I guess that would work if you’re under 8 years old…

Mampe, good luck in China. I figured you could use some wisdom.

Update:
Here are some random images from last night’s presentations

abalos y herreros

cabinet magazine, this presentation totally rocked… doodles from presidents, a cabinet library. Awesome

Cabinetland

Maria Cornejo’s sketch for one of her draped garments. Very much like what Paul Poiret was doing over 100 years ago.

The process:
Fll the radiator with water and add eggs to it.
Turn the truck on.
As the water heats up, the eggs cook and fill the holes…

After a brief search, I found this *extensive* list of all the problems solved by McGyver.

I was of course vindicated: Bushmaster is the episode…He used only the whites though, so I got that detail wrong. Ha!

Don’t they have to fill out those customs forms where you have to declare what is it you’re shipping?
And, doesn’t anyone on the other side have to actually cross check the contents of the package with those ones in the form?

Probably what rang the bell was that the box said “Made in U.S.A” instead of “Made in Taiwan”…

You would think this is one of those idiotic things that rarely happen, but then of course, how can you forget this.

Read the article here.

Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction giant has died today at age 90.

Farewell and thanks Mr. Clarke. You will be missed.

Read the Wired news here.

We in architecture -among many other professions- tend to over-complexify the simplest matters with our very specific use of language. The trend seems to be expanding now even to the most mundane; very soon we won’t even be able to keep our Domino’s pizza warm without a specialist standing next to us.

Oscar Niemeyer turns 100 today. And still doing work.

BBC gallery here.

BBC

Read Vitruvius’ 10 books of Architecture in Latin here (English here )
Here is a cleaner version of the Latin text.

Some resources here.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately, but for the last week and a half I’ve been in sort of in health hell. I got a pretty gnarly lil bug called MRSA (pronounced MERSA – methacillin resistant staphylococcus aureus). The bacteria turned out to be quite a Motherf***er which is not so easy to get rid off, since it’s already pretty much resistant to a lot of common antibiotics.

In my short stay at the hospital, I came to realize that these fine institutions are a mix between The Hilton Hotel and Abu-Ghraib. Sleep deprivation and initial disorientation seem to be the M.O. to make you then succumb to their better-than-airplane food and Thursday afternoon milkshakes…

The short story of the whole thing goes like this.

I got a bump in my arm which I thought was nothing and turned out to be a pretty serious infection. After a few visits to the E.R. I was then admitted to the hospital from Wednesday to Sunday.

Read the full account of my odyssey after the jump and view some images way at the end

I just got out of the NY presbyterian hospital earlier today and here is the full account of what was my longest-ever stay in one of these fine institutions:

Tuesday July 31st: The Birth. Felt a little bump in my arm near my elbow, arghhh an annoying pimple I thought, slap some OXY on it and kill it tomorrow…

Wednesday Aug 1st : The bump was bigger but not pimple-like…mmm, lets squeeze it a bit to help it get better…called my dad and told him about it, he suggested I took a bit of antibiotics he had left in my house from his previous visit.

Thursday Aug 2nd: My ‘pimple’ looked a lot better, by now I thought I had beat him up thanks to the AB and my fine squeezing technique. It was only a matter of time for it to be gone.

Friday Aug 3rd: The Return. Somehow the sucker had bounced back. The thing itself was starting to really hurt and now it didn’t look as pretty as I would’ve wanted it to be. I could see some infection going on in there. I took some Advil and packed some large band aids to help me out through the workday… At nights I would show my dad and sister via webcam (they’re both doctors in Cali) the evolution of my baby.

Saturday Aug 4th: Mara and I had had plans to go to the Hamptons for one of her big summer office parties. We had rented a mini-cooper (which I have to admit, just rocks – too bad it was automatic – but now I know what our future car will be). We left around 10 am. I had to pretty much drive one handed. My left arm was in quite a bit of pain and by now I knew that this was no damn pimple. We went to the first party, a lot of fun, beautiful house, great food, etc. I said screw it to the antibiotics, I’m having a few drinks. After that party there was another one somewhere else in Sag Harbor, where the drinking continued till late. My arm was ok, still hurting but nothing a bunch of Advil couldn’t control. That night I slept very little, the pain had become unbearable and only till I had some painkillers did I manage to get some sleep.

Sunday Aug 5th: The E.R. The pain was pretty bad – imagine a toothache in your elbow – that sort of constant pain that just gets so tiring after a little while. Since we had a car and were out in the Hamptons, we decided that pain and all, we should hang out and go to see Montauk. Long Island is quite cool, we drove out to the lighthouse and around some little towns, hung out at the beach etc. Around 5 pm we decided o come back. At this point my arm was just in complete pain. Advil still helped at this stage… We got to the city at around 9 pm, dropped off the car (at 68th st) and because of the annoying constant pain decided to walk to the emergency room at the NY Presbyterian Hospital. By now, the ‘pimple’ had become an insane abscess and it was really infected. It hurt like hell and looked as nasty as it could. Once at the E.R. I was admitted right away and then just taken inside where I had to wait and wait. I was given pain medicine and had blood cultures taken. It was time then for the ‘draining’ of the abscess, for which I was given several shots of local anesthetics to no real avail. Then the doctor had to cut it open and clean it up, and since that’s not enough, it had to then be filled up with a ‘packing’ fabric. Needless to say, the pain was unbearable… The doctor sent me back home with a prescription for a super strong painkiller and oral antibiotics. I was told I had to go back on Monday to check on the packing and see how everything was going. It wasn’t until around 3 am that Mara and I made it back home, this time with a cut and great pain in my arm.

