Hello Again!
Back-to-back installments of the Skullfuck - aren't you lucky?
While fixing the 'typical' bullshit this morning (it's funny, the most stressful shit I've had to deal with at this job still pales in comparison to the best day I had fighting with Revit), I had somebody ask me about some additions to an industrial building I did a while back.
They told me that there were two remote panels missing (that were shown on the drawings we received) and that the main control panel was shown in the wrong place. I verified that this was indeed the case, and a few minutes later the office manager came by asking about the same thing. He was concerned because we would most likely have to eat the cost of the 'missing' panels.
Fortunately, I don't throw anything away. I used to have people laugh about the number of boxes I kept in my office (five years worth at any given time), but besides covering my (and the companies) ass on more than one occasion, it was also a visual representation of the amount of work I had cranked out over that time period (instead of sitting around whittling my dick in Revit).
Within a few minutes I was able to produce a drawing that I had used while discussing the project with the guy who originally brought it to me. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping to find (someone's markup telling me to take the panels out), but it was the next best thing. Basically, the guy had made changes to the design based on what he thought they needed (whereas I would've done it exactly as shown).
Based on that drawing, the office manager was able to see that the changes were obviously intentional and not an oversight on my part. Now, that's partly a matter of personal pride - but also reflects on my professionalism. It's hard to say whether or not the guy who made the changes would've owned up to it (were it not for having hard evidence), but fortunately I don't have to worry about it now.
I don't go around all paranoid thinking that people are out to fuck me over, but experience has shown that it's better to never give them an opportunity in the first place - and I'll definitely have my eye on this guy in the future if he ever tells me to deviate from a design in the future.
It's the same attitude I took all those years ago when someone tried to fuck me over by convincing me to throw away the tools I continue to use with great success in exchange for a bag full of broken screwdrivers - and I responded with a resounding 'FUCK YOU'.
Especially considering that it was the same people I had to constantly keep an eye on to keep them from throwing me under the bus who were trying to convince me to do it.
Fuck that. Fuck Revit, and if you don't like it Fuck You!
-SkullFuck
Next Time: 2017 Revit Continues The March Into WTF Territory?
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Can You Hear Me Now?
Hello Sunshine!
It's funny, I spent years fighting the good fight by trying to keep up with the constant changes that result from indecisive project owners, incompetent design staff, and a total lack of fucks given on the part of those who decided to throw Revit into the midst of an already unstable system under the delusion that all of that other shit would somehow work itself out.
I sidestepped that shit show, but still find myself downstream from it from time to time, which makes it necessary to take steps to prevent myself from winding up wading in fecal matter. I received a call the other day from someone in one of our other offices asking about (yet another) hotel where someone reviewing our drawings pointed out that we hadn't put the necessary devices into hearing impaired guest units.
I pointed out to the caller that I had responded to these comments several months ago with some pertinent questions, but received no response (meaning they never read my e-mail, or read it and forgot about it) I forwarded the e-mail to them (yes, forwarded the same e-mail that I had already sent them).
Now, even though I have considerable experience in the skill of convincing people who don't want to deal with their own projects to pay attention for long enough to grasp the intricacies, it can still be difficult to get them to understand the questions that I ask require more than two word responses (and may actually require them to do their fucking jobs).
In this case, after reviewing the drawings we received from the engineer, it became clear that there was no way to actually determine which guest units were hearing impaired. Their typical units only had normal and ADA plans - although I did find one note buried on one of the sheets about hearing impaired unit requirements.
While looking at the list of units they claimed were hearing impaired I started to see that (most of) these units had a '-CF' added to the end of the unit type (although what '-CF' was supposed to indicate was nowhere on the drawings). Looking harder, I found that even that wasn't consistent throughout all of the floors (with some '-CF' units not being on their list, and some on their list without '-CF'.
The one difference between what I used to do and what I do now, is that when there are mistakes, inconsistencies, etc. on the drawings we receive (or changes come along later), we can charge to make these changes. It would sometimes happen at my old job (if the changes were being driven by the owner, and the project manager had the sack to ask for more money), but it's standard practice here.
It still requires getting the project manager on board with the fact that the information we received was incomplete, and that it wasn't an oversight on our part. Fortunately (as always), because I'm using CAD, I was able to put together updated plans quickly so they can see the extent of the changes that were necessary.
I doubt that the explanation that I provided them (and outlined here) will ever get to the people who made the comments (although when I send these drawings - I'm going to reiterate it again). I guess I shouldn't be surprised though - since every project I've ever done with 'typical' units required grabbing someone by the face and convincing them that units requiring special attention need to be brought to my attention.
If I'm successful in making my case, they might even keep me in the loop when changes that affect me are made (the second the decision to make those changes is made - and not when those changes finally make their way onto drawings/models).
Revitards made a clusterfuck out of a the last building with typical units I ever had the displeasure of looking at in Revit (by trying to detail out a specific unit in the overall plan for each 'typical' unit). Even after extensive planning, I still had to hold their hand through the process (imagine that).
