Out team did some manual labor and laid cement wall blocking in the ADNEC building. Was a lot tougher than the workers make it look. We are so proud of our baby wall! hahaAfter a nice lunch at the Holiday in, our group went to the Guardian towers in Abu Dhabi. The towers are located near the ADNEC building. A detailed tour was provided by Mr. Jihad, the project manager for the Guardian Towers. The towers were completed earlier this month. It was a nice to see the building in its completed stage. The finish of the multi use building was stunning. Marble and granite was used in several locations. Both polished and unpolished versions provided the building a clean and contemporary finish. The ground floor connects the two towers. A special feature of this project is that it uses an expansion joint spanning the width of the building to allow for the building’s material to expand and contract without educing failures.
Apartment kitchen of finished Guardian Towers in Abu Dhabi...Ill take one!On our way home we made a quick visit to the mosque of Sheik Zayed, one of the largest mosques in the world. It was stunning!! The craftsmanship on the building was incomparable.
AUTHORS NOTE:
Dear Followers,
I will be heading to India for a little vacation with the other interns and program teachers. I am so excited for this unexpected journey. Here is a brief outline of our 3 day trip. Arrive in Delhi Thursday morning, drive to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, drive back to Delhi and explore the city (Friday). I will not be taking my computer, so I will take avid notes in order to update the blog upon my arrival.
Thanks for following,
Sean
Hey Dog,
ReplyDeletePart 1 of 2:
I understand that Craig Venter delivered the 2011 commencement address at SU back in May. As you probably know, Venter was given credit for mapping the human genome. But it wasn’t any random human; he mapped his own genome and put it in the public domain. And now, the courts say that corporations can patent the various parts of the human genome – not good. But as always, I digress.
I bring up Craig Venter’s work because in mapping the human genome, he discovered that the “inner nerd” you speak of is located on the Y-chromosome and consists of 6 genes. That infamous Y-gene – it’s been the cause of many international incidents, among them: Paris’ abduction of Helen that started the Trojan War (and turned Helen of Sparta into Helen of Troy), Khrushchev banging his shoe on the table at the U.N., John Lennon’s proclamation that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, and was the reason Bugs Bunny could plug up the barrel of Elmer Fudd’s shot gun by using just an index finger, most notably during wabbit season.
If all 6 genes are in the “on” position, then your “inner nerd” is like the Physicist to the Cosmos, Stephen Hawking, who during a bathroom break, wonders about decomposing, porting and re-assembling inter-spatial particles using the time-space distortion of a near-by worm hole whose front door is on the other side of the universe as a way to avoid the high costs of rocket fuel and the 100,000 years it would take to get there traveling at the speed of light. What the heck – didn’t he watch Star Trek? The bumper sticker on the USS Enterprise reads, “Beam me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here.”
If only one gene is turned on, then the “inner nerd” looks more like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. The synapse is no longer a space between two neurons but more like the air pocket between two clumps of straw. You get confused about which road to take to Oz, you’re not sure what a hypotenuse is (never mind an isosceles triangle), you develop an unexplained paranoia of flying monkeys, and you get a crow confused with a raven (and neither is afraid of you).
End of Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, my inner nerd wasn’t quite sure how increasing the tension in rebar has the impact of changing the camber in the freshly-poured concrete floor. I had to check out the January 2006 issue of my newest, favorite nerd magazine – “Concrete Construction: Your Information Source to the Concrete Industry.” I learned all about post-tensioned construction, the need for a handy-dandy, pocket-sized pacometer, and the occasional blow-out (cool). Did your site manager demonstrate a blowout? It’s not quite as much fun as wine tasting, but it may be more of an adrenaline rush. From my inner nerd to your inner nerd, check out their web site. I am now ready to take one of Mr. Yabroudi’s pop quizzes.
I also learned a little conversational tidbit I’ll use at next month’s Inner Nerd cocktail party: “Whether in a small residential slab on grade or a 30-story hotel, each tendon will be loaded to roughly 33,000 pounds during stressing.” And I’ll use that little factoid when ordering the newest cocktail that’s all the rage in the Arab world where alcohol is consumed sparingly – the Blow Out! That’s sure to impress!
Through your blog, I have developed a new appreciation for concrete. Who wuddah thunk it? I can’t explain it, but I have the urge to carve my initials is some newly poured concrete – minus the re-bar cable snap (hey, sounds like another name for a cocktail).
It is always fun for me to get a glimpse of the world through your eyes. Thanks for finding the time to write in the midst of your long, busy, hot days. I look forward to your blog updates and hearing the complete stories when you get home. It was either Jack Buck or Roger Grimsby who said, “Thank you for your time, this time, until next time.”
With all my love,
Dad
End of Part 2 of 2