Fewww...No quiz today due to the demanding day yesterday. Today was a day filled with new materials and learning. Two lectures and a lot of material; our first lecture in the morning was intro to IT infrastructure and convergent technologies. Although, it does not sound like the most interesting topic, I found it quite intriguing. There are endless possibilities to use IT in the construction faze in order to make buildings more efficient and sustainable. Now that the stuff I like!! Yes, I'm the only Environmental Engineer out of all the interns.
Our second lecture for the day was on financials and accounting. This crash course in construction economics and accounting we were given an insider’s view and summary of how finances work in this field. There are a lot of complications with construction payments. Here in Dubai, within the last 10 years a lot of construction has been put on hold. This has put into effect a series of guarantees and bonds to ensure commitment of the contractor to completing the project.
Sorry to bore some of you with a few of the technical aspects of the course. As much as I would like to spend my 5 weeks here to play around in Dubai, most of the hours in my day are spent learning and working. Thanks everyone for following, talk to you soon, Sean. (sorry no pictures taken today)
Hey Sean,
ReplyDeleteNo worries - I like the technical aspects of the program. Just make sure to bring home the recipe for some traditional hummus, Lebanese home-made style.
What, no pictures? What happened to the camel races? I was hoping to find out if a Dromedary is faster than a Bactrian. Do you use spurs when riding a camel? Riding crop? Reins? Sugar cubes? The Arabic word for “giddyap”? Shamshir-e-Zomorrodnegar?
I was hoping for a picture or two of a convergent technology. I remember an old episode of Saturday Night Live where Dan Akroyd and Gilda Radner (I think) were selling a new product called Shimmer – it was a dessert topping that was also a floor wax all in one easy-to-use spray can. I am not sure this would be classified as a convergent technology in the classical sense – maybe a spray can and dessert topping are not considered “technology” by some. Didn’t the Norwegian engineer who invented the aerosol spray can win a Nobel Prize (as he helped take the first steps to global warming)? But, an American bought the patent! U-S-A, U-S-A!
Some would argue that technological convergence has its drawbacks - when technologies are merged one of the technologies often losses something in the merger. When a cell phone is merged with a digital camera, the camera is not as good as the un-merged technology. And if you’re on ATT, the phone is not as good either. Haha. When a light bulb is used as a heat source for an Easy-Bake-Oven, the cupcakes just don’t taste as good as a conventional oven. Can you say "Insomnia"? Haha.
I am sensing that the pace of the program is starting to accelerate. There are just so many aquariums and snowboarding runs at Dubai Mall. It should get very interesting.
As always, I look forward to your future updates. Can you get the SF Giants on TV at Topaz Court? When is the field trip to Qushm Island? Bring your SCUBA gear – hey, another confluence of convergent technologies. Have fun, and remember – When the moon hits your eye like a big piece-of-Dubai, that’s amoré.
Love,
Dad