Paper toys

I have recentyl become enchanted with paper toys. It this great combination of origami, model building, and fun. If you are bored at the office and you don't think you will get caught. http://toypaper.co.uk/ Here is a good place to start. I am making the eyecannon right after I finish a report.

LunchandLearn landscape forms

Time for another Lunch and Learn update that I think will be beneficial to all. Have you ever opened the ASLA magazine to find a sepia toned fashion model sitting on a bench in a cocktail dress and thought, Well that looks cool. I wonder if this ad was supposed to be in Martha Stewart”. Well, I am willing to bet that the ad was for Landscape Forms. They are a pretty neat company and their rep came and gave us a great presentation. First and foremost was her explanation that Landscape Forms makes a quality product and that means it is more expensive. They also make a sustainable product using recycled aluminum and sustainably harvested woods and that means a more expensive product. Therefore they cost a lot of mullah. The upside is that they are beautiful, beautiful products, which last a long time. Also, get this… They have a SketchUp library full of their products, which means you can plop them down into your models. I wish I would have known this last year. They also have CAD files and specs right on their website. Take a few minutes and check it out. http://www.landscapeforms.com/en-us/pages/default.aspx Also, they have a custom shop that will walk with you from concept to finished product if there is any custom work you want done. http://www.landscapeforms.com/en-US/products/pages/custom431.aspx The rep here was more than helpful and I would definitely talk to them the next time I need to specify some seats.

Soda Springs

This last weekend I was able to go with my little family to Soda Springs, Idaho where my grandparents live. It was a load of fun spending time with my family. When my family gets together we eat, a lot so I was happy. Besides just hanging out with my family I also go to go golfing, at a course that has a center pivot irrigation line actively watering it as you golf. I am trying to find an image of it so that you can appreciate what I had to golf through, there I loaded an image at the top. The golf course is the lower half and the pipe is attached in the center of the circle and it moves around and around and it waters everything, including early morning hackers and duffers. First of all the golf course is in the middle of a wheat field. There is no rough grass it goes from mowed fairway to waist high wheat. Also there are no sand traps just smatterings of lava rocks jutting out of the ground and if you hit your ball anywhere but where it is supposed to be it's lost. I lost 3 balls on one hole, cursed golf course. Anyways it was fun and we didn't keep score. Later on we went to the Soda Springs gravel pit and shot 22's. It was a wonderful redneck meets high class weekend.

An exercise in futility

That is what my boss called the project that I have been working on for the past couple of weeks.

So, at the moment I don't really want to do any work at all right now. I am debating wither I should go and start a new research project, go downstairs and just goof off for the next 3 hours or maybe I should finish my project anyways and then prove to them all how useful it can be. Dunno. I am going to get a coke. Peace out.

Lagoon

I really should be working but we had sucha fun weekekend that I can't help but write about it. We took our two boys to a theme park in Utah called Lagoon. http://www.lagoonpark.com/ Now there were a number of fun things. The rollercoasters were very fun and there was this one that was propelled by magnets. No hill to climb no ratcheting chains just, from sitting still to a vertical climb and then a vertical drop. Whoo! My youngest did not go on any rides but he had a fun time and my oldest boy was so cute. He was especially eager to ride the attractions that Mom and Dad couldn't. He is so idependent it's scary. He also wanted to go down the really big roller coasters, but he was equally happy to ride puff the little dragon. The one ride that we went on twice was the Odysea. It was really fun but accompanied by a really dumb song. Anyways it was interesting because the kids get to control if the cart goes up or down. So, my oldest son was so excited. It was a lot of fun. Well, tonight I am going to go hang out with a good friend from high school. My 10 year class reunion is this weekend but I am not going. I am instead goign to go visit my grandma, she makes good bread, my highschool pals don't.

