In order to celebrate mother's day, mom took me, Saori, and Tay whitewater rafting on the salt river. My previous experience with the salt river involved hot tubes, lots of college freshmen, and copious quantities of beer, so I was surprised to discover that before it becomes a floating house party, the Salt actually has some class 3 to class 4 rapids. This occurs way up, north of Globe, and deep in the heart of Apache lands. As the trip left the shore at 8:30 AM, several hours from Phoenix, I suggested we spend the saturday afternoon in Globe, so we would be fresh for the trip. I was curious about that part of Arizona, too since the 60 was the one road out of town I've never taken.
We left town after a leisurely morning, picking up mom first, then tay, and stopping for some Indian food on the way out. We grabbed some road supplies at Gold Canyon, and passed on into the wilderness.
I was impressed with the drive. It was as scenic, but not as hilly as the beeline out to Payson, and we very quickly passed through Superior, which looked like a cool little mining town. After less than two hours we arrived in Globe at the Days Inn where we got two rooms, one with a view of the pool, and one with a view of the hill directly behind the parking lot. My car actually got the best view, overlooking the town from the rise the hotel was situated on. Our check in girl was very confident on her views of the rafting companies. She thought Mild to Wild was fine, almost as good as the one she liked better, and that Chacos Mexican restaurant was much better than Irene's Mexican restaurant.
After we dropped our stuff off, we drove to the historic downtown of Globe, which was less than a quater mile long, now mostly bars, antique stores, secondhand clothes, and Tae-Kwon-Do studios. This old mining town was a dangerous place. We stopped for coffee at a small coffeeshop, which seemed to be filled with late teens and beatniks who were too cool for the sellout downtown phoenix art scene. It was a really nice place, very picturesque, and the blackboard announced happenings like the Globe Poetry Forum.
The town of Miami was a lot more happening. The downtown looked older and poorer, but there was a vitatlity there that comes from a more diverse use, definately helped by the local "boomtown" festival occupying the main street that weekend. A dry wash ran through the entire downtown, crossed by arched concrete bridges, which looked very Venetian. It was bizzare but a nice contrast. I'm still not sure what the festival was for, although the display of old gasoline engines turning wheels probably relates to it. Mom bought us all funnelcake which immediately sank to the bottom of our stomachs like the Titannic and slowly rusted. We wandered through an independant art gallery, with artworks which looked just like the art at first fridays, although we all picked up cheap woven trinkets from Mexico.
We went back to the hotel and played cards for an hour or so before heading off to a Mexican restaurant which was not terrible, but really made you wonder how bad the other place was. We parted ways after getting back to the hotel, planning on meeting at the car in the morning.
Apr 21, 2008
Apr 18, 2008
Laptop
I got my new laptop this week. It came into work monday, after I tracked every few hours from production to shipping over the week. After my previous laptop, a 14", I was a little worried that my new laptop at 15.4" would be really big and cumbersome. I was impressed. Its a little thicker than my last laptop, but the depth is very manageable, and the width is really not bad either. Reasonably light, about the same as my previous machine.
My old laptop was a graduation gift, a dell inspirion with upgraded graphics, software, etc, really a top of the line machine. It lasted 4 years handily with very few problems: I had to replace a keyboard after spilling lemonade in it, and the disc drive pod had to be replaced. After awhile, the power system began to get worn out, and the machine slowly taught me how to turn it on, making it more difficult and complex with each passing month. At first, it was that I had to hold it at a certain angle to turn it on, then I had to phyiscally jog the machine to catch. At the end, I became very proficiant at flexing the casing in just a certain way to get some lights and THEN striking the secret spot. Finally, the touchpad became screwy and the pointer would fly around the screen clicking randomly. It was time to get a new laptop, especially since it would not be making the ardorous journey through graduate school.
I was sufficantly impressed with Dell to get another one, a Dell Precision M4300, a fairly new series to the Dell line for businesess. Actually this one really caught my eye as the series is specifically marketed to professionals who use especially demanding programs like CAD, 3D modeling, and graphics-intensive work. I wanted a powerhouse, and with my tax rebate, I got one. This machine is really fast, less than a minute to start surfing the net from pushing the on button. With the draft-N wireless card, I'm flying on the net. It's really exciting. I even went out and got a new backpack to carry it around last night.
Work goes on as usual. Some days faster, some days slower. The project I'm working on finally got a sign-off from the client regarding the program of spaces, so now I'm back on the main line of work, picking up redlines and updating our revit model from CAD. (Picking up redlines- the way most firms work is that workers draft a drawing, then they print it out and give it a supervisor who checks over the work, marking it up with a red pencil or pen, and hand it back to the drafters. They "pick up" the redlines, correcting the drawing.)
There has been a lot of shifting around the office lately. When I first started working, the first floor had about six people, younger, and more design oriented, while the upstairs had all the drawing production, principals, older drafters, code people, etc. Now its all mixed up, and there's about a dozen people downstairs now.
Today was a busy day. Half day at work, filled the car up with Sam's Club gas, ran to the bank, took Suki to the vet for a follow up checkup (vet said she was fine, not showing any clinical signs of infection), and played Kingdom Hearts for a few hours on PS2. After our old controller died a few weeks ago, we picked up a wireless controller made by Nerf. Its actually pretty cool since the body is made of the nerf football stuff. Light, resiliant foam, with the controls built in. Designed to be dropped, tossed between players, etc. and cheaper than the Sony.
My old laptop was a graduation gift, a dell inspirion with upgraded graphics, software, etc, really a top of the line machine. It lasted 4 years handily with very few problems: I had to replace a keyboard after spilling lemonade in it, and the disc drive pod had to be replaced. After awhile, the power system began to get worn out, and the machine slowly taught me how to turn it on, making it more difficult and complex with each passing month. At first, it was that I had to hold it at a certain angle to turn it on, then I had to phyiscally jog the machine to catch. At the end, I became very proficiant at flexing the casing in just a certain way to get some lights and THEN striking the secret spot. Finally, the touchpad became screwy and the pointer would fly around the screen clicking randomly. It was time to get a new laptop, especially since it would not be making the ardorous journey through graduate school.
I was sufficantly impressed with Dell to get another one, a Dell Precision M4300, a fairly new series to the Dell line for businesess. Actually this one really caught my eye as the series is specifically marketed to professionals who use especially demanding programs like CAD, 3D modeling, and graphics-intensive work. I wanted a powerhouse, and with my tax rebate, I got one. This machine is really fast, less than a minute to start surfing the net from pushing the on button. With the draft-N wireless card, I'm flying on the net. It's really exciting. I even went out and got a new backpack to carry it around last night.
Work goes on as usual. Some days faster, some days slower. The project I'm working on finally got a sign-off from the client regarding the program of spaces, so now I'm back on the main line of work, picking up redlines and updating our revit model from CAD. (Picking up redlines- the way most firms work is that workers draft a drawing, then they print it out and give it a supervisor who checks over the work, marking it up with a red pencil or pen, and hand it back to the drafters. They "pick up" the redlines, correcting the drawing.)
There has been a lot of shifting around the office lately. When I first started working, the first floor had about six people, younger, and more design oriented, while the upstairs had all the drawing production, principals, older drafters, code people, etc. Now its all mixed up, and there's about a dozen people downstairs now.
Today was a busy day. Half day at work, filled the car up with Sam's Club gas, ran to the bank, took Suki to the vet for a follow up checkup (vet said she was fine, not showing any clinical signs of infection), and played Kingdom Hearts for a few hours on PS2. After our old controller died a few weeks ago, we picked up a wireless controller made by Nerf. Its actually pretty cool since the body is made of the nerf football stuff. Light, resiliant foam, with the controls built in. Designed to be dropped, tossed between players, etc. and cheaper than the Sony.
Apr 5, 2008
Alexanders, not-bad, semiproductive, extended day.
This morning, I took the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE.
This is a necessary step in the application process for applying to most graduate schools, even though my personal GRE will probably mean very little in my application to architecture grad schools, as they tend to look much more heavily at portfolio work. In terms of preparation for the GRE, I read two books of tricks, techniques, and practice sets and did a few parts of the test online. In terms of total time studying, I spent about an hour every other day of the week for the past two weeks in preparation. I wouldn't say I felt extremely prepared, but I felt confident enough in the strategies I'd learned.
