Earth houring on the roof deck

Saturday night was Earth Hour night. I think Earth Hour started last year. It's never as cool as it sounds. The idea is for cities, every city anywhere, to turn off their lights for an hour. That might actually be a cool thing to see if it happened in totality right? Well, it doesn't. But, we had a little roof-top watching party at Corgan's roof deck on Saturday night. They have a stellar view of the skyline so naturally I got some great photos.

I remember last year we were at Langford on a Saturday night working on our final studies and someone made a big deal about Earth Hour. All the lights were turned out at Langford (which never happens) so we took a break and went out to the mall in front of the building and goofed off a bit taking photos then got back to work.

Oh, Earth Hour, at least you are a catalyst to some fun times.

Escalator from Purgatory

There's the stairway to Heaven, and then there's the escalator from Purgatory, which is where I found myself for 16 hours on Wednesday. If you are up for a traveler's nightmare story keep reading. So Wednesday I was headed to Birmingham for meetings with Rachel and Adam. We all boarded the 8:40 flight after fighting with traffic to the airport, so naturally it felt good to be on the plane and on our way. About half way there the captain comes on the speaker and says we are headed back to DFW because of a fuel line issue. We could have made it to Birmingham, but they wanted to fix it in Dallas. So, we banked and headed home. Ok, so we miss a few meetings, it's out our control.

We get booked on the second flight of the day which isn't until 3:30 in the afternoon, which makes us debate whether to stay at the airport or go back to the office to work a couple hours there. We decided to sit tight and work at the airport. 3:30 rolls around and the plane coming in for us gets diverted to Austin due to weather and fuel. It had been circling too long. Then 20 minutes later it gets cancelled. So, American Airlines kindly books us on the next flight at 7:30. Again we decide to sit tight and wait, no need to get out in the weather or the rush hour traffic.

So, we head to find a new place to sit, preferrably a bar with something to quench our thirst and frusteration. We take the skylink to the new Terminal D, which is very nice and spend some time at a mexican food joint. At this point, we are pretty delirious and giddy, everything is funny. And we're having a good time, making the best of being stuck in our own home airport, shocked at American Airlines* lack of care for our horrible day (If I had to hear, "again we apologize for the inconvience.." don't apologize, give me some miles!)

Well things got less horrible as we dediced to supplement dinner with margaritas. After dinner, recharging our phones and computers, and general airport down time we headed to our gate, which turned out to be the first of two gates for this 7:30 flight. Naturally, as we had come to expect this flight was significantly delayed and we got moved to the other end of Terminal D, where we had been at the mexican food place. So we packed up and strolled with the masses to our new gate. Finally, finally, at 9:30 we board our flight. I'm practically falling asleep until I hear the captain say, "Folks, this flight crew started this morning in LAX and then went to Monterrey, Mexico and we are approaching our flying time cap. Taking you all to Birmingham would mean we would be flying illegally, so we're looking for a new flight crew." Mr. Captain and I had two different types of days, he was tired of traveling all over and I was tired of traveling nowhere.

Hello jetway, as we unboard for the second time that day. Eventually, at about 11:45 we boarded again, and we're in the air just before the new day began. Landing in Birmingham at about 1:45 and to the hotel by 2 or so. The three and half hours of sleep we got were quite the tease before our long day of meetings. Anyways, it all makes for a good story. And this photo is of the escalators that decended us into the airport we thought we'd never leave.

*Rachel, Adam and I are in the process of creating a children's book documenting the story. We're hoping the copy we send to American Airlines will drive home how ridiculous our day turned out to be and be in very understandable terms.

What remains

When buildings go up it's fascinating, particularly to we architecture folks. But, it's almost more fascinating when they come down. It always makes me wonder why it's coming down, and wonder what is planned to replace it. This pile of brick and other building parts used to be a building on McKinney Avenue. This poor little building had it coming, as the large condos, hotels and office buildings soared up around it in Uptown, it was only a matter of time before it would be deemed a nuisance. Just behind this pile of bricks is the Dallas skyline, an interesting comparison which I captured some photos of. But, this photo I like best, just a pile of brick in the sky.

Shoes for the aisle

As you might suspect this is a wedding photo. I've been wanting to post this one for a while. It comes from Pam and Andrew's wedding back in December. Before the wedding I explored several wedding photographers' websites to see what kind of photos professionals were taking and what seemed to be the "most have" photos. Well, photos of the bride's shoes were one of those must haves. So while Pam was getting ready I stole her shoes and put them on the window sill for a little bit of natural lighting. It didn't turn out too bad.

Looking for zen

Today there will be zen. Even if it takes a couple extra gigs of RAM. I will be zen with Revit. If you don't know what I'm talking about read my post "Not responding" to be brought up to speed. Maybe I need a little rock garden at work, so I can rake my computer blues away with sand and tiny pebbles. Here's to another day.

Not responding

What a day, what a day. I came to work this morning and I really felt like I was making some head-way on what I needed to be doing. I was feeling some "project zen" as I told my friends at work. I probably shouldn't have said anything or at least knocked on wood when I did because this afternoon my computer began to act up, as it tends to do about 4:30PM. Well, Revit (for those of you who don't know this, Revit is the building information modeling program we use at work), Revit decided it wasn't in the mood to work anymore and checked out for happy hour. I got the dreaded "Not Responding". Oh really, Revit? I despise that phase.

