Category: Life

Time for a self indulgent blog post.  Well the whole blog thing is self indulgent, but this one will be especially so due to the recursive nature of this post.  But if I’m gonna start blogging regularly I thought I should explore why.

This week’s exercise in blogging has been inspired by Seth Godin’s constant selling of the exercise of daily blogging.  As he points out, there will always be at least an audience of one, and apart from trying to gain a wider audience he swears that the practice daily blog forces one to sharpen their mind and think more clearly. And thinking clearly is definitely one thing I’d like to get better at.

How about a daily journal?  I’m certain it works for other people, but such an exercise never appealed to me and after a failed attempt after reading Essentialism, I’m pretty sure it would never work for me long term.  I think the threat of a wider audience will be key in making sure I get to the “clearly” part of thinking clearly.

As for what to think clearly about?  I’m not sure.  The blog will certainly be a repository for anything longer form that I post elsewhere (book reviews, extended boardgamegeek comments, etc).  I don’t mind freely giving away my content to other platforms with a wider distribution, but it certainly seems silly to trust their archives.  Xanga, anyone?

Beyond those specific targeted writing exercises, I have been pondering what else I would write.  The easy thing would be to fall in line with the classic American prose genre, the fast food of non-fiction – self help stuff (with an emphasis on architecture).  In fact, I’m certain that if I was still in private practice that’s what I would have done, but I just got a new job the state which is essentially a terminal position.  If Nevada is gracious enough to keep me aboard for the next thirty years, there isn’t much else to hustle for unless I get bored enough to change the scenery.  I mean, it would be nice to develop ever increasing prominence in my profession, but this gig lets me accomplish that just by doing a good job at the office.  While I won’t refrain from posting snippets of self perceived wisdom,  I think focusing the blog on work stuff would be ultimately unsatisfying.

Which brings me back to creative non-fiction – observations of life as its lived.  This is where I did my best writing, in those Ray Lifchez ED101 seminars in undergrad.  They were longer form 3000 word essays, submitted once a week, and took some real effort.  Maybe I’ll get back to that schedule someday and bang out some rigorous stuff, but not now.  For now I’ll default to the old tagline I’ve had for this blog for some time – “poetry, art, and whatever stuff catches my attention”.  But this time, do it every day.

This might be a cop-out but for those times when I don’t feel like writing, maybe I’ll also use the blog as a repository of interesting stuff.  If I’m not going to write for the day, it better be cause I was was ingesting something more worthy than such a thinking clearly exercise. So, I might as well document it here.  (I had originally cross posted the blog with my FB account so that stuff that got posted on the blog would end up in FB’s “memories” feature over the years – but my social media autopost plugin stopped working and I’m trying to unaddict myself from FB, so that now seems like a doomed endeavour).

I suspect its premature to think too hard about what this body of work will become.  At it’s essence the blog is definitely an expression of freedom.  Now that I don’t have to worry about angling for the next job, and now that I have a modicum of control over my daily schedule (aside from the demands of my children!), I feel mentally free to commit time to explore again.  Accomplished internet personalities often try to comfort up and cominers by telling them that they are envious of the nobody’s freedom because they don’t have a demanding audience to cater to.  I think I’ll take them up on their offer and embrace such freedom.  There is always a danger of melting into a puddle of undirected energy, but that’s a danger whether I write or not.

The other big question where am I going to make the time?  I’m a dude that needs my sleep.  Then I got eight hours of work plus commutes and I have to take a lunch break to maximize my efficiency for my employer.  Of course I got two kids whose lives I don’t want to pass by.  And I already need to spend more time every day exercising.  The one thing I can sacrifice is aimless web and social media surfing – which I intend to do, but it is one helluva drug to kick!  Aside from freeing up wasted internet time I’ve also started to try writing in my head.  As a kid who grew up on the computer, I’ve always written my essays on the machine.  Except for meeting minutes, I’ve never written notes longhand in advance of typing it up.  But with a five month old, I am spending a good amount of time with both of my arms and hands engaged, often in a dark room.  So I guess this is the time to develop this skill.

I have a pretty epic track record of picking up and dropping hobbies (boardgames, martial arts, rock climbing, harmonica, banjo, ukulele, cooking, baking, hand drums, photography, hell this site was originally a very short lived webcomic) so I have no idea how long this will last, aside from knowing it will certainly end at some point (maybe as soon as next week).  But its worth a shot right?

Due to an ill timed diaper change, our five month old ended up staying up late into the night.  With his big brown eyes open wide as platters and his usual silly smile, he practiced a collection of new sounds beyond his oft rehearsed screeches.  There were puffs and pops, pffts and creeaks vaguely matching the noises the big people make.

At 2246 they grow up interminably slow.  At 0537 the morning after, one laments how fleeting this season shall be.

Well that’s a wrap. Thanks to all the excellent coworkers, clients, and consultants that I worked with at Aptus! It’s been a great (almost) 4 years, but it’s now time for new adventures as a project manager at the State Public Works Division.

Yup, I’ve joined the dark side.

Sometimes they are a long time brewing but happen in a flash. For quite a while I be been doing decaf shots but it has two major downsides – it’s not very tasty and it still has trace amounts of caffeine in it.