The night before, I had a hard time falling asleep, although I slept well through the night. This morning, I got up at 6:30, got dressed and drove over to ASU where the test was administered. I was early, so I got a breakfast burger and a small cup of coffee. Little performance enhancing drugs called sugar, protein, and caffeine. The testing rooms were hidden at the end of the corridor on the third floor of a mostly locked building. Absolutely no signage of any kind. There were only six of us who signed up today to take the test. After a few forms to fill out, they took my photo, checked my ID, and assigned me to a computer to take the test. The GRE is a computer based test which adapts itself to the tester, asking harder questions when the tester gets a right answer, and easier questions when the tester gets a wrong answer. It was kind of funny going through the tutorial of "how to use a computer," obviously geared to people who have never used one. How these people will manage in graduate school, I don't know. The parts about how to use a mouse was the best, as it demonstrated what to do if your mouse is stuck at the edge of the desk, and the importance of making sure the cord comes out the top of the mouse (away from you), not to the side.
Anyway, the test was long, started with two essays taking up an hour and a half. It was nice, I admit, writing essays with a keyboard instead of by hand. I think I did really well on those. Then came math, verbal, and in my case, another math. The entire test ran just shy of four hours long. Math was really depressing. I didn't feel very good about it, I used up most of my time at the front, and rushed through the last questions, barely finishing the session in time. For both sections of the math.
At the end of the test, I elected to keep my scores (hey, I paid $140 for this!) Out of a possible 800 points, I found I scored 620 verbal and 620 math. I was shocked my scores were the same, and I was disappointed that my verbal was so low. However, when you look at my scores in terms of percentiles of the test takers from last year, 620 verbal is a higher score than 89% of the test takers, although 620 math is only higher than 51% of the takers, so after all, a good verbal score and an average math score.
After the test, I walked over and picked Tay up from his dorm. It was about noon, so he was mostly awake. I took him to MacAlpines with Saori for a milkshake and a burger, and it was pretty good although we really stuffed ourselves. Afterwards, we did a little shopping, hitting up best buy and then Red Modern Furniture. Red Modern Furniture sells new and original mid-century modern furniture. Really cool, funky pieces, great quality, beautiful cabinetry and woodwork, and unbelievably expensive. As I put it to Taylor, if you were to find this piece of furniture at Goodwill, it would cost literally 50 times more at Red. A red, single molded fiberglass chair was sitting outside which had apparently been sold. Taylor ventured $20. The real price: $1100. Needless to say, we don't actually buy things there, although the furniture is great and the staff are really cool people.
We took Tay back to our place, and we played cards for a few hours before finally dropping tay back off at his dorm. All in all, its been a long day.
This is a necessary step in the application process for applying to most graduate schools, even though my personal GRE will probably mean very little in my application to architecture grad schools, as they tend to look much more heavily at portfolio work. In terms of preparation for the GRE, I read two books of tricks, techniques, and practice sets and did a few parts of the test online. In terms of total time studying, I spent about an hour every other day of the week for the past two weeks in preparation. I wouldn't say I felt extremely prepared, but I felt confident enough in the strategies I'd learned.
The night before, I had a hard time falling asleep, although I slept well through the night. This morning, I got up at 6:30, got dressed and drove over to ASU where the test was administered. I was early, so I got a breakfast burger and a small cup of coffee. Little performance enhancing drugs called sugar, protein, and caffeine. The testing rooms were hidden at the end of the corridor on the third floor of a mostly locked building. Absolutely no signage of any kind. There were only six of us who signed up today to take the test. After a few forms to fill out, they took my photo, checked my ID, and assigned me to a computer to take the test. The GRE is a computer based test which adapts itself to the tester, asking harder questions when the tester gets a right answer, and easier questions when the tester gets a wrong answer. It was kind of funny going through the tutorial of "how to use a computer," obviously geared to people who have never used one. How these people will manage in graduate school, I don't know. The parts about how to use a mouse was the best, as it demonstrated what to do if your mouse is stuck at the edge of the desk, and the importance of making sure the cord comes out the top of the mouse (away from you), not to the side.
Anyway, the test was long, started with two essays taking up an hour and a half. It was nice, I admit, writing essays with a keyboard instead of by hand. I think I did really well on those. Then came math, verbal, and in my case, another math. The entire test ran just shy of four hours long. Math was really depressing. I didn't feel very good about it, I used up most of my time at the front, and rushed through the last questions, barely finishing the session in time. For both sections of the math.
At the end of the test, I elected to keep my scores (hey, I paid $140 for this!) Out of a possible 800 points, I found I scored 620 verbal and 620 math. I was shocked my scores were the same, and I was disappointed that my verbal was so low. However, when you look at my scores in terms of percentiles of the test takers from last year, 620 verbal is a higher score than 89% of the test takers, although 620 math is only higher than 51% of the takers, so after all, a good verbal score and an average math score.
After the test, I walked over and picked Tay up from his dorm. It was about noon, so he was mostly awake. I took him to MacAlpines with Saori for a milkshake and a burger, and it was pretty good although we really stuffed ourselves. Afterwards, we did a little shopping, hitting up best buy and then Red Modern Furniture. Red Modern Furniture sells new and original mid-century modern furniture. Really cool, funky pieces, great quality, beautiful cabinetry and woodwork, and unbelievably expensive. As I put it to Taylor, if you were to find this piece of furniture at Goodwill, it would cost literally 50 times more at Red. A red, single molded fiberglass chair was sitting outside which had apparently been sold. Taylor ventured $20. The real price: $1100. Needless to say, we don't actually buy things there, although the furniture is great and the staff are really cool people.
We took Tay back to our place, and we played cards for a few hours before finally dropping tay back off at his dorm. All in all, its been a long day.
Mar 30, 2008
Unusual Phoenix
This week, my company sent me to two days of Revit training. Revit, for those not in the building trades, is a computer program for designing buildings. See the end of this post for info about Revit. I was going to write just a bit about it, but its a complicated program and I have mixed feelings about it.
The class was held up in Peoria, a bit of a drive from work, but at least coming and going, we're in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic, which was gridlock. West Metro Phoenix is definitely the less charming half of the city. For the most part, its either low rent or low quality knockoffs of Scottsdale suburbia, which is pretty revolting in its own right. If west Phoenix were a SimCity game, it would be endless blocks of beige "mission style" subdivisions interspersed with a "center" block consisting of a 1) Starbucks, 2) Home Depot, 3) Blockbuster Video, 4) Target/Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and 5) Papa Johns Pizza. I say for the most part, because I still haven't seen all of it. Old town Glendale is nice. I actually like it better than Mill Ave in Tempe.
Anyway, class was all day, but it went pretty fast since its active learning with the software, and at the end of the two days, I got a Certificate for Having Completed the Class. Feels like I should keep it in my bag of holding. The instructor was very good through, and stayed after the class to answer our individual specific problems.
It's been a fairly busy weekend, Saori's been working overtime both today and yesterday on her company's entry to a Valley-wide design competition to "Flip-a-Strip." The competition, hosted by the SMoCA, is to have local architects take an existing (retched) strip mall, and turn it into something better and more "engaging." Conceptually, I like strip malls, especially when you compare them with the megacenters. Small businesses, variety, and you can drive and park right in front of the store, instead of in the center of a burning lake of asphalt. However, they can also really suck. The one Saori's working on is six small rectangular boxes in the middle of a lake of asphalt. Not a blade of grass or even sidewalks. The competition entries are due Monday, so Saori is still at work, slaving away with her colleagues.
Today, I drove up with her and drove over to my old elementary school, the Montessouri way up north of Dunlap and 14th St. I had not been back to the area since I left second grade. This was the Phoenix I fell in love with. This neighborhood, tucked up against the mountain, has a great organic network of streets which rise and fall with the land. No grading at all. The houses are all different and vary from a collection of shacks to cutting edge architect designed homes. Desert trees and flowers everywhere, and the desert mountain landscape a tangible presence. My old school should be a model of desert architecture. Cinder block or brick construction, low pitched roofs with 4' wide overhanging eaves, circulating water pools, overhead sun screening, and high clerestory windows. I would have hopped the fence to look around inside if it were not for the security cameras. (Strangers poking around elementary school campuses just don't look good.)
Also today, plenty of study for the GRE which I take next weekend.
I moved my discussion and opinions about Revit to the end of this blog since it tends to key to a more estoeric audience.
What makes Revit (short for "Revise It") different is that it is a category of BIM software, or Building Information Modeling.
