Wednesday, October 05, 2022

What To Do With Downtime...

Lot of idle time around the office these days. My host nation has a new king. Zahir and I paid homage to the Queen as she was laid to rest. 
 
We've had a lot of construction projects put on hold because of the recent aggression with Russia. Former Warsaw Pact nations apparently don't want to build new buildings just to watch Vladimir Putin knock them down.
 
The fancy hotel we designed in Kiev is mostly rubble.  Our client is already planning to rebuild it bigger and better. He wants to use us again because in his words, "Vladimir had to waste a hell of a lot of ordinance to bring it down... You build good!" Zahir told him that was the best compliment. 
 
Due to economic setbacks the building I was working on in Scotland is on hold.
 
All is not negative our client in Egypt has moved into his new home I designed. He and his family are overjoyed without it turned out. I have some potential clients in California. It seems the earthquake resistant dome home I designed in Iran is garnered some interest with a Persian family outside of LA. 
 
They are interested because of the fire resistance of the structure in addition to the earthquake protection. IF it gets built,  the neighborhood has its share of unconventional homes already so it shouldn't stand out too badly. All that depends on if the neighbors allow it to be built. I hate deed restricted communities. 
 
There's a product I want to add they're called fire shutters. They're like a security door of sorts. If the sensors detect a certain temperature they will deploy. They can also be manually triggered. Just like the outer concrete skin of the building the whole purpose is to keep cinders from sparking flame. In theory they will create a zone of cooler air to protect the windows underneath them. 
 
The client thought another byproduct of this product was interesting. Imagine you're on vacation. You receive an alert from your security system and trip the interior cameras. You are watching someone in your home who is not supposed to be there. 
 
Then imagine being able to hit a button on a remote and triggering all of the roll down shutters (including those over the exterior doors) trapping the bad guy in the house until the police arrive. Of course I recommended if you go on vacation you should seal the shutters and protect the building up front. By their nature bad guys are lazy.
 
All of this leaves me with time on my hands. One of the things I'm doing for fun is rewriting and cleaning up a lot of the stories I posted on Nifty. It's nice having something to do.

Monday, August 29, 2022

it is finished.

 Hard to believe it has been almost a year between posts. Sorry, life happened.

After three long years I have finally completed Night of the Wolf. Chapter 6 will be the final chapter. It was hard but I couldn't just walk away from Jedidiah and Arian.

 A few times it put me in a bad mental state and Zahir made me stop. He was right. I know some fans will have issue with the sugary ending but it is what is. 

 We are still in London I'm not sure for how much longer. COVID and economic slowdown have taken a toll on the industry. There is a chance we will move back to Jordan. 

 If that happens I will be the house boy and occasional consultant.  Zahir says I can go back to school. Seems silly to go for a master's degree in a career I will probably never be able to work in.

 I lost my grandparents. Meemaw got COVID with COPD complications it didn't take much. I never knew she was a smoker at one time. Okay I guess I am a little on the dumb side... DUH they were tobacco farmers. Pawpaw died of a heart attack a few weeks later. Zahir took me to both services. 

 His mother came to be with me when we got back to London. Aunt Megan has been calling me 2 to 3 times a week just to make sure I'm doing well. For so long I dreamt of having a family. They finally come back into my life and I lose them within 3 years.

 Z has been doing a lot of baby care on me. He is my rock, I would be lost without him.