Now that I'm one step removed from that whole process, I have to rely on someone taking the initiative to send me updated drawings - but as I mentioned earlier, whether they give them to me now, or wait until later, they are getting charged.
Fuck incompetent morons, and since there is a good chance their incompetence is being multiplied exponentially through the use of Revit, then fuck it too.
Now Go Fuck Yourself,
-Skullfuck
Next Time: Diverting The Bus
It's funny, I spent years fighting the good fight by trying to keep up with the constant changes that result from indecisive project owners, incompetent design staff, and a total lack of fucks given on the part of those who decided to throw Revit into the midst of an already unstable system under the delusion that all of that other shit would somehow work itself out.
I sidestepped that shit show, but still find myself downstream from it from time to time, which makes it necessary to take steps to prevent myself from winding up wading in fecal matter. I received a call the other day from someone in one of our other offices asking about (yet another) hotel where someone reviewing our drawings pointed out that we hadn't put the necessary devices into hearing impaired guest units.
I pointed out to the caller that I had responded to these comments several months ago with some pertinent questions, but received no response (meaning they never read my e-mail, or read it and forgot about it) I forwarded the e-mail to them (yes, forwarded the same e-mail that I had already sent them).
Now, even though I have considerable experience in the skill of convincing people who don't want to deal with their own projects to pay attention for long enough to grasp the intricacies, it can still be difficult to get them to understand the questions that I ask require more than two word responses (and may actually require them to do their fucking jobs).
In this case, after reviewing the drawings we received from the engineer, it became clear that there was no way to actually determine which guest units were hearing impaired. Their typical units only had normal and ADA plans - although I did find one note buried on one of the sheets about hearing impaired unit requirements.
While looking at the list of units they claimed were hearing impaired I started to see that (most of) these units had a '-CF' added to the end of the unit type (although what '-CF' was supposed to indicate was nowhere on the drawings). Looking harder, I found that even that wasn't consistent throughout all of the floors (with some '-CF' units not being on their list, and some on their list without '-CF'.
The one difference between what I used to do and what I do now, is that when there are mistakes, inconsistencies, etc. on the drawings we receive (or changes come along later), we can charge to make these changes. It would sometimes happen at my old job (if the changes were being driven by the owner, and the project manager had the sack to ask for more money), but it's standard practice here.
It still requires getting the project manager on board with the fact that the information we received was incomplete, and that it wasn't an oversight on our part. Fortunately (as always), because I'm using CAD, I was able to put together updated plans quickly so they can see the extent of the changes that were necessary.
I doubt that the explanation that I provided them (and outlined here) will ever get to the people who made the comments (although when I send these drawings - I'm going to reiterate it again). I guess I shouldn't be surprised though - since every project I've ever done with 'typical' units required grabbing someone by the face and convincing them that units requiring special attention need to be brought to my attention.
If I'm successful in making my case, they might even keep me in the loop when changes that affect me are made (the second the decision to make those changes is made - and not when those changes finally make their way onto drawings/models).
Revitards made a clusterfuck out of a the last building with typical units I ever had the displeasure of looking at in Revit (by trying to detail out a specific unit in the overall plan for each 'typical' unit). Even after extensive planning, I still had to hold their hand through the process (imagine that).
Now that I'm one step removed from that whole process, I have to rely on someone taking the initiative to send me updated drawings - but as I mentioned earlier, whether they give them to me now, or wait until later, they are getting charged.
Fuck incompetent morons, and since there is a good chance their incompetence is being multiplied exponentially through the use of Revit, then fuck it too.
Now Go Fuck Yourself,
-Skullfuck
Next Time: Diverting The Bus
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
A-Typical
Here we go again.
I picked up another project - two buildings, one three story with 72 units, and one four story with 63 units. The plans were obviously done in Revit, however there was no attempt at making the typical units based on anything in the buildings.
It was immediately apparent something was wrong though, because they had still attempted to overlay the typical units on the floor plan - and in every single unit, the stove/range extended nearly all the way through the adjacent wall.
What struck me as odd was that I had reviewed a .pdf set and hadn't noticed it looking as fucked up as the plans I was setting up to use, so I took a closer look at them and was amused to find that the way they had made it work was by squeezing the stove/range to fit (leaving the eyes/burners on the range oval shaped).
I supposed it's possible that the width of the range is now correct based on the model they are going to install - however it still looked stupid on the .pdfs and completely retarded on my plans, and even though nobody is installing countertops based on my plan, I'm not about to send out my drawings looking like ass.
Quickly stopping to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't constrained by the idiotic shit that someone else crapped out in Revit, I dove in and fixed the plans (along with any number of other fuckups that have apparently become acceptable since Revit turned everyone's brains to shit).
Even though there was no difference between the building dimensions down both sides of the corridors, they had still somehow fucked up the dimensions within individual units (it would have been unnoticeable except when I attempted to align multiple ranges to their adjacent walls).
I'm still waiting on information to complete some of the systems, but I went ahead and got as far along as I could, and made a few guesses to fill in the blanks so that when that information is forthcoming I can either pat myself on the back for guessing correctly (or more likely end up having to adjust it accordingly).
