Friday, July 24, 2009
Activity
The lack of posting lately has been due to the arrival of family and more family. These last couple weeks have been loads of fun. From going to 4 baseball games, to eating more than my share of pizza to a boat tour (mentioned below), we had a great time. They didn't mind sleeping on the "crouton" (futon) or taking it to Caleb and me in a few games of 500. The guests were doing their part to lend a hand, too, as they assisted a biker who had crashed and fallen unconscious.
Chicago Tip: Architecture Tour
One of the activites the Manderfields brought us on was Wendella's architecture boat tour of downtown Chicago. This was a great experience. The day was absolutely beautiful. The views were incredible. So much fascinating information was given to us.
A couple highlights:
The Hancock building is built in such a way that if all the inside walls and other structure were removed, the building would still stand -- and still be structurally sound.
Did you ever notice that tower right by Navy pier that sticks out a bit? There was a zoning agreement in Chicago that towers like that weren't allowed to be on the shoreline in order to keep the shore clean. The reason that it was there is because of a loophole because basically the law was about "real land," and the tower was built on refuse thrown into the lake.
A couple highlights:
The Hancock building is built in such a way that if all the inside walls and other structure were removed, the building would still stand -- and still be structurally sound.
Did you ever notice that tower right by Navy pier that sticks out a bit? There was a zoning agreement in Chicago that towers like that weren't allowed to be on the shoreline in order to keep the shore clean. The reason that it was there is because of a loophole because basically the law was about "real land," and the tower was built on refuse thrown into the lake.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
My toughest part of writing
Self critism. One concept which can be one's greatest friend and one's worst enemy at the same time. I tend not to like my writing (specifically blogging and journalling). Not at the start, mind you, or I wouldn't start. Some great idea comes up, and for some reason I decide to sit down and try to put it on paper. Each individual sentence, or phrase, should be perfect -- reflecting precisely the intent it is designed for in a grammatically and spell-proof manner. By the time my great ideas have finally begun to take form, I'm already tired of them. It's too cliche. There isn't anything original here. Everybody already knows this. People won't like this or that. So, true, part of the problem is thinking too much about how other people might react. But that doesn't seem to be my biggest catch. I'm even too picky about my own journalling.
So what's going on with this? Part of it is probably that I don't have as much interesting material as I once thought, that my ideas weren't quite as interesting. hat's known as the "overconfidence" bias. Putting them on paper just brings me back to reality.
Perhaps this isn't all negative, though. Writing forces me to hammer down my thoughts, fine-tuning the details. Perhaps wrestling with the ideas is the fun part, then the actual truth isn't that interesting, or perhaps not as original as I first believed. Then, being frustrated with my writing could be more of a sign that I have really thought through an issue.
Regardless of why writing becomes discouraging, it doesn't seem to be a good thing, at least not with regards to me putting my thoughts on paper (or on one's and zero's as it were), because it is absolutely the #1 reason why I don't blog/journal more frequently.
For any of you who write at all, do you have this problem? How do you deal with it?
Self critism. One concept which can be one's greatest friend and one's worst enemy at the same time. I tend not to like my writing (specifically blogging and journalling). Not at the start, mind you, or I wouldn't start. Some great idea comes up, and for some reason I decide to sit down and try to put it on paper. Each individual sentence, or phrase, should be perfect -- reflecting precisely the intent it is designed for in a grammatically and spell-proof manner. By the time my great ideas have finally begun to take form, I'm already tired of them. It's too cliche. There isn't anything original here. Everybody already knows this. People won't like this or that. So, true, part of the problem is thinking too much about how other people might react. But that doesn't seem to be my biggest catch. I'm even too picky about my own journalling.
So what's going on with this? Part of it is probably that I don't have as much interesting material as I once thought, that my ideas weren't quite as interesting. hat's known as the "overconfidence" bias. Putting them on paper just brings me back to reality.
Perhaps this isn't all negative, though. Writing forces me to hammer down my thoughts, fine-tuning the details. Perhaps wrestling with the ideas is the fun part, then the actual truth isn't that interesting, or perhaps not as original as I first believed. Then, being frustrated with my writing could be more of a sign that I have really thought through an issue.
Regardless of why writing becomes discouraging, it doesn't seem to be a good thing, at least not with regards to me putting my thoughts on paper (or on one's and zero's as it were), because it is absolutely the #1 reason why I don't blog/journal more frequently.
For any of you who write at all, do you have this problem? How do you deal with it?
The cost of options
In the financial world, one can obtain options -- an opportunity (but not an obligation) to purchase (or sell) an individual stock at a set price. These options, while beneficial, do cost something -- an instance of a popular slogan "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
The more I've thought about Chicago, especially compared to less densely populated areas, the more many of the differences between big-city USA and rural America seem like a bunch of options. Below are some examples.
Some similarities and differences arise with the financial industry comparison. Similarities are that each option has a value and a cost, at least apparently to me. Differences include the fact that each individual option has different value to different people, because different people have different tastes (in the stock market, option values are typically about the same for most everybody because everyone has the same goal). Also, these options cannot be "purchased" individually -- one can either live in the city or not in the city, though those in the suberbs might have a case otherwise.
So what do you think? Am I totally off base? Is this same-old same old? What differences cannot be described with this options analogy? What options go the other way?
The more I've thought about Chicago, especially compared to less densely populated areas, the more many of the differences between big-city USA and rural America seem like a bunch of options. Below are some examples.
| Option Value | Option Cost |
|---|---|
| Being able to talk to people having a vast array of personalities and coming from completely different backgrounds | Seeing the impoverished lives of beggars every day |
| Taste of Chicago, with dozens of great restaurants to sample | Taste of Chicago with tens of thousands of people |
| A wide array of parks and events around the city | Sales Taxes |
| Restaurants galore for breakfast, lunch, and supper | Each individual restaurant costs more |
Some similarities and differences arise with the financial industry comparison. Similarities are that each option has a value and a cost, at least apparently to me. Differences include the fact that each individual option has different value to different people, because different people have different tastes (in the stock market, option values are typically about the same for most everybody because everyone has the same goal). Also, these options cannot be "purchased" individually -- one can either live in the city or not in the city, though those in the suberbs might have a case otherwise.
So what do you think? Am I totally off base? Is this same-old same old? What differences cannot be described with this options analogy? What options go the other way?
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