Basically, everything you draw has information attached to it. Historically, if I drew a brick wall on paper or in a basic drafting program, then it would just be two lines with the space between them filled in. I would have to indicate elsewhere in notes that it was a two wythe thick common brick wall with a running bond. With a BIM program, if I want to draw a brick wall, I click a "wall" button, select the type of wall I want, and draw a line and the computer generates a 3D wall along the line I drew. The advantage of this is that now, all the pieces of the wall are there to the finest details. I can see it very generally in a floor plan, or I can zoom in and see the individual bricks in the wall. Because its in 3d, I can cut sections through it at will and the program generates all the drawings I will need to build this wall.
If you want to look at it this way, before BIM modeling, the building as a whole existed in the collective minds of the designers which various 2d drawings supported, in varying accuracy. With BIM modeling, the architect builds a 3D model of the entire building and the program generates the 2D drawings. All the information is stored parametrically and in databases which can be sliced and diced and any shiny new thing you can do to data.
It's exciting to me because it automates a lot of the tedious things you typically have interns or low-level drafters (like yours truly) do. Theoretically, its supposed to drastically reduce the amount of work you have to do because any change to the model gets instantly reflected in all the sheet drawings. I say "theoretically" because it depends on how much you play by Revit's rules.
For me, Revit feels like it was designed by an advanced race of robots. When you play exactly by its rules, its incredibly easy and the work flies. When you want to do it your way, when you have a particular way you like your stairs to work, or a certain way a wall connects to a floor, then you have to wrestle that bull to the ground and beat it into shape where it still growls at you. Yes, its wonderful it calculates and generates stairs and railings for you, but what if you don't want one of the three types of stairs that it comes with (or ten for that matter?). There's a laborious process if you want to alter a standard piece, and you have to have a lot of experience with Revit to do it with any competency at all.
The class was held up in Peoria, a bit of a drive from work, but at least coming and going, we're in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic, which was gridlock. West Metro Phoenix is definitely the less charming half of the city. For the most part, its either low rent or low quality knockoffs of Scottsdale suburbia, which is pretty revolting in its own right. If west Phoenix were a SimCity game, it would be endless blocks of beige "mission style" subdivisions interspersed with a "center" block consisting of a 1) Starbucks, 2) Home Depot, 3) Blockbuster Video, 4) Target/Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and 5) Papa Johns Pizza. I say for the most part, because I still haven't seen all of it. Old town Glendale is nice. I actually like it better than Mill Ave in Tempe.
Anyway, class was all day, but it went pretty fast since its active learning with the software, and at the end of the two days, I got a Certificate for Having Completed the Class. Feels like I should keep it in my bag of holding. The instructor was very good through, and stayed after the class to answer our individual specific problems.
It's been a fairly busy weekend, Saori's been working overtime both today and yesterday on her company's entry to a Valley-wide design competition to "Flip-a-Strip." The competition, hosted by the SMoCA, is to have local architects take an existing (retched) strip mall, and turn it into something better and more "engaging." Conceptually, I like strip malls, especially when you compare them with the megacenters. Small businesses, variety, and you can drive and park right in front of the store, instead of in the center of a burning lake of asphalt. However, they can also really suck. The one Saori's working on is six small rectangular boxes in the middle of a lake of asphalt. Not a blade of grass or even sidewalks. The competition entries are due Monday, so Saori is still at work, slaving away with her colleagues.
Today, I drove up with her and drove over to my old elementary school, the Montessouri way up north of Dunlap and 14th St. I had not been back to the area since I left second grade. This was the Phoenix I fell in love with. This neighborhood, tucked up against the mountain, has a great organic network of streets which rise and fall with the land. No grading at all. The houses are all different and vary from a collection of shacks to cutting edge architect designed homes. Desert trees and flowers everywhere, and the desert mountain landscape a tangible presence. My old school should be a model of desert architecture. Cinder block or brick construction, low pitched roofs with 4' wide overhanging eaves, circulating water pools, overhead sun screening, and high clerestory windows. I would have hopped the fence to look around inside if it were not for the security cameras. (Strangers poking around elementary school campuses just don't look good.)
Also today, plenty of study for the GRE which I take next weekend.
I moved my discussion and opinions about Revit to the end of this blog since it tends to key to a more estoeric audience.
What makes Revit (short for "Revise It") different is that it is a category of BIM software, or Building Information Modeling.
Basically, everything you draw has information attached to it. Historically, if I drew a brick wall on paper or in a basic drafting program, then it would just be two lines with the space between them filled in. I would have to indicate elsewhere in notes that it was a two wythe thick common brick wall with a running bond. With a BIM program, if I want to draw a brick wall, I click a "wall" button, select the type of wall I want, and draw a line and the computer generates a 3D wall along the line I drew. The advantage of this is that now, all the pieces of the wall are there to the finest details. I can see it very generally in a floor plan, or I can zoom in and see the individual bricks in the wall. Because its in 3d, I can cut sections through it at will and the program generates all the drawings I will need to build this wall.
If you want to look at it this way, before BIM modeling, the building as a whole existed in the collective minds of the designers which various 2d drawings supported, in varying accuracy. With BIM modeling, the architect builds a 3D model of the entire building and the program generates the 2D drawings. All the information is stored parametrically and in databases which can be sliced and diced and any shiny new thing you can do to data.
It's exciting to me because it automates a lot of the tedious things you typically have interns or low-level drafters (like yours truly) do. Theoretically, its supposed to drastically reduce the amount of work you have to do because any change to the model gets instantly reflected in all the sheet drawings. I say "theoretically" because it depends on how much you play by Revit's rules.
For me, Revit feels like it was designed by an advanced race of robots. When you play exactly by its rules, its incredibly easy and the work flies. When you want to do it your way, when you have a particular way you like your stairs to work, or a certain way a wall connects to a floor, then you have to wrestle that bull to the ground and beat it into shape where it still growls at you. Yes, its wonderful it calculates and generates stairs and railings for you, but what if you don't want one of the three types of stairs that it comes with (or ten for that matter?). There's a laborious process if you want to alter a standard piece, and you have to have a lot of experience with Revit to do it with any competency at all.
Mar 22, 2008
Bits and Peices
Thursday night, Saori and I met one of her coworkers for some live music at the Rhythm Room, a small venue close by. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, but Saori played me some of the band's music the night before, and I was intrigued. The band is called the "Asylum Street Spankers," hailing from Austin, Texas, and they are a kind of folk/old country/ jamboree bears kind of show complete with a washboard vest, saws, jugs, and of course steel pot lid guitars and banjos. Its fun and refreshing music and the band is incredibly talented both musically and also vocally. Check out thier website if you get a chance. The songs are a mix of original bawdy or socially satirical tunes, or very old music from the 2o's-40's. It's really great and they put on a great show.
Interestingly, Saori and I have built up an impressive camera collection out of $20, which we paid for an old Practika SLR from the 70's. We're up to five cameras now. The most recent acquisition is an excellent canon EOS SLR. I've spent the last few days playing around with its automatic focus and different zoom lenses.
Cassie, an old friend of mine from high school, was in town yesterday, we met at a Starbucks and caught up. It's a funny coincidence, she works in a bioscience laboratory, and I happen to be in the middle of laying out one at work. Her main complaint was the amount of stuff they have on the floor, and not enough storage space for large pieces of equipment.
This morning, Saori and I got up early and hit a tiny coffee and donut shop before striking out for the Chinese grocery store Ranch L market. Ranch L used to be Ranch 11 market, although neither name makes sense to me, especially for a purveyor of oriental groceries. This afternoon, (contain your excitement!) we worked on our taxes together, and I actually finished mine. The free software helps.
Interestingly, Saori and I have built up an impressive camera collection out of $20, which we paid for an old Practika SLR from the 70's. We're up to five cameras now. The most recent acquisition is an excellent canon EOS SLR. I've spent the last few days playing around with its automatic focus and different zoom lenses.
Cassie, an old friend of mine from high school, was in town yesterday, we met at a Starbucks and caught up. It's a funny coincidence, she works in a bioscience laboratory, and I happen to be in the middle of laying out one at work. Her main complaint was the amount of stuff they have on the floor, and not enough storage space for large pieces of equipment.
This morning, Saori and I got up early and hit a tiny coffee and donut shop before striking out for the Chinese grocery store Ranch L market. Ranch L used to be Ranch 11 market, although neither name makes sense to me, especially for a purveyor of oriental groceries. This afternoon, (contain your excitement!) we worked on our taxes together, and I actually finished mine. The free software helps.
