able to see the light seeping in through the marble panels ... This building definitely is not very photogenic from the outside. I liked it a lot more on site.
Nicholas' class apparently went overtime. The crazy thing is that as I was waiting for him outside the building, I ran into Professor Moon! I'd sort of forgotten that he had moved there from UIUC. We could only talk briefly, but he helped me find Nicholas, and we chatted a bit while Nicholas came to find me. I'm really happy for Professor Moon. U Illinois students didn't appreciate how good of a professor he is at all, and he deserves better. He was the type of professor who would try to get us to understand the theory and basis for what he was teaching rather than just give us equations to plug numbers into. I will probably remember how to construct a shear envelope for the rest of my life.
Nicholas looks to be thriving here. We caught up on how his job went back in Europe, and he gave me a concise and loaded tour from top down in the historic Yale School of Architecture building designed by Paul Rudolph. The resources available here for model making are amazing; there's a first year grad program involving designing an affordable home that is design/build; some studios coordinate crits with foreign universities such as Tongji in Shanghai and Hong Kong University; etc. etc.
Afterwards, I got together with Matt Lawlor from Lab !!!!! We shared some biking across America stories since he went with Habitat Challenge, caught up, and tossed around how other friends from our Lab School group were doing. He's considering math in stead of physics as a major, and he is considering staying in academia, which I find unsurprising. He had a way of making ridiculous intuitive leaps in class, but he was also able to explain things so it was really easy to understand. He looks like he's doing pretty good too :D
We began the drive back around 4pm just to make sure the traffic didn't hold us too much. Bernard dropped me off by the Grand Central Station, where I met up with Jeong and Lauren for dinner at a Mexican place !!! Delicious. Talked architecture, Versailles, school, working, Lauren's and Rob's marriage plans (!), all over shrimp burritos and refried beans. Oh it was good times all around.
AND BARACK OBAMA IS PRESIDENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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