The Fabulous Life of the Rich and Famous Part Deux
the last few days at work have been fairly interesting i have to admit and has lef me feeling very "adult" and "adolescent" at the same time. adult in teh fashion that now i am beginning to be privy to the grand networks of influence and importance that "people in power", in terms of a city's "society", are composed of. adolescent in the terms of being only at the beginninga nd being simply able to just say, hi, my name is blah blah blah... and not much more. being an intern at my job has afforded me some great opprtunities recently of going basically on "client meetings" and such where i have been able to see the inetractions between players in "deals". it's also a great way to see how beautiful complex and constructed such multiuse deals are and in many ways it excites me because this type of work is exactly what i think is interesting in terms of "urban design".
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yesterday, i accompanied my boss to meet a client who was this humble man who is basically developing approximately 2000 acres in fort bend county for high end residential and multiuse commercial/residential/retail corridor... a classic ambitious plan to make subdivisions in malls...as oppose to malls in subdivisions... haha (personal conceit). anyways, the point is, we're talking BIG money...as in hundreds of millions of dollars potentially. but what i think is really exciting is the professional complexity of it. and god love them, of course this meeting was also attended by lawyers for both sides (and just on the side, the lawyers also brought an intern...for good measure...haha). anyways, the meeting was fascinating as my boss is well known in teh city for doing what are called tax increment financing zones, or as we call them in houston, TIRZ areas. what i personally find interesting is this notion of real collaboration between different part of society and profession in working to "create better cities"... it's not just about "urban design" per se... but its about the whole schmorgazboard. and its a lot lot of people talking, hopefully in effective dialouge, that makes it interesting and potential more fruitful than if only person was given the job. ultimately i like to think of it as... "urban orchestration". i mean, like a symphony, it gives validity that it is a collective and beyond that, intimately relies on that collectivity for its strength. i think that is cool. well, in being in on the discussion, even if i was just listening... was very exciting i thought.
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and today, my boss took me to basically the city's chamber of commerce annual meeting which was a lovely gala of self congratulations really. haha, no... in all honesty it was definitely a site to behold. i would say almost a 1000 or so people who were "important" or of people who wanted to know "important" people... in the ultimate synergy of "better business" for everyone. anyways, it was at the new hilton hotel...and if nothing else was a free lunch and some free "stuff". but yes, the "discussion" as far as we listened to was mostly self congratulatory and without much substance honestly. but i definitely was introduced to very many people, not that i will ever see them again (at least anytime too soon)...well, you know...i take that back. my boss over the summer, of all places, happened to also sit at the table we were at. it was quite a surprise actually...so you never know i guess. houston, any city, within certain circles i guess isn't that big of a place in the end. anyways, i think the best part of the short luncheon was this knowledge again that here you were amongst people who "made a difference" in the city...or at least i would naively and ideally like to think so.
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i think i really should get some personal "business" cards made up. haha.
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in other news that i thing just too juicy to pass up. read about genetic flourescent green pigs and the panda pandemonium between china and taiwan.
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anything else? not much. other than work, i've been basically on task trying to make up a portfolio for teh upcoming job season...upcoming? damn, its pretty much here already! heh heh. really should get those business cards definitely. beyond that, life actually has been pretty mundane so check in with you all later.
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posted by faux chink @ 2:33 PM
1 Comments:
FYI I am still reading Alex! Also, I know at HSPH you could order formal business cards to pass out to potential employers. You should see if that have that at GSD...I am sure they do.
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