A Green Car Dealership

The other day I was able to tour a car dealership in the final phases of construction. While I was talking with the guy giving us the tour he mentioned that there will be huge cisterns under the parking lot that will collect and store rainwater. This rainwater would then be used for irrigation and for the on site car wash. I was impressed and jokingly asked if the building was going for LEED certification. My guide then told me that they were shooting for Gold. I was surprised, I mean I had never thought of a car dealership as an environmentally friendly building. Inside we saw that a good deal of the wood detailing is bamboo, they have skylights that have lenses that track the sun. These were really cool, the skylights will always ensure that a whole bunch of sunlight gets into the building, but whenever there is not enough light due to storms, eclipses, etc... then a computer adjusts the lights so there will always be ambient illumination. Anyways, the bathrooms also use Airblade technology from Dyson, http://www.dysonairblade.com//?sinavtype=menu. Yes, I know that Dyson makes vacuums but they can make other things, why shouldn't they. And in the mechanics shop they have hoses that you stick on the end of the tail pipe and while people are working on the car the hose sucks the exhaust out and releases it outside. No more carbon monoxide deaths here! I you are looking to buy a Toyota or are just curious to learn more about a LEED Dealership go here. http://www.markmillertoyota.com/index.htm What I want to know is this a vision of things to come? Is this a gimmick to lure in customers with the promise of easing their conscious as they purchase a gas guzzler from a green building? I don't know. I can't afford a car so I might never know.

Holy Ice Cream Batman!

If I have not mentioned it, I live above a chocolate store that also serves hand dipped ice cream. It is a local favorite and my oldest son really likes the chocolate dipped gummy worms. So needless to say I was alarmed when we returned from the park to find a number of candles and other trinkets on the sidewalk outside of the store. I thought that someone had died. The next morning my wife is outside and she sees the owner taking photos of the candles. Upon enquiring about the reason for the candles the owner told my wife that someone had seen a face in the spumoni, and there had been a midnight candle vigil. Go here to read more. http://www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=7827b0d3-aa09-4eba-940f-5dae259243eb

Soccer and French Food

Ok, I went to the Real game this last Saturday and woohoo! It was a great game. Real is now number one in the Western Standings. The first goal was scored in minute 3. Anyways it was a blast. The other thing I wanted to talk about first thing on Monday morning is how to make a yummy and easy french dessert. Here is what you will need. 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 cup milk, and a pound of cherries or other fruit like berries.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Crack open the eggs and mix them up with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Then whisk in the flour making a nice thick batter. Next pour in the vanilla, and the milk, but pour the milk in 1/2 of a cup at a time stirring the batter until all of the milk is incorporated. If you have ever made crepes you will have a thin crepe like batter. Now take your fruit and toss it with the remaining sugar to coat it and make it all delicious. Put the sugar coated fruit into a pan. Any sugar that didn't end up stuck to the fruit can be discarded, I like to sprinkle it on cereal. I can't tell you exactly what pan to use, I used a tinfoil one that had store bought cinnamon rolls in it. I think that if you use a brownie pan you should be just fine, or a 9x13 but this will be a little too big. Anyways, after you have the fruit int he pan pour the batter into the pan, and place the whole thign in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake looks sponge like. Take it out and let it set for about 5 minutes and then spoon it up and eat it. It will not look like a cake it will look like a custard but it will be delicious. Good luck.

Soccer Game

Last Thursday we had an office party, so IBI paid for me and my family to go to a soccer game! Hooray it was fantastic fun. The game itself was a dirty ugly game with little ball control and only a few shinning moments, but the crowd was so into it. They fed us to, Famous Dave's, it was good. The game ended in a tie but I just might be a Real fan and I think that when I get back to Manhattan I would like to take myself and any others interested to a KC Wizards game. I was honestly worried that the game may go to long and my sons would be ready to leave but since soccer only lasts two 45 minute halves they were not balling at the end. get the pun? Anyways after the show they had a fireworks display in honour of Independence Day. God Bless America. My baby boys both loved the fire works, whenever I ask my oldest what he thought of the game he just mentions the fireworks. The next day we drove down to Provo to attend a big wonderful parade. It had big balloons, and WWII Veterans, a whole bunch of guys dressed up in Star Wars outfits, Tongans doing the Hakka, marching bands, politicians, and a tank. Yup, that's right a real functioning WWII Hellcat tank. That was my oldest son's favourite, I am glad he didn't say the cheerleaders because he is turning into a 3 year old flirt. Oh, well. I guess I am going to have to have "the talk" soon. I mean the talk about tying his own shoes, right now he has Velcro ones but someday he will be wearing laces. The last thing I wanted to mention in this entry was we also visited a pioneer village over the weekend. Everyone dresses up in pioneer clothes and they have old buildings and a train to ride on, and horse rides. A step back in time. Anyways, the 2 coolest things were, ringing the anvil and the candy cannon. The ringing of the anvil means they take one anvil and put it on the ground. Then they put a pound of black powder on the anvil. Then they put a second anvil on top of the powder. Then they light it, and THEN the second anvil shoots 30 ft into the air! Super cool. The Candy cannon was a little cannon that they filled with salt water taffy, add a little black powder, mix in a crowd of sugar crazed kids and you have a recipe for success. Anyways, I hope to go out and visit a New Urbanist development called Daybreak this weekend. http://www.daybreakutah.com/ http://www.calthorpe.com/ I am also going to the Real game tomorrow, I'll tell you how it was.

