Being 29.96985301 years old and Part II of the architecturally challenged

11 days out of 365 until I turn the big 30.

So I had a discussion with my new boss the other day in which I asked things like "how long did it take you to get licensed", "when did you start your firm", "when you go out for Thai do you order mild, medium, or inferno?". Well, my new boss said, "I had a biology degree, I backed into Architecture. I've had my firm for 10 years, I can handle really hot food". So, I did some further checking tonight and researched the California Table of Equivalents and the NCARB State by State Board requirements and they were very confusing...but this is what I think I distilled from all of the info: I don't need a Masters Degree in the state of California to become a licensed Architect!!!! If this is true I just saved $70,000! I save $36K for avoiding grad school and get a plus $34k for being able to work in lieu of school! Before I go out and buy a $200 bottle of champagne I'm going to put in some calls to the California Board of Architecture to verify this but if I navigated the maze of regulations correctly, I could sit for a division of the Architects Registration Exam tomorrow, work on my IDP for the next 3 years and be licensed by age 33.96985301!

In Minnesota, I would still have to go to graduate school, I'd still have to do the IDP and WAIT to take the ARE until BOTH of those conditions are met AND freeze my a** off the whole time.

Now, if I'm wrong, I'm going to really lament not saving that $70k but at least I'm in California.

advice for the architecturally challenged

So here's my dilemma...

The first Architecture firm I interviewed with in San Diego offered me the job on the spot and they gave me until 9am Monday morning to decide.

I've been out of the Architecture field for almost 5 years and have no Autocad experience but was presented with a decent offer despite the dust on my career. It was also a decent offer relative to the indentured-servitude-pay-scale that Intern Architects can expect until full licensure. The office primarily does "tenant improvements" for health care clients such as entire floors of reception desks, nursing stations, patient treatment rooms and bathrooms all stripped of the 80's and re-dressed in the double-00's. The office runs very leanly with only a bookkeeper, the Principal, one full-time drafter and possibly me the aspiring architect-to-be from Minnesota. The pros are: small office with a simple chain of command (although i'm not sure where the office dog fits in), health care projects that are technical with short construction turnarounds, lots of hands-on experience, paid Autocad training, very short commute and good job stability because the Principal has been in business for a while.

The cons are: low to zero opportunity for creativity, more hours than I wanted and no modern design in sight. The 80's office-park decor of the firm also kind of depresses me although there was one decent art piece on the wall. The technical experience is the true value to me in this job offer otherwise my first reaction is that I'm partially selling my soul. However, in this business that seems to be a pre-requisite and maybe I just need to accept that.


My dilemma is...

Do I give up the ideal of working for a creative, innovative, modern firm at least for now?
Or, do I take the risk of waiting several weeks or several months for a position in my dream firm to materialize?

Should I just take this job that's being offered and make the most of it for a year?

Friends! Advice? (please email or post before 8:45am Pacific Time!)



If you have 12 min. listen to Antoine Predock's advice to young architects during his interview about being awarded Gold Medal in Architecture. He's old but brilliant.

http://www.idimultimedia.net/clients/aia_podcast/06192006/aia-predock.mp3

Don't underestimate grapes.

I've ended up at Wine Steals too many times in the last month so I guess I need to offically call it my new hangout. I went there once last week with my Spanish Tutor and aspiring Martial Arts Sensei, Elio, and returned for a glass of Malbec with Steph this evening after Building Codes. Today I took the long way home after a business meeting in Carlsbad. I drove down the coast through Leucadia, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and La Jolla. Every minute was absolutely breathtaking and required all of my multi-tasking faculties to check out the eccentric shops along the roadside, watch surfers, look out for bike-riders and take in the magnitude of the endless housing developments eastward and inland. It gave my Architectural Moxie a huge boost - there is SO MUCH design to be had out here! The market for residential new construction and remodeling seems unlimited! It seems like any young architect who's willing to really hustle and get their name out, should have no problem finding work and able clients. The beautiful views and building sites seemed endless on HWY 101 into San Diego. I did my office-chair-craigslist-deal in Del Mar, trading a roll of quarters for a fully adjustable chair and was back in San Diego with my new ergonomically superior seating within 15 minutes. Tomorrow I get a portfolio together for an interview with an Architecture firm specializing in Health Care Tenement Improvements. They want an Autocad Expert, which is not me, so I'm not going to hold my breath but the interviewing will at least be good practice.

