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<title>Long Island CSI Announcements</title><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/default.htm</link><description>Long Island CSI Announcements</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2008 Long Island Chapter CSI</dc:rights><dc:date>2010-02-15T17:12:18-05:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:19:39 -0500</lastBuildDate><item><title>CDT Exam Review Classes to Begin</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>CDT Exam Prep</category><dc:date>2010-02-15T17:12:18-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/416979c0b8ac919f5436eef0779863e1-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/416979c0b8ac919f5436eef0779863e1-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[CSI Long Island will be conducting review classes to help candidates prepare for the CDT exam to be held at the end of March.

The Construction Documents Technology (CDT) Program provides a comprehensive overview for anyone who writes, interprets, enforces, or manages construction documents.  Project architects, engineers, contractors, contract administrators, material suppliers, and manufacturers&rsquo; representatives are all realizing the advantages of being Construction Documents Technologists.  CDT candidates must demonstrate their knowledge of CSI's recommended practices in the following subject areas:

...Contractual relationships, including: Rights, duties, and responsibilities, Contract provisions, Relationship and organization of construction documents.

...CSI Long Island review classes will be held in the office of H2M, 575 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 11747 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm on Wednesdays beginning in January and ending in March.  The Project Resource Manual - CSI Manual of Practice (PRM) and it's appendices and AIA A201-2007 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction will be among the materials that will be reviewed.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>CSI Voting is Going green</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2010-02-07T14:59:42-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/b9c5e6108acd05911506cd0f2744207f-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/b9c5e6108acd05911506cd0f2744207f-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[All CSI voting will be done electronically this year.  Members will receive notices via email.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Show Me Yours and I&#x2019;ll Show You Mine&#x21;</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2010-02-07T14:50:11-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/6bfa50517e30aff29d2c6ef6c275cd79-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/6bfa50517e30aff29d2c6ef6c275cd79-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I think this would really be both helpful and educational for all, since we all do not write our specs in exactly the same way.

...and when so engaged, it is usually over some non-technical wording [attorneys love to twist words, meanings and intentions to their clients benefit, which makes suits unfair challenges to us, being basically non-legal as we are].

...From various discussions, we can see that there are mind boggling, vast and diverse arrays of resources and reference material that any one of us has at our disposal and in which we have confidence.

...We don&rsquo;t use the same fonts; we don&rsquo;t use the same wording; we don't express our requirements in precisely the same manner [nor do we need to]; we tend to re-use products that have been successful for us in the past, but which are not universal with us all; our products are about as individual as our fingerprints, or the proverbial dissimilar snowflakes!  It would just be interesting to see how we formulate, compile and present our specs [as opposed to just how we do-- or should&mdash;write them].

...I think a display along with a forum for a nice, civil, non-opinioned, non-judgmental, non-pompous comparison of products [with some quiet discussion] could be beneficial and profitable to many of us. I do realize some have reached their optimized plateau and care to go no place else, but some of us, I think, always like to peek over the fence to see what&rsquo;s going on elsewhere in our world.

...No critiques involved, as we are not in competition to see who is closest to CSI criteria; looking at other aspects of work-- appearance, fonts, formatting, colors, styles, information, presentation techniques, etc. other than technical content!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Mike Davis on Membership</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2010-02-07T14:43:17-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/8724f948187a84ec7803d6dad08243f4-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/8724f948187a84ec7803d6dad08243f4-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I have been involved in the construction industry since 1969, and 2009 had the most damaging impact to our industry that I can remember.  The company I work for had projects cancelled and was fortunate to end the year with only a 50% reduction in our volume of work from previous years.

...Is it really worth the cost and time commitment to be a member of CSI?

...I leave it to each of you to make your own decision on this question, as we could have many different answers.

...I truly believe that an investment of my time in CSI has enabled me to grow professionally at a quicker pace.

...If you are not willing to grow in your chosen profession and don't want to give your time, then by all means find something else where you can commit your time and resources.  However, if you are willing to grow and make a commitment, CSI has a place for you at the table.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Travelogue&#x2c; part 1; Cathedrals and Churches</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2010-01-27T20:15:50-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/c7dab85349fb14dcbdce07724616c22c-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/c7dab85349fb14dcbdce07724616c22c-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Here in the Midwest, you won&rsquo;t find a town small enough to not have at least one, and some appear to have more than can be supported by the local area.

...My wife and I also have visited the Washington National Cathedral a couple of times, so even though we live in the boonies, we have been able to see a few of the biggest churches in the United States.

...Meersburg is a small city, most of which is centered around two old castles, but from the lake, the enormous city winery looks like it may be the more important part of town.

...Along with the rest of the building, it has undergone more than one restoration, the last about twenty years ago. From the outside, you wouldn&rsquo;t know there is a chapel within, as the fa&ccedil;ade and height are in keeping with the rest of the building.

...After a two-hour rail trip through what might be the most beautiful mountains and villages in the world, we arrived at the Hallstatt station, a mere whistle stop compared to some of the terminals we saw....  It is not, however, the end of the line, as it is across a lake from the Hallstatt, and the only way to complete the trip is by a ferry.

