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Oct. 29th, 2001
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...but is it art?
Oct. 29th, 2001 05:04 pmOur company is a spinoff of MAYA Design, and we share office space. MAYA Design is populated with many visual designers; this is primarily applied to user interfaces, but it has side effects. Our office space, for example, is very unusual (mostly in a positive way). A lot of thought has gone into the office space, and it generally works. But it can look funny to the uninitiated.
For example, there's the round conference room. And most of the offices are in the "inner core", not by the windows, but they have large windows in them (so having an office gets you daylight but doesn't deprive others). The library is kind of triangular, with bookcases built to fit the space well. The hallways have a nice graceful flow to them.
There are almost no rectangular rooms. My office, for example, is basically a rhombus. (I think that's the correct term. Two parallel walls, one perpendicular to both of them, and one that is straight but at an angle.)
Today an odd thing appeared in one of our so-far-unused rectangular rooms. (We got new space recently and haven't fully populated it. We aren't going to remodel now, but will later, I'm told.) There is now a large plastic cylinder occupying most of this room and running from floor to ceiling. The walls are translucent, so I can see that there is something in the center of the cylinder, but there are notices saying "fragile" and "don't touch", and what I suspect is a door is currently closed, so I have not investigated.
I assume that this is somehow related to some UI testing someone is doing, or something like that. But I can't help thinking that it's really a psychology experiment and there are hidden cameras and microphones in the room.
For example, there's the round conference room. And most of the offices are in the "inner core", not by the windows, but they have large windows in them (so having an office gets you daylight but doesn't deprive others). The library is kind of triangular, with bookcases built to fit the space well. The hallways have a nice graceful flow to them.
There are almost no rectangular rooms. My office, for example, is basically a rhombus. (I think that's the correct term. Two parallel walls, one perpendicular to both of them, and one that is straight but at an angle.)
Today an odd thing appeared in one of our so-far-unused rectangular rooms. (We got new space recently and haven't fully populated it. We aren't going to remodel now, but will later, I'm told.) There is now a large plastic cylinder occupying most of this room and running from floor to ceiling. The walls are translucent, so I can see that there is something in the center of the cylinder, but there are notices saying "fragile" and "don't touch", and what I suspect is a door is currently closed, so I have not investigated.
I assume that this is somehow related to some UI testing someone is doing, or something like that. But I can't help thinking that it's really a psychology experiment and there are hidden cameras and microphones in the room.
Sunday dinner
Oct. 29th, 2001 05:22 pmSunday dinner was fun. Ralph and Lori made a wonderful N-bean chili (just about every kind of bean you could imagine, well except I don't think it included garbonzos), and nicely spiced. And vegetarian, which is always useful.
After dinner we carved pumpkins. I can't remember if I've ever carved a pumpkin; I certainly haven't done so as an adult. It was fun. There seems to be a whole industry around pumpkin-carving now; I foolishly thought that carving a pumpkin involved a pumpkin, a knife, and something to scoop pumpkin guts out with. I had never seen the tools that apparently can be gotten in grocery stores. The little saber-saw blades with plastic handles worked especially well. The plastic awl was handy for marking where to cut, so you didn't have to worry about residual marker ink.
I finally remembered to take my laser pointer. I've been thinking about that ever since Ralph and Lori got kittens. My cats go nuts chasing it, and I figured kittens would be a hoot. (I did wait for Ralph or Lori to agree to this, though.) It was even more entertaining than I thought it would be. Two of my cats will follow the dot up the wall, but they don't jump for it the way the kittens did. The kitties got a good workout. (I hope that means they slept more soundly than they usually do.)
After dinner we carved pumpkins. I can't remember if I've ever carved a pumpkin; I certainly haven't done so as an adult. It was fun. There seems to be a whole industry around pumpkin-carving now; I foolishly thought that carving a pumpkin involved a pumpkin, a knife, and something to scoop pumpkin guts out with. I had never seen the tools that apparently can be gotten in grocery stores. The little saber-saw blades with plastic handles worked especially well. The plastic awl was handy for marking where to cut, so you didn't have to worry about residual marker ink.
I finally remembered to take my laser pointer. I've been thinking about that ever since Ralph and Lori got kittens. My cats go nuts chasing it, and I figured kittens would be a hoot. (I did wait for Ralph or Lori to agree to this, though.) It was even more entertaining than I thought it would be. Two of my cats will follow the dot up the wall, but they don't jump for it the way the kittens did. The kitties got a good workout. (I hope that means they slept more soundly than they usually do.)