insidethebox

Change

2008-01-21T22:22:00.001-05:00

Got sick of the old look

The Song Remains the Same

2007-12-17T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well, every time I say that I am going to write more frequently on here, and every time I wait a month again until posting. Why is this?

-I am busy. 12 hours of my day is dedicated to work, and when I get home I relax for a few hours, watch some tv and go to bed.
-I have a girlfriend. I spend several evenings each week and most of the weekends with her, which doesn't really leave me much of a chance to "blog."
-I live in NYC. When I am not w/my gf or working I am usually out and about in the greatest city in the world.
-What is the point of "blogging" anyways? Do I add any useful information this bloated and cumbersome internet? I'm not particularly eloquent in my statements, and never feel as though I have the time to edit them, because if I saved them as drafts, it would be two weeks before I actually read them again.

Anyways, the holiday season is upon us!!! This is an exciting time of year for many reasons, one being that on Thursday evening I head back to Kansas City for a week of relaxation and non-work. It will be much needed, as the job is super stressful right now, with clients and bosses and contractors all pressuring me to get things done. Plus, many of my CAPD friends will be in town for a few days, and I'm sure that we will have some good times. I was told by my father that there is a good art collection in the JoCo, so I might have to stop by that over my break as well as hit up the Bloch/Nelson and/or/maybe the Kemper. My visits to KC are always so hectic! Anyways, that is life.

And just a warning, I will NOT be posting my "best of 2007" albums. With one exception...

You Are Not Really Here

Vacay

2007-11-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

After a very stressful fall, it's now time for 8 days of rest and relaxation in good ol' Kansas City over the Thanksgiving weekend. As I'm sure all of my very few readers can understand and relate to, this working thing is stressful! Ten hours a day of dealing with contractors, clients and bosses can really start to take its toll after a while and every now and then you just need a break!

The great thing about going "home"[as many of us still refer to it as...and indication of things to come?] for a vacation is that it usually can save you money! If you're staying at your parents house, that means a week of free meals ["Oh, we haven't seen you in forever, lets go out to eat!"], lounging on the couch reading and watching TV and drinking coffee, playing with pets that you'd like to have yourself but have no time/space/money for and raiding the pantry for snacks that you're too cheap to buy for yourself.

I am, however, fortunate enough that my dad bought my whole family tickets a while ago to go to the MU/KU football game at Arrowhead this Saturday. With the teams being ranked #3 and #2 repectevely, it is going to make for quite a game, that's for sure...let's just hope that MU can pull it off, because I'd rather have Iran win than KU. Yes, these are bold statements, but KU is the root of all that is evil, the spawn of Satan...you get the idea.

New York City is starting to get into the spirit of the season, as only New York can. Walking around the city you are start to notice the lavish decorations, from the giant Christmas tree being adorned in Rockefeller Plaza, to the delicate and luxurious window dioramas in the department stores of Bergdorf's to the lighted garnishes that hang over all of the streets in Astoria. Tis the season and nobody does it better.

Oh yeah, it's also the time of year for some pretty amazing sunsets:

Forget about your house of cards*

2007-10-12T19:11:00.002-05:00

A very stressful week of dealing with bosses, contractors and clients and listening feverishly to the latest Radiohead album have caused me to do a lot of thinking. And one question has kept reoccurring in my mind, today especially:

What truly warrants being a good architect?

No one is perfect, but what causes a person to design Fallingwater and what causes a person to design the local 7-Eleven? It is a vision of perfection and design genius, a "Howard Roark" among men? Is it a good client? Is it luck? Or is it the fortitude and persistence to tough out the hard times, and fight for what you believe in? Even though you may mess up the location of a steel beam, or caused the fireplace to be off-center by a mere 3 inches, is it enough to be considered good? Am I good enough? What will my "videotape"** be? When I am gone, how will people remember my work, and me as an architect?

Or is my work irrelevant? Perhaps my stature as a "good" architect has more to do with the relationships that I make with clients and contractors and that bringing a quality of happiness and satisfaction to a life that was previously not there before. Perhaps it is not about whether or not I detail a baseboard flush or recessed, but it is more about the way I can make a client feel when she sees the tarp pulled back, the full height of her two-story glass wall seen for the first time, it's massive span striking us both speechless.

Being an architect is much more complex that I had ever imagined. Even those who at one point seem all knowing and infallible show their weaknesses sometime, and you are left alone, searching for an answer that is nowhere to be found. Never would I have thought that I would be figuring out how to build a complex chimney and dealing with needy clients and contractors in the same day.

*I apologize in advance for the scattered nature and briefness of my post, as I am still reeling from the days events. A more coherent post will hopefully follow.

**reference to "Videotape" off of the In Rainbows album by Radiohead.

An Open Letter

2007-09-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

Dear Chicago Cubs,

You just got swept by one of the worst teams in the National League. You had a three game lead with 6 games left to play. Your lead is now 1, and is dwindling by the minute. I love you, but the way you are playing, you don't deserve to go to the playoffs. Why oh why do you let a mystical curse control your destiny? Take your future into your own hands. I wish you the best, but because of the results I have seen, I prepare for the worst.

Your loving fan,
Sam

An Ending

2007-09-21T19:04:00.001-05:00

Last night I finished one of the longest, greatest novels that I have ever read, Leo Tolstoy's unforgettable War and Peace. Everything that can possibly be said about the book has already been done, so I'll spare the novice critique. All I will say is that I laughed, I cried and I really got to know the Rostovs, the Bolknoskys and the Bezukhovs. And right now I am experiencing a feeling of melancholy and regret, wishing that I did not have to say goodbye to my beloved friends and damning myself for reading the book as fast as I did, somehow hoping that my slower reading would have somehow postponed the inevitable.

One of the great threads in the novel is the conflict of life and to somehow defeat death so as to live on in eternal happiness. Towards the end of the book I was wishing that Prince Andrey would somehow discover this magic token so that we both could live together another day and continue to share our intimate secrets. When once our moments together were temporarily postponed by the clatter of an arriving subway car, now our time together is done, his life doomed by the shrapnel of an errant grenade, mine to be inadequately replaced by the next character who fails to reveal himself so completely to me.

Pierre, Natasha, Andrey and Nikolay:

I will never forget you.

Tolstoy

2007-09-13T19:44:00.000-05:00

And again he was saying the same words; but this time Natasha in her imagination made him a different answer. She stopped him, and said: "Awful for you, but not for me. You know that I have nothing in life but you, and to suffer with you is the greatest happiness possible for me." And he took her hand and pressed it, just as he had pressed it on that terrible evening four days before his death. And in her imagination she said to him other words of tenderness and love, which she might have said then, which she only said now..."I love thee!!...thee...I love, love thee..." she said, wringing her hands convulsively, and setting her teeth with bitter violence...

And a sweeter mood of sorrow was coming over her, and tears were starting into her eyes; but all at once she asked herself: "To whom was she saying that? Where is he, and what is he now?"

--Natasha Rostov

Summertime in the City

2007-09-06T20:33:00.000-05:00

Lost in Boston

2007-09-04T21:33:00.000-05:00

...
Drinking rum and chocolate
A hundred thousand blinking lights
Making me exhausted

This past Labor Day weekend I was fortunate enough to visit my cousin and her boyfriend in Boston, MA. Previously, my only visit to Boston has been a weekend after my senior year of high school in which I was forced by my overzealous father to walk the entire Freedom Trail, reading almost every plaque along the way. There is nothing worse than struggling through a humid August afternoon listening to your father point out every minor piece of American history while your sister complains that she's hot and tired and your brother complains that he hates family vacations and while his mother yells at him that he should not say such things about his family.

Fortunately, hanging out with differently family members in Boston the second time around turned out to be much more fun! After an extremely impressive performance by Battles Friday night, I awoke with a spring in my step[more so than normal!] early Saturday morning to board the 8am Greyhound bus to Boston, MA. It had been a long while since I had seen my cousin, and when she picked me up at South Station 4.5 hours later I was still in high spirits. I could go on about every little thing that I did while in Boston on the last weekend of summer, but instead I will limit it to just the highlights/disappointments[dum dum dum!].

My cousin lives just a few blocks away from Fenway Park, but we still got a chance to walk through the lovely Beacon Hill district of Boston, famed for housing many famous people, John Kerry, David Lee Roth and Robert Frost [in no particular order] to name a few. Walking through this quiet and serene part of the city I started to get a sense of the easy-going way of life that differs so much from the stress of my daily grind in New York.

Shortly after Beacon Hill we took a lunch break along the beautiful Charles River. Looking out across the water one could see Harvard and MIT in the distance, with a throng of sailboats playfully darting back-and-forth in the lazy summer afternoon, a crisp breeze keeping their sails taut with excitement.

Since I was with my cousin and girlfriend, I did not want this trip to be solely about architecture, but the one building that we had to go and see was the new structure by the always controversial, sometimes successful duo, Diller + Scofidio. Their ICA building in Boston received lots of attention in the media after it was opened, so I figured that I should check it out and try to form my own opinion about it. Sadly, as you can see from above, the building did little from the outset to inspire one to achieve greatness, as you approach the ass-end of the building across a broken-up piece of asphalt parking lot, trying to zig-zag your way through a myriad of chain-link fences and parked cars. Upon turning the corner though, one really sees what the building is about.

A giant, cantilevered platform extends out from the ass-end of the building and into the harbor, and it is clearly apparent that D+S had one thing in mind when they were designing the ICA: what the building would see/be seen in the harbor.

Upon entering the building, you are whisked up 4 stories via a large, glass elevator, a view of the harbor always visible between floors as you ascend. When you reach the top you are briefly lead through several small art galleries before fed into the room-with-a-view, the moneyshot of ICA, an uninterrupted viewing space of the harbor that you have been glimpsing throughout out your visit. It's a tried and true technique, one that seemed to be much more impressive at the deYoung, yet it seems as though something was forgotten here. Perhaps is is the miniscule amount of art the one sees beforehand, and the instant gratification of the view, or perhaps it's due to the fact that looking out over a blank canvas of water is not as visually stimulating as looking out over a hilly urban city, but I felt quite let down as I turned around to walk back to the stairwell that led me down and out, and a quick scam of $12. Sure, the Louis Bourgeois spider was pretty cool, but I still can't help feeling cheated by the lack of substance behind the ICA. A project similar in scope, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art seems to be much more successful, largely due to the fact that they don't just rely on the view to sell the building.

Anyways, I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant on the ICA, but so it did. I had a great time in Boston, spending quality time with my cousin and co, and would recommend that everyone take a trip there, if not so you can see this famous piece of brutalist architecture, the Boston City Hall:

[oh yeah, the rest of Boston is pretty cool too!]

A quick update

2007-08-29T21:45:00.001-05:00

Well, this past week has been intense. I've got a big deadline this Friday at work [drawing set is due], but tonight I had to take some time off to see an old professor who was visiting the city with his students. It was a good break, but now it's time to prepare for tomorrow night, which could be very long. The goal is to have all of our drawings plotted off by the time we leave the office Thursday night, so that Friday all we will have to do is send the set off to the copy company and deliver them to the site.

Plus, Friday night Battles is playing a free show, one that I have been looking forward to. And it is also Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer here in NYC, and I will be celebrating it in Boston. Any recommendations on things to see and do?

Wow, it's been a while

2007-08-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

It seems like every time I do post on this blog, I apologize for not posting in a while. I don't really have any excuses, except for maybe the fact that by the time I do get on here to post something, I feel like I never really have anything to say other than posting about the mundane triteness of my everyday life. I am not the greatest story teller like my boy Easy-E who gets to be in movies, and I don't have the cynical old man rants like Corpo Corbo, and part of me wonders what the point is? What is my blog for?

My title says "a place in space for the thoughts and musings of me." I guess my thoughts never transfer very well into print. I have thoughts, as we all do, I just never seem to be able to deliver them in an effective manner via the world of the blog. One of my personal shortcomings has always been my inability to "Express [My]self," both in my architectural discussions and in my everyday interactions with people. I guess that I get nervous about what people may think and that they may not like me and what I have to say.

Back when I was younger, my parents called me Silent Sam, so one can see that this has been with me all throughout my life. Sure, now I talk a lot more, but as many of you have witnessed, it's not always quality, and even still I always seem to be holding something back.

