In a message dated 97-12-23 03:02:26 EST, [log in to unmask]
writes:

> Of course I didn't get the job. It went to someone who underbid me by a few
>  thousand dollars with a proposal that had nothing to do with the original
>  design. He didn't use the hardware, which was original, and I understand
>  that the University never asked him to save and return it.
>
>  The doors are now about five years old and falling apart. According to the
>  historian the original doors had hung for forty years before the had to be
>  replaced.

As long as I'm surviving in NYC the tour invite remains open.

Ironic, but typical, concerning the doors, and contracting at Columbia. If I
get a corner on some special doors in NYC I'll give a call for a midnight
tour.

The distortion between educational curiculum and facilities practice at
Columbia is a great example of institutional hypocrisy. We do work at Columbia
for both facilities and residential, nothing particularly special, mostly
waterproofing and facade maintenance. Keeps the cash flow going.

I find it very difficult, having been brought up as a townie with Cornell, to
respect the higher ideals of academe when I have had as much exposure to
maintenance as to the library stacks. It may be one of the reasons I
unreasonably rant about information access issues and research libraries such
as Avery. The truth is, for want of needing a day job, I would be very much at
home in the back room with the lonely librarian. Just keep me away from the
boss.

][<en