August 23, 2005

• A Day Off

  
  

  It's coming, it's not here yet so lets not get all excited or anything, but I have a day off coming.  Not that I'm obsessed or anything, but when I got my schedule for next week and saw that I was ONLY scheduled for 5 days, I started wondering if that meant that they didn't like me anymore.  After I had a couple hours to sleep on that notion, I realized it was ... whacked.  So in conversation with my manager I mentioned it.  She rolled her eyes, put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Terri, NORMAL people take off two days per week as a matter of habit."

  
  

  I had my evaluation this afternoon. 

  
  

  I know that I'm "just a server" in a restaurant.  But I take some pride in the fact that I do the best job I can possibly do no matter what the job is, so I was looking forward to my evaluation as much to find out where I can improve as to see whether I'd get a raise.  Okay, I wasn't really all that impressed by the possibility of a raise since even a large percentage of nothing ... is still nothing ... but it's the principle of the thing. 

  
  

  So according to my manager I'm about six months away from walking on water if I keep up the good work.  I feel pretty good about that.

  
  

  I promised the photos from the Air Force Academy tour.  I wish that I had a different camera or a different lens or was shooting from further away or something because there is just no way to capture the impact of the architecture at the Air Force Academy chapel with my little Sony.  But I tried.

  
  

  The Air Force Academy sits just north of Colorado Springs at the base of the Rampart Range.  The centerpiece of the campus is the Cadet Chapel which features three chapels under one roof.  The Chapel Structure was designed by Walter A Netsch, Jr of the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architectural firm, Chicago, IL which is the firm currently designing the "Freedom Tower" to be built on the World Trade Center site.  Contractor Robert E McKee, Inc of Santa Fe, New Mexico began construction on August 28, 1959 and the Chapel was completed in the Summer of 1963 (the same summer I was born ...)

  
  

  The exterior of the chapel is in the shape of a phalanx of fighter jets.  The interior uses space and light to achieve a remarkable sense of transcendence.  The building's unique design features have stood the test of time and it was awarded the 25 year award by the American Institute of Architects in 1996. 

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

       One of the effects that is impossible to capture (though I felt compelled to try) is the way that the stained glass is arranged from dark at the back of the room to light at the front so that as you enter the space it is as though you are walking up into the sky visible through the specially treated glass that makes the wall behind the main altar area of the Protestant Chapel.

  
  

  

  
  

       Do you see the "Soaring Cross"?  One of the interesting effects is the way that the cross appears and disappears in the light according to the angle from which you view it. 

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

       In addition to the Protestant Chapel, there is a Catholic Chapel, a Jewish Chapel and two All Faith's meeting rooms which contain no religious accouterments or symbolism to make them acceptable to a variety of faith groups.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

       Outside the Jewish Chapel this Holocaust Scroll is on beautiful display.  This over 200 year old Torah Scroll survived the destruction of the Nazi regime in Germany and was donated to the Cadet Chapel in honor and memory of those Jewish members of the American Air Force who have served and given their lives.

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