Mar 19, 2008
oh, yes, I have a Prius, but I walk to work
I found a really good website today, stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, basically a very wry social commentary on modern yuppies, of which I confess I am one. I'm a college graduate working in a corporation, and I live in in the middle in a major city. Call a spade a spade.
The blog cheerfully discusses its namesake, with entries like "Dinner Parties," "Toyota Prius," "Study Abroad," "Apple Products," and "Minority Friends." It's funny and especially biting to me because I find myself saying things like "when I was in Singapore..." or "why no, I don't watch TV." I love websites like these because they are amazing mirrors.
Basically the underlying drive according to the website, is that we are seeking self-assuredness, to feel good about ourselves, to justify the state of affairs to ourselves. Perhaps the boomers and early Xers saw the world as it is and rationalized it by saying, I need to worry about me first. I can't do anything about the Balkans or Poverty because I have a job to do and a family to feed.
The new generations, just as bad or worse, see the world as it is, and say, look, I'm Helping. We drive Priuses, we occasionally talk to the Poor. We buy our Starbucks 'fair trade' chai teas in 40% post-consumer recycled content cups. We'll circulate emails about Darfur to friends, and continue to do nothing.
The desire for "authentic" food, items, and experiences is perhaps based on a fear of living an "inauthentic" life, if such a thing exists or is a complete fabrication. Maybe that's the thing- we're part of a generation that is Experience based. "Don't trust anyone who's never backpacked in Europe"may be the new mantra.
The blog cheerfully discusses its namesake, with entries like "Dinner Parties," "Toyota Prius," "Study Abroad," "Apple Products," and "Minority Friends." It's funny and especially biting to me because I find myself saying things like "when I was in Singapore..." or "why no, I don't watch TV." I love websites like these because they are amazing mirrors.
Basically the underlying drive according to the website, is that we are seeking self-assuredness, to feel good about ourselves, to justify the state of affairs to ourselves. Perhaps the boomers and early Xers saw the world as it is and rationalized it by saying, I need to worry about me first. I can't do anything about the Balkans or Poverty because I have a job to do and a family to feed.
The new generations, just as bad or worse, see the world as it is, and say, look, I'm Helping. We drive Priuses, we occasionally talk to the Poor. We buy our Starbucks 'fair trade' chai teas in 40% post-consumer recycled content cups. We'll circulate emails about Darfur to friends, and continue to do nothing.
The desire for "authentic" food, items, and experiences is perhaps based on a fear of living an "inauthentic" life, if such a thing exists or is a complete fabrication. Maybe that's the thing- we're part of a generation that is Experience based. "Don't trust anyone who's never backpacked in Europe"may be the new mantra.
Mar 14, 2008
Cul-de-sac Cowboys in Pumkinville
Saori was telling me about a sickness in Japan that strikes the workforce at a certain time of the year, where hundreds of people fail to turn up for work. By pure coincidence, those days are the most beautiful, with clear warm skies. These days have returned to Phoenix.
Thursday I met Tay and mom for lunch and decided it was so beautiful out that I could not afford to miss it, so I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. I took them on a driving tour of downtown Phoenix, and we took a very entertaining tour of the Arizona capitol, probably the cheapest state capitol in the United States. They founding members of our state were so cheap they made legislators bring their own chairs to work, and housed them in a building smaller than most of the governer's houses. The docent who led the free tour expressed sadness in the fact that the state tie is not a bowtie, and is spearheading a grassroots movement to change the name of Phoenix back to "Pumkinville."
I just did a search for "Pumpkinville" to see if our friend had set up a grassroots website, but instead I got website about the dark side of Arizona history. Very funny and acerbic. I love the term "cul-de-sac cowboys" and if you live here, you know exactly what I mean. Check it out.
The most surprising thing on the tour was actually the silver service used on the USS Arizona. In typical stingy state fashion, Arizona wanted the cheapest silver possible, so they cut a deal with some silversmiths who were willing to cut fees in exchange for artistic control. The result is reportedly the most beautiful silver service in the navy. There is an inherent conflict between the navy themes and the portrayal of the desert, but it is beautifully and elegently resolved, and I almost feel strange calling it a conflict at all. The stylized dolphins next to the shields surrounded by prickly pear work. The prize of the collection was a punch service, with a copper tureen accented all over with silver saguaro cacti.
After the Capitol, we drove up to the Biltmore where Tay and I helped mom buy the wrong iTrip that wouldn't work in her car. Then we went back and got her the right one. Afterwards, we met Saori for some really good Vietnamese food.
There's this place called Pho Bang up on camelback and 17th ave that is great. Its a little place, with a TV always on, and usually turned to a vietnamese or dubbed chinese movie, and the entire family works there, or hangs out there. Go in the evenings and they are always at one of the tables in the back. Food is great. Get the summer rolls ($3) with shrimp and one of the beef soup bowls with more cow parts than I can name ($4). Delicious. They serve it with fresh basil, cilantro, lime, and the whole thing is really refreshing and good. Also soda lemonade. Good stuff, unbelievably cheap prices. Apparently won the best Vietnamese restaurant in Phoenix for a long time. Not sure who is the current contender.
Suki is good, almost done with her medicine. After 20 days of being orally injected with bad tasting medicine 4 times a day, she has finally learned to avoid the kitchen and the sound of me shaking the bottle up. Not the speediest cheetah.
Thursday I met Tay and mom for lunch and decided it was so beautiful out that I could not afford to miss it, so I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. I took them on a driving tour of downtown Phoenix, and we took a very entertaining tour of the Arizona capitol, probably the cheapest state capitol in the United States. They founding members of our state were so cheap they made legislators bring their own chairs to work, and housed them in a building smaller than most of the governer's houses. The docent who led the free tour expressed sadness in the fact that the state tie is not a bowtie, and is spearheading a grassroots movement to change the name of Phoenix back to "Pumkinville."
I just did a search for "Pumpkinville" to see if our friend had set up a grassroots website, but instead I got website about the dark side of Arizona history. Very funny and acerbic. I love the term "cul-de-sac cowboys" and if you live here, you know exactly what I mean. Check it out.
The most surprising thing on the tour was actually the silver service used on the USS Arizona. In typical stingy state fashion, Arizona wanted the cheapest silver possible, so they cut a deal with some silversmiths who were willing to cut fees in exchange for artistic control. The result is reportedly the most beautiful silver service in the navy. There is an inherent conflict between the navy themes and the portrayal of the desert, but it is beautifully and elegently resolved, and I almost feel strange calling it a conflict at all. The stylized dolphins next to the shields surrounded by prickly pear work. The prize of the collection was a punch service, with a copper tureen accented all over with silver saguaro cacti.
After the Capitol, we drove up to the Biltmore where Tay and I helped mom buy the wrong iTrip that wouldn't work in her car. Then we went back and got her the right one. Afterwards, we met Saori for some really good Vietnamese food.
There's this place called Pho Bang up on camelback and 17th ave that is great. Its a little place, with a TV always on, and usually turned to a vietnamese or dubbed chinese movie, and the entire family works there, or hangs out there. Go in the evenings and they are always at one of the tables in the back. Food is great. Get the summer rolls ($3) with shrimp and one of the beef soup bowls with more cow parts than I can name ($4). Delicious. They serve it with fresh basil, cilantro, lime, and the whole thing is really refreshing and good. Also soda lemonade. Good stuff, unbelievably cheap prices. Apparently won the best Vietnamese restaurant in Phoenix for a long time. Not sure who is the current contender.
Suki is good, almost done with her medicine. After 20 days of being orally injected with bad tasting medicine 4 times a day, she has finally learned to avoid the kitchen and the sound of me shaking the bottle up. Not the speediest cheetah.
Mar 2, 2008
February I
Death
About a month ago, the guy living in the apartment below and to the right of ours died. He was an elderly gentleman in his 70s, apparently with a history of heart problems, and he died quietly in his sleep. The problem was that no one noticed until three days later. Our neighbors, the ones directly above his apartment, noticed a smell coming up, and they complained to our landlord, who discovered the body. I arrived from work just as the police were cleaning everything up.
People live at this apartment complex a long time. The guy right below me has lived here for ten years, and the woman next door to me, fifteen. Its definately a strange mix of characters. Most of the residents l00k over 40, there are some like me who are younger city people, and a lot of gay people.
