acarongo

Nowadays, every job is computerized because with structured and computerized system will faster working process, give more accurate result, with only small requirements of operators involved. I imagine, sometime there will only few man in a company and computers anywhere to operate an enterprise scale company.

That’s why computer skill is important not only for job seekers, but also for employers. Any computer training basically is needed, excel training, pmp training, word training .. anything. But after you’ve got trained, you must master it. Combine with great leadership skills, you’ll be great future leader!

Browsing through pages of sites is more comfortable since I used the Mozilla Firefox browser. Formerly, the Internet Explorer was the only browser I knew under the sun. I’ve heard about Opera and Netscape once, but I really never had experience with them so sticked with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was the best option.

When Firefox came, it totally brought my entire browsing experience to a new level. I think the brilliant idea which Firefox offer is the tabbed browser which smartly free up my taskbar from being cluttered with so many programs. You know, I usually opened 10 websites simultaneously, so when it comes to IE, their blue icon started to flood my taskbar. So annoying and sometimes hard to find where did I open the last site because those titles has been minimized and being replaced by tiny icons.

Another thing which I like from Firefox browser is its download manager which records files that have been downloaded, so I should never grab the same item for twice.

Several days ago, I have some problems with my computer. It worked so slow that made me frustrated whenever I should deal with projects that were bound with tight deadlines. Sometimes the program crashed in the middle of the work, so all I could do was push the reset button to get everything back to normal.

Moreover, in some cases the computer tend to restart itself. It was so annoying, when I was concentrating to certain work and suddenly the monitor went blank. The computer restarted itself and all you knew that your work was left unsaved.

At first, I thought it has a problem with any of its components. But, rather than rush to bring the computer to the service station, I tend to reinstall its operating system’s first. The last time it’s intalled was two years ago. I think it’s time for a refreshment since I remember that I’ve put many programs inside thus decreased the computer’s performance.

My suppliers have already on their way to Clarke’s and set their equipments for the office’s renovation. We make it two days earlier so we would have the entire renovation done before the due date. That will make us become more professional.

The field supervisor said that they have just finished a work outside the town for two months, so arriving at the Clarke’s site was a great thing.

Since I’m working as an architectural design, especially interior design, having a good supplier for the execution is something I should bother with. I like these guys, and having work together with them is a great experience for years.

I remember that I ever have a problem with one of my client about a year ago. I did make a mistake on my design so when it comes to be applied onto the real site, it just didn’t fit on some spots.

I almost lost my head until those men came with their smart solution. Actually, they’ve experienced the similar problem before, so when they faced with it once again, they have them all covered.

This password thing is one of the most concerned especially to ours that most familiar with computers and digital softwares. In the early days, I used to write all my income and expenses, plans and projects, photos and pictures, and many other stuffs in papers and books. But as the Microsoft Office installed for the first time on my computer, the new joy of managing data begun.

Simply I converted all my accounting data into a simple and informative spreadsheet. I could search and browse through them to find certain information easily and quickly, better than through pages of book. I converted the entire photo collection by the help of scanner and organized them with Picasa. So simple to save, also to simple share through the web album.

There are always negative sides beyond these digital form. Since they’re easy to share, those data are likely to be read, copied, stole, and use them for something that we don’t wanna happen. So I used to give passwords to the files which I considered as confidential.

But, we all know that thieves always get smarter and better than the security itself. And passwords are among the best thing for them to discover. Hmm… Rather than being stolen, I prefer to keep my passwords in the older way. Yes, I wrote them down. Back to papers.

And so, the Clarke and Partners invite me to their office and give them further description to the design. The presentation took not more than a half hour and within minutes, they decided that I deserve to go for the project. I’m their official interior design consultant, now. It’s really surprising since my most adversary [which was well done and lots of brag] not even counted for the second chance since the first submission.

I was so curious about their instant decision about this, but they said they are too busy to search fresh ideas for their office design. When they saw my design [and the aquarium which gone across the wall], they said they done enough and found what they searched.

I have one week to prepare all the requirements to start their office renovation, and then another three weeks to bring the design into the real size.

So here I go about architectural design and little experience about it that I want to make out for a conversation. Almost half of my clients from the first time until today have similar questions to what I described at the first presentation. And from these questions, I learned a lot about that little thing brought bigger question.

“Where do you put my coffee table?”
“Are you gonna put my TV set under the stairs?”
“Don’t you think that the door is too little for my puppy to get in?”

Yes, yes. It’s all questions that should be answered right at the time it questioned. And most of the time, I wasn’t ready to give the appropriate answer for those stuff. I wasn’t ready for contingency plans, for any questions that might occur.

But the worst thing that I realized for such case was that I haven’t understood my client’s demand. They don’t want any amazing design or outstanding blueprints that would impressed their neighbors. They just want simpler stuff with more comfort and functions, so that they can have their daily life more efficient and more enthusiasts.

I was browsing through my older files which might have been created several years ago. Actually, I was looking for something that I could use for the Clarke’s project. Something like those Greenpeace activists always says “Reuse, Refill, and Recycle: Save the Planet”. Hohoo, it’s quite make sense, since it would also save my job instead of my planet.

And what I found was this crappy design which I made on the early years as I started to focus on architectural designs. I couldn’t remember what for did I make this drawing. Was it for my future house or some kind for a dog house? Hey, what for did the stairs? Wasn’t it supposed to head to somewhere instead of a wall?

However, this drawing quite attracts my little attention right now since it has a simple touch but uncommon shape. I have made hundreds of drawings until now, and I think this drawing has a lot of contribution to what I achieved right now.

My house is a mess since I haven’t clean it up three weeks ago, plus being ransacked by determined thieves. Curtis brought back the notebook this morning as soon as I said that I need to work with it. I thought today is a hard day to start the week, until I noticed incoming e-mail on my mail client.

The address told me it’s from Clarke & Partner’s office. I haven’t expected any messages from them this early, but the mail said that my works caught their attention and invited me to give them a presentation about the design on the following Wednesday.

This is a great news. Previously I never expect that my idea to give their office a touch of nature would bring me into their consideration. Simply, I just put an aquarium across the wall that enables people to see from both sides. Who knows that a simple idea could turn into something big?

And this Monday, I’m not quite bad.

Today, I took an opportunity to go over an auction of Clarke and Partner’s office redesigning project, one of the prestigious lawyer office downtown. The opportunity has run for almost two weeks until the closing date to submit contestant profiles which is tomorrow.

The official said that they accept any ideas from any designers to match their business philosophy. I have prepared the requirements also the predesigned idea to complete the offer.

As I walked down their front office, I’ve met some other designer [which some of them are also my mates] and took a simple conversation for about fifteen minutes. One of them bragged about their works and surely pre-announced that they’d win the job. In reality this person did win many of design projects since the last 2 years he emerged as design freelancers. And to Clarke & Partner’s job, he ever done the similar business but with different object.

I said to myself “what the h**l?!” I came down here to take my own opportunity and not to listen for his words that he thought will keep me and other person subsided.