...This shouldn&rsquo;t be surprising, given its size - at 500 feet long, 125 feet wide at the nave and 300 feet wide at the transept, and over 300 feet tall - it&rsquo;s by far the biggest structure in town.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Curmudgeon&#x27;s Corner; A Dickens of a Tale</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2010-01-10T16:12:58-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/fdd4110bf9db4418f6ffbafd247c072c-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/fdd4110bf9db4418f6ffbafd247c072c-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[We thought that, by working together, we could improve the practice of writing specifications, make them simpler and easier to understand, standardize government agencies&rsquo; documents, standardize building codes, and bring greater efficiency to the industry as a whole.

...That part of the construction industry involved with buildings was making good use of CSI&rsquo;s Formats: manufacturers included MasterFormat numbers on their literature; design professionals and contractors alike knew where to look for whatever information they needed; and, even though specifications often ignored the rules established in CSI&rsquo;s venerable Manual of Practice, communication was much improved over that which existed before CSI&rsquo;s standards existed.  And, where before specifiers were forced to create their own documents, there were now several commercial master guide specification systems, some of them automated to the point that the user no longer had to worry about section numbers or titles, cross references, or all of the other nagging minutiae that consumed so much of a specifier&rsquo;s time in the past.

...You have continued to concentrate on paper documents, even though the problems of the past have been solved, and little remains to be done with them.

...Here&rsquo;s a funny thing: After all the good things they did, and not telling others how important those things were, other groups came along, and in just a few years each convinced government agencies across the country that what they did was the most important thing.

...&ldquo;I bet it was pretty sad in the end, when it was just a bunch of the same old people getting together, reliving the good old days, waiting for each other to die.&rdquo;

...Your work with interoperability and global standardization are truly worthy efforts, and will one day make the industry better - but those things are of no immediate concern to your existing members, and they won&rsquo;t bring in new members.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Curmudgeon&#x27;s Corner; Sensible stimulus</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2009-12-22T13:41:05-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/e06caa7891c117449118aee1f4a6caa0-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/e06caa7891c117449118aee1f4a6caa0-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The subject of my last article, &ldquo;Return on investment&rdquo;, was the ancient buildings I saw while on vacation in Europe, and how they continue to be useful today.

...We had talked about it for a couple of years, but saw little reason to increase the sources of garbage available from five channels to more than a hundred.

...The continued serviceability of that work is a tribute to the engineering and construction quality of that time, and though service life can be extended with regular inspection and maintenance, there comes a time when replacement is necessary.  Unfortunately, it&rsquo;s a lot easier, and more fun, to build new than to maintain existing buildings; I believe most of us have seen that the maintenance budget is often the first to be cut.

I know enough about government to never expect too much, but when the recent stimulus package was proposed, I envisioned a large investment in highways, bridges, dams, and other civil works projects.  I won&rsquo;t pretend to understand the economics or details of the public works programs of the 1930s, but there are countless examples of well-designed, useful, long-lasting projects of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

...To me, the logic of making this type of investment a high priority is inescapable; there is little value in other stimulus spending if the services we depend on fail.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Curmudgeon&#x27;s Corner; Return on investment</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2009-11-26T20:09:40-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/dc5056939d653e0a6f40c292f5fd2f80-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/dc5056939d653e0a6f40c292f5fd2f80-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[At first we were going to play it safe and take a short trip to England, but we quickly decided to make the most of the opportunity; we added a third week and began planning a tour of the continent.

...Coming from a country just over two hundred years old, I couldn&rsquo;t help but think about the fact that every place we went had a history many hundreds of years longer than ours.

...This method of construction requires both the meanest grunt labor and sophisticated artistry; the mason had to carry each stone to its location on a steep hill (often 70 degrees), then choose the right combination of stones that would produce a stable wall with a relatively smooth, planar surface.

...Although logic tells us our world is built on the past - the inspiration, artistry, genius, and brute labor of our predecessors - it&rsquo;s easy to forget what has gone before and accept everything we see as normal.  If we occasionally took the time reflect on the wonders around us, or the long chain of events that led to their creation, we might better appreciate what we have, and plan better for the future.

...Those ancient structures have proven to be impervious to all but the worst disasters, and it hasn&rsquo;t mattered that someone forgot to paint them for a few years - or a few hundred.

...Our challenge is to create materials and systems that make better use of existing resources, require little maintenance, and will either last a very long time or be easily reused or recycled.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Curmudgeon&#x27;s Corner; A rose is a rose&#x2026;</title><dc:creator>licsi@mindspring.com</dc:creator><category>Articles</category><dc:date>2009-10-31T17:07:19-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/a3677be70615dbf71e34a03b0d91ff0e-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.longislandcsi.org/announcements/files/a3677be70615dbf71e34a03b0d91ff0e-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Other than a vague suggestion that the result &ldquo;better reflects CSI&rsquo;s core value of building teamwork&rdquo; - a questionable proposition in itself - I&rsquo;m not sure what the justification will be, but I don&rsquo;t believe the benefits outweigh the cost...