Again - the ability to sketch out multiple options quickly, and then adjust and insert the necessary one(s) is invaluable to my line of work. I've already sized conduit sleeves into the individual units, so the only other thing I will have to do once I verify the rest of the information is to size sleeves through firewalls in the corridors based on the number and types of cabling going through each.
I'm sure someone somewhere has figured out how to make Revit calculate conduit sizes based on fill charts, but I can generally guess pretty close, and then run calculations to double-check. Of course, I will also leave some spare space - since invariably, someone will forget to tell me about something (or tell me wrong).
One other task I will have to undertake (as with any hotel/apartment) is to grab the person responsible for designing the building, shake them out of their Revit stupor, and force them to give me accurate counts on the number of handicap accessible, hearing impaired, etc. units (as opposed to what they are currently showing on their drawings - which is almost guaranteed to be wrong).
Not that they won't change the number/location of these later - but I want to have it in writing, so if we have to go back and change things, we can demand additional payment (in addition to not having to worry about someone making the mistake of questioning our ability to design our systems correctly).
If experience has taught me anything, it's that someone will inevitably fuck up, and the first thing they will do is start looking for someone to toss under the bus.
And goddamned if it's going to be me.
Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revit, and Fuck Reviteers. Eat a bag of dicks!
Sincerely,
SKuLLFuCK
Next Time:More Typical Bullshit
I picked up another project - two buildings, one three story with 72 units, and one four story with 63 units. The plans were obviously done in Revit, however there was no attempt at making the typical units based on anything in the buildings.
It was immediately apparent something was wrong though, because they had still attempted to overlay the typical units on the floor plan - and in every single unit, the stove/range extended nearly all the way through the adjacent wall.
What struck me as odd was that I had reviewed a .pdf set and hadn't noticed it looking as fucked up as the plans I was setting up to use, so I took a closer look at them and was amused to find that the way they had made it work was by squeezing the stove/range to fit (leaving the eyes/burners on the range oval shaped).
I supposed it's possible that the width of the range is now correct based on the model they are going to install - however it still looked stupid on the .pdfs and completely retarded on my plans, and even though nobody is installing countertops based on my plan, I'm not about to send out my drawings looking like ass.
Quickly stopping to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't constrained by the idiotic shit that someone else crapped out in Revit, I dove in and fixed the plans (along with any number of other fuckups that have apparently become acceptable since Revit turned everyone's brains to shit).
Even though there was no difference between the building dimensions down both sides of the corridors, they had still somehow fucked up the dimensions within individual units (it would have been unnoticeable except when I attempted to align multiple ranges to their adjacent walls).
I'm still waiting on information to complete some of the systems, but I went ahead and got as far along as I could, and made a few guesses to fill in the blanks so that when that information is forthcoming I can either pat myself on the back for guessing correctly (or more likely end up having to adjust it accordingly).
Again - the ability to sketch out multiple options quickly, and then adjust and insert the necessary one(s) is invaluable to my line of work. I've already sized conduit sleeves into the individual units, so the only other thing I will have to do once I verify the rest of the information is to size sleeves through firewalls in the corridors based on the number and types of cabling going through each.
I'm sure someone somewhere has figured out how to make Revit calculate conduit sizes based on fill charts, but I can generally guess pretty close, and then run calculations to double-check. Of course, I will also leave some spare space - since invariably, someone will forget to tell me about something (or tell me wrong).
One other task I will have to undertake (as with any hotel/apartment) is to grab the person responsible for designing the building, shake them out of their Revit stupor, and force them to give me accurate counts on the number of handicap accessible, hearing impaired, etc. units (as opposed to what they are currently showing on their drawings - which is almost guaranteed to be wrong).
Not that they won't change the number/location of these later - but I want to have it in writing, so if we have to go back and change things, we can demand additional payment (in addition to not having to worry about someone making the mistake of questioning our ability to design our systems correctly).
If experience has taught me anything, it's that someone will inevitably fuck up, and the first thing they will do is start looking for someone to toss under the bus.
And goddamned if it's going to be me.
Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revit, and Fuck Reviteers. Eat a bag of dicks!
Sincerely,
SKuLLFuCK
Next Time:More Typical Bullshit
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Hey - Where Did Revit Put That Door?
Glorious Morning!
I'm digging through a massive upgrade project that I somehow got talked into assisting with (another firm had been working on it up to this point, but between them being incompetent, slow, and error prone, we were asked to de-fuck the project).
It's actually the kind of thing I could see some Reviteer jizzing in their pants over the opportunity to show off their mad scheduling skills because the client (for some reason) wants schedules showing every piece of conduit and cable throughout the project (in addition to drawings showing the same information).
Fortunately for me, the people doing it used ACAD for their drawings (with .cal files referenced into them showing the backgrounds that came from an old set of drawings that were scanned and converted). It's not what I would call the 'best' way of doing it, but they apparently tried converting the scans into CAD linework and the results were terrible. Drawing over the top with CAD linework would normally be how I would do it on a smaller project, but this is multiple large buildings across a huge facility (and our scope/budget doesn't include time/money to do anything like that - and sure as hell doesn't include resources for modeling or dicking around with Revit for the rest of our lives).