Start Seeing Turbots

My night-time reading: The End of the Line, How Overfishing is Changing the Way We Eat. The author's description of how beam trawlers operate is frightening. Basically, a football field sized rake with a net attached to it gives a once over to the bottom of the sea. The kill ratio to get a pound of marketable fish is about 15:1. As usual, the government bodies, national and international, are too conservative and too slow to avoid collapse or outright extinction of some of the fish stocks. One of the arguments of why ocean and fish conservation is not a more urgent part of the public consciousness is that fish are not cuddly and furry and cute. The other adage, "out of sight, out of mind" is also a factor. This is very disheartening because I think fish are the most fascinating creatures on the planet. As a perpetual "looker-upper" I had to seek out visuals for the fish the author refers to - and I was not disappointed.







A Turbot

A Turbot trying to hide from a Beam Trawler






The end of the line for this Turbot.

Amo San Diego!

Yo amo explorar uno nuevo barrio cada dia. Hoy, fui al camino de Adams.

I like to explore new neighborhoods every day. Today, I went to Adams Ave. I went to check out a futon-like sofa that walks the line between cheap and classy, if there is such a thing. Supposedly, such line exists with red wine but I'm still working that out. Initially, when I started walking down the street I was concerned that I may be mugged but then Sunday's Methodist message of "Don't Be Afraid" and the visiting Dr. Parson's description of violence in the Congo flashed in my ears and bravery prevailed. Hopefully I look more like a person of novelty than one of temporary financial opportunity. There are two fabulous second-hand stores on Adams and both had items the Knitter would lust after. The Methodist Missionary thrift store had some incredible ceramic pieces and a ton of good books! - titles that were all best sellers either last year or in the fifties!

I wandered into a shop that had bamboo imports from Bali. The owners go there twice a year and buy until they fill one shipping container completely full. On my way back to the car I drifted into a place called O'Grady's pub and it's the first bar that has reminded me of Minneapolis. Ironically, the best food at O'Grady's was the Mexican because the chef is Mexican. He very personally and personably talked me into his Carne Asada burrito which I requested be muy caliente! I dropped a bit of carne asada on the floor and it burned a hole to Beijing. It was fabulous and irrefutably the best burrito I've ever had.

I am irreversibly changed.

The waitress Kelly gave me a card and told me to come back for a free drink - I'm going back in two hours.

Other News of Status...

Real Estate Exam = passed!

Spanish = I conjugated a verb in something other than the present!

AutoCad = I can now "fillet" a corner and put hexagons in an array!

Building Codes = I think Albino Bunnies should be left out of it.

Girflriend = She's working hard and I miss her!

1592 ft

As if staying up until 4am wasn't enough I decided today would be a good day for hiking. I set out for Mission Trails Regional Park just 20 short minutes away by car from my doorstep. The visitor center is great with beautiful view and lots of information. I chose Cowles Mtn for my first hike since it had the tallest peak. About a 1/2 mile up the mountain I was regretting my decision but then a 2nd wind kicked in and the last 1/2 mile was great. There are 25 recommended hikes at Mission Trail Park with the longest being 7.1 miles roundtrip. I will definitely have to go back. On my way from the visitor center to the Cowles Mountain trailhead I passed a mini-strip mall and had a flashback. I'm sure it's the one that me and muriel and nicky stopped at on our way up to visit nicky's sister in the mountains. We had stopped to pick up sandwiches to bring to n's sister and her husband. That was an exciting day for me because nicky's sister had horses and she was an artist! I remember asking her sister lots of questions about her painting and I got to ride a horse named "Taxi" around the ranch. I think we were even driving Muriel's new car at the time (14 years ago) which is now my car and missing 1/2 a muffler. I kind of hope that I'll run into nicky by some stroke of luck...who knows.