I think that maybe I am going to try and start using this blog as a way to get over this shyness, and hopefully it will be updated much more frequently, if not daily [that may be stretching things a bit, I am a busy NYC man afterall!]. Ok, now a quick update about my life:

This summer has been one big blur. Ever since Memorial Day, I have had something to do almost every weekend. I went to San Francisco for a mini-CAPD reunion which was a blast, I had a private flight up the Hudson River corridor by a great pilot-friend of mine, I have had my parents visit me, I have had my girlfriends parents visit me, I have visited my family in KC for a family reunion, I have seen the Bloch Building [fantastic!], I have had several sets of friends visit for the weekend [KC and STL], I have gone to free concerts [Spoon! Animal Collective! etc], I have had my brother visit for a week after spending a year in Germany, and I have just returned from a weekend in Philly.

Whew! See what I mean, I don't have time for the likes of you, Mr. Blogger, I'm a busy man! [see tongue in cheek]

However, not to sound pretentious, but I have also been very involved a reading a long, yet engaging piece of literature, War and Peace. I feel that this book is teaching me patience, something that I desperately need in my life, something that will help me both professionally and personally [I've been reading for about 6 weeks now and am a little over halfway through]. Ok, that's it for now, I leave you with a few photos, hopefully more soon!

Let's go flyboy!

Hazy view of NYC from the Cessna 172

If you read the fine print you can see KSU CAPD on display @ the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum!

Serra at the MoMA

Waddup Yo!!!!

Yes, that's a parrot on that guys shoulder at the Spoon concert...only in NYC

Gabe was just in town for business, one night only

...

2007-07-16T22:46:00.001-05:00

There's nothing here but empty space...

a pathetic end to a long night[yet strangely satisfying]

2007-05-19T16:25:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me know how big of a Cubs fan I am. When I was living in Kansas City I never really had many opprotunities to see the Cubs play, as the Royals are in the AL and the Cubs are in the NL. Now that I live in NYC I have the once a year chance to see the Cubs play the Mets for a three game series at Shea Stadium. Needless to say, when I found this out several months ago, I immediately went to the Mets webpage and bought tickets to see the game that took place this past Wednesday night. For the past few weeks I had been anticipating the game, hopefully to see my Cubbies take on the surging Mets.

After a day of rain, I got to the stadium to see this view from my seat, where I sat for three hours waiting for the rain to stop. It was 10pm before the rain stopped, and I was quite depressed at the thought of not getting to see my team play in the one opprotunity I would have all year. At 10:15pm the game finally began in front of a very empty Shea Stadium. I only paid $9 for my ticket, which on a normal day would have allowed me to watch the game from the nosebleed section, but due to the misfortune[or luck] of rain and a delay, I took a chance and ran down to the lower section of the stadium and took my seat 7 rows behind the Cubs dugout! I could not wait to see the Cubs pound the Mets after destroying them 8-1 the night before.

But of course, the game was a typical Cubs disaster. Into the 7th inning they had only one hit and were losing 4-0. Being that it was 12:30am and I had to work the next day, I took my tired and weary Cubs soul and headed for the #7 train, content that I had gotten to see my Cubbies play, but disappointed in their poor performance at my one time this year to see them play. They ended up losing 8-1 with only 2 hits.

Another exciting experience that I had recently was a trip to the NYC Ballet to watch the performance of Romeo and Juliet. Now before anyone makes a smartass comment, my main reason for going was on a date with my girlfriend who loves ballet. Anyways, The show was pretty good and I had a great time. It is always fun dressing up and watching all the people out enjoying a wonderful spring night in New York City.

Structure:

Modesty

2007-05-12T17:49:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago I was fortunate enough to be offered two free tickets to go and see Modest Mouse perform in Harlem. Of course, I took the tickets and embarked on an extensive voyage into the nether regions of New York City, a place that has always been stereotyped as drug ridden and dangerous.

Upon reaching the venue, I was surrounded by a variety of hipsters, some old and some young, some granola and some corporate. While on one hand the crowd was very similar, it was also quite diverse. I guess I would attribute that to the recent popularity of Modest Mouse, starting with their last album and expanding even more so on their most recent, and quite good, album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

Sufficed to say, the show was brilliant. They played a mixture of tunes, some old and some new. Early on in the show Issac Brock [lead singer] said that he was sick and had been throwing up for the past three hours and for us to bear with him. After he finished the next song, he put his guitar down and ran backstage. The rest of the band covered for him, jamming out for about five minutes while the crowd restlessly stood awaiting Brock's return. Soon though, a familiar bassline broke out and Brock burst on stage with the most heartwrenching and emotional live performance I have ever seen. He absoulutely blew the crowd away with his passion as he sung Tiny Cities Made of Ashes and gave me goose bumps.

After a successful encore, the curtains closed on stage, leaving an emotionally battered yet elated crowd to find their way home from Harlem at 11:30 on a Sunday night. That's another blog post in itself.

Pecha Kucha

2007-04-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

This past Wednesday I had the opprotunity to go to an up and coming event in the architectural field, Pecha Kucha. For those that don't know, Pecha Kucha was started by a small firm in Tokyo who wanted a forum for discussing new ideas and seeing new work in the design field. Not just limited to architecture, Pecha Kucha has had graphic designers, product designers, fashion designers and fabricators all present in their unique format, and has quickly spread to dozens of cities across the globe. I attended the third one in New York City, this one located down in the Lower East Side after the previous two were held in Queens and Brooklyn. The basic premise of the event is that each presenter is allowed to show 20 slides and each slide will only be up for 20 seconds before switching to the next one. This allows the presentations to be brief and succinct, something that us architects are not well known for.

Overall, I thought that the event was pretty interesting. Some presentations were better than others, Joe MacDonald from Urban A&O seemed to have an interesting idea, but the microphone wasn't working and he spoke very softly so no one could hear what he was saying. It was so quiet, in fact, that you could actually hear the toilet flushing in the bathroom which was quite amusing to the slighly buzzed crowd.

My favorite presentation was by a graduate student at Columbia, Nader Vossoughian, who had an excellent, comedic presentation on pictograms and their impact on society today. Others such as Marc Simmons from Front just showed pictures of their work without any sort of idea determining the course of discussion, and my least favorite was Peoples Architecture who basically were just advertising their company for the entire time. There was a fashion designer there, Mary Ping who my girlfriend liked the most [naturally, being that she is in fashion], and who's work I enjoyed as it was very architectural in idea and asthetic.

I would say that I enjoyed the night, but I don't know how long the series will last. To me it seems like an event that could become very tired very quickly. But such is the way of New York City today.

The Office

2007-04-05T19:51:00.000-05:00

I have never been the kind of person who has been addicted to TV shows, and with the exception of a a brief stint with the paranormal investigations of Mulder and Scully in The X-Files, I just haven't ever been able to keep interested long enough. All of this has changed in the past month or so however, and I am not hooked on NBC's hit comedy, The Office. I don't know if it's because I have recently entered into the every day working world or that I have a soft spot for British humour [albeit now transformed for US audiences] but something about it just keeps me in stitches for a half an hour every Thursday night at 8 or 8:30 [they like to vary the time slot on me.] Here I sit in my IKEA chair, eating macaroni and cheese and sipping on a Pellegrino all while laughing my head off at Dwight spraying a co-worker in the face with pepper spray.

I think part of the appeal is that they have been so able to show how varied relationships between co-workers can be. Being freshly released from architecture school, I have brought my passion for design and dedication to following through on an idea into a world that doesn't always reward one for putting for the extra effort. Some people really are there from 8 to 5 and can only count down the minutes until the clock hit 5. I think that everyone at one point has felt like that at work, and that is what makes The Office so appealing because we can all sympathize with one of the characters. Everyone has got a story about a crazy co-worker who collects bobblehead dolls and sucks up to the boss, or a story about a boss who wants to be so hip and cool with their employees that they schedule a booze cruise as an office team-building exercise and end up getting drunk and dancing like a fool in front of everyone. Throughout all of this the pressures of our jobs are lifted from our shoulders and we feel like our job is great compared to Toby, the poor guy who as to listen to the office couple nag at each other all day long.

All that, and Steve Carell is just so damn funny!!!

Thoughts of the future

2007-03-25T15:32:00.000-05:00

For some reason I have been thinking a lot about grad school this past week or so. I have only been out of undergrad for less than a year, but something about the creative, thorough investigation and camaraderie of school has been causing my mouth to water like a Pavlovian dog. Maybe it is due to the fact that I am going to San Francisco in May to visit some old friends from undergrad, or maybe because of the flurry of posts on the archinect.com web forums about people getting accepted/denied to their long dreamt about ivy-league schools, but the seed has been planted. I do not know where I would like to go, and it would still be a few years before anything materialized, but this past week has definitely started the ball rolling.

My undergraduate education was a very enlightening and positive experience, and only in my last semester did I feel like I was starting to realize the potential behind a quality architectural education. I felt like my studio with Alberto and Matt was only a taste of what graduate school would be like, and I have been left thirsting for more. K-State gave me a great practical education and a great foundation for the pragmatic art of building, but I feel like I did not get the theoretical experience that is needed to be a well-rounded and provocative architect.

Well, the Oregon/Florida game is getting down to the wire now and I am having trouble focusing on typing this post, so I think that's all you're going to get today. Still, two posts in a week, good, no?

Slacker

2007-03-20T21:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've been slacking. It's been two months since I last posted, and for that I apologize. I've had some sort of virus on my PC which will not allow me to access blogger.com, so I have been forced to use my reliable Apple to do any blogging.

The past two months have gone by rather quickly. At the beginning of February I moved up the street just one block, as my old landlord forced me to move out of my old apt. My new place is much bigger and closer to the subway, but it has taken a bit of work to make it seaworthy. I have had to paint and clean incredulously, and after a mild roach problem, I believe that things have subsided. It is still a mess and doesn't have much stuff in it, but that's what happens when you make no money, live in the most expensive city in the US, and moved there by shipping 6 boxes of stuff. I do have a dining table from DWR and some imitation Jacobsen Series 7 chairs arriving this week.

Over Memorial Day weekend I am flying out to San Francisco to have a mini-reunion with some of my friends from KSU and I am looking forward to that [as well as checking out the DeYoung Museum, a
project I played a minor part in].

Work is going well. I am wrapping up a project that I started when I first started my job, and it has been very educational to witness a project from start to finish. I have attended weekly site meetings, dealt face to face with clients and consultants, and gone to battle with the contractors; there were many mistakes made, but I have come out a much more knowledgable architect-in-training.

Before:

After:

Currently, I am doing a lot of work on a residence in NYC, and I am taking my knowledge from my last project and applying it to my current one. I still do not know much, and I have help via another green employee, but I feel much more competent than I did 6 months ago. I can now go to an active job site, know what's going on and actively engage the contractor and explain what needs to be done. We are now in the process of demolition, and I think that in some respects this is the most beautiful part of the project.

One other work related thing that I should note is a competition that my firm entered and I worked on for a majority of January. Last fall we entered the Czech National Library competition in Prague, and out of over 400 applicants, we were one of the eight schemes chosen to move on to stage two. Several weeks ago we found out that we placed 5th out of 8, the winning design being a rather hideous blog of Futurama that can be seen here. Our scheme is #262, and the winner is #297...don't ask me, everyone at my firm thought it was a joke when we saw the winning entry.

Speaking of the office, it has been really cold the past month or so. It has been so cold that the Hudson River had started to freeze over. Apparently it has been so cold for so long before that you can see ice completely covering the river, but as you can see below, it only reached a little ways out. Still, a cool view from the office.

Well, this post has just been more of a catch up with me, so hopefully soon I can get into more stimulating subject matter, but for now I will leave you with this image of Astoria [check out A Guide to Recgonizing Your Saints] during a snowstorm. New York can be quite magical at times, and this was one of them.

Some Loud Thunder

2007-01-18T22:56:00.000-05:00

On January 30th, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah officially releases their sophomore album, Some Loud Thunder. You can listen to it first, by clicking on my little link to the right.

It's good stuff so far.