The schedules are all done in Excel, and while it was a little bit tedious, I was able to completely redesign the first (relatively small) building despite them having put the panel feeding the system we are designing at damn near the diagonally opposite corner from where it actually needed to be. Someone also added some devices and modified the floor plan (which I had to fake in, since the background isn't really editable). All I have to do now is punch in a few quick dimensions (thank you polyline!) and doublecheck the conduit schedule to make sure that I have all of the cables shown properly.
Some automation would be cool - but at the same time, it's difficult to guarantee that said automation won't fuck things up worse than these morons did in the first place (especially if that automation is being utilized by similar morons). I've mentioned in the past how many errors I run across on other people's work simply because I'm spending a little more time (key word 'a little') to go through and actually look at how everything is being designed rather than say 'well, it's in Revit, so that's good enough'.
Case in point. Over the last few year or so I've had a fairly large data center project (approx. 9000 s.f.) come back around a few times with changes and added scope. I've talked about it before - because the architect on the project Revited up a model of the main area and a few ancillary rooms (in a much larger existing building).
They have multiple disciplines working with that model (HVAC/Pluming/Fire Protection, Electrical, etc.), which makes it especially amusing when I receive their latest and greatest model (exported into ACAD of course) to use as my background, and I notice that (since my systems extend beyond their area of work) that it doesn't actually line up with the rest of the building.
Also of note is a solid wall shown between the foyer and the main area - where I know there is a door, but most likely due to one of the 1/4 billion or so view settings that I always harp on, it just ain't there. I also have a .pdf of the drawing they (and the rest of the Reviting disciplines) are submitting too, and it isn't there either - so it's not just the export.
Then, while trying to figure out how to merge their plan and the overall plan, I notice that their entire plan is actually rotated a fraction of a degree. Again, I go look at the .pdf and sure enough - you can zoom way in and see little jogs in the line indicating that they aren't squared up. I use my trusty 'ALIGN' tool to fix that, but there is still something wrong. Columns that should be at 30' spacing are actually shown at 29'-11 39/64. Not a big deal - until you get to the other end of the room and walls are off by over 3".
Until I started noticing these fuckups, I was almost to the point of giving them the benefit of the doubt that someone had gone out, taken measurement, and accurately modeled the rooms that were being modified. In reality, either nobody gave a fuck - or nobody noticed. As always, Revitbots will point to the user (and not Revit) as the problem, which would be fair, except that this shit which wouldn't have flown pre-Revit, somehow gets a pass now.
If I were (god forbid) using Revit and was tied to this shitty model in order to produce my drawings, I wouldn't have a choice but to fake it and put mine out just as half-assed as everyone else, and fuck that. My only other choice would be to try to cajole the dipshits responsible for it to fix their fuckups (which, at this stage in the game, is almost certainly not going to happen - except maybe that door...)
Fuck Revit, Fuck Autodesk for foisting Revit on the design industry, Fuck Autodesk again for continuing to stand behind Revit, and fuck them one last time just for good measure. Fuck Revitbots, Revitards, Reviteers, and Revit Gurus.
And if you don't like it - FUCK YOU. Go fix your fucked up model fucktard!
Sincerely,
SkullFuck
Next Time: A-typical
I'm digging through a massive upgrade project that I somehow got talked into assisting with (another firm had been working on it up to this point, but between them being incompetent, slow, and error prone, we were asked to de-fuck the project).
It's actually the kind of thing I could see some Reviteer jizzing in their pants over the opportunity to show off their mad scheduling skills because the client (for some reason) wants schedules showing every piece of conduit and cable throughout the project (in addition to drawings showing the same information).
Fortunately for me, the people doing it used ACAD for their drawings (with .cal files referenced into them showing the backgrounds that came from an old set of drawings that were scanned and converted). It's not what I would call the 'best' way of doing it, but they apparently tried converting the scans into CAD linework and the results were terrible. Drawing over the top with CAD linework would normally be how I would do it on a smaller project, but this is multiple large buildings across a huge facility (and our scope/budget doesn't include time/money to do anything like that - and sure as hell doesn't include resources for modeling or dicking around with Revit for the rest of our lives).
The schedules are all done in Excel, and while it was a little bit tedious, I was able to completely redesign the first (relatively small) building despite them having put the panel feeding the system we are designing at damn near the diagonally opposite corner from where it actually needed to be. Someone also added some devices and modified the floor plan (which I had to fake in, since the background isn't really editable). All I have to do now is punch in a few quick dimensions (thank you polyline!) and doublecheck the conduit schedule to make sure that I have all of the cables shown properly.
Some automation would be cool - but at the same time, it's difficult to guarantee that said automation won't fuck things up worse than these morons did in the first place (especially if that automation is being utilized by similar morons). I've mentioned in the past how many errors I run across on other people's work simply because I'm spending a little more time (key word 'a little') to go through and actually look at how everything is being designed rather than say 'well, it's in Revit, so that's good enough'.