Photos of today's hike.

Gabriel & Dresden

Skate, Kevin and I, went to see Gabriel & Dresden last night at belo in downtown San Diego.
I think their music falls into the category of Electronica and maybe the sub-category of vocal trance? If you can get past the typical crowd annoyances of being at a club there's a lot to listen for and listen to in this music. The sound system covers so much frequency it almost feels like it's coming out of you rather than outside of you. When the really low frequency of the bass drum, the melodic middle, and high frequencies (which are on the edge of detection) come together it feels like total submersion. I'm not talking about being submerged in water. It's thicker than that. If you could imagine being submerged in quicksand, without the panic of course, that is how densely the music wraps around you.

Since my Aunt and Uncle first took me at age 8 to a symphony at Orchestra Hall in MN I have always found music to be a beautiful escape, whether it's improvised jazz, a big orchestra, or the work of electronica artists. The biggest difference, for me, is whether the experience is weighted more externally, internally, or some of both. Lately, I've been attending Vesper Service on Wednesdays at the First United Methodist church in San Diego. The service begins with 20 minutes of organ or piano music for meditation. only about 12 - 15 ever show up and this is a huge church with a soaring sanctuary space. You feel that you are there alone and the music is very much an inward impression.

Back to Gabriel & Dresden for a minute...in the midst of all of their fabulous beats out of nowhere they laid down a sick, SICK track of Annie Lennox's - The Saddest Day. What they did with it was stunning and since it was live I'll probably never hear it again. Saddest Day is a deep track on Annie Lennox's last album and I don't think I've ever actually heard it played on a radio anywhere. They also played their own version of Tiesto's Beautiful Things. Towards the end of the night, Skate went out to smoke and couldn't get back in so Kevin and I snagged a cab home. We live exactly across the street from each other so getting out of the cab is kind of funny when we exit left and right and keep going.

Link to Gabriel & Dresden's new Album

I need to spend 72 hours at the movies

Who had Transformers when they were a kid! http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/transformers/transformers_large.htmlThis could be Ashley Judd's best role ever - Come Early Morninghttp://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/comeearlymorning/trailer/One of my favorite Cities and future vocation - The Architecthttp://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/thearchitect/trailer/Hopefully this is better than the Good Shepherd - Chris Cooper is way better at playing creepy smart guys then Matt Damon is - The Breachhttp://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/breach/German Spy Movie - The Lives of Othershttp://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/thelivesofothers/Maybe I'll see this after a GOOD bottle of wine - Evan Almighty http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/evanalmighty/large.htmlAny movie with a beautiful asian woman i'll see - Clean http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/clean/trailer/

Testing

On my way to the real estate exam location, rounding the corner, the 1940's architecture of the city building practically knocks you over the head. There it is in all of its horizontally dominant and retro-tiled glory. The first thing I was greeted by was a 1940's security officer with coke-bottle glasses sitting at a heavy metal 1940's desk asking me to sign in. I scribbled "Connie Chung" on the sheet and proceeded up to the 4th floor cafeteria a.k.a. the real estate examinee's holding pen. There, all types of humans were frantically doing last minute studying, eating burritos and sandwiches and drinking vending machine coffee as we waited with baited breath for the "Proctor" - very official sounding. Frauline Proctor showed up a few minutes later (German woman about 60ish) and gave some elegantly accented instructions and had us follow her down to the exam room. The exam was so back in the day!!! I felt like I was 12years old again at Afton-Lakeland elementary doing the proficiency tests with the bubble letter sheets and paper exam books! When I was in MN we did the Real Estate test via computer and you got your results right there, which could be dangerous if someone unstable were to not pass their exam for the 5th time in a row and happened to have a semi-automatic on them. Anyway, you get your results in 7 business days here because they send them to Sacramento to be checked...I think the Pony Expressdelivers the papers. Later on was the highly dramatic building codes class. I'm grateful that the folks who dreamed up the building code split it into three volumes because I rode my bike and 1 volume is enough to lug around. Getting to class on my bike down Park Blvd is fun, thrilling and a great way to experience the city. Getting back up the hill is a boot-camp excersie with the consequence being not getting home and having to sleep outside with the homeless.As part of my reward for an entire week of studying I picked up a bottle of wine earlier at Whole foods. This bottle of wine "Riven Rock Cabernet Sauvignon - California" has turned out to be the worst bottle of wine I've ever had in my near 30 year old life. I just don't feel like I should be punished for buying things on sale. I want to send this bottle to the Whole Foods wine buyer with a polaroid of the look on my face after taking a sip. Maybe I'll mix it with club soda and drink it anyway. Maybe I'd have better luck with a Target's new Wine Cube.