Superbowl
About a month ago, my friend Chase came back into town to visit his grandmother and see what was the valley was like in the throes of Superbowl fever. While the event took place in Glendale, all the action was in Scottsdale. We walked around the new Optima Camelback apartments, one of the "Best Buildings in Arizona for All Time" (but Hoover Dam and a children's hospital also won), and actually it is kind of cool, if not incredibly expensive. From there we walked over to the Riverside development which has lately sprung up around the unpicturesque canal near the Scottsdale Fashion Center. There were booths, tons of crowds, several stages, and unbelievably expensive parties going on in bars that looked like you'd be beaten for ordering anything more sophisticated than a Corona.
There was a celebrity poker tournament going on, and so Chase and I joined a small crowd to see which celebrities would walk past on the red carpet on their way in. It was actually the highlight of my day. The way the setup worked was: celeb would arrive, sign in at the celeb desk, and then meet two young women escorts. The entourage would proceed to the photo point where the photographers waited, and then they proceeded onward, waving to the crowd until they reached the end of the carpet, where the two escorts would retract, like an aircraft carrier deck launcher.
It was wildly funny, especially the fact that nobody in the crowd recognized the majority of the celebrities. I thought at first that it was just my lacking cable that I didn't recognized anyone, and gradually realized that NOBODY recognized these people. I recognized a total of three celebs who arrived out of the two dozen we watched walk by. Jared, from the Subway ads, still looking trim, Paris Hilton, who actually looked better in person than most print media I've seen her in, and Alice Cooper, who looked like this whole event was kind of hazy.
All the while, some clever marketer was dropping what looked like folded $20 bills but were actually ads for some business. People were constantly picking them up off the ground, looking at them, and dropping them again. Others would pick them up without looking at them closely, and offer them to people standing nearby who probably dropped them in the first place. One man, who came across a pile of at least 10 "bills" quietly scooped them up and quickly walked off. People even picked them out of the garbage.
I didn't see the game, just the end at Mom's house, after dinner with Sally and Jonathan et al and Grandma. It was a good ending, especially since I didn't give a flying dime about either team.
Grad School
At this point, I'm studying for the GRE and researching colleges. I'm looking at Stamford, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Columbia, Rice, and a few others. I'll take the test later this month.
Valentines Day
Valentines day I took Saori out to dinner at Coronado Cafe. She got me the boxed season of Cowboy Bebop and the Cowboy Bebop Movie.
About a month ago, the guy living in the apartment below and to the right of ours died. He was an elderly gentleman in his 70s, apparently with a history of heart problems, and he died quietly in his sleep. The problem was that no one noticed until three days later. Our neighbors, the ones directly above his apartment, noticed a smell coming up, and they complained to our landlord, who discovered the body. I arrived from work just as the police were cleaning everything up.
People live at this apartment complex a long time. The guy right below me has lived here for ten years, and the woman next door to me, fifteen. Its definately a strange mix of characters. Most of the residents l00k over 40, there are some like me who are younger city people, and a lot of gay people.
Superbowl
About a month ago, my friend Chase came back into town to visit his grandmother and see what was the valley was like in the throes of Superbowl fever. While the event took place in Glendale, all the action was in Scottsdale. We walked around the new Optima Camelback apartments, one of the "Best Buildings in Arizona for All Time" (but Hoover Dam and a children's hospital also won), and actually it is kind of cool, if not incredibly expensive. From there we walked over to the Riverside development which has lately sprung up around the unpicturesque canal near the Scottsdale Fashion Center. There were booths, tons of crowds, several stages, and unbelievably expensive parties going on in bars that looked like you'd be beaten for ordering anything more sophisticated than a Corona.
There was a celebrity poker tournament going on, and so Chase and I joined a small crowd to see which celebrities would walk past on the red carpet on their way in. It was actually the highlight of my day. The way the setup worked was: celeb would arrive, sign in at the celeb desk, and then meet two young women escorts. The entourage would proceed to the photo point where the photographers waited, and then they proceeded onward, waving to the crowd until they reached the end of the carpet, where the two escorts would retract, like an aircraft carrier deck launcher.
It was wildly funny, especially the fact that nobody in the crowd recognized the majority of the celebrities. I thought at first that it was just my lacking cable that I didn't recognized anyone, and gradually realized that NOBODY recognized these people. I recognized a total of three celebs who arrived out of the two dozen we watched walk by. Jared, from the Subway ads, still looking trim, Paris Hilton, who actually looked better in person than most print media I've seen her in, and Alice Cooper, who looked like this whole event was kind of hazy.
All the while, some clever marketer was dropping what looked like folded $20 bills but were actually ads for some business. People were constantly picking them up off the ground, looking at them, and dropping them again. Others would pick them up without looking at them closely, and offer them to people standing nearby who probably dropped them in the first place. One man, who came across a pile of at least 10 "bills" quietly scooped them up and quickly walked off. People even picked them out of the garbage.
I didn't see the game, just the end at Mom's house, after dinner with Sally and Jonathan et al and Grandma. It was a good ending, especially since I didn't give a flying dime about either team.
Grad School
At this point, I'm studying for the GRE and researching colleges. I'm looking at Stamford, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Columbia, Rice, and a few others. I'll take the test later this month.
Valentines Day
Valentines day I took Saori out to dinner at Coronado Cafe. She got me the boxed season of Cowboy Bebop and the Cowboy Bebop Movie.
Jan 20, 2008
Jan 18, 2008
something
Oh the dubious joys of illness...
Today I took the morning off from work. The morning, as the office closes friday before noon. I have some kind of cough, no fever (yet) and some drainage. Nothing fun, but nagging enough to be irritating and draggy. Today I watched Casino Royale on my new TV (oh yes, I finally caved and bought a 26" flatscreen tv) and ate frozen waffles. Hopefully whatever it is will have passed on by monday.
Suki seems to be doing better. I'm giving her antibiotics orally twice a day. It was a bit of a challenge at first since it was the first time for both of us, but now I'm reasonably quick and she doesn't put up much of a fight swallowing the tiny shot of pink goo.
Today I took the morning off from work. The morning, as the office closes friday before noon. I have some kind of cough, no fever (yet) and some drainage. Nothing fun, but nagging enough to be irritating and draggy. Today I watched Casino Royale on my new TV (oh yes, I finally caved and bought a 26" flatscreen tv) and ate frozen waffles. Hopefully whatever it is will have passed on by monday.
Suki seems to be doing better. I'm giving her antibiotics orally twice a day. It was a bit of a challenge at first since it was the first time for both of us, but now I'm reasonably quick and she doesn't put up much of a fight swallowing the tiny shot of pink goo.
Jan 13, 2008
Moments of Travel 1
Moments from the past month:
The travel around the world which begins on foot: A simple walk to the bus stop for a ride straight to sky harbor airport. I have lots of time as the Phoenix bus system is as reliable as sports teams.
Viewing the Dubai night skyline from the plane, and having my breath caught by the tallest structure ever built by man, the burj dubai, still under construction, soaring like a technological needle far above the skyscrapers around it, like an alien spike crashed into earth.
Arriving in Dubai after 26 hours of travel, and stuck inside the largest immigration line I’ve ever seen. Filled wall to wall with people from every corner of the earth, each speaking different languages, like I’d been transported back to Ellis Island at the turn of the century.
The frustrated resignation of knowing my bag had not made it all the way to Dubai, and the lengthy frustrations which would ensue upon the discovery of only ONE of my bags, and not the one with my clothes in it.
As I sat in the small lobby/office of the baggage services of Emirates Airlines, a massive older north african in a long white robe and a colorful hat sat down next to me. In my weariness and travel-addled brain, I realized something fundamental: Though we have led completely differnet lines, and our lives would diverge from this moment onward, we were both the same at this moment, tired and irritated that the airline had lost both of our luggage.
Good consversations with dad at Rotana Beach on Christmas eve, where we went out for some drinks on the cool clear night, surrounded by loud celebretory Brits. Followed by german sausages and more good beer nearby.
Dad, Tay and I cruising Abu Dhabi with all the windows down, blasting Rolling Stones, and enjoying the late afternoon. We were on the hunt for a particular tennis raquet…
Photo safari Abu Dhabi, with stops at the Palace Hotel, the corniche, Abu Dhabi Heritage Land, which was a disney vision of the history of the emirate, and the supermassive gleaming white mosque still under construction at the edge of the city.
Wandering through the million dollar exhibition of the architecture and future of the “cultural island” of Abu Dhabi with dad, playing architecture critic over huge models by Tado Ando, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry.