Life, 007 style

2007-01-10T23:19:00.000-05:00

Once again, it has been a while between posts, and I apologize. It is strange, I don't know it 'adult' life [postcollege] is more boring in comparison or what, but it just seems like I don't have much to 'blog' about anymore. Maybe I never really had much to 'blog' about and I am just now realizing that I should quit wasting peoples time.

Anyways, I have now been up here in NYC for over 6 months, and soon I will be moving into a new, yet to be defined, space. I've been looking for an apartment rather intensely the past week or so, with no fruit to display. I toil away at work all day and make phone calls to see apartments after work that inevietably end up being rather lackluster and only continue to discourage me in my hunt for a new dwelling.

I guess that raises another question, one that I and several of my colleagues have researched rather extensively; when I find a new apartment will I actually dwell there? So far, I have never really felt like I could call my current arrangement a home, it has just really been space that I have occupied. It could be due to a lack of interest in my part to engage my current space, or just a premenition that I knew I would not be here long, but I have always felt so temporary here. Could it even be that I feel that I am not going to be in New York for a while and that it is not my home? I have never intended on living here permenantly and have always thought of New York as a city for the young and engaging, as it is not a place that I could see myself raising a family. But I do plan on staying here for a while, and hopefully this next apartment that I inhabit will actually be one that I can live in long enough to be able to dwell in.

In other, more light-heated news, today was the first day the snow was spotted in New York this season, even if it was only a brief few minutes of flurries. It has been an unseasonably mild winter thusfar; this past weekend it was over 70 degrees!

I have been quite busy with work, and I feel very fortunate to have found a job that I enjoy going to every day. I have been involved in all aspects of the profession so far; for example today I did everything from redlining shop drawings, arrange tech support for our plotter to a site meeting w/contractors, clients and engineers. I feel that I am gaining very valuable experience at my firm and have nothing but good things to say about working here.

Over Christmas I went back to Kansas City and got to see several friends that I had not seen in a while, and missed a chance to see several that I would have liked to see. I had a nice relaxing time back, and strangely it didn't really seem as ackward as I thought that it was going to; I know that upon my return from England, where I had been away a similar time length, I had lots of adjusting to do.

One thing that I have noticed over the past seven months since graduation is the lack of critical investigation that occurs outside of the field of education. I have seen it in others and have even noticed it a little in myself, and it has begum to alarm me. The only thing that we have to negotiate this world is our intellect, and I feel that the working week and the consumer lifestyle that accomodate it are very quickly draining our last crucial resource from within. America once thrived on its individualism and ingenuity, and now it it suffocating on the smoke of its own burning flesh. Where we once used to solve problems, now we only create them. Instead of creating and thinking in our free time, we now only seem to dissolve into a puddle of our own cellulite, drowning the television remote at the base of our recliners in the process. We must remain committed to engaging the world around us and to keeping an active and sharp mind so that we can live life to its fullest, never wasting a day. I have seen too many tragedies this past year to stand idle on the sidelines, and feel that there is still so much out there to experience...

Ok, wow, sorry about that, that just sort of shot out.

Anyways, here are some pics of the past while:

A project my firm has almost completed:

A job site that I visit weekly:

A view of Manhattan from 53rd and Lex:

Crazy cloud/fog formation on the Hudson River seen from my office desk:

A little part of Astoria that I've been known to frequent:

What happens when you let women throw a party:

One Week...

2006-12-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

It seems like this past week has been more like a month. I had friends visiting last weekend and staying at my place, something that always seems to drain a host, no matter how much they enjoyed their company. I have also been looking at several apartments for my rapidly approaching move, something that really takes away any free time that one might have. On Monday afternoon I flew down to Virginia Beach, VA to go to the funeral of my sadly departed cousin. I still don't think that it had seemed real until I got to my aunts house and saw the vast amount of pain that everyone was in. To see my aunt, a very strong and independent woman, on the verge of breaking because she was in so much pain was almost more than I could take. I loved my cousin and and deeply saddened by her death, but the thing that always gets me at funerals is having to see my friends and family and those that were close to the departed, so desperate. Death is a natural process, no matter how unnaturally it occurs, but the grieving of my family is was really shakes me up. To see my cousin, shaking so uncontrollably because a jealous and controlling boyfriend took her sisters life really hits me at the heart.

Events like this really make me realize how important my family is. I have been living on the East Coast for six months now, and I have yet to visit my family who lives in Boston and VA. I have always said that I will go and visit, but due to one thing or another I have always put it off. Now I realize that I must go and visit, because death can come at any time and I may never get to say what I want to say to my family because I have been 'too busy' to go and see them. I guess growing up I have always guarded my emotions, I don't know if it is because I am a male adhearing to society's rules of stoicism, or because I just don't know how to express them, but I think that the guardedness[word?] of my heart has caused me to close myself off to certain people in my life. Hopefully, this event can help me to break down these walls that I have built around myself and really grow in my relationships with others. I love my family and hate to see them go through so much pain and agony, and want to be there for them to help in their suffering.

Ok, enough depression. I basically have a two day work week, starting tomorrow. I fly back to JoCo in the KC MO on Thursday, and will be there until the Wednesday after Christmas. Wednesday afternoon we have our office holiday party, where we will be bowling and drinking beer and eating catered food. Strange combination. Wednesday morning I have my weekly site meeting, so I will really only be working in the office on Monday and Tuesday. Hooray for the holidays! A year-end bonus or a raise would be nice to ;) ;)

And now, I must schlep all of my clothes up to the corner and do laundry. :sigh:

Perspective

2006-12-10T21:06:00.000-05:00

Late Friday night, as I was in a cab zooming down 3rd Ave on my way to a bar with some visiting friends, I was painfully told by my sister that my cousin had just been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who then pointed the still smoking barrel towards his own head and ended yet another tragic life.

Upon hearing the news, I was in complete shock. No one can prepare themself for an event of this magnitude, for a story so unbelievable it feels like you are watching and episode of Law and Order. Friday night an atrocity against human kind was committed, one of thousands that happens each year. How could someone be so selfish and so full of hate that they could destroy something that is so beautiful? Life is so delicate and tender that it must be held with the softest of hands. Its grandeur and joy should be respected and admired, not brutally thrown on the floor to be shattered into a million pieces.

I only saw Claire once a year [on the most celebrated of Loring family holidays, Thanksgiving]. I still enjoyed my time with her, whether it was listening to her and my brother get into discussions about politics, or recalling the now infamous time in which her and my brother thought that they were cavemen and she decided to call him 'Bellyache,' a name that still sticks with him to this day, or listening to her updates on her most recent performance of jazz singing.

You never really know what you have until it's gone, something that particularly applies to your family. Family can so easily be taken for granted, and when something as unspeakable as this happens it can really bring you back down to earth and force you to realize how much they really mean to you. Even though I only see some of them once a year, I always look forward to Thanksgiving and being together with them. As our numbers now decrease by one, I know that from this point forward I will have a profoundly different outlook on this time of year and will attach a new significance to 'spending quality time with the fam'. While you may always be stuck with your family, you will also always be blessed with them, something that has now become so apparent to me.

[re]location?

2006-12-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I just found out yesterday that I have until February 1 to find a new place to live. My landlord works long and odd hours and with a two hour commute to work, he said that he needed a place to crash during the week while he was in the city, so he's kicking me out. He will give me two months security deposit back as well as half of my brokers fee, and will help me find a place, which is nice but still, I'm upset that I have to relocate. I am not sure where I'm going to look, but I still have two months. Anyone know anyone who needs a roommate in NYC?

An Update

2006-11-21T22:08:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile [as usual, it seems].

It's hard to believe that it's Thanksgiving already, it seems like just yesterday I was starting my first day of work. I guess this is what happens when one gets older, the days don't seem as long due to your relative frame of reference to them. Tomorrow morning I head to La Guardia Airport and hop on Midwest flight YX80 to head back to Kansas City for 5 days of R and R with the family. It will be quite interesting to return to suburbia, as I have been nowhere near it for the past 5 months. I have a feeling it will be similar to how I felt upon returning from my studies in London, where I was for 5 months as well. I felt quite a bit of culture shock upon my return, and I am wondering if it will be the same thing tomorrow. It will feel strange to be in a passenger car that is not a cab [have been in one once in the past 5 months], and it will be quite a shift having to drive everywhere instead of walking. I am going to have to bum rides from my parents or borrow their car, another thing I have not done in a long time [drive].

I am acclimating to the city more and more every day, now at times I don't feel out of place at all and just go about my business.

Today, when leaving the office, my boss joked about me heading to KC and not coming back. I can assure him that is not the case.

In the spirit of fellow blogger Corbeano, I am going to post albums that I have not been able to get enough of this past month or so.

Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Beach House - Beach House [ambient indie rock]
The Knife - Silent Shout [had it for about a year, but can't seem to get enough of it; see post below for video]
Rock Central Plaza - Are We Not Horses [If you like Neutral Milk Hotel, you'll love these guys]

New York has not gotten as cold as I had assumed it was going to get, I feel like this time of year in Kansas it is much colder than what I am currently experiencing; however, I do expect, and am externally assured, that the mercury will continue to plummet until I am cursing myself for typing this paragraph of arrogance.

I need a decent camera so that I can take good pictures and post them here. Oh well, there's always Xmas.

Now, it is time to pack. In honor of my return, I will now throw on some horribly awesome Tech N9ne.

We Share Our Mothers Health

2006-11-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

Awesome video by an awesome band that I just found:
The Knife - We Share Our Mothers Health

Why I <3 NY

2006-11-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

It has been quite some time since my previous post, and for that, I apologize. Things have been very busy for me recently, my weeks just seem to fly by. I'm up to my ears in laundry and still cannot find the time to go and get it done.

It has now been just over four months since I have moved to New York City, and while I feel that I have learned and seen a great deal since moving here, I know that I have not yet begun to even scratch the surface. A recent conversation in which I proclaimed that New York was the greatest city in America has caused me to step back and really critique why I feel this. Every morning when I hop on the subway, still bleary-eyed from my resistant acclimation to the working week, I feel a nervous, raw energy as all of the people rush on and clamor to their seats. As I bounce around on the train, fading in and out of consciousness, I feel the continual movement of people getting on and off, and up and down, carrying out their daily routine. Arriving at the station I ascend the stairs onto Canal Street and enter into the flow of pedestrians darting in and out of taxicabs on their way to the jobs that they proclaim to hate. Crossing 6th Ave I am always struck with awe at the sheer amount of people moving about the city, many with cups of coffee, and many stylishly dressed in the latest designer duds, all doing the same thing that I am doing. I do not feel alone.

Arriving at work I am greeting with a cheerful good morning from the two principals of my firm who happen to sit right next to me, and enter into a sarcastic conversation about how the organizer of the most recent office pool fixed it so that she would win [she came in dead last]. In passing I am told that there are pastries from a local 'magic-bakery' down the street, world renown for their delicacies. I cross onto the other side of the office to the water cooler where I say hello to two Asians, one German, one Irish, one Panamanian, and one Cacuasian, many of whom went to prestigious schools such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia. Throughout the morning I work on various tasks, ranging from building a 3-d model of a space high above midtown that I have visited over a dozen times [the view is stunning], calling a furniture rep regarding a particular type of veneered finish to be applied to their workstations, or field pushy emails from an extremely rich and famous client who has surprising good taste.

Lunch will occur sometime around 1:30 when my entire office will head down to the local market where one can get a plethora of goods ranging from sandwiches, soup, sushi, fruits and vegetables, etc. Or, sometimes we will head to a more specialized restaurant, one that has been featured in the NY Times for its fabulous pulled, slow-roasted pork and cabbage, or a cheap, delicious northern Chinese sandwich joint that has great atmosphere. There are times even when the principals will buy the whole office lunch, and once recently we ate at Brassiere, a very famous restaurant in the basement of the Segrams building, recently redesigned by Diller and Scofidio. [Of course, we were the only people in there critiquing the space.] I will sit with my coworkers and absorb all of the things that they talk about, many of which I never knew existed until I moved to this vast new city [Ernest Sewn jeans, the Zaha Hadid exhibit at the Guggenheim, and the free concerts at McCarren Park pool, to name a few].

