Message text written by "BP - His DNA is this long."
>It seems plausible that the standards to which McDonald's works are the
highest possible standards at which this robot worker machine can function
at
an acceptable (to McDonald's) profit margin. The artifact (burger) is that
which the machine is capable of.  As with a hand joined barn, or a hand
joined
table, the hand made burger is a different (better?) entity. Hopefully the
"good consumers" will not lose the ability to differentiate.<

Hidden behind this obviously true comment is something we are all probably
ashamed to admit. Namely, the vast majority of us eat, at least
occasionally, at McDonald's. We don't like it. We're not proud of it. We
tell ourselves we won't go back. But we do.

Because when you have one minute and thirty eight seconds between the
meeting that ran over by an hour this morning and the one that you're
already 45 minutes late for, you hit the drive-thru, swallow fast, and
accept that not every meal is a meal. Some are just refueling stops.

Buildings are the same way. We should treasure the unique, the artistic,
the visionary. We should endeavor to improve our knowledge and skills to
make us worthy of working on the extraordinary and wonderful preservation
projects that feed our souls. But we all also make a living fixing really
ugly buildings of little aesthetic interest or merit. Sometimes the job is
just a job. Would we truly appreciate the good ones - -meals, buildings, or
jobs - -if we weren't also intimately familiar with the not-so-good?

Mike E.