Koi: Real and Imagined

A composition inspired by the Koi fish in the park.

Building Codes : I read through the first 3 chapters of the Uniform Building Code Vol. 1 and found this passage under Chapter 2 - Defintions, Section 204 - C. Corrosive - is a chemical that causes visible destruction of, or irreversible alterations in, living tissue by chemical action at the site of contact. A chemical is considered to be corrosive if, when tested on the intact skin of albino rabbits by the method described in the United States Department of Transporation in Appendix A to 49 C.F.R. 173, it destroys or changes irreversibly the structure of the tissue at the site of contact folowing an exposure period of four hours. This term shall not refer to action on inanimate surfaces.

Urban Signs

http://flickr.com/photos/19321129@N00/sets/72157594467311188/show/

Photos

I love walking around the park.I like to stare at the cacti and imagine a worst-case scenario of falling on one or in a whole patch of them. I love the walking paths that go into the canyon and the river of rock below. I love walking through the park and seeing the exhibits change at the museums. I love seeing schoolkids there on weekdays pointing and chattering about the Koi Fish in the reflection pond. On Tuesdays, certain museums in the park are free and hopefully tomorrow I'll take advantage of that. School has started and so far I'm happy with my first teacher and feel she'll do well in showing us the ways of the Universal Building Code. I think by default, Elif's accent will probably keep my interest even through the dryest parts. She practices the code daily at her job and seems like the type who's wholly involved in her work and if you had to sit next to her at a dinner party and she didn't know you, she'd probably start talking about building codes. She said whenever she's out anywhere she calculates occupancy in her head and counts exits. That gives me confidence that I've made the right choice about this school. They may not have the nicest campus but if the teachers are obsessed with their subjects that's what counts. The Universal Building Code book is going to cost me the equivalent of 35 Lean Cuisines. I guess I will get on that case of ramen noodles now.

Studying in Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach Lifeguard Towers - 5:30pm Dinner is turning out to be the most restless and loneliest time for me - it's tough to have to do it solo. Snatching a plate of food is pretty much the only thing I do with blind disregard and default determination. When it comes to buffet lines at social gatherings I am always near the front of the line. If a plate of chicken wings is ordered while I’m out with friends half of them are on my plate and defrocked within minutes. Or, when I’m at my mom’s house I’ll keep eating as fast as she’s scooping things on my plate. There's no fun in rushing to the freezer and making dinner for myself.

In keeping to Minnesota time, I’m waking up between 5:45 and 6:45am here so by 6:30pm my energy for the day has been dispatched, the earth has turned and I’m stuck with a laptop and table that I’ve been at for much of the day. My one-sided company is 7 broadcast TV channels of which 2 are Spanish or books on architecture. Since my two friends that live here eat like bird I have nobody to really EAT with! So, I’ll command the microwave to make some dinner or boil some frozen tortellini, watch the evening news and lament not having Rudolph’s and a pile of friends.