Work will continue on until around 7 or so and I will make the hourly trek back to Astoria. The change between Tribeca and Astoria is quite noticeable, as when I return home I am greeted by the smells of fried chicken, falafel, and pizza. Sometimes I will stop in to a local Mexican joint that is run by a Chinese family and will grab my two #8's and one #4, or I will cross the street and will be greeted by a thick Queens accent asking me if I want my greasy two slices 'here or ta go'

And while some of these new experiences can get to be annoying and extremely irritating, I enjoy every last minute of them. I think that the reason I feel that New York is the greatest city in America is because of the people who live in it and the opportunities that are granted to me. While the people can be excruciating cold-hearted on the outside, once you get to know them you find quite the opposite. With so much diversity , from the insanely wealthy Upper East Side, to the fashionista queens of Chelsea, to the hipper than hip Williamsburg-ites, to the ethnic meccas of Astoria and Flushing, there really is a little bit [or a whole lot!] of everything in this city. I can find anything I want and a lot of stuff I have never heard of, and the experiences are so rich thus far that they are like nothing else I have ever experienced in any American city. No where else could I live where my co-workers would be able would be able to scribe the names of Meier, I.M. Pei, and Tschumi on their resumes. And with people paying exuberant amounts of money to live in tiny apartments where dishwashers and laundry facilities are the luxuries of the rich, I have found that I am not alone. I am not alone. In New York, you are never alone and there is always more to learn.

I cannot believe this

2006-10-30T20:29:00.000-05:00

Seriously, how ignorant can one be?

If you listen to indie rock you will smoke weed

Remember Buck O'Neil

2006-10-07T13:19:00.000-05:00

Sadly, a perennial Kansas City favorite, Buck O'Neil, passed away today. He did so much for the sport of baseball and for the city of Kansas City and he will be missed by many, many people. After injustly being bypassed for the Hall of Fame, Buck just smiled and just took it in stride like the true man of class that he was.

Hardcore

2006-10-06T19:15:00.000-05:00

I found this amusing.

Russians smuggle vodka via mile-long tunnel

24

2006-09-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

No, not the tv show. I turned 24 today, yippee me!

After a search of not so suitable images, I came up with these:

Some Friends

2006-09-17T08:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I found a great memorable photo of some friends that I thought I'd share.

and [five] years go by

2006-09-11T20:25:00.000-05:00

9/11/2001-9/11/2006

lest we never forger

P.rovidence

2006-09-09T10:55:00.000-05:00

Well, here are a few pics from my recent schlep up to Providence to visit Mr. Wedel. All taken by him, as I forgot my camera.

Mr. Wedel was a very benevolent host all throughout my trip, that is for sure.

Mr. Wedel also has a loft about three times the size[x,y,z] of mine, for about the same cost. Oh the joys of NYC living!

Stomping divots at the polo match after the third chukka!

Ok, ok...me showing showing my exhibitionist side at the pizza shop.

New Yorker

2006-09-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Well, while I wait for Wedel to send me photos of our time in Providence [I brilliantly left my camera in NYC], I will share with my beloved readers a little bit about my slow conversion to becoming a New Yorker.

I have been up here just over two months and I have been quite surprised with the speed at which I have begun to assymilate into the routine and lifestyle of New York. One thing that really opened my eyes to this fact is a recent dinner I had with a very distant relative who lives in Jersey City, NJ. We had been making plans for several weeks to have dinner, and finally last I made the laborious trek on the exhausted PATH train to Jersey City. Having never been to Jersey, I was quite surprised at how extremely different it was from Manhattan/New York. I remember in my second year of architecture school I read LeCorbusier's book, Towards a New Architecture in which he talked of modern cities that would have 'towers in the park' where pedestrians would congregate and automobile traffic arteries would line the edges. Of course, nowadays this notion of urban planning has been completely discredited, except in Jersey City. Upon arrival I walked out of the PATH station and was greeted by very tall skyscrapers, a few cars, and a line of pedestrians filing into residential apartment complexes in the sky, ending their 30 minute commute from bustling Manhattan. I was shocked at how empty and lifeless the city felt in comparison to Manhattan. Nowhere were there street vendors, tourists, stores with people bustling in and out, or cabs barreling down the streets. It was dead, and I was shocked as to why anyone would want to live in this sterile enviornment. Sure, the view was nice from the apartment, but even that would soon be gone due to an impeding development of parking garages.

After gathering my senses back, I made my way to the apartment where I was greeted by elevators that were out of service because of an in-progress fire alarm. I took the stairs. I arrived at the appointed, hotel-style door and entered to meet my 'long-lost' relative and her two roommates, where I was quizzed on my background and how I found city life. All three of the roommates worked in Jersey and from what I gathered rarely made it into the city, something that completely shocked me. If you were going to live in the metro area, what other reason would you live there than to work and be in the city? My only reason for moving to the tri-state area was to live and work in NYC and I had never even thought about moving here to work in the suburbs. They all drove their cars to work, which seemed crazy to me. And of course, they thought it was crazy that I lived and worked in such a hectic place. There really are two types of people who live up here.

Anyways, another thing that I have noticed in my assymilation was when I was returning from my visit to Providence. As soon as the bus entered NYC I could feel a dramatic difference in the way that I felt. Sure, it was great to get up to P.town and visit my friend and I really enjoyed the city, but as soon as we hit the pavement of northern Manhattan I could feel the excitement level turned up a couple of notches. There was a buzz and an energy that just couldn't be rivaled by most any other city. All of the people on the streets, tourists snapping photos, children playing football, WASPS coming out of Gucci with their arms full of shopping bags, hipsters smoking cigarettes. It truly was an electric feeling, one which jumpstarted my soul. New York is alive, like no other city.

Wedel!

2006-08-31T18:54:00.000-05:00

The office is closed Friday and Monday for Labor Day, so I'm off to Providence, RI for a weekend of celebration and polo watching w/Mr. Kyle Wedel. Pics upon return!!

Papa's got a brand new bag!

2006-08-27T13:28:00.000-05:00

Well, bike actually. I just picked up a mide 80's Peugeot 12 speed road bike that I am planning on converting to a fixed gear. She's got a long way to go, especially since I don't have any tools with me in NYC, but thy will be done!

New post

2006-08-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

I know, it's long overdue, but I've been pretty busy the past few weeks now that I have a job and all. I usually get home around 8pm, which leaves a few hours for relaxing, reading,etc. However, this past week I have been sick and I am not sure if it is due to stress or to some bug that I caught.

Things have been very stressful for me this past week, after learning some some potentially painful news about a good friend of mine. This person has been sick for a while and has recently had to go to many doctors to figure out what is wrong, and no one can seem to produce any sort of an answer. Many different kinds of drugs have failed, and now they are running out of options before they diagnose a much more serious illness. Sorry to be so vague, but that's life, right? Anyways, I've been stressed out a lot by all of this news, which I think has caused me to become sick. Swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, fever, etc. This weekend is going to be a nice relaxing one where I can catch up on sleep [not much last weekend], and do some reading of my current book, The Brothers Karamazov. It is a fantastic book so far and I'm having a hard time putting it down.

TTFN

Photos of the weekend [and beyond]

2006-08-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

Some random photos I finally got off of my camera...short desciption following each.

ConEd attempting to return power. Key word 'attempting.'

A pair of hipster shoes.

This is about as athletic has hipsters get. Shooting hoops w/Apollo Sunshine.

The heart of the hipster scene...internally rocking out to Deerhoof.

Hipster Converse...oh wait, those are mine!!!

Working 9 to 5

2006-07-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

What a way to make a living. [well, more 9-6:30]

Last week was my first week of work in the big city. One down, the rest of my life to go. So far everything is going very well, much more exciting work that my last internship, where I just sat behind a computer all day long. On Wednesday I went to meet with IT guys and an engineer at the job site which is a rennovation of an office space on the top floor of the Citicorp Building. When I got to the job site, I was blown away by the expansive view out the southwest to mid-town Manhattan. Every major skyscraper in the city can be seen from the view, but the best view is a very dramatic framing of the Chrysler Building, it's reflective metal gleaming in the mid-day sun.

It was quite exciting for me to get out of the office and go to the job site and interact with other members of the building process, and while I didn't really say much when they were talking about how big to size the server closet [had only been introduced to the project the afternoon before] I still learned a lot about the architectural process from a standpoint that I have never been exposed to in school. I feel like I have learned so much in only my first week of work, and I am quite excited to continue this learning experience.

Oh yeah, my bosses are really cool, as every day at around 4:30 they will pay for beverage orders from the cafe downstairs along with some snacks!

I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF...

2006-07-24T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'VE GOT POWER!!!!! YEAH, HOT SHOWERS!!!!!!

Peanut Butter Sandwiches [composed on a dying Powerbook]

2006-07-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

7.21.06

Oh where to begin. First and foremost, ConEdison is the biggest pile of **** in this entire universe.

Ok, now that’s out of my system, I will start of by saying that it is now Friday, and I have not had full-functional power since Monday. I also had my apartment flooded this morning. Jolly good week, eh?

On Monday it was close to 100 degrees in New York City, and boy was it hot. In my brief time outside, I must say that the streets were pretty barren. It was so hot that the heat managed to cause 9 of the 22 feeder power lines that supply Astoria to catch fire, rendering them useless, and stranding and initial estimate of 2400 New Yorkers powerless. I was fortunate enough to have very limited power, so my TV and one light worked, while my refrigerator and air conditioning did not. While this sucked, it was livable because the outside temperatures dropped significantly from Monday and my apartment is a sublevel so it was insulated by the thermal mass of the earth.

As the week has progressed, I have become more and more irritated at the power company, ConEdison. Power was still off, and there was no estimated of when it was going to be back on. All of the storefronts were locked up and people were interviewed on local news stations, and most were none-too-pleased at the situation. Elderly people were having trouble keeping their medications cool, businesses were throwing out spoiled food, and the everyday man was sweating like a pig and looking for answers and finding only questions.

As for me, I was doing ok, I had a very small amount of food in my fridge that spoiled and I haven’t been able to cook or use the internet, but that’s about the extent of my inconvenience. It has been a little warm at night but nothing intolerable.

Well, that was until this morning when I woke up to the sound of a severe thunderstorm and water flooding from underneath the outside door and onto the floor of my apartment. I had just put my IKEA bed together last night so my mattress was safe, so I took all of the books, clothes, DVD’s and other effects and got them onto my bed as quickly as possible. After realizing what was going on I grabbed my largest cooking pot and ran outside and started to bail water out of the concrete drain that was backed up [there was a pump out there, but it was not working because why…IT HAD NO POWER!!!!] and threw it as far as possible.

When the rain let up, I was beside myself. What do I do? There is an inch of water on my floor and I have no idea of how to remove it. Pot? Broom? Hands? Help!!! I went to go and ask the guy who lives above me but ran into my neighbor instead who graciously lent me her wet/dry vacuum to suck up the water with. Upon looking down the street I saw that the bottom was flooded with water, the sewer system obviously unable to contain the vast amount of water that had attacked it. After my several seconds of shock wore off, I ran back to my apartment and proceeded to suck up over 40 gallons of water that had come to rest on my hardwood floors.

So, here I now sit in my humid, dark, cavernous apartment, with nothing but peanut butter sandwiches to keep me satisfied. According to recent television updates, there are now a suspected 25,000+ without power, a far, far, far cry from the pathetic underestimation of 2400. How they could be so wrong, only time will tell. ConEdison has stated that most power will be back by today [still negative here], and the rest taking through the weekend, but with the amount of lies already vomited at the citizens of Queens, most believe that it will be Sunday or Monday before power is finally restored.

I have been here less than a month and in the past week I have found a job, had a relationship encounter lots of heartbreak, lost power and had my apartment flooded. I feel like I have experienced a years worth of action in one week. However, things can only go up from here: I start work on Monday, I am recovering from my heartbreak, the power has to come back on eventually, and the water has receded from my floor. I feel that this is the beginning of something new and exciting and I am ready for what is in store for me.

Employment!

2006-07-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

I'm employed, bitches! Bam!

Sage and Coombe

Noguchi

2006-07-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

A changing relationship has forced some reflection time upon me, so I decided to take the time to go down to the Noguchi Sculpture Museum in Queens. It's only three metro stops from my place, and it was a nice day, so I decided to walk it.