Setting up a quiet christmas tree, and hanging my little Prius ornament from home. The tree sat in a wicker basket, and we decorated it with bows, lights, and ornaments.
Three toasts, one from each of us, the father and the two sons, at Christmas Eve dinner.
Opening presents late Christmas morning.
A sad, 90 MPH cab ride back to Dubai at 3 AM to catch an early flight. The driver was an Indian who said he was working in Abu Dhabi and learned English for his passengers, and Arabic to understand his dispatcher, who was a national. He sends money to his family back in north India, and wonders what life is like in the United States.
Elation at a rapid passage through immigration in Phillidelphia turns to bitterness when I watch US Airways baggage handlers do nothing to take bags off the conveyer belts or at least stand luggage on end to make more room. People are hit repeated by bags which slide off the ramp and over the crammed full conveyer into the passengers waiting. Time and time again, logjammed bags are brutally folded in half and pinched between the luggage ramp and suitcases lodged in the full carousel.
Cold fury at US Airways, which again lost my luggage in Atlanta, turns to self-annoyance for missing the OTHER flight which came in at the same time from Frankfurt, which was not announced or displayed anywhere. Now, I have to run. Self-annoyance turns to anger and tension as I join the line for the TSA screening team evidently competeing simultaneously for the Slowest Team Award and the Least Competant.
Sprinting through Philidelphia airport to my gate, praying that my luggage makes the flight, and trying to not think of the huge repercussions if it doesn’t.
After I arrived, travel-stoned, in Phoenix from Philly, Sally met me and togather we waited at terminal 3 for mom to arrive. It was late, and the terminal was deserted, so we got coffee at a starbucks and played cards until mom’s plane arrived.
The travel around the world which begins on foot: A simple walk to the bus stop for a ride straight to sky harbor airport. I have lots of time as the Phoenix bus system is as reliable as sports teams.
Viewing the Dubai night skyline from the plane, and having my breath caught by the tallest structure ever built by man, the burj dubai, still under construction, soaring like a technological needle far above the skyscrapers around it, like an alien spike crashed into earth.
Arriving in Dubai after 26 hours of travel, and stuck inside the largest immigration line I’ve ever seen. Filled wall to wall with people from every corner of the earth, each speaking different languages, like I’d been transported back to Ellis Island at the turn of the century.
The frustrated resignation of knowing my bag had not made it all the way to Dubai, and the lengthy frustrations which would ensue upon the discovery of only ONE of my bags, and not the one with my clothes in it.
As I sat in the small lobby/office of the baggage services of Emirates Airlines, a massive older north african in a long white robe and a colorful hat sat down next to me. In my weariness and travel-addled brain, I realized something fundamental: Though we have led completely differnet lines, and our lives would diverge from this moment onward, we were both the same at this moment, tired and irritated that the airline had lost both of our luggage.
Good consversations with dad at Rotana Beach on Christmas eve, where we went out for some drinks on the cool clear night, surrounded by loud celebretory Brits. Followed by german sausages and more good beer nearby.
Dad, Tay and I cruising Abu Dhabi with all the windows down, blasting Rolling Stones, and enjoying the late afternoon. We were on the hunt for a particular tennis raquet…
Photo safari Abu Dhabi, with stops at the Palace Hotel, the corniche, Abu Dhabi Heritage Land, which was a disney vision of the history of the emirate, and the supermassive gleaming white mosque still under construction at the edge of the city.
Wandering through the million dollar exhibition of the architecture and future of the “cultural island” of Abu Dhabi with dad, playing architecture critic over huge models by Tado Ando, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry.
Setting up a quiet christmas tree, and hanging my little Prius ornament from home. The tree sat in a wicker basket, and we decorated it with bows, lights, and ornaments.
Three toasts, one from each of us, the father and the two sons, at Christmas Eve dinner.
Opening presents late Christmas morning.
A sad, 90 MPH cab ride back to Dubai at 3 AM to catch an early flight. The driver was an Indian who said he was working in Abu Dhabi and learned English for his passengers, and Arabic to understand his dispatcher, who was a national. He sends money to his family back in north India, and wonders what life is like in the United States.
Elation at a rapid passage through immigration in Phillidelphia turns to bitterness when I watch US Airways baggage handlers do nothing to take bags off the conveyer belts or at least stand luggage on end to make more room. People are hit repeated by bags which slide off the ramp and over the crammed full conveyer into the passengers waiting. Time and time again, logjammed bags are brutally folded in half and pinched between the luggage ramp and suitcases lodged in the full carousel.
Cold fury at US Airways, which again lost my luggage in Atlanta, turns to self-annoyance for missing the OTHER flight which came in at the same time from Frankfurt, which was not announced or displayed anywhere. Now, I have to run. Self-annoyance turns to anger and tension as I join the line for the TSA screening team evidently competeing simultaneously for the Slowest Team Award and the Least Competant.
Sprinting through Philidelphia airport to my gate, praying that my luggage makes the flight, and trying to not think of the huge repercussions if it doesn’t.
After I arrived, travel-stoned, in Phoenix from Philly, Sally met me and togather we waited at terminal 3 for mom to arrive. It was late, and the terminal was deserted, so we got coffee at a starbucks and played cards until mom’s plane arrived.
Dec 25, 2007
Parking
Well, its my last day in the Emirates, apart from the three hours I'll be at the Dubai airport. UAE really has an air of un-reality to it, a modern day Casablanca. Who really understands it? Most Americans fear it, when I tell people I'm flying to Abu Dhabi, the first question is: where is it? and the second: oh, isn't that dangerous? It helps to explain why there are so many British here compared to Americans, apart from the colonization aspect.
There's a lot of problems here to be sure: the urban planning situation in regard to cars is verging on catastrophic. In Abu Dhabi, there is a critical shortage of parking spaces, so people line their cars up and park them single file in the middle of the road, creating two narrow one way streets on either side. Many double-park. One of the sources of this problem was the requirement that only buildings above 20 floors had to have a parking garage. There doesn't seem to be ANY minimum parking requirements. So, investors and developers only built buildings right to 20 floors to skimp out on the expense of a parking garage. It's a huge problem, that I've seen get noticably worse since I was here a year ago. It's only going to get worse as well, with the population still exploding, and more people buying cars. The only real solution is to either demolish some of the old buildings to build huge parking garages, or to limit street access to zones like in Singapore.
Dec 22, 2007
How not to travel
Thursday, I woke up at 5 AM and took Saori to the airport at 6 AM. I drove back, finished preparing everything for the time I'd be gone, scooped suki's litter box, and finished packing. I left the apartment around 9, and walked to central avenue. I enjoy the slow buildup of a trip. The voyage of a few thousand miles starting with a block and a half of steps. On central, I caught a city bus and rode straight to the airport for a buck twenty-five.
I breezed through ticketing since US Airways had a special counter just for international flights. They checked my bags to my surprise and pleasure straight through to Dubai. Or so it would have seemed. Anyway, I had a lot of time to kill since my flight was still several hours away, and I'd budgeted a 200% safety factor around the valley metro bus service. So I wandered around inside the terminal, drank starbucks, perused the stores (every airport now is so retail driven it really is a shopping mall that happens to have a plane terminal).
In the mini-borders, I picked up a copy of Pullman's book, The Golden Compass, which apparently is a very controversial book, and a more controversial movie. Typically, this means that the outraged parties have not read or seen either one of them. It was the same case with Harry Potter. Bill Pullman's series, from what I have heard in the media, is supposed to be an atheism-championing condemnation of Catholicism and any kind of dogmatized religion. I finished the book before I left england, and I had no phenomenal revelations concerning the nature of the cosmos. What does it say about the faith of a person, or a shared faith, if all the members of the faith are scared of the contents of a novel clearly marked "FIC: YOUNG ADULT FANTASY." Anyway, as a novel the plot was pretty slow, and I am really getting tired of the stories about the child who doesn't think they are important but then later realizes that the entire world depends on his or her actions.
Anyway, after I read the book, I cleared security and walked around the concourse connector bridges looking at structure and details before I settled down at my gate to wait. The flight to Philidelphia was oversold. The gate ticket agents were going crazy, and the plane crew were going crazy. The flight was late leaving, but we touched down in Philidelphia on time, about five hours later. I immediately disliked the Phillidelphia airport, although I couldn't explain why. Maybe east coast shock. Arizona is such a white and hispanic city, it was startling to see so many black people. I got text from Saori that she'd missed the flight to Tokyo, so that worried me some, but we were immediately boarding for Mancheter, so I bought a muffin and a liter of water and hurried to join the queue of brits.
