Tuesday, February 17, 2004
World of Concrete - Day 1
Today was quite a day. Many people came to the booth to examine the software. And guess what? The stuff I wrote actually works! Unbelievable.
The moment I arrived today I found the closest area where smoking was permissible and where food was sold. They are quite close to the booth - this gives me great pleasure.
It really isn't all that hard to pretend like you know how the concrete industry works. Here's a scenario demonstrations how I do it:
Concrete guy: "Hi."
Me: "Hello."
(long pause as concrete guy looks at something that looks important but really isn't)
Me: "So... What kind of work do you do?"
Concrete guy: "Walls. Footings. The normal stuff."
Me: "How do you do your takeoffs?" (takeoffs, walls and footings are the only three concrete terms I know)
Concrete guy: "Pencil."
Me: "Oh, pencils are very nice. I have a pencil myself and it works rather well. But guess what: This software here is even better than a pencil."
Concrete guy: "Better than a pencil?"
Me: "In some situations, yes."
Concrete guy: "Hmmmm. I don't know. Can you guys do a blah blah blah with a 15 foot blah blah and pull out the overhead and labor costs from the blah?"
Me: "Uh, pretty much. Let me introduce you to my boss, he has actually seen unsolidified concrete before."
Then I stand around and pretend to listen attentively to my bosses presentation. As soon as possible I leave the booth to go to the bathroom, which really means I go outside and smoke a cigarette.
The booth adjacent to us is for a giant ultra-bright light robot-looking machine company. They periodically demonstrate their product, extremely bright light, on our booth and subsequently me, rendering me completely blind for minutes at a time. I am going to bring dark sunglasses to wear during the conference tomorrow so my eyes don't melt. I believe that this will also give me a certain mystique that will impress concrete contractors.
That's it for today. I'm sure you are looking forward to day 2 as much as I am.
I will try to get some pictures tomorrow of some of the scary machinery surrounding the booth. You will be afraid.
The moment I arrived today I found the closest area where smoking was permissible and where food was sold. They are quite close to the booth - this gives me great pleasure.
It really isn't all that hard to pretend like you know how the concrete industry works. Here's a scenario demonstrations how I do it:
Concrete guy: "Hi."
Me: "Hello."
(long pause as concrete guy looks at something that looks important but really isn't)
Me: "So... What kind of work do you do?"
Concrete guy: "Walls. Footings. The normal stuff."
Me: "How do you do your takeoffs?" (takeoffs, walls and footings are the only three concrete terms I know)
Concrete guy: "Pencil."
Me: "Oh, pencils are very nice. I have a pencil myself and it works rather well. But guess what: This software here is even better than a pencil."
Concrete guy: "Better than a pencil?"
Me: "In some situations, yes."
Concrete guy: "Hmmmm. I don't know. Can you guys do a blah blah blah with a 15 foot blah blah and pull out the overhead and labor costs from the blah?"
Me: "Uh, pretty much. Let me introduce you to my boss, he has actually seen unsolidified concrete before."
Then I stand around and pretend to listen attentively to my bosses presentation. As soon as possible I leave the booth to go to the bathroom, which really means I go outside and smoke a cigarette.
The booth adjacent to us is for a giant ultra-bright light robot-looking machine company. They periodically demonstrate their product, extremely bright light, on our booth and subsequently me, rendering me completely blind for minutes at a time. I am going to bring dark sunglasses to wear during the conference tomorrow so my eyes don't melt. I believe that this will also give me a certain mystique that will impress concrete contractors.
That's it for today. I'm sure you are looking forward to day 2 as much as I am.
I will try to get some pictures tomorrow of some of the scary machinery surrounding the booth. You will be afraid.