Case in point. Over the last few year or so I've had a fairly large data center project (approx. 9000 s.f.) come back around a few times with changes and added scope. I've talked about it before - because the architect on the project Revited up a model of the main area and a few ancillary rooms (in a much larger existing building).
They have multiple disciplines working with that model (HVAC/Pluming/Fire Protection, Electrical, etc.), which makes it especially amusing when I receive their latest and greatest model (exported into ACAD of course) to use as my background, and I notice that (since my systems extend beyond their area of work) that it doesn't actually line up with the rest of the building.
Also of note is a solid wall shown between the foyer and the main area - where I know there is a door, but most likely due to one of the 1/4 billion or so view settings that I always harp on, it just ain't there. I also have a .pdf of the drawing they (and the rest of the Reviting disciplines) are submitting too, and it isn't there either - so it's not just the export.
Then, while trying to figure out how to merge their plan and the overall plan, I notice that their entire plan is actually rotated a fraction of a degree. Again, I go look at the .pdf and sure enough - you can zoom way in and see little jogs in the line indicating that they aren't squared up. I use my trusty 'ALIGN' tool to fix that, but there is still something wrong. Columns that should be at 30' spacing are actually shown at 29'-11 39/64. Not a big deal - until you get to the other end of the room and walls are off by over 3".
Until I started noticing these fuckups, I was almost to the point of giving them the benefit of the doubt that someone had gone out, taken measurement, and accurately modeled the rooms that were being modified. In reality, either nobody gave a fuck - or nobody noticed. As always, Revitbots will point to the user (and not Revit) as the problem, which would be fair, except that this shit which wouldn't have flown pre-Revit, somehow gets a pass now.
If I were (god forbid) using Revit and was tied to this shitty model in order to produce my drawings, I wouldn't have a choice but to fake it and put mine out just as half-assed as everyone else, and fuck that. My only other choice would be to try to cajole the dipshits responsible for it to fix their fuckups (which, at this stage in the game, is almost certainly not going to happen - except maybe that door...)
Fuck Revit, Fuck Autodesk for foisting Revit on the design industry, Fuck Autodesk again for continuing to stand behind Revit, and fuck them one last time just for good measure. Fuck Revitbots, Revitards, Reviteers, and Revit Gurus.
And if you don't like it - FUCK YOU. Go fix your fucked up model fucktard!
Sincerely,
SkullFuck
Next Time: A-typical
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Battle Hymn of the Revitpublic
GUTEN TAG FUCKTARDS!!!
I've been in an inexplicably good mood lately. Not having to use Revit or deal with Architects/Engineers - other than tangentially (and getting a raise) probably has a lot to do with that).
Then, out of the blue, some faggots start babbling about how awesome Revit is (see comments in: No Wonder This Revit Shit Eats Itself). As you can see, I made the distinct mistake of trying to defend my attitude towards Revit, rather than simply reminding myself that anyone extolling the virtues of Revit is likely to have sustained multiple severe head injuries.
They will agree with me that Revit has "a lot of messed up functionality", and have run into times where they are "wasting hours trying to figure things out" or having to "fake it" (kind of like any women unlucky enough to find themselves on the receiving end of attempted penetration from their micro-penises), but listening to them make excuses for Revit - and blaming themselves when things don't show up on a drawing (which is fine if they are only fucking themselves over - but when other people rely on your shit to be right, it's not fine) is a reminder of just how masochistic someone can willingly be.
One of my favorite bits was the claim that "when everyone is working in CAD, everyone is dumb, all the information is dumb, nothing is connected, and everything is manual input, unless you are using add-ins or other MEP functions with it, either way information is not typically active. You have zero ability to assign parameters to information, filter information efficiently, actively schedule information, or even assign formulas for schedules or blocks to add more intelligent useful information".
Holy Fucking Shit.
It's almost hard to believe that much bullshit can pour out of one person's brain - like they are repeating the Revit sales pitch they were given verbatim. Now, in theory - some of these things are great 'it's all connected', yeah - until 'it's all fucked'. Revit was ALLOWING people to fuck themselves (and by extension - me) into a hole in the ground on every single project - which is why I didn't really differentiate between Revit problems and user error.
So much of what was being done with Revit at my old firm was 'cutting edge', meaning that they were constantly experimenting with it - leading to all kinds of new and exciting ways for things to fuck up. I knew the fun was about to start anytime I saw the Revit Buttfuckery Team huddled around somebodies desk discussing something along the lines of "we've determined that the way we've been doing things doesn't open enough people up to the risk of having their whole day wasted".
Another gem is "I have found if you use just about anything third party for Revit, especially for electrical, you are definitely going to be doing it the hard way". So, in addition to being responsible for figuring out how to use Revit, I was now responsible for generating content as well - with little to no way of knowing whether something that I was doing wouldn't decide to fuck me later (as bad, if not worse than 3rd party content - or content included with Revit would).
The other problem being that I wasn't in control of what other people put into a model. I had a mechanical designer who was convinced that (at some point) they would slap mechanical units onto a drawing and it would magically populate my panel schedule (he actually said this so many times, I was starting to question whether he hadn't been replaced by a recording).