To aid in my mad studying for the California Real Estate Exam I scored some CA Real Estate exam prep books at the library and in doing so got my hands on a new book “The End of the Line” by Charles Clover. It’s about how overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Maybe I’ll be eating less sushi after I read this but my curiosity exceeds potential guilt at this moment. I mentioned to Jen and Ron that I had this book on hold and Ron was immediately interested and took a note. I like it when unexpected bits of mutual interest are found with old friends.

Note: Tomorrow I may be sleeping in due to the final escalation and culmination of my Ebay bidding war for the Uniform Building Code Vol. 1 in Hardcover, ending at 11:45pm this evening. Wish me luck.

St. Croix River, Leopard, Floating Rainbow Walleye

Repeating theme : Extreme weather at my parents house. Somehow I'd heard a storm from China was almost upon us. I knew it was coming. I shouted at my mom to get inside and either she didn't hear, was being stubborn, or I was just too late, the wave got her but she was ok and still managed to get inside. I tried to close the sliding glass door from the basement but I missed the first time and grabbed a screen door instead, there were 3 of them on the track! Water still came into the basement but not too badly. The next wave was the huge one and it left debris on the deck. The waves died down pretty quickly. I went outside looked down the stairs and there were Walleye the color of rainbows floating in the air (not in the water because it had completely receded) just above the deck stairs. One tried to bite my toe but I got out of the way. I went back inside and from the basement sliding doors, I noticed a leopard and I could tell he looked hungry and dangerous. I tried to warn others but the next minute I see Molly out on the deck and the Leopard has jumped on her. I run to the garage and grab two machetes and by the time I get back it's too late. She's laying there in a small pool of blood but she's actually not too badly hurt. My uncle shows up and carries her fireman style around the side of the house. He's had past medical training in the Navy in WW II so both Molly and I are confident he'll take care of her. She was bitten in the pelvis. map of dream

6:15am

6:15am -> Burnt Toast -> No Shower -> Zoo Lot -> Trees and Plants -> Starbucks! (thanks mom and dad) see photos

Inspiration at 6,000 feet

While wedged between seats A and C and Rows 25 and 26 and choking on peanuts I somehow managed to wiggle the US Airways magazine out of the seat pocket and found this article on Vera Wang. First, I want to thank the celebrities who've been sending me personal messages of encouragement via various media channels. Last night it was Ed Bradley looking past Charley Rose to say to me "my teacher told me you can do anything! and I believed her!". Before that Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness gazed at me from the 40 ft screen and said "Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something! Not even me!". And before that it was Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow philosophizing about how we as human beings have unlimited potential "because WE Maaaaaaaaan". Well, in my case, I'm woman and my latest celebrity message was from Vera Wang at 6,000 feet in the air. Wang didn't start actually doing fashion design until age 40. Her parents refused to support her desire to go to design school. However, 16 years at Vogue Magazine was a pretty decent alternative to design school. Maybe I should try and get a position at DWELL magazine for the next 10 years. After quitting Vogue and at age 40 Wang's father finally backed her bridal business and her vision...and just look at the girl now!One of her latest projects was designing an exclusive guest suite for Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii. The article in US Airwaysverawang.pdf

las fotografías del día

I passed these lofts once before in my car but it's hard to take pictures with a polaroid camera while going through an intersection and smoking and putting on makeup at the same time. Now that I have my digital camera back I'm going to be riding around on my red bike taking as many photos as I can. Modern Lofts at 16th and B Street, San Diego, CA. (If you have a Yahoo ID already you can sign into Flickr with your existing ID and password.)