The flight to Manchester was six or seven hours long. I got a few hours of sleep on the flight. Sat next to a young woman from Manchester who was not at all happy to be on the plane. The in flight movie was "Nancy Drew", a film that looked so predictable and tame that I would have preferred static. I declined to pay US airways for the use of their $5 headsets to enjoy the soundtrack.
Coming into Manchester, we were passing over fields of fluffy white clouds. It wasn't until I saw a radio tower rising above them I realized it was a layer of fog on the ground. I liked Manchester more than Heathrow as an airport. It was smaller for one thing, maybe the size of sky harbor in Phoenix, except not so spread out. I went ahead and cleared immigration as a person in transit, since I had four hours to kill. I stomped around outside in the freezing air and frost covered parking lot, enjoying the fresh freezing air on my airplane skin. Finally, I wandered back inside and bought a croissant and a latte at an airport cafe. I always forget how good Europeans are with pastries. This butter croissant was the best bread I'd had since Buenos Aires. Passing through security, they had no less than TEN baggers per xray machine-table, standing side by side, and jostling each other. Not sure why they needed ten, maybe they thought more eyes wouldn't so easily miss something.
The flight to Abu Dhabi was supposed to board at 12:40 and depart at 1:30. 1:30 was changed to 1:40, and then after we all boarded at 1:30 they told us we had to wait for another 30 passengers who hadn't showed up. An hour later they told us they were still waiting for the last three. Then there was paperwork. So we left Manchester about 90 minutes of sitting on the plane. I hate waiting. I suspect that it was a group of people who think they deserve preferiential treatment and think they own the world. My convictions were strengthened by the sign they displayed when the plane landed stating that the Airlines would not wait for people. Excluding Them, of course.
The flight itself was about seven hours long. I was lucky to have an empty middle seat beside me. Hot damp towels when we boarded, salmon and lamb for dinner, about 300 channels of movies and tv and music, I have a hard time coming up with a better airline for flying experience. And no, they didn't try to make you pay for headsets, or force you to watch some inane family film. I watched 1408, and then Muppet Treasure Island. Got some sleep in there. Not much, maybe an hour or so total.
Landed in Dubai two hours late. Flying in was really cool since Dubai at night is lit like something out of Blade Runner. Most unbelievalbe of course was the Burj Dubai, lit with blue white light on all its floors, reaching up far beyond the towers which surrounded it, like some kind of alien rocket, gracefully vertically landed on earth.
The airport in Dubai was packed. Night is a bad time to come in since that's when all the European flights arrive. It was also bad since all the pilgrims from the Hajj were returning as well. The arrival hall for immigration was full. This room was approximately the size of a football field, and it was standing room only. I'm talking an occupancy of about 2 square feet per person. Sandwiched between a group of British and French, and a Chinese woman behind me, the warm, humid air of worried humanity, conversation in a hundred languages, and general exhaustion gave me an impression of what Ellis Island must have been like during the early part of the 2oth century. It took me an hour and a half to cross this floor. Dad finally got through to me, so at least I was able to let him know the situation. He'd been waiting since around midnight.
Immigration was no problem. Check my passport. Where was I staying? Just visiting? Ok, thank you. Shokram.
Baggage was another ordeal I had braced myself for. Even though the bagged was supposed to be checked all the way to Dubai, with three city changes and two carriers, I had had mentally prepared myself for the possibility that one or both of my bags wouldn't make it.
My duffle was waiting for me patiently. My big roller bag was nowhere to be found. If you, by chance, have taken it by mistake, please let me know. If you have deliberately stolen it, please let me know too. I searched the entire floor and all the belts. My flight had landed about two hours before, so I figured its safe to say that the plane had probably finished unloading. Mom called a few times to check up on me since I was MIA at 4 hours after my plane was supposed to have landed. I went to baggage services and waited for my turn with an agent. A giant muslim African sat down heavily in the seat beside me. I took in his white robes, white hat, 6'-6" build, and dark skin, and realized that everything else aside, our pasts, our futures, and our cultures, we were still linked: we had both had our bags lost by the airlines. It made us connected. Me, him, the old British tourist with his head dropped in his hands in hopeless frustration, the two upbeat Indians, we were all as one.
Keep in mind that at that point, I'd been traveling for about 34 hours straight on about 3 hours of sleep. Anyway, the bag woman took my information, promised to start a search for it, and gave me some paperwork and told me to call back in a day to see if they'd found it. I left them dad's mobile number and hefted by duffle past customs, out the door, in the cool humidity of Dubai and into the arms of dad, who was still waiting outside. It was 4:30 AM.
We drove back to Abu Dhabi, and I got to the apartment around six AM. I grabbed a warm shower and passed out in bed.
Dec 18, 2007
What's on your tree?
Saori and I shared a little Christmas ahead of schedule tonight, since we'd be scrambling around like crazy tomorrow since we're both leaving Thursday.
I love my Christmas tree. Among the small colored glass balls and candy canes, we have some personal and unusual ornaments adorning our tiny charlie brown tree.
I love my Christmas tree. Among the small colored glass balls and candy canes, we have some personal and unusual ornaments adorning our tiny charlie brown tree.
- A Pinocchio Pencil from Italy
- A tiny scale model silver Toyota Prius, identical to mine
- Woven finger puppets of an Inca and a goat, which sits on top of the tree
- Tiny Japanese ceramic boar charm
- A titanium spork
- Carved camel from Abu Dhabi
- Gold cloisonné ornament from China
- plastic cockroach
- DMHS wolves keychain
- handmade stained glass christmas tree
- Russian doll trimmed with mink
- Winnie the Pooh from a Japanese claw machine
- Plastic bell from my dad's family's christmas tree
- New Orleans Harlequin
Nov 28, 2007
fragmented bits
The real irony of the situation is that while my blogging has sharply decreased, I still keep popping up in Google search results by the virtue of the sheer amount I have written, and the fact that so many people have linked to me and I to other sites.
It's difficult to write anymore, I can't write so much about work, which occupies most of my time. But enough apologies, most good bloggers get the self-flagellative/self-pitying/self-glorifying blogs out of the way in their first few weeks.
Work is going....well. I can't say I'm enjoying it, but its money and experience, and both are good. We've entered early christmas at the office, starting off with a large platter of various baklavas sent from one of our consultant firms. More food and candy has been arriving. Apparently the closer we get to the holidays the unhealthier it gets around the office. It's cold in the mornings now, so I typically wear a few layers to work. Some might laugh at a sweater and a jacket in 50 degree weather, but I've got thin Arizona blood.
I've got my plans for the holidays- a week in Abu Dhabi with dad and tay, and ten days in Tokyo with Saori and her family. It's going to be some serious globe-trotting, and honestly, I'm lucky to have the time off from work.
Speaking of air travel, I hope I don't run into any trouble this Christmas with the TSA. I once did a google search for "Terrorism," so they might detain me for questioning. The terror watch list is now at 880,000. So much for the "ten most wanted."
Anyway, last night I picked mom up at the airport with Saori and we drove her to her place in Chandler. We got back home around 1 AM, so all day today I felt really groggy. Didn't help I've been up late watching movies the last few nights. I wasn't particularly hungry, so I started walking south along central, past the art museums and past McDowell, until I got to a fast food Japanese restaurant where I grabbed a spicy tuna roll. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but what do you want from a place that really moves its teriyaki chicken rice bowls? There were three high school seniors I overheard talking, probably on their lunch break. They were punk/goth kids, and spent the entire time making fun of a teacher. One of them repeated used the word "pronunciate" as in "she pronunciates the words all wrong". The really sad thing was that you could hear the teens parroting each other's views, no conviction or anything to what they were saying.
I saw Chase the other night, the night I arrived back from Oklahoma. He was leaving the next morning, so we met up at my place and I broke out one of the good wines. I realized I was getting older when Saori voiced my thought "It's good that he's coming because it gives us an excuse to really clean up." He liked the apartment, said that the linoleum tile's swirling grays make it look like stained concrete. He's found good work at a venture bank in Boulder, although his eye is always towards the bigger, faster markets of New York, Zurich, and London.
Good news! Saori's architecture firm just won a competition for a college campus, which means a lot more work over a long time period, and some really cool building projects.