Last week I decided to stop that, but the bagged mint tea was very meh. The next visit to the shop I had a flash of inspiration. Get fresh mint from on the kitchen. Throw some hot water on it.

And boom a new habit in a flash.

I have an aphorism that you know you really like something if you don’t mind doing the garbage work that comes with any job.  Its one reason I know I like architecture.  There is a lot of grunt work in the profession, but I don’t mind slogging through that stuff between the moments of really enjoyable work (for me its puzzling out a floor plan within limited confines).

But this morning I realized its also true in other field.  I’ve been practicing tai chi on and off for the last few years, but I also have a gimpy right knee.  From the beginning my teacher said I need to just exercise that knee every day, strengthening the muscles around it and teaching it to bend straight.  Given that I haven’t done so and its definitely a limitation on how much I can practice, I’m at a crossroads.

Time to exercise that knee.

We just moved into our new house that we’ve been remodeling over four years and change (1,479 days to be exact).

Plenty of things to still do, but it really was gratifying to cook dinner with the girl and my wife in our own place for the first time in almost five years.

Here’s a photo of a car wreck that got in the way of lunch between me and a buddy.  At least it wasn’t her Karman Ghia and noone got hurt that day…..

On Sunday morning I woke up to a message from an old friend from Asakura Robinson Company, a landscape architecture firm in Houston.

Unfortunately, the news was a complete shock, Patrick Chang, one of the principals, had a sudden heart attack and passed away over the weekend.

Patrick wasn’t a principal at the time I interned at ARC, but he was one of the lead PM’s at the small office.  As I pondered my two summers with him, I realized how much I have modeled myself upon his example. He was a superb project manager, thoroughly understood the technical aspects of the profession, and could run a project to make great drawing sets. 

More coarsely, Patrick knew his shit and made the trains fucking run on time.  He never bothered to get his license, but he was exactly what you would have wanted in a landscape architect, except for passing a couple tests.

He worked hard (maybe too hard) but he would also take the time to talk shop at that dingy cafeteria with a big vinyl graphic of a tulip garden at the basement of 2990 Richmond. And those conversations were real.  Since he wasn’t a principal, he was honest about how things were going, both good and bad, about outsiders and within the hierarchy. He spoke truth about the firm and the profession. He didn’t have to hide what annoyed him, because he was confident in his love of the work.

For some folks, A+D is a passion that’s obvious upon first contact.  You aren’t just an architect, you’re an AAArrrkkitect. I’m envious of those folks, cause I’d like to be super cool like that, but that just ain’t me.  I like the job, I enjoy the work, and I want to run a smooth process while banging out clean drawings. But I’m not going to be all in your face about how much I love this shit.  I mean, I do, but I don’t have to keep emoting all the time, do I?

The phrase I kept mulling all Sunday was that Patrick had an irascible love of the game.

He wouldn’t wear it on his sleeve, but it was obvious that this was his passion.  He loved the profession.  He loved his teammates and he loved the work, the design, the documentation, the process.  In all, I worked with him maybe four months.  Not a long time, but his example has resonated throughout my career, even if I don’t huddle up in a dark blue hoodie every time the air conditioning goes into overdrive.

Every Christmas I send out a holiday email out to old friends and colleagues.  And every New Years, Patrick made a point to say hello back and see how I was doing.  In a couple months, I’ll send out another card, but he won’t respond.  He was the consummate professional.

He will be sorely missed.

 

In iterations 15 Jeffery asks a question about favorite tools.  And it made me think a bit because I’m pretty utilitarian.  Coincidentally I had just been chatting with my coworkers about my Wacom tablet, an intuos3 that I bought at the suggestion of a graphic designer friend who thought it might help my wrist pain in grad school.  Since that time I’ve been the lone soul who who has used the product in an architecture environment and it puzzles me.  Its just as fast as a mouse and I’ve very rarely ever had wrist pain (and never when its not pure CD production deadline).  And it’s still working perfectly after thirteen years of daily use.  Hard not to put something like that at the top of the list.

At home, I’d like to say my old Nikon D40, but sadly I think its been trumped by my iphone 6s.  The sheer convenience of a cell phone has always made for a high bar, and there is a world of difference between this camera and the one that was on my previous iphone 5c.  The 5c’s low light was worse than my D40, but the 6s is much much better.  So the only thing the 6s doesn’t do is BOKEH!  And god, the bokeh on a nice shot on the Nikon 105 f/2.5 is glorious.

Away from computer technology, I have my flair pens, just your good old PaperMate Flair(TM) pens with a small felt tip.  I never have problems with any ball bearing mechanism and I’ve never felt the need for a fine tip.  In fact in my world, a strong bold line that’s easy to scan and send is far more useful than the ability to scratch out fine details.  And these things seem fairly indestructible, the only thing that kills them is a misplaced cap or just running out of ink.

I’m certain if I keep baking, one of my tools, maybe the dough knife with a wood handle, or one of the porcelain coated cast iron pots, or maybe the towels and stainless steel bowls I use for proofing the dough may rise to the point of significance.  But for now I’ll just leave them as honorable mentions.