The neighborhood around the museum seemed to be fairly derelict, with empty buildings and shady characters in the area. Upon entering the building, I was completely blown away by the work that was presented. Isamu Noguchi has such powerful work, it is so simple yet so truthful and illustrated. Highly refined, he deals with rough versus smooth, and natural versus manipulated. I was really a fan of his later work which were mostly giant pieces of stone that are the pure expressions of materiality and process. Chisel marks are visible and highly controlled and are used in the design of the piece to show the contrast between the natural and unnatural. With such simplicity he breaks the material down to its most elemental, really forcing you to confront the piece for what it is.

I was surprised at how much I could relate to his work, but I now realize it's so appropriate to my life at this moment. With so much going on, maybe it's best for me to step back and break everything down to the most basic elements and determine what is the most appropriate way for me to move forward. It's been a rough few days, but I feel that Noguchi has really helped me to see things in a new light. Now, if I could only afford his lamps...

Bike Thief!!!

2006-07-12T00:36:00.000-05:00

I guess I'd better be careful if I ever get a bike in NYC!!!

Bike Thief

l'Italia è numero uno!!!

2006-07-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

I now know how many Italians live in Astoria...

A whole lot! After Italy won the World Cup I went up to the main intersection of Ditmars and 31st where I witnessed pure pandamonium. The intersection was all jammed up with cars full of people waving Italian flags and honking their horns. Some cars had 10-12 people in them, with people sitting on the hoods and hanging out of windows. It was all quite fun until the cops showed up and decided to rain on the parade by regulating the traffic flow and yelling at people who were hanging out of windows. By the time things cleared up, there were at least 20-30 cops hanging around the block. They still didn't stop the Italian party, as they were driving all over Astoria honking and cheering! Even I feel like an Italian now!!!

These guys stopped their car in the middle of the intersection and jumped on the roof!!

Pigs breaking up the party:

welcome to the 'in' network

2006-07-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

I now have fulltime internet/cable connections!

Boom Boom Time

2006-07-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

Obviously, Tuesday was the 4th of July and let me say that no one does it bigger and better than New York City. It was a great reminder as to why I came to live and work here. To see the awesome firepower exploding over the city and reflecting off of the mirrored glass of downtown was magnificent. I was all smiles that night.

New York, New York

2006-06-30T12:28:00.001-05:00

I have finally made it, end destination New York. Things are still rather hectic though as I am here, but most of my material possessions are not. I have no bed, no chair, no dishes or utensils, and no food. I am almost homeless, with the one exception being that I have an unfurnished apartment. As a matter of fact I am stealing this internet connection off of one of my less than technologically inclined neighbors who doesn’t know what a password is. It’s a sub-par connection though, as it doesn’t have enough power to allow me to post this, so your actual reading may come several days delayed. I do have photographs of my abode, and they will follow.

Well, what can I say, except that it has all been a bit anti-climatic. I sat around my parents house for several weeks being bored out of my mind, thinking that when I got to New York that I would get busy. Now I sit here, waiting for all of my stuff, but this time without the World Cup to keep me entertained. My two large bags of luggage are sitting on the floor in the next room, and I am sitting on the floor of my kitchen, the only place where I can get any sort of signal. Aw, such a comfy wall.

I don’t think that I am going to get much done in the way of job searching until next week, as it is 4th of July weekend and many people will be out of town, and I will be fixing up my place. I really hope that I can find a job soon, as much for the fact that I won’t be so bored as for the fact that I need the money. I did get into the city yesterday to hit up the old Bed Bath and Beyond, as everyone needs a luxe bathmat and shower curtain. Ok, I am now talking about bathmats and shower curtains, I think it’s time to end this post.

Change is coming

2006-06-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

Well, Tuesday is the big day.

At 11am I will be taking off from KCI aiport on my way to my new apartment in New York City, whereupon I will be taking a cab loaded with my luggage of jeans, shirts, socks, underwear and my computer to a 3 story brick house in the Ditmars area of Astoria, Queens. Hopefully my broker will be there with my keys, or else I will be sitting there waiting on the sidewalk for her to show up, my luggage acting as a very nice makeshift chair. I have no furniture, so the following day I will be making a trip to IKEA to find me some not so quality, cheap modern furniture and a mattress where I can lay my tired body. Hopefullly on Friday my 6 boxes of misc. items plus two boxes of computer parts will arrive without any major holes in them, and I will be able to assemble some sort of a home between those brick walls, a place where I will dwell.

It's funny that the word dwell has become such a critical one for me in this transitional stage of my life. I spent all of last semester studying the meaning and implications of the word and now I get a chance to put my knowledge of the word to use in a different way. Instead of designing a house with an unlimited budget and scope, I will now be focused on a very limited budget with just as great of a scope. I see this as a space that will be me for the next several years, and one that I will need to feel comfortable in. I'm not talking a pre-Brad Pitt encountering Edward Norton style of determining whether or not this rug best describes me as a person, but a space that will allow me to be creative and confident in my life. It is intimidating moving to a city of 12 million, and if I have my own little corner of it in which I can draw strength from, then perhaps that will give me the extra push that I need. I still have no job, and this something that has constantly been at the back of my mind, as I will only have about 3 months of rent saved up before I have to find another channel of funds. If this place can help me to consolidate my mind and motivations, and give me a little bit of luck then hopefully good things will be in store for me.

Now I must go pack, as time is of the essence.

Downtime

2006-06-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I got back from NYC about a week and a half ago after a fairly productive time up there. I found an apartment in Queens, a semi-sublevel studio that is really nice and close to the subway. I don't have any pictures, but before I move in I will snap some so that people can see what it looks like. The kitchen is quite nice, all new, modern appliances with clean, white cupboards and stainless door pulls. The official move-in date is July 1, but my landlord said that I could move in anytime after the 20th of June because the girl who lives there now will be out by then. He told me that he had over 30 calls on the apartment and for what I am getting it really is a steal.

Last week was a rather pitiful week for me. I picked up a nasty intestinal bug that put me out for about a week and all I could really do was lay on my couch and watch tv. Fortunately, there has been NBA finals, World Cup soccer, and lots of trashy MTV/VH1 shows to keep me mildly entertained.

Even though I am getting better now, I am still not really doing all that much. Most of my friends are either out of town or working, so it has been quite different than hanging out at school. If I was ever bored I could always go up to studio and there would always be something to work on or someone to see, but now that time has passed. No longer will I be able to see a lot of the good friends that I have made over the past 5 years, as we are all going our seperate ways to New York, Portland, Dallas, LA and beyond. But I guess that is life. We grow up, move on, and make new friends. Well, work friends anyways, I am not sure if I will ever make as good of friends as I have made in studio. Only time will tell.

NYC[updates]

2006-05-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the time between posts, these past few weeks have been quite hectic. For a brief update, I am currently in NYC until Thursday, where I am looking for a job and have found an apartment. My apartment is quite nice, a little sub-level studio that is in very good condition. My lease starts around July 1 [flexable move in date], so in less than a month I will be living in the NYC for good. I'm now at my girlfriend's place where the constant talk of fashion between her and her friends can be a bit excessive. Hopefully when I get a job I will be able to meet some guy friends with whom I can talk architecture and stuff with.

Graduation was a very bittersweet moment for me. On one hand I am excited to move up here to NYC and get a job and work, but on the other hand I am truly going to miss my great friends that I have spent the past five years together with. I feel that my studio this past semester was very unique, as there were seven of us in the back of the room that became extremely close. It is hard to go from seeing the same guys for 12+ hours a day to not seeing them at all. We had some great times and I will never forget how special they all are. Hopefully some day some of us can be in the same city and relive some of the good times that we had together.

Well, now it's time to go to Astoria Park and enjoy the nice NYC weather. Cheerio!

Three more days

2006-05-10T16:34:00.000-05:00

Haha, someone is so funny...

Anyways, that was supposed to be three more days until I graduate.

Sunday Morning reflections

2006-04-30T09:50:00.000-05:00

I cannot remember the last time that I got up this early on a Sunday. It really is quite nice to be able to lounge around in my house and drink coffee, read and relax. I guess that's what normal people do who don't have to go to studio all of the time.

Well, last week was a very fun and knowledge-filled week with architect Alberto Campo Baeza. We basically spent the whole week looking at our projects of the semester. He told us all that we were stupid and that what we had after a week [when he was here the first time] was better than what we had now. Ha. We expected him to say that, as it was essentially his job to do so. Later on he did say that we had very good projects and that he greatly enjoyed his week with us. He even gave me a letter of reccommendation for Richard Meier's office. Campo Baeza and him are friends. Campo Baeza actually lives in the same building as Meier's ex-wife. We ate several meals with him and he told us great stories of famous architects and their promiscuous wives. Not Richard Meiers though.

Two weeks from now I will be a graduate of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design and Kansas State University. I have no job lined up. I have no ticket or idea of how I am getting me and my stuff to New York. I have no place to stay in New York. I think I will try for a June 1 lease on an apartment. I should probably go up a week or so before that then to get the best chance of finding a good place. I am ready to get out of my place in Manhattan, KS. One year in this dump is enough for me. Get me to a real city. Excitement. Energy. Diversity. All are lackin in my current residence.

Today should be a beautiful day. It rained the past two days. Now the sun is out and the weather is wonderful. I have some work to do but not much. Help Gabe with OZ, get my effects ready to send to Mr. Meier, and tidy up my portfolio. Lend some help on the film if they need me.

I have been listening to Sigur Ros the past few days. Must be due to the rainy weather. I love laying around listening to it rain. So peaceful. It really is a spiritual experience. The cleansing of the mind and body. Who needs showers? I need more coffee.

Yesterday I had BK Joe coffee at Burger King. Not nearly as bad as one would think. I am glad that fast food chains are making 'premium' coffee now. Thank you Starbucks. Well, sorta. I guess I had to put that, as we all have to openly hate Starbucks. But I drink their coffee. I worked for them for 5 years. Hypocrite. Aren't we all?

No more Campo/Cinnamon Apple Friday

2006-04-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

Today capped a week of discussion and reflection with the Spanish architect, Alberto Campo Baeza.

Now it's time for Cinnamon Apple Friday!!!

+

= only time will tell

May She Rest in Peace

2006-04-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

On April 25th, Jane Jacobs passed away. An author on many subjects ranging from urban planning to economics, Mrs. Jacobs always had a special meaning to me. She wrote the famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961, and I read it about a year ago while I was in England. I was very intrigued by her ideas that she put forth about what makes a successful city, and after reading this book I had a longing to live in New York City, something that I am going to be doing in the very near future. She argued that neighborhoods make successful cities, not skyscrapers, and used her neighborhood in
Greenwich Village as a prime example. She was a woman who never completed college, yet could still speak so articulately and eloquently about very important issues. Her ideas will be missed.

I've been [top5] tagged!!!

2006-04-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

tagged by Easy E

[in the kitchen]
not the best at kitchen utilization, but here it goes
1. cheese slicer recently given to me by my mother
2. Mr. Coffee coffeepot
3. Ramen noodles
4. eggs, Dillons Jumbo
5. smoked salmon, caught by me in Lake Michigan

[in the closet]
1. Converse All-Stars [black high tops and white low tops]
2. Seven For All Mankind jeans
3. Black euro sportcoat
4. North Face sleeping bag
5. Photos from various trips to Europe

[in my bag]
1. sketchbook from Brighton, England
2. Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses
3. Uniball pen
4. The Sun Also Rises, by Hemmingway
5. daily planner

[at studio]
1. Uniball pen [same as in my bag]
2. iTunes w/50+gig of music
3. various pages of my portfolio and resume scattered about
4. LaCie 80 gig hard drive, holding my digital portfolio
5. CMU on my desk, holding rolls of trace and various other things

[at home]
1. glass with lilacs, picked by my girlfriend
2. 12" Powerbook, currenty in use
3. collection of various books, ranging from literature to architecture
4. Pumping Iron DVD with Arnold Schwarzenegger
5. Small pile of letters from firms thanking me for interest in jobs, but with none to offer me

I tag Keen Friday at In the Studio

Worker Bee

2006-04-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a very busy week. It started out yesterday when I had to go back to Kansas City for my final [finally] dentist appointment. I have a slight problem with the enamel on my teeth whose cause is unkown, but what happens is that it wears down and causes my molars to become quite sensitive when eating. So, the way to remedy this is to go in and grind down half of my molar, give me a temporary cap for two weeks, and then put a permanant crown on. Today I got the final crown put on my eighth molar. [Yes, I have eight crowns] Also, my studio professor wanted us to have a mock up of our final presentations that are due in a week and a half and I didn't really have that for him, as I was busy this weekend going back to the dentist and working on a 20 minute presentation that I have on Wednesday in my Minor Modern Architects theory class and the great New York Architect, William Lescaze. Oh yeah, I also have a test tomorrow morning in the most boring class in the world, Professional Practice. It's that one at 8am that I never go to. Well, it's off to study!!!!