Monday Aug 6th: Urgent Care. I didn’t make it work, got my prescription and stayed pretty much in bed all day. Made sure I took my antibiotics and took it easy. At around 6:30 pm Mara and I went back to the Urgent care unit, were I saw this time a few worried doctors. I was given a few more painkillers before the cleaning of the abscess, had it ‘repacked’ and then sent back home. Had been told to come back on Wednesday for a checkup and the repacking. The pain in my arm had diminished a lot (maybe it was the painkillers) and started to see the bright side.

Tuesday Aug 7th: Went to work all day, took my AB and everything looked just fine. Didn’t feel terrible, although I did take 1 painkiller in the morning, just because my arm hurt a bit. Was woozy and useless at work, so I left at around 5 pm. Once at home, I checked on a few missed calls from someone at the hospital. Once I listened through the messages, the phone rang again. It was Rosa, from the hospital… “Your blood culture was positive”, Positive to what I ask; “To the bacteria in your arm. You should come to the hospital immediately”. Oh well I have scheduled a visit for tomorrow so I can come in the morning before going to work I say. I had no idea what a positive culture meant… “Ok that should work, come in the morning”.

Wednesday Aug 8th: The crackdown. The whole morning was a mess. Apparently it rained super hard so all the trains were shut down. Mara had no real way to get to work and I decided to take my time before trying to go out and battle it. That morning Mara read the prescription on the bottle of antibiotics and realized that I had misread it and had been taking a smaller dose than required… Enough to start a lousy day. We ended up walking to the hospital and getting there at around 11:30 am. Once in the same little room I had been on Monday, the doctors came in and said this to me: “You’re blood cultures were positive, we’re admitting you to the hospital.”… I was asked multiple times a bunch of standard questions (allergies, drink, previous history, etc etc). After a while, the wound was cleaned up again (under great pain of course) and was told to wait until I got a room. I didn’t remember if I had a tetanus shot so they just gave me one for the kicks. It might take a while, because you’re going to be in the isolation area…. At around 12:00 am I was moved to a room, hooked up to I.V. antibiotics and left alone. Mara had come back from work and stayed with me until then. Such a trooper. I didn’t get to fall asleep until around 2:30 am.

Thursday Aug 9th: Torture. At 5:00 am on the dot, a nurse stormed into the room, furnishing about 10 of those little blood sample bottles. Hi I need to draw blood from you, can I have your arm? There goes my right arm. Now I need your other arm… Went back to sleep when at 6 am a new bag of antibiotics had to be hooked to the I.V. Wake up again and get reconnected to the I.V. Went back to sleep as quickly as I could. Again at 6:45 am: Hi, I’m your nutritionist, what would you like to eat today? I chose whatever I could understand from a list of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tried to get back to sleep, the nutritionist again, then a few minutes later the doctor…It was torture. I am very very grateful for all the care I was being given, but I just needed to sleep dammit!
It turned out that the antibiotics had to be given to me every 6 hours, 6am, 12pm, 6pm, 12 am on the dot every day.
Mara came and visit me twice that day and brought me clean clothes, movies and books. Trying to handle work stuff while having blood drawn doesn’t quite work as I discovered.

Friday Aug 10th through Aug 11th: Same stuff. Mara and some of my aunts visited me at the hospital, got a bunch of calls from friends, etc. I kept trying to not fall behind too much at work by keeping in touch with people and it partially worked. Friday I was told I might be leaving on Saturday, Saturday I was told I might be leaving on Sunday. Had the abscess cleaned up again, no pain whatsoever this time (I did ask for a super painkiller before though)

Sunday Aug 12th:At 8 am I was told I could go home, they brought me my papers and told me I was free… Got ready, called Mara and left at around 1 pm.

Now I only have to take 9 capsules of antibiotics a day. Not only am I mildly allergic (or it seems like its a common side effect of the AB) it makes me itchy as hell, but it makes my tummy ache every now and then. Other than that I’m pretty much back to normal. If by normal you understand having a 1/4″ x 1/4″ hole in your arm that you have to pack every other day, plus the antibiotics, plus the anti allergic, plus….

This is how many I’ve got left

Here’s my view

This is my suite

So I’m back in town after visiting my parents down in Colombia. Since I travel in style, I took the Rolls Royce back, courtesy of Avianca.

Read more about the recent marriage between RR and Avianca here.

I saw this beauty parked by our studio on 27th and 6th.

Protected against evil-eye on the front by a voodoo doll, together with a zebra-like animal to bring abundance in food (?) and the Taj-Mahal on the side, to remind you of the place you’d rather be in.

I wonder if I can get mine customized like this.

This is the zebra-like animal

The Taj-Mahal devoid of tourists

Evil-eye protection / whoever-path-I-cross-shall-die-tonight doll

Full frontal

As seen today for a brief period of time through our window. Could anyone read what it said?

More images in the link below

Poking around the web, I found a picture of my good friend Mampe at the Architectural Association Design Research Lab (DRL) in their studio trip to China.
Mampe (who contributes to the blog as inframince) is erratica’s ‘London correspondent’. For those of you who are interested, the AA is probably the baddest-assest architecture school in the globe at the moment, and I can only begin to imagine what these guys are up to over there. Needless to say, Mampe you’ll have to post some pictures of your trip and your final project.

The final jury for the project was quite impressive:
Zaha Hadid, Ali Rahim, Hernan Diaz Alonso among others.

Ok man, your time upload!