Parking Day, Sept 19, 2008

Check out this Website. http://www.parkingday.org/ In essence what you do is you take a parking stall and convert it into a landscape for the day. It is supposed to be a statement about replacing cars with greenery and getting people to stop and think about what a automobilecentric life we lead. I think we should do this as an ASLA activity or just as a promotion for Landscape Architecture. I think that a parking stall that is in high demand would get a lot of attention either on or off of campus. I propose that we feed the meter so it is all nice and legal but if anyone is interested let me know.

Brown Bag Concert

This whole week the Salt Lake City Brown Bag Concert Series has been playing in our buildings plaza. Everyone from the adjoining area was invited to this free concert series which moves to a different public space each week, bringing music to the masses. The music ranged from Illinois Swamp Music to 80's wannabe Pop. Most of the time the bands were too loud for background music and but not today. This lunchtime we were treated to a trio playing Parisian esque accordion, bass, and jazz guitar riffs. It was nice , the melodies set a romantic mood for downtown SLC. I really think that the french have the right idea about lunches; sit around for two hours listening to light music and eating your lunch in peace while enjoying the parade of passer byes. All in all I think that the Concert series is a great example of programing, so kudos to the Salt Lake City Arts Council. Go Accordion Players! Makes me want to learn how to play.

Mid-Internship Review

The middle of my internship is rapidly approaching. So today I did something that I have not done for a long time. I did something that only Dwight would do. I asked to have a performance review, and my boss said that I am doing fine. That was it. Then I asked if I could attend one of the boring meetings that he is always going to. He said that they are all boring. Still persistent to be all that I can be I asked if I could go to one of the city commission meetings so I could see how Landscape Architects deal with City Councils not located in Manhattan. Finally he conceded to some misery and I get to go to a meeting on the 17th of July. Whoo hoo!

The other part of my performance review was given by my immediate supervisor man and he actually had some good things to say. Things like, you are filling our gap well. We needed someone with CAD and Photoshoping skills. Then he told me that the workplace is a great place to see how the real world works. School can only prepare you so much and then bam! your working for real and you have to deal with people's egos. And in the real world you need to know how to deal with projects being put on hold and any number of frustrating things.

But I have learned a little, the first is that the sandwich shop, The Robins Nest is wicked sweet. Second of all I have learned where the nice bathroom is in the building, it does not have gold toilets but the stall dividers are marble. I also learned that Landscape Architects don't like pushy Architects, Architects don't like Landscape Architects telling them how to use CAD. Although seriously this one architect was making a building that was larger than the building lot because he didn't put it in CAD correctly. And nobody likes Engineers. The Landscape Architects in the office do not like the ASLA Magazine, they do like Urban Land and Topos, and that PPS does not like Landscape Architects. Who is the PPS you ask. Well, it stands for People for Public Spaces, and it is a organization of designers and other professionals who are out to make good public spaces. You can visit their website here: http://www.pps.org/

I have been looking into the design of Plazas and Squares and I stumbled upon the PPS from a book called "How to Turn a Place Around." It is an interesting publication that talks about successful public spaces and even gives a rubric for assessing public spaces. A much better book in my opinion is "City Comforts: how to build an urban village", but that is besides the point. I then Googled "PPS and Landscape Architects" and found a number of articles that talked about the feud that LAs have with PPS. I will not delve into it much but if your office has a copy of Landscape Architecture Magazine, March 2007, Volume 97, number 3 you should turn to page 36 and read the article. As for me I like everybody! Well, almost everybody there was this one lady in France.... Anyways, I think that the PPS has a lot of good suggestions for Public Spaces and I think that LAs have a lot of good ideas for public spaces so take the good and block the bad. Sorry, this post has been a ramble. Happy Belated Canada Day!