Impulse

2006-04-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

Today in studio I received an email about a chair design contest that the IA department was doing which ends at 9 o'clock tonight. Basically, there are a lot of old frames of broken Guilietta chairs, and they decided to have a contest for the campus open house that is this weekend. Not wanting to work in studio, my friend Ryan and I decided that it would be cool if we busted out a chair really quickly for the contest, as the prize for the winner is 10 free Chipotle burritos! We took some time looking at the frame and looking around studio for various materials that we could use and this is what we came up with:

All-in-all, it took us about 4 hours to do and cost us $0! Not to bad for a rainy Friday afternoon.

As some of you may know, I messed up my ankle/foot pretty good last week. It still hurts today, and here's a pic of what it looks like:

Apples, grown up

2006-03-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

This past week was spring break and I spent it with my girlfriend in New York City. It always amazes me on how big of a difference there is between the Little Apple [manhattan, ks] and the Big Apple [manhattan, ny], and I really felt it after being there for a week. I am always amazed at the energy and power that the city holds, and I just love walking around and soaking it all up. My girlfriend is preparing a dress for a competition entry very soon, and this allowed me to have some free time to walk around the city and see some stuff that I wouldn't have otherwise seen.

This semester I have been doing some research on the architect Bernard Tschumi [see previous post], so I took the opprotunity of being in NYC to check out his work at Columbia University. He did the student center there, and really focused on the movement of the students throughout the space and how to make this an important event in their day. I had read about this project, but I didn't get a true sense of it until I actually visited the site and noticed how busy the traffic was both inside and outside of the glass curtain wall that contains the building envelope. If the glass were not there [it is practically invisible anyways], both versions of circulation would become one.

While I was there I also went to a famous restaurant [made so by Sex in the City] called Serendipity that had giant, delicious desserts. Below is just a sampling of the scale and decadence that occurs there.

The weather was decent while I was there, no rain or snow, but heavy coats all the time. There were several nights that we went out in Manhattan and one night we went to a place called Milk Bar that was decorated like the black and white bar in the movie, A Clockwork Orange; alas, they didn't have milk being served out of the various body parts of mannequins. We also went to the Bowery Bar, a bar which I had been to while visiting two falls ago with my studio; it was not as I remembered it however, as it was pretty empty and playing very mainstream, old music. I honestly wasn't expecting to see a bunch of white rich kids dancing to Juvenile's 'Back That Azz Up' while I was out clubbing in NYC, and it made me feel like I was back at Joe's Tap Room in Aggieville.

Now that spring break is over I am in the final stretch of my undergraduate career, and it is a little scary. In ~7 weeks I will be graduating and will be moving to New York whether I find a job beforehand or not. I know that I have marketable skills, but it can be quite a daunting task to try and find a job in New York no matter what kinds of skills you have. So, I am just going to give these last weeks all that I can and try and make the best of the short time that I have left here in the Little Apple.

Villette

2006-03-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been sick this past weekend with a cold, but I still managed to get some work done. I've got a studio project due this Friday, so things have been quite busy and will only be getting busier. For one of my classes we are having to make a drawing of a particular architect's [mine is Bernard Tschumi] building in their graphic style, and I have posted it below. I want to try and do something like this for my crit on Friday, but we will see how much time I have.

Structure

2006-03-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how my process in studio can be so related to other aspects of my life. I am currently working on figuring out the structure of my house and drawing a framing/structural plan, and it seems like I am attempting to structure other parts of my life as well. I have recently purchased a daily planner so that I can get my schedule organized. I am also in the process of trying to find a job, something that will hopefully provide more structure to my life once I start working it. I have chosen the above picture to represent this [Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square], as I have also been reminiscing about London. I was looking through all of my old Travelcards, ticket stubs, and brochures yesterday after looking at what a friend did with his that consisted of creating a montage of them in his sketchbook. Perhaps I will do the same, but write down what I am feeling about these things one year later.

I have also started to reread a book that I read in England by the great Thomas Merton. He was recommended to me by a professor and I picked up the book one day about a year ago and it really made me take a look at myself and what I believe. The other day there were some monks in the student union creating a mandela, and their work reminded me of Merton's work, so I decided to reread it. It is very inspiring and provoking material, and I am currently reading about the disparity between one's real, true self, and the self that wears a mask of who we want to be. Merton says it best:
"The deep secrecy of my own being is often hidden from my by my own estimate of what I am. My idea of what I am is falified by my admiration for what I do. And my illusions about myself are bred by contagion from the illusions of other men. We all seek to imitate one another's imagined greatness."

Below are some images I have posted before, but I made the last time I was reading Merton:

Knackered

2006-02-23T18:21:00.000-05:00

I am quite tired today. Last night me and some of my mates went to Lawrence for the 17th Annual KU Masonry Conference which was today. We stayed at my brothers place and went to the Bottleneck to see some bands perform. I should've brought my camera, because we always have good times in Lawrence, but I forgot. Well, needless to say we had a good time and didn't get much sleep because we had to see Patricia Patkau give a lecture on her work at 9 am; the lecture was interesting, it was just rather tedious because we were all so tired. Afterwards we hit up

where we had some good eats, followed by a trip to the Love Garden where I picked up some new records:

Now, it's time to get some details ironed out for a party that is being thrown tomorrow.

Nearing Completion

2006-02-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

Studio is due tomorrow. Currently I have my drawings and one model done. Second model is close to completion and third has yet to be started. Haven't been working too much this weekend because my girlfriend has been in town. Good times. Won't get to see her again until spring break. Such is life. I also have to a test on Tuesday morning and I have to prepare a 20 minute presentation on Tschumi for Tuesday afternoon...then rest.

Process = Confusion

2006-02-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

I've run into a wall. I don't have enough clarity in my scheme. Too much confusion. I always get to this point in my projects and I can never seem to break through.

What is the reason for this? How can it be corrected?

I try to think logically about what I am doing and making but then end up getting even more confused. I need to break things down to their most basic and then work from there; strip all unnecessary parts off until I have just the frame.

Start from the ground and work up.

So much to do, so little time. Girlfriend is coming in town this weekend and I have a pinup on Monday, presentation Tuesday, and test Tuesday...and I'm stuck...I need to be working things out and moving forward.

Wheels are spinning, I cannot gain traction...Smoke billowing, tread running low...slicks now, the smell of burnt rubber stuck in my nose...tires blow, sparks fly...

should've thrown it into second and driven off...

Bang!!!

2006-02-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

Remind me never to cross the VP.

"By LYNN BREZOSKY and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers 32 minutes ago

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Vice President
Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
ADVERTISEMENT

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday.

"He is stable and doing well. It was almost like he was spending time with me in my living room," said hospital administrator Peter Banko, who visited Whittington.

Banko said Whittington was in the intensive care unit because his condition warranted it, but he didn't elaborate. Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would have no comment on the incident out of respect for Cheney.

The accident occurred Saturday at a ranch in south Texas where the vice president and several companions were hunting quail. It was not reported publicly by the vice president's office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its Web site Sunday.

Katharine Armstrong, the ranch's owner, said Sunday that Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit in the cheek, neck and chest.

Each of the hunters was wearing a bright orange vest at the time, Armstrong told reporters at the ranch about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. She said Whittington was "alert and doing fine."

Armstrong told The Associated Press emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington before an ambulance — routinely on call because of the vice president's presence — took him to a hospital in Kingsville. From there, Whittington was flown by helicopter to Corpus Christi about 40 miles away.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president met with Whittington at the hospital on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," she said.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to retrieve it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

Whittington has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. He's been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

McBride said the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident Saturday because they were deferring to Armstrong to handle the announcement of what happened on her property.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding after he was shot and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that.

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks, among other places.

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time. You know, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral.

Cheney was legally hunting with a license he purchased in November, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Steve Lightfoot said. The vice president flew back to Washington on Sunday evening, according to his office."

I'm Hans, and I'm Frans...and we're here to PUMP...YOU UP!

2006-02-09T14:01:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, today has been a rather productive one so far. I just got back from my weights class where I have been 'Pumping Iron' for the past few weeks. On Tuesday I did a really intense leg workout, and yesterday and today I have been so sore that I have had trouble walking normally...there have been sarcastic comments made towards me about certain homosexual activities that it looks like I have been partaking in, but I just let them slide. I've made a workout plan based off of what Arnold recommends in his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, and so far it has made me quite sore. I worked my arms and shoulders today and will definitely be sore tomorrow.

This week has had a very different pace than last week, as I am mostly working on my portfolio for the DesignExpo that takes place on this coming Monday. There aren't going to be any firms from NYC [where I want to go work], but I think that it will still be good for me to get out there and get some practice. Who knows, maybe there will be a branch of a firm in NYC who needs an employee, or maybe someone may know someone who's hiring. There's certainly no harm in trying.

My Ghetto House

2006-02-06T02:14:00.000-05:00

There are times when I really hate my apartment. Like now for instance. I have been waiting for over an hour to take a shower, but I cannot take one because the girl above me has been filling up her bath FOR OVER AN HOUR!!! The water pressure in this ghetto building cannot accomodate more than one user at a time or else the shower becomes a dribble of water, forcing one to wait it out. But the stupid girl won't quit filling up her freaking bath so that others in the building can use it!!! I want to go to bed but I need to take a shower and I'm mad. Sorry, venting.

Insomnia

2006-02-01T03:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it's 2:30am and here I sit, unable to fall asleep. Alberto Campo Baeza, our visiting professor from Madrid, arrived yesterday and things have been quite busy. On top of doing a weeklong charrette with him our studio is also producing a documentary on his visit, so we have been doing twice as much work as everyone else it seems. I only got four hours of sleep last night, so one would think that I would be quite tired now, but for some reason I am not.

The project is going well, I think, Campo Baeza is a very intelligent and interesting person; he makes architecture seem so easy!
When he lectures to us, formally or informally, everyone listens, and even though his English comprehension can be a problem at times, he still manages to capture the attention of everyone in the audience. I am excited to see what the rest of the week holds in store.

Dubya

2006-01-21T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well as many know, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, is coming to wee little Manhattan, Kansas on Monday to speak about the 'war on terror.' On Thursday tickets were available to pick up for free on a first come, first serve basis, and I ended up waiting in line for an hour before I got my ticket. I am located in section 5, row 20, which according to the seating chart below could be a pretty good seat.

So far this semester as been really relaxed. In studio all we have done is do some reading, getting our minds prepared for when our guest professor, Alberto Campa Baeza, comes in on the 30th. Our only project this semester is to design a house, which will start with a charette for the week when Baeza is here. My studio professor has taught 5th year a couple of times, so I think he knows how we will have a tendency to slack off at the end of the semester and has therefore structured our project appropriately.

Aging

2006-01-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

From dictionary.com:

stent (stnt)
n.

A device that is used to maintain a bodily orifice or cavity during skin grafting, or to immobilize a skin graft following placement.
A slender thread, rod, or catheter placed within the lumen of tubular structures, such as a blood vessel, to provide support during or after anastomosis.

