the church block

On previous meetings with Architect B (creative, modern, residential designer), I've passed this church in the dark and felt outright cheated. Finally, with daylight savings, I could pull over after a meeting and at last collect the erstwhile-sought-after block.

Note: You can see this block in many, many cement walls in Palm Springs.

Ocean Beach, 40 mph winds

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Lean On

(click on images to enlarge)

This is a protoype design I'm working on for Leaning Night Stands constructed of 1/4" thick powder-coated steel sheets fused to 1/2" thick lexan (a.k.a plexiglass) panels. The panels are embedded with white led's and the shelves are moveable magnetic "wedges" clad in orange-enameled metal.

Note: the rendering was done in Google SketchUp which is easy and fun to use and free to download.

Technology, Art and Urban Space

http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76#video
This is a must-see video of extreme urban communication (a.k.a graffiti) that uses technology to construct an astounding connection of hand-to-light-to-building.

It's amazing what can grow out of a cactus.
(right outside my doorstep in the courtyard)

Parents week in San Diego

My parents landed in San Diego and in 6 days they have toured:
1. Annie Liebovitz @ San Diego Museum of Art
2. Eva Zeisel @ the Mingei Museum
3. Museum of Man
4. Father Junipero Serra Museum in Old Town
5. Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma
6. Geisel Library @ UCSD La Jolla
7. Ocean Beach antique shops
8. Fry's Electronic Superstore

On top of all that, on the 3rd day, while I went to work I sent them off to breakfast and they called me 2 hrs later from a Honda dealership telling me I was getting a new car to replace the 15 yr old car (w/missing exhaust system and no a/c) that I've been driving since my junior year in college.
My mom is retiring this year after 40 years of being an elementary school teacher. She's not sure what she'll do next...but I really think she's got a good eye for photography. She took this photo of me in a pepper tree on Presidio Hill.

Architecturally Challenged Part III

The NCARB has taken my money so that must meen my Council Record is being initialized. Since moving to San Diego I have logged 6.19 units out of 700 in 4 of 16 categories so far. One of my weekend projects will be compiling retro-active units from past work. Maybe I can come out with at least a 100 units to make the process feel less daunting. The NCARB gives you a 90 page excel workbook to log all of your hours in. I'm going to back up this file in 6 ways including hardcopies in a fireproof box until IDP is over, then I guess I'll save it for my grandchildren.

The technical health care remodeling has been balanced by equally technical but much more fun projects at San Diego's most famous hotel (Marilyn Monroe and Some Like it Hot). Doing field verifying or site visits to the hotel is kind've like taking a 2-hour weekday vacation. I can't complain about having to go to the beach in the afternoon once in a while.