Holland

Holland, Michigan. Home of the Holland Tulip Festival, one of the 5 Best Places to Retire (Money 2006), known for one of the largest populations of Dutch descendants, Dutch Calvanists and Christian Reformed Church Followers and origin of BilMar Foods and co-founder William G. DeWitt. I celebrated New Year's Eve amongst the barely containable excitement of the Holland Country Inn. Yeah, it was crazy, they had oatmeal cookies in the lobby and they were gone in 60 seconds! Tomorrow, there's a strong probability I'll be passing Gerald R. Ford's (age 93) casket at the Grand Rapids Airport and will be missing his funeral by a day. The funeral and passing of Bill DeWitt (age 93) brought me here (I now only have one friend over 90 left Sister Agnes Ward in Minnesota). Coincidentally, BilMar foods at one time presented a turkey for pardoning to President Ford for Thanksgiving. Bill DeWitt was a devout christian and a very sweet man whom I developed a friendship with through Malinda's mom. His passing brought me to Holland - a place I probably would never have visited. It's funny how people can take you places whether they're still here or not. I like to believe that Bill wanted me to see the place he was from and that he kept me out of harm's way for New Year's Eve and that he'll get me home safe for the New Year. Tomorrow, I resume my normal, mildly sinful life, and my attempts to draw, eat, explore, connect, document, discover, while doing my best not to fall into disorganization and fragmentation. Bill was blessed that he did one thing and did it well - Turkey Farming. It's impossible for me to settle on a singular focus but I will make the multi-variable focus work although I might have to plump up my cerebral cortex to do it. Happy New Year Everyone!

ongoing voices

I have a quote by martha graham in my notebook: You do not have to believe in yourself or your work. It is not your business to determine how good it is, how valuable it is, or how it compares with other expressions. But it is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly to the urges that motivate you. Today, I had thoughts about the surplus of free couches in the world, why there is a surplus and what can be done about it. I saw a free piano on craigslist that I wanted to acquire and deconstruct but wondered if it could ever be decontextualized since piano keys are so iconic. I take fragments of retro lettering on buildings with my camera or mental camera every day and I've been mentally cataloging the styles of decorative concrete blocks and am finally starting to photograph them. Today I'm enamored with square metal signpost tubing and want to use it in a credenza design. I've also finally found a functional solution for the wooden boxes I acquired at a rock and gem show last summer and just yesterday I finally integrated the perspective-graph-paper I've had for two years into something. When I'm thinking, writing, or sketching out these things I don't know how much time goes by. These urges come at me every minute of every day and they fill the day and every space in-between. When certain people in my life ask me "what did you do today" I have trouble answering because the volume of thought turns into instant fuzz. It makes for a very short kind of quiet phone conversations because I can't articulate what consumes me. I just know when I try to quiet these urges I become lifeless. I've yet to unify all of the chatter within into a singular medium. For my sanity and the self-esteem of my alter ego I need to find that medium or some coherence. In the meantime, the best summation for my alter ego and what I'm trying to get out is "Conceptual Artist". The version of me that operates on a normal level and more accepted and measurable mode of value is the "Architect-in-Training". The message I've always received or that's been implied by people in my life is that there is no value to conceptual thought. So I guess there's nothing to lose. Here are my couch thoughts:
In the living-room stage the couch is the primary spot of comfort and relaxation. It is the primary spot to receive entertainment whether it be television, movies, conversation or watching children play. During a domestic intermission, AKA the act of moving, the potential labor to move a couch is weighed against the amount of money paid to acquire it. The break even point must be fairly low because there is a surplus of free couches in this world.

My guess is that most people don’t want someone else’s couch because of the very intimacy that a couch implies. Who knows what particles, fluids, or other substances coat the cushions. Who knows what act of passions have occurred on top of or in the couch by people and pets. I am now making it my prerogative to think about the Free Couch and set it free from it’s reputation as a domestic outcast. I’m going to bring the Free Couch back into the home by devising a new functionality for it.

Couch

Fabric becomes formless when off the frame of a couch. When put back into 2-Dimensional space imperfections on the fabric are easier to spot and isolate.

Couch is made of wood, fabric, springs, metal, screws, adhesive, stitching, leather.
Couch inside out – exoskeleton, extruded.
Destruction – tearing, burning, staining, cutting. Performative deconstruction.

Deformation by subtracting and adding to the frame and then re-upholstering.
Disinfection by complete bleach or chemical bath.

Can a couch be re-constructed to be displayed on a wall?
Can a couch be lived in. Free Couches in San Diegohttp://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=free%20couch&srchType=T