It's difficult to write anymore, I can't write so much about work, which occupies most of my time. But enough apologies, most good bloggers get the self-flagellative/self-pitying/self-glorifying blogs out of the way in their first few weeks.
Work is going....well. I can't say I'm enjoying it, but its money and experience, and both are good. We've entered early christmas at the office, starting off with a large platter of various baklavas sent from one of our consultant firms. More food and candy has been arriving. Apparently the closer we get to the holidays the unhealthier it gets around the office. It's cold in the mornings now, so I typically wear a few layers to work. Some might laugh at a sweater and a jacket in 50 degree weather, but I've got thin Arizona blood.
I've got my plans for the holidays- a week in Abu Dhabi with dad and tay, and ten days in Tokyo with Saori and her family. It's going to be some serious globe-trotting, and honestly, I'm lucky to have the time off from work.
Speaking of air travel, I hope I don't run into any trouble this Christmas with the TSA. I once did a google search for "Terrorism," so they might detain me for questioning. The terror watch list is now at 880,000. So much for the "ten most wanted."
Anyway, last night I picked mom up at the airport with Saori and we drove her to her place in Chandler. We got back home around 1 AM, so all day today I felt really groggy. Didn't help I've been up late watching movies the last few nights. I wasn't particularly hungry, so I started walking south along central, past the art museums and past McDowell, until I got to a fast food Japanese restaurant where I grabbed a spicy tuna roll. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but what do you want from a place that really moves its teriyaki chicken rice bowls? There were three high school seniors I overheard talking, probably on their lunch break. They were punk/goth kids, and spent the entire time making fun of a teacher. One of them repeated used the word "pronunciate" as in "she pronunciates the words all wrong". The really sad thing was that you could hear the teens parroting each other's views, no conviction or anything to what they were saying.
I saw Chase the other night, the night I arrived back from Oklahoma. He was leaving the next morning, so we met up at my place and I broke out one of the good wines. I realized I was getting older when Saori voiced my thought "It's good that he's coming because it gives us an excuse to really clean up." He liked the apartment, said that the linoleum tile's swirling grays make it look like stained concrete. He's found good work at a venture bank in Boulder, although his eye is always towards the bigger, faster markets of New York, Zurich, and London.
Good news! Saori's architecture firm just won a competition for a college campus, which means a lot more work over a long time period, and some really cool building projects.
Nov 26, 2007
Oct 30, 2007
A Moving Story
It’s been a busy busy week for me. Wednesday we had a major client meeting, so it made Tuesday into a long day, and a frantic Wednesday morning. After my two supervisors left, it was especially so going as we have really reached a point where we need to know what direction the project is going in. We are still lacking a floorplan from the interior designers, which can make things very difficult when you’re trying to create a 50% design development set of drawings. To kill time after updating everything possible, I ended up creating a 2D ninja for sketchup, and uploaded it to the company server library in case we ever get a project to design a clandestine ninja training facility. Got some cool wallpapers out of it.
Last weekend, I found out that my apartment complex had an opening in a one bedroom apartment opening up for the first of november, so I went ahead and got it, since it was essentially double the size with a dishwasher, for only a hundred dollars more a month. I moved in all this weekend with the help of Saori, mom, and Taylor. It’s just across the complex, so we were able to do the move with just a few cars to ferry loads of stuff in plastic storage bins door to door, and then we all manhandled the bigger items across the complex, the largest being the couch/futon, which took the combined efforts of me, mom, tay, and Saori to manage out the door and up the stairs. It’s still not quite done, as I need to go back and finish clearing out the kitchen and begin cleaning everything. Suki’s hair rolls across the floor in waves.
We went to a friend of Saori’s birthday party a few nights ago and picked up her guitar. Saori had a friend who took a class in guitar making, and their first assignment was to repair a guitar, so they all went out and got cheap guitars, which they broke and then leaned to fix. Makes me wonder how exactly, they broke them. Anyway, the friend ended up giving Saori his repaired guitar, as he had two other guitars in his possession, and was returning to Japan with limited luggage space. So, we got the guitar after it spent many years relaxing in Saori’s friend’s apartment. Neither one of us knows how to play, but Saori has an advantage in knowing how to read music and play a few instruments. We found a few websites detailing how to hold the guitar, and where to hold the strings on the frets to make chords, but we’re not much beyond that at this point.
Last weekend, I found out that my apartment complex had an opening in a one bedroom apartment opening up for the first of november, so I went ahead and got it, since it was essentially double the size with a dishwasher, for only a hundred dollars more a month. I moved in all this weekend with the help of Saori, mom, and Taylor. It’s just across the complex, so we were able to do the move with just a few cars to ferry loads of stuff in plastic storage bins door to door, and then we all manhandled the bigger items across the complex, the largest being the couch/futon, which took the combined efforts of me, mom, tay, and Saori to manage out the door and up the stairs. It’s still not quite done, as I need to go back and finish clearing out the kitchen and begin cleaning everything. Suki’s hair rolls across the floor in waves.
We went to a friend of Saori’s birthday party a few nights ago and picked up her guitar. Saori had a friend who took a class in guitar making, and their first assignment was to repair a guitar, so they all went out and got cheap guitars, which they broke and then leaned to fix. Makes me wonder how exactly, they broke them. Anyway, the friend ended up giving Saori his repaired guitar, as he had two other guitars in his possession, and was returning to Japan with limited luggage space. So, we got the guitar after it spent many years relaxing in Saori’s friend’s apartment. Neither one of us knows how to play, but Saori has an advantage in knowing how to read music and play a few instruments. We found a few websites detailing how to hold the guitar, and where to hold the strings on the frets to make chords, but we’re not much beyond that at this point.
Oct 10, 2007
Oct 9, 2007
meeting days
We had another all day meeting today with all the consultants. Mechanical-Electrical-Plumbing, Structural, Civil, Landscaping, and of course the interior designers-cum-architects. The first half the day was really good and we got a lot of stuff resolved since we had the MEP and structural guy working together in person on how to run ducts around structure and ventilate the whole thing. I think we have a good handle on how to run all the ductwork in and around the main spaces, which is really what I've been focusing on in the last week.
I know, really exciting stuff. Ventilation.
Well, its a good excercise for me to learn about ducts, HVAC systems, etc anyway.
The second half the meeting turned into a design charette with the interior designers presenting several schemes and all the other consultants coming up with their own design ideas. In a bitterly funny turn, the interior designers are coming up with designs closer and closer to the original floorplan we had, that they said they could beat but are now realizing that was probably the best solution. Oh well.
Last friday I met mom and tay for dinner at Los Olivos in Scottsdale. She's back in town now, and probably for awhile. Saturday Saori and I drove around to the Desert Broom library in way north Cave Creek, and to check out the architecture of the Arabian library in North Scottsdale. I liked the arabian library much better than the Desert Broom, although they were both by the same architects. The new Arabian actually has a little cafe inside which is pretty cool since the entire building is clad with rusting metal panels. We also hit a yard sale way out in the desert and we had to drive on a dirt road to get to it. They were selling saddle blankets with a bunch of other horse stuff. I actually drove a quarter mile down a private road following another car I thought was heading to the garage sale. That night we played the card game asshole for five hours outside with some of Saori's friends.
I know, really exciting stuff. Ventilation.
Well, its a good excercise for me to learn about ducts, HVAC systems, etc anyway.
The second half the meeting turned into a design charette with the interior designers presenting several schemes and all the other consultants coming up with their own design ideas. In a bitterly funny turn, the interior designers are coming up with designs closer and closer to the original floorplan we had, that they said they could beat but are now realizing that was probably the best solution. Oh well.
Last friday I met mom and tay for dinner at Los Olivos in Scottsdale. She's back in town now, and probably for awhile. Saturday Saori and I drove around to the Desert Broom library in way north Cave Creek, and to check out the architecture of the Arabian library in North Scottsdale. I liked the arabian library much better than the Desert Broom, although they were both by the same architects. The new Arabian actually has a little cafe inside which is pretty cool since the entire building is clad with rusting metal panels. We also hit a yard sale way out in the desert and we had to drive on a dirt road to get to it. They were selling saddle blankets with a bunch of other horse stuff. I actually drove a quarter mile down a private road following another car I thought was heading to the garage sale. That night we played the card game asshole for five hours outside with some of Saori's friends.
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Saori and I started looking at wedding rings in Stuttgart and didn't get too far. For one, we could see the dollar signs accumulating in...
