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When you are an employee, you follow your boss’s direction. You can try to convince him to take a different approach, but when you are meeting with people on his behalf, you should follow what you know to be what he wants.

I’ve only worked in architetcs and developers offices. The developer was great…the one with the money is the boss. Within the architects offices, you still have old school egos who think you plany pansies all day, and then you have some who appreciate the skills ans what a lifesaver you can be. I can’t tell you how many times and to how many…[Read more]

I’ve only been in the field for a little over 2 1/2 yrs and it’s starting to wear on me. I tell myself that maybe it’s because I work for a small practice, therefore, we’re not in the position to negotiate. I would like to hear the experience of people from larger practices.

This has been my experience with the LA profession as well. Will it change? Maybe in a generation or two, but not overnight. Not to sound pessimistic, but after 8 years in the field it really wears on you.

Thank you for your help! I have just started to think about this as a possibility… we will see where I end up. As for the Dutch, I’ve just started learning. From what I can see, I will just need a basic understanding if I attend an international school.

This is meant to be a reply to JASON RADICE’S comments, but for some reason it keeps slipping back to Ben Yahr’s place. So to be clear, this comment is in reply to Jason Radice’s comments;

Ah-ha! so the argument about regulation and the oil spill DOES have some relevance to a discussion of what america is all about..

I think you are wrong on…[Read more]

Along the lines of the principals set forth by the founding fathers, it is extremely important to have a solid understanding of the issues and the facts. We can’t all be petroleum geologists, but we also can’t believe everything we hear on our favorite media outlet. Start by understanding the quantity of oil that we currently use for gasoline-…[Read more]

I suggest you talk to this guy: http://www.land8lounge.com/profile/AlexPriest as he’s already there. I’ve thought about studying in the Netherlands as I have family there and it would be interesting to reconnect with my cultural roots, but I have thus far lacked the nerve to do it! When I was in college, I met this grad student from Wagenigen…[Read more]

Andrew is correct, this rig was inspected, permitted, and even won a safety award from the government! The oil industry is one of the most tightly regulated businesses in the nation, and BP was playing ball with the gov’t with massive political donations (mostly to Obama, believe it or not) for ease on regulation and inclusion in the alternative…[Read more]

May we please have our British overlords back? Can you bring the NHS with you please. Thank You!

I think lately more than ever perhaps people, especially the truly middle class, are beginning to see the hampster wheel for what it is.

I can’t place blame on anyone or any specific thing directly for ‘keeping me down,’ but certainly in this economic climate the separation between classes is ever more apparent. From my own personal experience I…[Read more]

Recall that regulations were in place,ignored, and not enforced. Who is talking about off shore drilling on this thread?

I’m not an extreme Darwinist who does not believe in regulation and protection of the environment, consumers, health, safety, security and many other things, if that is what you want to imply..

Are you going to…[Read more]

So how you you, Andrew, and Jason, think we should proceed, as a society, regarding off-shore drilling? Less regulation, more free-enterprise? Is that the American way?

Jason,

I mean that our DNA is not different. Our system is definitely different. Our culture is definitely different.

Work ethic is generated by two things. One is necessity for survival. The other is for gain.

It sounds to me that you are saying the same thing. It also sounds like you believe, as I do, that both of these motivational forces…[Read more]

Who is pushing anyone down. All I’m saying is that the system excells on people taking risks that they would not take if they had little to gain from it.. Certainly we have compassion, certainly we as a society have shown over and over again that we have the greatest capacity to choose the good. But there has only been one factor that makes us…[Read more]

I do have one disagreement with your last statement. Americans ARE different than any other peoples in the world. Back in the Revolutionary days (and before), this was a wilderness outpost, even in our largest cities. Most chose to be here, they emigrated for religious freedoms and pure opportunity that existed with a new land. It was the values…[Read more]

Both. There are people with the capability and potential who just don’t (look at our inner cities-look at our schools), and business regulation (in many states) is so costly and so prohibitive, the endeavor is not worth the effort for the return. I do think much of it has to do with personal ambition as well. These guys read all the time, no TV…[Read more]

Andrew, while I completely agree with you that they understood ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’ they also knew that given the choice more people than not would choose the good. To many times I think that we discredit the human population as a whole because we have a few bad experiences. In these hard times, I have seen people continue to step up…[Read more]

Right you are Jason. There are a lot of people feeling very threatened by the intrusions from those two places.

When people can’t choose to do what they want with the rewards of their efforts, they find it much more difficult to make the effort, take risks (like hiring people, or building things), and to donate to good causes.

Whether we choose…[Read more]

Perhaps you could narrow your search by asking yourself what it is specifically you feel is missing. There are lots of good books out there on business, investing, design, management, and construction. Perhaps a degree in Landscape design/arch is not necessarily what you need.