In a message dated 2/10/99 7:42:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Do you still want me to help you to make trouble with mortar specs?

I always like more trouble.

>  Pray tell, in context, what are you trying to do?

I think it was my momentary weakness to fight a tendency of glossing over a
set of specifications, the umpteenth specification read, with the thought that
I'll find out soon enough if I get the job, and never if not, when faced with
a bit of technical chemical jargon. I had suspected jargon but was not sure
and was seeking sanity of my convictions by appealing to BP. You never really
know if there is not some hidden message in the specifications waiting to
catch you unawares six months later. Unlike some contractors I have heard of I
do occasionally read all of the specs, which often results in such a high
level of paranoia that I ungraciously decline bidding, not for fear that we
cannot do the work, but for the fact that the intelligence of the specifier is
revealed as highly suspect. I think this is why stupid contractors succeed. I
was also curious if, in the context of the specifications, the designated
originator had any idea what they were talking about. I have concluded that
they did not, not for sake of their indescriminate use of jargon, which I
suspect was lifted from elsewhere (my curiousity now takes me on the
exploration to find the fabled source of this crap) but for the fact that
despite a one-hour one-on-one interview a month ago, and my significant
contribution to assisting in eliminating other layers of BS from their
specification, best left unmentioned here, that they had to ask me my name at
the pre-bid conference in front of all the other contractors. My ego shriveled
considerably, and on leaving they had the gall to challenge me to be the low
bidder. Get real!

>  If you are costing a church job, perhaps you should do it for free.  That
way
>  you may, upon the letting of the contract, be quickly sent to heaven or
hell,
>  depending upon which boss responds first.

It hardly seems to matter how I cost church jobs as it is really up to them if
they are willing to pay for the work they get done. I'm sure that many of them
will not see me in the afterlife. I believe religion would be greatly advanced
in America if bills were paid. I remain intolerant of hypocrisy and
intolerance.

>  Perhaps I should help you to shake things up with the word "thixotropic."

How many points is that in scrabble?

"The thixotropic crowd flowed out of the crowded church when their vibrating
pagers all went off."

Or the dyslexic that thought his DOG was beeping him just before he got hit by
the Greyhound.

>  Classically, it just meant hardened tree sap.

Excellent! Pre-viagra!

>  The spec writer probably learned organic chemistry at Walmart.

I suspected a janitor closet at Columbia, but close enough.

>  "The contractor from hell vibrated with laughter as he lobbed lawn chairs
at the church's engineering office."

The subtle art of lawn chair lobbing, and here w/ my mason mentation I was
only going to drop a big stone on his Volvo.

>  Glad to provide some further help ;).

ROFLMAO!

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