Yesterday my 86 year-old grandfather had 4 stents inserted into his heart and surrounding arteries. He had been complaining of a tightness in his chest when he would walk up stairs, and when he went into the doctors office yesterday they checked him out and decided to put the stents in. About 15 years ago he had quadruple bypass surgery on his heart, and has had various problems and conditions with it since then. If he had not starting walking every day about 20 years ago, he probably would not be with us anymore. His condtition right now is good, it is not a serious surgery, but it still is something that concerns me. He has been a very important person in my life, someone who I look up to and someone who I hope I can live my life like. He grew up in the Great Depression when his father left them at age 12, and after that my grandpa had to provide for his family. He fought in the War, went to college, got married and started a family, and got a job working at the University Hospital at Missouri. He is a very strong person, and I know that he will weather this just fine.

Here's a pic of him eating cake at a band supper in his hometown from this summer:

A New Year

2006-01-01T19:14:00.000-05:00

2006, hurrah!!

Well, actually I don't really care. It was a good night though, I got to watch the apple drop in Manhattan, Kansas. Not quite like NYC, but hey, I'll take what I can get for now. My girlfriend just left and I won't be seeing her until spring break. Boo. However, I do have two more weeks of boredom in this boring town before school starts. I am taking an intersession class on the history of the American movie going experience, and there is nobody in town right now. I sit around all day, reading and watching movies, and don't talk much. I have to read a lot for my class, and with doing that and watching movies for leisure I feel like I am a film student or something. I did get a month long subscription to Nexflix for xmas, so I am going to take advantage of that.

Oh yeah, it sucks having to sit for 4 hours straight, 5 days a week.

Xmas Eve Day

2005-12-24T15:33:00.000-05:00

I got back from NYC on Wednesday and had a really good time. Got to see the gf for almost a week straight, which was really, really good. On Saturday night we went to a club called Crobar and saw Felix da Housecat spin, which was a really fun time, even though it cost $12 for a vodka and tonic. We didn't really do much on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the MTA was striking and couldn't go into the city, but we did some things in Astoria instead.

I got my grades back for this semester today, and I was pretty disappointed in myself. I should've done better in my classes, but once again, I lost my focus and patience at the end of the end of the semester and couldn't finish strong. I think that my goal for my final semester of school is going to be to try and finish strong and remain patient and focused on my work all throughout the semester, not for my grades but just to prove to myself that I can do it.

Well, it is Christmas Eve day and my grandpa is here, and my aunt, uncle and cousin will be here tomorrow afternoon. There are a few presents under the tree, and it surprisingly doesn't really feel like Christmas. It could be because it is raining and 46 degrees outside instead of 20 and snowing, or it could be that I have only been in KC for 3 days and will be leaving on the 26th, but I think it is because I am getting older and busier and time goes by faster and things don't seem to be as romanticized as they used to be. Ahh, loss of innocence.

Bustin Out

2005-12-16T17:27:00.000-05:00

Leaving for KC in less than an hour. Would've been earlier, but film rendering is taking ages. Since 11:30...now 4:30. Should be done by 5. Then I can hand it in and be done. Leave for NYC at 7am tomm. I know my father will want me to get up at 4am, which is not going to happen. No one will be at KCI @ 7am on a Saturday. Currently listening to Soulwax's remixed album, Nite Versions. Rockin stuff. I will be away from Manhappiness for 10 days. NYC for 5 and KC for 5. Then back to work for an intersession class. 1-5 M-F. Boo that.

[ex]tension

2005-12-13T18:35:00.000-05:00

Well, my film is now due on Friday, as my professor gave me an extension. It is good because now I have time to finish my film, but it is also bad becasue I have a final tomorrow, I need to do laundry, and I have several watercolors that I need to finish up by Friday. Last night my friend Gabe had a holiday party, and it was so hard to leave there and come back to studio because everyone there had finished their films and were relaxing and having a good time, but I still had/have all of this work lingering over my head. I am currently rendering and should hopefully be done with my renders by tomorrow so that I can take them into combustion on Wednesday and then into Final Cut on Thursday. Cheers to that.

Sickness is all but gone. Very small soreness in back of throat but that is all. No more mid-night cold sweats. Constant sleep. Like a baby. Excitement for NYC has not arrived yet. Too much work ahead still...

Better!!

2005-12-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

Thank God it is almost over. My sickness that is. For the past week I've had strep throat and it has sucked big time. I felt as though I was on my death bed at times on Monday and Tuesday, and only yesterday did I start to feel any better. I would say that today I am at about 90%. I don't really have a fever anymore [I will only wake up a couple times a night w/a cold sweat now as opposed to 8-10 previous], I have energy and can focus on things, and my throat is beginning to hurt less and less. I actually think that I might have had a cold as well, because I have had drainage and according to WedMD.com, you don't have drainage with strep throat. Oh yeah, it was also 2 friggin degrees outside all week, which made things even worse. Sunday afternoon-Tuesday afternoon I didn't leave my apartment.

Our films for studio are due on Monday, but me and another guy, Todd, in my studio got extensions until Friday because we were both sick. I was glad that I got this, as there is no way in hell that I would've gotten done on time, but at the same time I would like to have been done with studio on Monday and left the rest of the week to study for my final on Wednesday, finish up my watercolor portfolio, have a good time at Gabe's Christmas party and just relax. Now, I've got one more stressful week ahead of me before I get to peace out to NYC for 5 days. Woo hoo! Anyways, everyone in studio is busting hardcore to get done, so I am not going to be able to do any rendering until the weekend's over. That's ok though, because I need to get a few more shots worked out and lined up the way that I want them. If all goes well, this film should turn out pretty good, I've got a nice little twist/show at the end which will be sure to amuse.

Sick [cough cough]

2005-12-04T14:37:00.000-05:00

I think that I am getting sick, which is not good. Film due in a week. Paper to write. Swelling thyroid gland on my neck. Stuffiness. Tiredness. Headache. The computer monitor is looking like a nice thing to shove my head into right now.

However, I did pick up the new Electric Six album, Senor Smoke last night. It's an advanced copy, as it is not coming out in the US until sometime next year, even though it was released in Europe in like March when I was there. Listening to it right now. Sounds quite similar to their previous album, Fire, complete with songs about dancing, politics, pop culture and the devil. Enjoyable so far.

Updating

2005-11-30T14:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the scarcity recently, I was out of touch w/reality as we had Thanksgiving break. It was a good break, got to see my girlfriend and the family and was nice and relaxing, which was needed because the next few weeks are going to be pretty intense as my final film is due on 12.12.05.

Struggles. Last night I was struggling w/my film, trying to get it to work. My films are too character oriented and I don't have the capabilities to do character development properly, so I have been trying to change to a more shot/scene development. Need a guerilla film by Friday. Lots of work to do until then.

I found a good blog today: Radiohead

Snow!!!

2005-11-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

It is now snowing in Manhattan, Kansas!!!!

Mascots

2005-11-15T12:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was having a discussion with a friend regarding team/school mascots and their redundancy, or lack thereof. I was arguing that they are quite redundant, as the team name alone is quite sufficient. For instance, over in England practically none of the football clubs have mascots, they simply go by their team name, say Chelsea FC or Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur. You know what sport these teams play, so what point is there in adding a mascot? For instance, the Kansas City Royals could become the Kansas City Baseball Club, or Kansas City BC; the Kansas City Chiefs could become Kansas City FC. Now, for those of you arguing that mascots give a team personality and allow another way of relating to your team and giving you more team spirit, I counter with this: if you are a true fan, you should not need a mascot to give you motivation to root for your club, the players and the game should excite you enough. Most teams are recgonized by their team colors already, so why not just be called the Boys in Blue or Big Red (Nebraska's football team already uses this one). By not using mascots you allow your team to be taken seriously and do not marginalize them to the confines of some goofy guy running around in a wolf suit. It is about the players on the field and their actions exciting the crowd, not about some mythological creature that does chants to get your fans pumped up. Down with mascots!

Weekend Update

2005-11-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

Well, this has been a pretty fun weekend thusfar. Friday we had our studio mid-crit in which we presented our films and some drawings to accompany them, and we had two critics, Patrick Rhodes and Ray Streeter who were quite opposite in their critiques. Patrick focused more on the film and how to use that to describe our architectural ideas while Ray went about it in the more traditional method of a crit by looking more at the drawings and models than by critiquing our cinematic failures. I wouldn't necessarily say that one was better than the other, but I do know that a lot of us came out fairly confused on what to do next. Either way, a few of us went to Belly's for dinner and had a quite entertaining evening.

Yesterday was our annual Beaux Arts Ball, which was quite different than our formal ball at Exploration Place in Witchita last year, as this one took place at the Black Jack Ranch outside of Manhattan and was a techno party. The boyfriend of the girl who lives above me was the DJ and actually did a really good job. We danced around with glowsticks for a while and then came home around midnight. On the busride home we took all of our glowing necklaces and tied them together and put them out of the bus window and had a nice long glowing tail going, until a certain person [no names, but his initials are ERIC WITTMAN!] decided to tackle me, causing me to lose my grip and forcing our glowing tail to be forever lost.

So, today has been a pretty relaxing day, some light reading of the novel that I have been perpetually engrossed in, Anna Karenina, and some watching of The Empire Strikes Back. I will probably head up to studio here in a bit to do some work, but I need to get groceries first.

render, render, render

2005-11-07T23:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I've got a mid-crit in studio on Friday, so I'm working hard this week to get all of my stuff done. We're supposed to have a guerilla film due, some renderings, a script, storyboard, plan and section, which is a lot. Here's one of my process renderings right now:

I think it's looking pretty good right now, hopefully that will continue.

First Fridays

2005-11-04T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm leaving in a few minutes to go to KC for First Fridays down in the Crossroads district. My friends Gabe and Don have some work on display, so I'm going to check that out as well as lots of other artwork. Hopefully I can get some good pics!

Fallen Beauty

2005-10-30T18:41:00.000-05:00

My sister, whom I haven't seen in a month or two, was in town last night, and we went over to my friends house for a party. She didn't stay long, I think her and her friends felt a little out of place considering they were all 18 and everyone else at the party was like 22 or older, but it was still good to see her. I was dressed up like a pirate and she was dressed up like a thug. We then went to the bars in costume and had an extra hour of time out because of daylight savings.

This morning I woke up and looked at my clock and was concerned when it said 1 pm, but then I remembered daylight savings and it was only noon, so I was relieved, as I have had to do quite a bit of work today. It was such a beautiful fall day today that I had to take some pictures on my way up to studio. Below are some images of what campus looks like in the fall, quite wonderful, surprisingly.

Frustruated Update...

2005-10-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

People in this freakin town don't care about anything anymore. Below is a little exerpt from my sketchbook:

"This University is dead. No longer do we care about liberty and freedom, now all we care about is our own selfish desires; if we can get this project done in time then we can go drinking. No one cares about actually learning anything anymore, only about getting our professors off. We are a product of our society, so I cannot justifibly get too pissed off at individuals."

I have tried to get people to help me out with filming and the like, but everyone around here is all talk and no walk. They talk of all these grand ideas, but NOT ONE is ever put into action. I wanted to push this issue and expose this group and their fradulent activities, but no one CARES. All we care about is our insignificant lives and a pointless model that we have to make in a pointless class for our pointless future. No one here has a clue of what they want to do with anything once they get out of school, they are just going to go and live in the suburbs and work for a mundane firm making mundane architecture, because they DON'T CARE. Well, I care; I'm down, but I'm not out.

Babies are selfish

2005-10-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

So for the past three days the extreme right wing pro-life group, Justice For All has been on campus with their huge, grotesque anti-abortion propaganda. I don't have a problem if they want to protest, as it is their constitutional right to do so, but this kind of stuff is over the top. Hitler and Stalin used blatant propaganda to alter their message and try to persuade people to follow them, and good old Tammy Cook is doing the same. So, later today me and a friend are going to go film a 'documentary-esque' film about these people and interview Ms. Cook and see what happens when she is put to the grinder. Updates later...