By the time I left, I was still manually entering information into my panel schedules (CAD) or manually entering information into a disconnect switch (Revit). Half of the time I would get their mechanical schedule, and immediately start spotting inconsistencies, errors, etc. (none of which I would've noticed if I just let a program fill shit out for me - and at least some of which the person making that schedule would have noticed if they were paying attention to scheduling units instead of expecting that to happen automatically as well.
Now - Revit vs. CAD stability. Revit fucking crashes - that's just a goddamned fact. It doesn't matter what kind of machine you have (the one I had before I left my last firm was a FUCKING BEAST), and while they might've managed to make it 'more stable' over time, I don't think there was a day that went by where I didn't have to deal with it locking up, throwing up some apocryphal error, or just plain eating itself.
Again, I had little to no control over how projects were started, especially after the 'one file for all' revolution. When I would bring up problems with stability, they were consistently met with an indifferent 'yeah, it does that'. Could one of you fucktards have been able to show them how to do it better? Maybe. Maybe fucking not.
In the rare event that ACAD crashes, locks up, etc. (and it is rare), in the time it takes to fire Revit up and load a model, I can have CAD up, file open, and replace any work I've lost (15 minutes max between autosaves - which still always seems to be the most productive 14 minutes and 59 seconds of the day) and then some done. Oh - and rather than 'putting my computer into a coma' pressing 'shift' while I pan does 3D orbit in ACAD - not that I ever need to do that.
Just this morning, I received a CAD file of a site plan for an almost 700,000 s.f. industrial building (that I had already designed systems for - and was waiting for the owner to quit fucking with the location of the guard shack/entrance gates so I could finish the project). I had it cleaned up and ready to issue within an hour. Revit wouldn't have even known what the fuck to do with it. Then I dove back into the 164,000 s.f. middle school I've been working on for the last couple of days (after issuing a 267,000 s.f. high school earlier this week), and at no point did I think 'Revit would've improved my ability to do this job' (even if it worked as advertised - which it doesn't).
But hey, keep on assigning formulas for schedules or blocks to add more intelligent useful information - I'll be busy putting projects out the door.
Fuck Revit.
-S.F.
Next Time: Somebody probably tries to convince me I'm wrong.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Getting Down To Business
Knock Knock Fuckheads!
Last time we had a little fun bitching about Microsoft Word - which, in the meantime, I used to fix up the formatting on a few more papers for my wife. Unsurprisingly it came up with new and exciting ways to fuck things up, every one of which I was able to overcome. She actually used the template her professor provided, which (ironically) had things broken in it (sheets weren't numbered correctly, etc.), so I got to learn a bit more about how things work. It had one fairly impressive feature - a table of contents that automatically populated based on headings (although nothing I couldn't do in a few seconds and not have to worry about it automatically fucking things up).
Back at my job, It's amazing to think that I've been here for an entire year - which (combined with the two months I took off before jumping on this opportunity) gives me just over 14 months of Revit clean time. It's still inconceivable how much damage was done to my psyche having to deal with an army of fuckwits trying to convince me that the poorly designed and implemented piece software that they've had jammed up their ass would be a good fit for me as well.
This company is configured quite a bit differently than my previous one - which did reviews twice a year, one of which would be accompanied by a raise based on performance (and, despite having two middle fingers up at Revit the whole time, I would always get one). Here, it was up to me to go to the owner and convince them that I deserve more money. Fortunately I've made a good impression on everyone I work with, and I'm on good terms with the owner (we ended up talking about classic cars for the majority of the time).
I didn't get quite what I was hoping for, but it was still fairly substantial (enough to keep me from immediately going back to job hunting), and since we've been busy, I've been averaging 5 hours of overtime a week, which puts me almost back to where I was at before (especially since my old job had switched me over to salary - meaning no more overtime). And, of course, the fact that I can simply do my job, and not have some moron standing in the way of my ability to be productive is worth an almost incalculable sum.
I was also surprised a few months back to find out that I have been amassing considerably more paid time off than I was originally led to believe - which means I'll be taking off damn near the entire end of the year (and still rolling some over). This job isn't the be all end all, but it's been a good opportunity for me to learn more useful stuff to add to my resume (as opposed to just slapping a piece of software on my list of skills - which I will most likely remove at some point in time in the future).
One of these days I'm going to figure out what I want to do with my life, but one thing I can guarantee - it won't involve Revit, because fuck Revit.
-SF
Next Time: Bring the Butthurt
Last time we had a little fun bitching about Microsoft Word - which, in the meantime, I used to fix up the formatting on a few more papers for my wife. Unsurprisingly it came up with new and exciting ways to fuck things up, every one of which I was able to overcome. She actually used the template her professor provided, which (ironically) had things broken in it (sheets weren't numbered correctly, etc.), so I got to learn a bit more about how things work. It had one fairly impressive feature - a table of contents that automatically populated based on headings (although nothing I couldn't do in a few seconds and not have to worry about it automatically fucking things up).
Back at my job, It's amazing to think that I've been here for an entire year - which (combined with the two months I took off before jumping on this opportunity) gives me just over 14 months of Revit clean time. It's still inconceivable how much damage was done to my psyche having to deal with an army of fuckwits trying to convince me that the poorly designed and implemented piece software that they've had jammed up their ass would be a good fit for me as well.
