Some images of Revit work - Classical French Renaissance facade study Part 2

The first image is the 3D view of the level plans and the Elevation in CAD to work as background.

All the windows and columns are individual families and customizable.

I developed individual profiles for the cornices.

The second image is the Elevation view of the VIP entrance of the Vendome mall in Doha, Qatar

The aim of the model was to demonstrate the buildability and help the design-build contractors.

The detailed views of the portico are at the link below.

Google Maps Link to the site

https://juxt-a-position-ap.blogspot.com/2015/09/some-images-of-revit-work-classical.html

10 things Indian visitors should know about NZ

1. Water from the tap is considered fit for human use. No filters or RO's required
2. Food is incredibly expensive - Expect to pay about 150Rs for a single large eggplant when they are in season. A cyclone or a storm can push up the price to 250Rs. A head of cauliflower can cost up to 500 Rs. (I am not kidding),
3. Toilet paper - unlike India where your backsides are washed with jetsprays, here you need to use toilet paper
4. ‎No pissing on streets or the bushes - Toilets are well and decently placed. And clean. Look for them
5. ‎No litter on streets - Literally. If your frontage of the house on the street has grass growing on it, you are responsible keeping it like a cricket pitch.
6. Beaches are clean. You are expected to pick up your dog poo after it does the job and any rubbish or plastic you generate is to be collected and binned by you.
7. ‎Trash costs money - On preset timings, the trash truck will come and collect the trash from the street outside your house. They have to be in preassigned plastic bags or bins. The preassigned bags cost you some dollars for a packet of five
8. The Police are actually polite - They will address you as "Sir" and ask you for your license or whatever they are after. If everything is fine, they will just let you go about your way. Just don't get caught drunk - you will get a free ride to the Police station and tested for alcohol.
9. There are 4 seasons in a day - Auckland especially is famous for changes in weather. You could go from Sunny to soaking wet in a matter of minutes and sunny right after.
10. 24 deg C is "Warm" - Your regular A/c temp is considered warm. Summer in the Indian sense does not exist. The highest temperature during peak summer is about 30 deg c with NZers screaming bloody murder and going out in the street with chaddis and ganjees

Working Smart - 3

Search emails in Outlook 2016

Finding that elusive email from someone can become a life and death situation for us in Outlook. Multiple projects, client emails, and a swamped email box with 50+ emails received on a daily basis can be difficult to track. You know the mail was from X with an attachment but several emails over months make it impossible to zero down on the particular email especially if it was sent several months back

This version of Outlook can make your life easier if you are willing to spend some time reading this post. Follow the 9 easy steps below and you can quickly search for that elusive email

1. Open Outlook and go to your Inbox. Click your mouse on the “Search Current mailbox”.

2. The moment you click in the search bar, the cursor will start flashing in anticipation of your search

3. Your tab will change as per the screen above.4

4. Now go to the dropdown box as per the black arrow

5. The dropdown box should display all the fields you could possibly search from

6. Click on the fields you want and they will start stacking up below the search bar as you click on the fields. These will then drop down every time you put your cursor in the search bar - ready to aid you in a search.

7. Typically you would need the subject, cc, To, Attachments(Yes/No) and From.

8. You can also use Body which is quite useful when you want to search by a word in the body of the email.

9. This can be done in your “Sent” folder as well.

Work Smart and Happy Searching!

Also Read:

Working Smart - 1 Finding that Directory

Working Smart - 2 Save your files with a date

Working Smart - 2

Saving your files with a date

On an average, you would be creating and accessing at least 10-12 documents, spreadsheets etc. Soon there would be hundreds if not thousands of documents piling up in your directory with different file names. Accessing it alphabetically may be an option but prefer to name my documents with a yymmdd_filename format which lists the documents in the directory in a nice organised way starting with the most recent ones on the top.

When I create documents in such numbers, I often forget the name of the document which I have created. Sometimes, I don’t access a document for several weeks which removes it from the recent documents list of word and excel. That’s where I end up using the search function in the Windows explorer. Explorer searches all the directories and subdirectories and highlights all the filenames starting with the year and month - if you have been saving all your files starting with the yymmdd prefix.

Work Smart and share your experiences of Working smart.

