Tai Chi
Kung Fu
Piano
Harmonica
Dance
Drawing
Photography
Mahjong
Xiangqi
Respect
Effort
Craft
Creativity
Self Confidence
Happiness
Curiosity
Wisdom
Dreams
-
My Pens
As an architect I’ve always been picky about my writing tools.
As a draftsman, I started using 2H lead, but learned a lighter touch and transitioned to H lead for my line work. For my lettering I always used HB lead, which Staedtler Mars discontinued during that stint and caused a minor panic, but we bought enough to last me thorugh to leaving for graduate school. And yes Staedtler Mars was a better lead than Alvin.
I also have picked up a few fancy fountain pens over the years, but ultimately they were too scratchy and have not been used.
I appreciate the fine points of rollerball pens, but I don’t like the fact they can get cloggy.
And the micro fine points of razors are nice for about half a day until they get frayed under my heavy hand, at which point they are not at all pleasant to use.
But my tool of choice is the Papermate Flair pen. It’s a finely crafted writing tool that is cheap enough I can have copies all over the place and feel no pain when it runs out of ink or when one is lost. With a plethora of colors, I can make multiple layers of notes on a single sheet of paper. The felt tip runs smoothly on any type of paper. The point is fine enough to make good notes, but blunt enough to degrade gracefully. It is in short, my perfect pen.
-
Micromanaging
It’s generally considered a bad term, but its the secret weapon for extreme ownership. Jocko Willink doesn’t mention it in his books, but he has brought it up a few times in podcast, and I’ve found it a useful concept.
If you exercise extreme ownership on a project, then you are taking ownership over the performance of your subordinates. As such, what are your tools for making sure they do the job, especially if they aren’t measuring up?
First and foremost, you have to make sure your expectations and standards are clear. If the objective is not clear, then how can they make the mark?
If the direction is clear, then you need to resort to micromanaging, working with your colleagues step by step until you’ve built up the trust they can do it right. I guess you can also call it coaching or training, but ultimately you need to get hands on until you can step back and given them a level of freedom as professionals.
Funny thing, this same two step process also works with your superiors. If they are the one holding you back from performing your task, you need to ask lots of questions to clarify the objective, and if it’s still not clear, you need to ask questions in detail so you can make sure you are meeting their expectations.
The process is simple, the hard part is doing it in a way that keeps the team motivated and doesn’t suck all the initiative out of the room.
-
5 is the Perfect Number, Igort, 2002
It’s a pretty prime number, well balanced.
And its half a decade.
A college career plus one.
You got five fingers on a hand.
You got head, two arms, and two legs. What else do you need?
And it’s the title of one of my favorite graphic novels by Igort.
I wonder if will hold up to a reread, it’s been twenty years since I bought it in a comic shop in LA and so much has changed in the last five years.
-
Please avoid boring music videos
I have a fondness for listening to EDM while doing chores. If I come across a song I like, I’ll play it on youtube since it’s difficult to repeat songs on the free streaming services.
That means I’ve come across a wide selection of music videos, and I’ve noticed a genre of videos where it is merely a recording just beautiful young people being beautiful. Instagram in music video format.
How incredibly dull. Eye candy may be pleasant, but without any story or any hook, it can nearly ruin a song.
If you’ve been handed a decent song and given creative reins to for the video, please do something with the opportunity. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering, you can even use pretty people, but at least try something.
If you’re not going to try to avoid boring, then at least do us the courtesy of just shooting a video of yourself making the music and let it speak for itself.
-
Throwing a Tantrum
My daughter is really skilled at throwing a tantrum.
It doesn’t do her any good, nothing changes.
But she does know how to make the world around her a little less unpleasant, when she doesn’t get what she wants.
Generally, deflection and misdirection is the best way to get her out of her reverie of anger. But sometimes you just have to walk away and let her stew in it for a bit.
She’s always been a focused, stubborn little girl (a trait even more apparent now that she has a brother for contrast) and its interesting to watch that develop as she grows up, if not always pleasant.
-
A little bit of salt
The other day, I added a little bit of salt to my typical steamed bread mix and I could immediately feel the difference when I took it out of the Kitchenaid. Throughout the proof, the dough acted a bit stiffer throughout and ultimately came out pretty nicely, albeit a slight salty.
This time I had tried 6 grams of salt, next time I’ll try 3 grams.
In context, my overall dough is 555 grams, so six grams of salt is just about 1% of the overall mix. Just one teaspoon.
We’ve all heard canard of putting a drop of cyanide in a carton of milk, but it’s another to feel such a small amount make such a big difference in your hands.
And there is also the pleasure of knowing your hands are practiced enough where such a minor change in consistency is immediately noticed. What a nice indulgence in the narcissism of small differences!
-
Walking a Baby to Sleep
Walking a baby to sleep is bit like the life of a practicing architect.
Every job is similar, but also custom. Maybe AI will eventually produce a machine that can figure things out, but I doubt it.
This is a hands on, touchy feely activity. You need to get in sync with the client, drawing out their different needs and wants for each job.
It is an iterative process. Sometimes you get it right the first time, but usually you’ll try several things a few times before it takes.
And rarely is it the right time. Sometimes it’s too early, sometime it’s too late. You usually have something else to do.
Then again this is the only thing to do.
-
People like us do things like this
The title is stolen from Seth Godin, who has been using it for his new book, This is Marketing.
Architecture students have always had a fairly strong culture, from the long hours chained together inside our rooms. Plus, our work is distinctive work, not just pages and pages of letter sized reports. And in distinction from the other flakier visual arts, we’re hard on ourselves – we have high expectations in rigour and craft.
But when we leave school, this all gets exploded. We’re atomized into different aspects of the profession (there are only so many design positions to go around) as well as into all sorts of different professions.
And even for those of us that stay in the game, this cohort of youths is blended into the hierarchical ecosystem of the business world. The boss is worried about making payroll. The manager got two crazy kids at home. You’re just trying to figure out how to avoid drawing this detail incorrectly.
And yet, I still think there is still an “us” there. I don’t know the answer, but maybe question starts with “what things do we do?”
-
Twenty years ago
I was a sophomore in college. I had completed my second studio and was embarking on a three semester detour into visual studies at the south wing of Wurster Hall, starting with ED101A with Tony Dubovsky.
It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago.
I wonder what happened to that angsty kid who chain-smoked cigarettes, listened to loud music, and slept under the studio desk because it was less of a commute than going home.
I’d like to think he’s still there, hiding under the respectable facade of a state worker, living in the burbs. Or maybe the suburban drone was the true kernel deep inside that bohemian two decades ago.
Or maybe it’s both. Life is funny that way.