Part II

2005-10-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

On Monday I started my second and final studio project of the semester. The last project focused on Mies Van der Rohe's courtyard house prototype, and this new project expounds on this idea. Our entire studio[14students] has been given a city block in which we broke up into 14 plots of land, each boundary being a 12' tall wall. We are to design some sort of commercial space using the courtyard house prototype as a basis for our design. This basically means that we have to design a work space for an artist, musician, architect, brewer, etc...bascially anyone who wants to work but doesn't do retail. I have decided that I am going to design a recording studio and I am going to use sound as a major element in my design. There was a guest lecturer on Monday who talked a lot about sound and showed some of his work in which he merges sound and video into one, each determining what the other does. He talked a lot about the future of music and how it will probably start to involve all of the senses, not just sound, and I found his work to be quite stimulating. Then, later that night we had a very good debate at Belly's, talking about a lot of stuff, and the lecturer/artist was one. When I got home I had a lot of ideas running through my head and I wrote a lot of them down and determined that I want to try to use sound to enhance my spaces and to relate all of my spaces to each other. I haven't quite determined exactly how I am going to do so yet, but I've got a few ideas that I am going to try out.

Yesterday I went up to the Rec and played raquetball/squash with one of my friends. Well, they were out of raquetball equipment, so we played raquetball with squash equipment because we didn't know how to play squash. It was interesting, to say the least, and it made me really tired last night. Today I am quite sore, especially my left[swingingarm].

Weekend

2005-10-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

Well, the film is done and I can relax now. I had a little bit of trouble exporting the final film on Friday morning, but it all got taken care of before it was due. At 2:30pm we had our semi-critique, and had two professors come in and basically just watch our films and talk about what they thought was good and what they thought wasn't. It was pretty generic criticism, and they didn't really say much about mine, which could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. Personally, I was disappointed with how mine turned out, I felt that the colors were too harsh, a lot of my shots felt rushed, and I didn't really develop much of a 'look' to it. I did some work on it yesterday after the crit, tuning it up and such, and I think that I am going to do some more work on it this weekend as well.

Monday we start a new project which will build upon this theme of the courtyard house that we have been dealing with all semester, and as of now I am going to be designing a music recording and production studio. I have been doing some research on studio design today, but I would like to find some case studies which I could study in more depth.

Tomorrow is going to be just as exciting as today I imagine, because for the past two weeks I haven't had any time to do my normal maintainence duties (laundry, groceries, etc), so I will be cleaning lots of stuff tomorrow, yay me!!!

the end is in sight

2005-10-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

Hopefully by the time I come into studio tomorrow I will have all of my shots rendered and ready to throw into Combustion. I only have one 3DSMax shot left to render and I am just about done with my Poser renders. I may actually get a decent amount of sleep tonight!!! Tomorrow I have to spend most of my day editing, as Matt my studio professor wants our films by noon on Friday so that we will have them all on a DVD by our crit at 2. I am not quite sure how we are going to have a critique on these films, as we feel like first year film students with the architectural knowledge of the 5th year students that we are. We know what we want to show, but we don't have the technical knowledge on the computer and the theatrical knowledge of movie making. It will be interesting, that is for sure.

So about an hour and a half ago 4 of us from studio walked down to Radina's to get some coffee and as usual we saw my old roommate, Aaron, at the back table; I swear that he lives there. It was funny because he had actually brought up trace paper and pens and was drafting IN Radina's! We were all quite amused at the quirkiness of Aaron presenting itself to us in such a fashion.

I'm on the homestretch!!!!

Production takeover

2005-10-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

I am currently involved in a massive take over of the CAPD computer lab. I have taken several computers hostage and I am using them to render for my film that is due on Friday. I have tried several times to have overnight renders go, but for some reason the program will never work, so I am behind a bit. Hopefully, this takeover will allow for me to get back on track. We shall see...

away she goes...

2005-10-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend moved to NYC today. I was visiting her in Wichita Wedensday evening through Friday evening, skipping several classes admist that time. It's ok though, because it was worth it as I will not get to see her until probably Thanksgiving. This past month has been a blur of emotion and time, as I have looked forward to every weekend upon which I would get to see her; now this will no longer be an option, and hopefully it will allow me to focus more on my work. I am currently up in studio, and I hope that this will be a much more common occurance now that Niki is gone. It was tough to say goodbye, but suprisingly not as tough as I thought it was going to be. I know that I will see her soon, as time seems to go so fast nowadays, and that I will be able to talk to her on the phone and when I graduate I plan on moving to NYC to get a job. I know a few people here in Manhattan[littleapple] who are interested in moving there as well, so I will have several roommate options. Still, it will be tough, I am not doubting this. I told myself many times that I would not get into a LDR, but I believe that she is worth it. I have had my fair share of good times here in Manhattan[littleapple], and a lot of the stuff that used to appeal to me doesn't seem to be as big of an issue in my life anymore. Things change, people change, and I honestly think that my experiences in England had a large part in this thought/attitude transformation. Anyways, I took some pics of another beautiful Kansas sunset on Wednesday evening, so here are some roadshots.

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gorilla film time

2005-10-04T18:46:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was fall break, and my girlfriend was in town, so I didn't get much work done in studio, obviously. I came up yesterday and began working extensively on my gorilla film that is due tomorrow, and progress is naturally slow. Currently I am trying to get all of my shots into Final Cut Pro HD [gotta <3 the Mac], while rendering on my PC. Woohoo for multi-tasking!!! Fortunately we don't have to have all of our shots rendered nicely out, as some of mine are quite pathetic looking. These [gorilla] films are supposed to help us focus on the cuts and editing, so that we can produce our film more effectively. So, I don't plan on getting much sleep tonight [again,whatelseisnew?]...cheers.

__remember me

2005-09-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday. I am starting to feel[andsometimesact] like an old man it seems like. Yesterday was probably my most uneventful birthday in my university career; neither good nor bad, just different. I woke up fairly early and came in to studio to do a lot of the work that I procrastinated over the weekend, skipped lunch[timeconstraints] and then was in studio until 5:20 when I went home and ate leftover pizza and went to my wine tasting class until 9. Then, after not feeling any resembelance of the elevation that traditionally comes with consuming wine for 2+ hours, I went up to studio and studied for a geography of natural resources test that I had this morning. I did get to Belly's for a couple of Old Style's at around midnight, and went to bed around 1. Ironically, this was what I would have rather been doing than compared to what I did on my previous birthdays; you only have to live through your 21st once, and I didn't intend on repeating that. Am I getting old, or am I getting wise? Or are those two words inexplicably intertwined, which would mean that I am getting both at the same time? I think/hope so, anyways.

Oh yeah, I watched part of Requiem For A Dream yesterday evening, and it has given me an idea for my 5 second film that is due on Friday in studio. Basically, I think that the reason Matt is having us do these films is for us to learn how to use editing and cuts to tell the story instead of using dialogue and actors. I got a lot of ideas from several of the drug usage scenes, and I think that I've got a good idea about GHB/frats that will work nicely. We'll see how it comes out, and hopefully I can get it posted here.

Beauty in Kansas [x2]

2005-09-25T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I just returned from a trip to Wichita to visit a [friend] of mine and had a very good weekend. That's two in a row. On the way to and from I went down Highway 177 both ways all the way to I-35 and I realized how beautiful Kansas actually is. The scenery is quite breathtaking right now, and although these pics aren't the best [I was trying to drive, gimme a break], hopefully you can get the idea. I also took a pic of some tower outside of El Dorado that was on fire, I don't know if it was purposeful or not.

Bellys

2005-09-22T17:41:00.000-05:00

Last night I met up with some mates at the ol' watering hole, Rock-A-Belly Deli. Hung out and had a few brews, enjoying some good times. I was fortunate enough to have my camera with me, and I snapped a few pics of my home-away-from-home.

n e x [t]

2005-09-21T22:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I got my film done this morning, and I am mildly pleased with the outcome. There is a lot more that I could've done better [re-shooting my green screen for one], but overall for the amount of work I put in I was pleased. We've got a script due Friday, but I can get that done tomorrow when I do laundry. I wish that I could somehow post my films online here, but alas they are too large and would kill all of my current online storage space. I was surprised during our films today, because I always think that Matt is going to yell at us and tell us how much we suck, but somehow he always says that we are doing good work? I have always thought that he was going to be a professor who would tell us our work is crap, but so far he seems to be real cool about everything and always points out good stuff in our projects.

So, I think that I am going to be going to Wichita [far from this opera for evermore} this weekend to visit my [friend]. I will be leaving Sat morning and coming back Sunday, I hope to have a good time, I know the company will be top notch. Well, time to hit Belly's.

.Process

2005-09-20T17:34:00.000-05:00

Took some pics of my desk today, here's to show how quickly I can accumulate crap:

Here's a pic of a watercolor I did for my rendering class tomm...I call it, 'smack.'

Lacking

2005-09-19T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a really good weekend. I got to hang out with a friend for most of it and we both learned a lot about each other. It kinda sucks because she's going to be moving away to NYC at the beginning of October, so we won't really get to hang out for much longer. Now that Monday rolls around, things are inevitably less exciting, so I am feeling kind of bummed today. I've also got so much stuff to do, I have to have a digital film involving a Mies courtyard house that is due tomorrow, and I am currently waiting to shoot my footage. As usual, the people in front of me are running an hour late, so I have a feeling that I am going to be up in S110 for a while tonight...oh well, I've got lots of music to keep me busy. Of course everyone has waited until tonight to shoot their film [meincludedofcourse], so we're all up here together. I've also got an abstract watercolor due on Wed for my Rendering.Presentation class, and I've got to transfer an image of a John Hejduk Wall House 2 onto watercolor paper so that it will be ready for class.

[hejduk]

And here's a pic of the current state my desk is in:

Finally Friday!

2005-09-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, so maybe this week wasn't that strenuous, but it's still nice to have the weekend ahead of me. I've been working on a various assortment of things this week in studio, ranging from the rendering that you see in the previous post, to storyboarding a short digital film that I am going to be filming and editing, to getting a feeling for a new program that we are working with, Combustion.

This morning I went on a nice 20 mile biek ride, as the weather today is quite beautiful. It's just one of those days where all you want to do is sit outside with your mates and just shoot the shit, not sit in front of a computer working on mundane renderings. One thing I did have to do today was go to the UPS store and try to deny shipment of a package that I already recieved. A few weeks ago I ordered a 1gig stick of RAM from Newegg.com, but when I tried to put it in, I realized that my motherboard only will accept pairs of RAM. So, I returned the RAM to Newegg, and in my application I stated that I ordered the wrong item. A few days later, I get an email from Newegg stating that they had recieved my shipment and were sending me a new stick of RAM, but the problem is that it was STILL A 1GIG STICK!!! So, I called them the next day and told them the deal and the operator told me that she would cancel the shipment and everything would be cool. Well, when I got home last night, I opened the screened door and out falls a package from UPS, and you guessed it, it's the 1gig stick of RAM from Newegg. I wasn't there to refuse the shipment, so they just left it. After my ride this morning, I went to the UPS Store and told the guy my situation, and he told me that I had to go to the UPS distribution center because at the UPS Store they don't deal with refused shipments. Bollocks. So, I head over to the distribution center and when I pull into the parking lot [first time I've driven my car in two weeks, btw] I notice that the place looks pretty dark. I walk up to the door and low and behold, it's locked. Upon glancing at the hours sheet on the window I see that they are open from 3-6pm M-F. WTF?!?!?! Who is open for 3 freakin hours a day!!!!! Ridiculous!!! So, now I have to go there after studio, what a pain in the ass.

.render

2005-09-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been pretty busy w/studio and other random stuff recently, so I haven't gotten to post for a bit. The Interpol show was alright, the band was tight and sounded and looked good, but the show was short and the crowd wasn't really into it like they should've been. It was all ages and a bunch of feeble high schoolers were there, which explains the tameness. I am currently downloading the newest Broken Social Scene album from my bro, which upon intial listening isn't as good as their last masterpiece, You Forgot It In People. Below is a rendering for studio that I have been working on and am going to be turning in tomorrow. I am pretty pleased with it, I think that the tree could've turned out a bit better though.

Betty

2005-09-02T17:09:00.000-05:00

I went to the library the other day to get some books on my now favourite artist, Gerhard Richter, and was browsing through one of them when I came upon the most beautiful painting that I have ever seen:

I am getting ready to leave Manhattan this weekend and head to Lawrence tonight and then on to KC on Saturday. My best friend is in the Air Force and he is in town for the weekend and I haven't seen him in 9 months, so we're gonna party and have some fun. I will try to take some good pics and get them posted up here.