Working Smart - 1 Find that Directory

Working Smart - 3 Find that email

Working Smart - 2

Saving your files with a date

On an average, you would be creating and accessing at least 10-12 documents, spreadsheets etc. Soon there would be hundreds if not thousands of documents piling up in your directory with different file names. Accessing it alphabetically may be an option but prefer to name my documents with a yymmdd_filename format which lists the documents in the directory in a nice organised way starting with the most recent ones on the top.

When I create documents in such numbers, I often forget the name of the document which I have created. Sometimes, I don’t access a document for several weeks which removes it from the recent documents list of word and excel. That’s where I end up using the search function in the Windows explorer. Explorer searches all the directories and subdirectories and highlights all the filenames starting with the year and month - if you have been saving all your files starting with the yymmdd prefix.

Work Smart and share your experiences of Working smart.

Working Smart - 1 Find that Directory

Working Smart - 3 Find that email

Working Smart - 1

Over the years as we have transitioned from a traditional workplace with physical files to the networked environment with information being stored virtually. With numerous people working on projects from multiple locations, information cannot be kept on individual machines and needs to be saved on servers. Information needs to be accessible instantly and to everyone.

Most companies have IT protocols in place instructing people of the do’s and don’ts. But rarely will you find tips about how to work smart and these posts are all about working smart and having information at your fingertips. 

Finding that directory

A large part of my work is to update the various documents, reports, and registers that need to be maintained in a Project Management environment. I prefer to use a shortcut on my desktop with the link to the directory saved and I am ready to go. 

This way, I access the correct folder every time and I do’t have to remember the long path to the directory.  which more often than not would be nested several levels below your project folder. These links can then be safely saved on your desktop. 

If you have too many links – create a word document on your desktop and use the function available in word to hyperlink to your directory/directories and you will panic less when you need that information quickly.

Work Smart and share your experiences about Working Smart

Also Read:
Working Smart - 2 Save your files with a date
Working Smart - 3 Find that email

Immigration Blues – India

Having moved several countries since 2005, four countries and two continents, I am penning down my experiences with immigration authorities of various countries starting with India

ECR

An oddity with the Indian system of issuing passports is the famous ECR. This can pop up when you are checking in for your international flight out of the country for a job. If you are just visiting a friend, this may not be an issue.

What is ECR?

Bureau of Immigration states that,
As per the Emigration Act, 1983, Emigration Check Required (ECR) categories of Indian passport holders, require to obtain "Emigration Clearance" from the office of Protector of Emigrants (POE), Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for going to following 18 countries.
United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand, Iraq (emigration banned).
However , the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Emigration Policy Division) have allowed ECR passport holders traveling abroad for purposes others than employment to leave the country on production of valid passport, valid visa and return ticket at the immigration counters at international airports in India w.e.f. 1st October 2007.
If the RPO has issued Indian passport either with endorsement of “Emigration Check Required” or no endorsement of “Emigration Check Required” in the passport, POE clearance is required only when there is “Emigration Check Required” endorsement in the passport.
It stands for Emigration check required. Its a well meaning check put into place by the Indian authorities to ensure that the droves of labourers who work in various countries are not cheated and are employed by genuine employers abroad.

When does this stamp appear on your passport?  

At the time of your passport application, if you have not presented your graduation certificate or you were still in the process of acquiring a degree, then the Indian authorities would have put this stamp on your passport. The authorities deem that you are likely to be conned by some unscrupulous tout who has lured you into a job with some sweet talk and promises.

What to do if you have ECR?

If you already have a job then follow the following steps before trying to board your flight otherwise you will be turned back from the check-in counter. No amount of talking or convincing the person will work.

1. Get a translation of your visa (if its not in English) from a Government approved translator. If you are in Delhi, then you could try the underground Palika Bazaar for the translators. At least, they were there in 2005 but could have moved
2. You will be required to present an affidavit which will say that you will not hold the Indian government responsible if something goes wrong with your job abroad.
3. Present both of these to the Protector of Emigration, Ministry of Overseas Indian affairs. Please refer to the POE offices for details

For more details please refer to the Bureau of Immigration website

In my next post I shall be writing about my experience with the various Indian embassies in the countries where I have worked.