This company is configured quite a bit differently than my previous one - which did reviews twice a year, one of which would be accompanied by a raise based on performance (and, despite having two middle fingers up at Revit the whole time, I would always get one). Here, it was up to me to go to the owner and convince them that I deserve more money. Fortunately I've made a good impression on everyone I work with, and I'm on good terms with the owner (we ended up talking about classic cars for the majority of the time).
I didn't get quite what I was hoping for, but it was still fairly substantial (enough to keep me from immediately going back to job hunting), and since we've been busy, I've been averaging 5 hours of overtime a week, which puts me almost back to where I was at before (especially since my old job had switched me over to salary - meaning no more overtime). And, of course, the fact that I can simply do my job, and not have some moron standing in the way of my ability to be productive is worth an almost incalculable sum.
I was also surprised a few months back to find out that I have been amassing considerably more paid time off than I was originally led to believe - which means I'll be taking off damn near the entire end of the year (and still rolling some over). This job isn't the be all end all, but it's been a good opportunity for me to learn more useful stuff to add to my resume (as opposed to just slapping a piece of software on my list of skills - which I will most likely remove at some point in time in the future).
One of these days I'm going to figure out what I want to do with my life, but one thing I can guarantee - it won't involve Revit, because fuck Revit.
-SF
Next Time: Bring the Butthurt
Friday, November 11, 2016
Microsoft Word 2016 Can Suck My Dick
Bonjour Le Skullfuckers!!!
I figured with Revit out of the picture, I should probably turn my ire to my second least favorite software company - Microsoft. They've obviously sucked a lot of dick for a lot of years, and don't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down (if anything, they are doubling down on it).
This became especially obvious when my wife recently started a Doctorate program, which seems to mostly revolve around writing fucktons of papers. Fortunately for her she is an excellent writer, but technology seems to fucking hate her - exacerbated by the fact that most of it is designed by half-wit morons whose idea of 'user friendly' is hiding extremely important functionality behind a wall of ribbons (sound familiar?)
For her, if something can go wrong with a computer, piece of software, or printer - it will, and at the worst possible time. I could use the exact same shit all day long without fail, but the second she sits down, it's a goddamned miracle when it doesn't catch on fire. She's highly intelligent, and isn't a technophobe, but her experience has left her without a lot of confidence that she won't get screwed over somehow.
The format they have to use for their papers is different than what she is used to, and despite being given a template (that doesn't seem to work correctly - probably because it was made in an older version of Word) and having a book that shows how everything is supposed to look, it still took over an hour last night to get everything formatted correctly - while every strange fucking thing that could come out of the woodwork seemed to be conspiring against her.
Now that we've done it all, I'm going to make this paper into a 'template' (not one to be applied, just one to open up and start a new paper - with all of the headers, numbering, spacing, etc. already in place and ready for editing/writing). Now, I'm no 'Word Guru' (I prefer OpenOffice - both due to it being free - and not a Microsoft product) but I've used it for as long as it has existed - and while I don't tend to use a lot of the formatting functions (preferring to stick to manually formatting) I have had to delve into them more than once.
The first thing we ran into was that she had several sources that were hyperlinks, and they wouldn't break where she wanted them to (they would jump down to the next line - and only THEN would they wrap). They didn't have to stay hyperlinks, but even after turning it off, it would not allow me to break it where I wanted to - forcing me to manually type the part that I wanted to stay on the first line, then delete what I had typed from the rest of the 'link'.
Then - lo and behold, the line spacing was fucked up because it was taking it upon itself to insert a paragraph symbol, and deleting it would cause it to go back to wrapping incorrectly (a little fiddling around and I found that I could put an extra space at the end to make it stay put and keep the line spacing the same.
After I fixed the first link, I figured I would go online and see if anyone had a better way to do it - the first one I ran across was to insert a special character called an 'no width optional break' and it... didn't fucking work. At all. I went ahead and fixed the rest manually - and later I ran across a suggestion to use a no-width empty character (I'll try that the next time I get pulled in to assist).
Next was setting up the header(s). I had actually gone through the process once, so I was fairly confident I could do it again. Started by using the header that showed up at the top of the page, but of course that's wrong. Went into 'Insert' and 'Header', and was off to the races. Right up until I accidentally held down 'shift' for too long and the stupid 'sticky keys' menu popped up - then disappeared and left me unable to type (it would just 'tick tick') requiring a reboot (and then a quick search on how to make that shit go away permanently).
Each issue that I had to fix was stupider than the last (constantly having to fix line spacing and other 'auto-formatting' that needed to take a fucking hike), but I finally beat it - because the one indispensable tool I have is the fact that I'm goddamned relentless when it comes to figuring shit out, which was one of the reasons Revit left such a bad taste in my mouth. People would get the incorrect impression that I just didn't want to learn something 'different'. The reality was that it wasn't just 'different' it was FUCKED.
