Thursday, April 11, 2013

What a crock of crap....

Yesterday I attended a seminar on "high performance building".  I still like to keep up with the newest energy-saving building trends, especially since I might eventually build one more house for K and I.

The first presenter was a "building scientist" flown in from Michigan by Dow Chemical.  I had to chuckle quietly when he was introduced with his "building scientist" title.  He had reams of computer-generated data, but I doubt much of what he offered could be reproduced on a real jobsite.  The second presenter (just a lowly engineer) obviously knew how to build a home and his energy saving advice was excellent.  He carried the "scientist", hands down.

With just two more courses I, too, can be a "Certified High Performance Building Scientist".  WooHoo!

I guess I'm just wary of people with fancy titles.  It reminds of an article I read years ago during the era of busing kids across town to achieve more equal racial enrollment at schools.

The term "busing" was a touchy subject back then so for PR purposes a "bus" was renamed a "motorized attendance module", and instead of hiring "bus drivers" the school system advertised for "motorized attendance module technicians".  Why use 3 syllables when you can use 11, right?  

Is anybody really suckered by titles these days?  Is "deputy assistant undersecretary" really just the new code for "the office gofer"?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

My big embarrassing moment yesterday was when I came home at the end of the day.  K immediately pushed me back and said, "Oh my gawd....what did you eat?"


As part of my seminar enrollment fee we were served lunch.  I told her that we had salad, bread, and a chicken/pasta dish.  She said it must have been loaded with garlic as I just reeked.  Who knew?

The worst part was that after my seminar I had gone over to visit with and advise one of our homeowners from 21 years ago.  They are debating whether to remodel / update their home or just sell and have us (bro with the semi-retired me assisting) build them a new one.  I'm going to call them back today with some answers to their questions and somehow work in "sorry about my garlic breath yesterday."

Somebody needs to invent a portable "stink-o-meter" to keep me from embarrassing myself this way again.  ;)

S

8 comments:

  1. Ha, I grew up outside of Midland, MI where Dow Chemical is based. My dad worked there for over 20 years, though not as a scientist. So yay Dow!

    But I agree about those stupid politically correct and/or legalese terms. Yesterday I had to retype a bunch of stuff in financial statements because some auditor decided that instead of "loans" we should call the "notes receivables from participants." So, um, yeah you mean loans? Some people take things way too far just to try and show how smart and clever they are to make big words out of small words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, Midland, MI. That's where this guy was from. Nice guy, but I found it funny that he could make a living doing was he does, which was....um...I'm not really sure what he did? :)

      S

      Delete
  2. Somebody has to keep the sign-painters & form-printers in business :)

    I just always assume I have bad breath & chew gum before I'm going to meet with someone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So you had "Resparitory environment de-purification?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There you go with your hoighty-toighty words. No, I STUNK! ;)

      Delete
  4. I have wonderful breath--everyone says so--but I have been known to walk around with a zit on my nose.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...salad, bread, and a chicken/pasta dish... Really, no bacon?

    I have a ton of those cute little tins of Trader Joe's green tea breath mints. Like Bug, I'll assume I just have bad breath and have one after a meal. Stock up when you go to TJ's the next time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ouch, garlic heavy meals should come with a warning.

    ReplyDelete