At least with Microsoft products like Windows and Word I can go online and find where other people have had the same problems (and have a 50/50 chance of finding a solution that actually works). With Revit it was a wasteland of nothingness - especially at first. But even years later, I would try searching for a solution to an issue and the vast majority of the hits were either out of date (and/or didn't address the problem) or were for places offering 'Revit training' (i.e. - pay us money to show you the useless tutorials that are already available for free online.
I came to the conclusion last night that the only reason that these people get away with putting out shit software with shitty 'features' is that they are safely esconced somewhere that I can't get hold of them and slam their fucking hands into a drawer repeatedly. It's pretty much the same with everything else - faceless corporations who don't give a fuck about who they screw over, and a populous willing to shrug and say 'it is what it is'.
Fuck that.
And if you think like that - then FUCK YOU.
Sincerely,
S.F.
Next Time: Getting Down To Business
I figured with Revit out of the picture, I should probably turn my ire to my second least favorite software company - Microsoft. They've obviously sucked a lot of dick for a lot of years, and don't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down (if anything, they are doubling down on it).
This became especially obvious when my wife recently started a Doctorate program, which seems to mostly revolve around writing fucktons of papers. Fortunately for her she is an excellent writer, but technology seems to fucking hate her - exacerbated by the fact that most of it is designed by half-wit morons whose idea of 'user friendly' is hiding extremely important functionality behind a wall of ribbons (sound familiar?)
For her, if something can go wrong with a computer, piece of software, or printer - it will, and at the worst possible time. I could use the exact same shit all day long without fail, but the second she sits down, it's a goddamned miracle when it doesn't catch on fire. She's highly intelligent, and isn't a technophobe, but her experience has left her without a lot of confidence that she won't get screwed over somehow.
The format they have to use for their papers is different than what she is used to, and despite being given a template (that doesn't seem to work correctly - probably because it was made in an older version of Word) and having a book that shows how everything is supposed to look, it still took over an hour last night to get everything formatted correctly - while every strange fucking thing that could come out of the woodwork seemed to be conspiring against her.
Now that we've done it all, I'm going to make this paper into a 'template' (not one to be applied, just one to open up and start a new paper - with all of the headers, numbering, spacing, etc. already in place and ready for editing/writing). Now, I'm no 'Word Guru' (I prefer OpenOffice - both due to it being free - and not a Microsoft product) but I've used it for as long as it has existed - and while I don't tend to use a lot of the formatting functions (preferring to stick to manually formatting) I have had to delve into them more than once.
The first thing we ran into was that she had several sources that were hyperlinks, and they wouldn't break where she wanted them to (they would jump down to the next line - and only THEN would they wrap). They didn't have to stay hyperlinks, but even after turning it off, it would not allow me to break it where I wanted to - forcing me to manually type the part that I wanted to stay on the first line, then delete what I had typed from the rest of the 'link'.
Then - lo and behold, the line spacing was fucked up because it was taking it upon itself to insert a paragraph symbol, and deleting it would cause it to go back to wrapping incorrectly (a little fiddling around and I found that I could put an extra space at the end to make it stay put and keep the line spacing the same.
After I fixed the first link, I figured I would go online and see if anyone had a better way to do it - the first one I ran across was to insert a special character called an 'no width optional break' and it... didn't fucking work. At all. I went ahead and fixed the rest manually - and later I ran across a suggestion to use a no-width empty character (I'll try that the next time I get pulled in to assist).
Next was setting up the header(s). I had actually gone through the process once, so I was fairly confident I could do it again. Started by using the header that showed up at the top of the page, but of course that's wrong. Went into 'Insert' and 'Header', and was off to the races. Right up until I accidentally held down 'shift' for too long and the stupid 'sticky keys' menu popped up - then disappeared and left me unable to type (it would just 'tick tick') requiring a reboot (and then a quick search on how to make that shit go away permanently).
Each issue that I had to fix was stupider than the last (constantly having to fix line spacing and other 'auto-formatting' that needed to take a fucking hike), but I finally beat it - because the one indispensable tool I have is the fact that I'm goddamned relentless when it comes to figuring shit out, which was one of the reasons Revit left such a bad taste in my mouth. People would get the incorrect impression that I just didn't want to learn something 'different'. The reality was that it wasn't just 'different' it was FUCKED.
At least with Microsoft products like Windows and Word I can go online and find where other people have had the same problems (and have a 50/50 chance of finding a solution that actually works). With Revit it was a wasteland of nothingness - especially at first. But even years later, I would try searching for a solution to an issue and the vast majority of the hits were either out of date (and/or didn't address the problem) or were for places offering 'Revit training' (i.e. - pay us money to show you the useless tutorials that are already available for free online.
I came to the conclusion last night that the only reason that these people get away with putting out shit software with shitty 'features' is that they are safely esconced somewhere that I can't get hold of them and slam their fucking hands into a drawer repeatedly. It's pretty much the same with everything else - faceless corporations who don't give a fuck about who they screw over, and a populous willing to shrug and say 'it is what it is'.
Fuck that.
And if you think like that - then FUCK YOU.
Sincerely,
S.F.
Next Time: Getting Down To Business
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)