What if we humans used that phrase? Someone asks you a question and you say, "not responding." Ya, that would go over real well. So, why do our computer programs say this to us? Why not, "We're having a little trouble right now" or "can I get back to you on this later?" or hell even, "Now's not a good time." We all have our moments, I get it. But, the "Not responding" that just pisses me off.

Well, as you would guess, Revit never decided to come answer the door for me. So, I had to shut it down. And with it went a couple hours of my "very-zen" work (that's right, I didn't save for a while, trust me I'm aggrevated about that too.) But, okay, no big deal, I did it once, I can do it again, and the second time around it will be much faster, but sheesh! Needless to say my afternoon was a complete 180 from this morning.

So, what did I do to put my troubles behind me?

I made breakfast tacos.

It ain't easy being green

This weekend, for many, was all about St. Patty's day celebrations. While they were wearing green and drinking green beer I was studying green principles for my Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) exam. Oh how I was so bummed driving down McKinney Avenue on Saturday when I went to grab lunch. Everyone had been to the parade on Greenville and was now making their way to the pubs, and I was only a few hours into a long day and night of studying.

But, my redemption came Sunday morning when I passed the test and can now call myself a LEED accredited professional. I think I'll have a green beer on Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day proper) in celebration, now that I've earned it.

So, why the photo of bamboo? Well, bamboo is a rapidly renewable resource. Rapidly renewable resources are defined by the U.S. Green Building Council as those with a lifecycle of 10 years or less. Bamboo is used to create flooring and other building materials. In short, it's green.

Pre-flight with the birds

Last week before my flight back from Baltimore, I jetted off (no pun intended) to Washington to kill some pre-flight time. Washington is about 45 minutes from Baltimore with traffic. It was an overcast day which is great for photography. I knew it would be very hard to park in DC, so I had a pocket full of quaters ready to go. I found a parallel metered spot on the National Mall, 7th street I think. I thought I had parked pretty close to the Capital, but the walk from my spot to the steps of the Capital was still about 15 or 20 minutes. If you've been to the National Mall, you know what I'm talking about. While it seems it will be a relatively quick trip between the three major monuments on the mall (Capital, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial), it is not.

When I arrived at the reflecting pond just shy of the Capital I made friends with the birds there. I probably took more photos of them than anything else. It was the strangest thing. First, I couldn't scare them off no matter how close I got. They were brave little things. And, they would stand on one leg. They would walk on two legs of course, but then stand on one. Strange little birds.

She's a beauty

Christmas a couple years ago we went out to Aunt Leila's. While I was exploring with my camera I made friends with the horses. I went up to the fence where they were all standing and started shooting away. Well they noticed me and started heading my way. I got better and better photos as they got closer. One of them got very friendly with me. I started petting this one's nose as I was taking her photograph. I love how her head is slightly turned, she's quite the model.

Old fashioned hello

I think we are due a door photograph, so how about the front door of Hopkins. This front door has a rich heritage. I read an interesting story about this door while researching last week. At the turn of the century there was a fellow that for nearly 50 years greeted all those who entered the hospital. He was a member of the custodial crew keeping the front door grounds in shape. He was also the self-appointed chief executive welcomer. The book I found this story in had a photograph of this gentleman, taken right here on these steps. Broom in hand and apron tied tight, he wore a big smile. I imagine this was the same smile he greeted Hopkins' visitors with each day.

With all the digital greetings and automated customer service we get these days, it's nice to think about the days when an old fashioned hello was the norm. Say hello to someone today. It'll do you and them some good.

The divine healer

Inside Johns Hopkins' lobby, the old lobby that is, there is a statue of Christ, the divine healer. The statue was a gift from a hospital trustee back in the hospital's early days, so it has always had a presence at the hospital. It is at least 10 feet tall, so presence might be an understatement. Though Hopkins is not specifically a religious healthcare institution, sprituality has been a part of the culture since the beginning.

At the base of the statue the marble says, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden I will give you rest."

The Greatest City in America

As this bench testifies, Baltimore* is the greatest city in America. The city pride really radiates from this bench, don't you think? This little-bench-that-could brings to mind an interesting question, what does it take to be the "greatest city in America." I guess qualification number one would be a post office. Second, maybe benches for your wonderful citizens. Then what? What would be your greatest city recipe? For me it's a combination of awesome mexican food restaurants, running and bike trails, and limited snow fall (clearly I've been in Baltimore all week, longing for a few things.) Let's be clear, I'm not dogging on Baltimore, or the bench. I love the bench. It's a classic. I'm just saying Baltimore doesn't get my blue ribbon.

*Interesting wikipedia fact, Baltimore was named after Lord Baltimore of the Irish House of Lords. Baltimore, or to the Irish, Baile an Tí Mhóir, means "town of the big house." Not sure where the big house is, I'll let you know if I find it.

History of Hopkins

No, I have not quit the blog. Though it may seem that way I've just been very busy traveling. My latest adventure has been visiting the Johns Hopkins Hopital in Baltimore, Maryland. Johns Hopkins' architecture is the topic of my fellowship study at work. The goal of my study is to understand the progression of the medical campus and architecture over the last 120 years. Johns Hopkins Hospital opened its doors in 1889, and the building in this photo is the original hospital entry; now known as the Billings Administration Building. This remained the entry until 1979. The dome over the entry is the most iconic piece of Hopkins architecture, in fact, the Johns Hopkins Medicine logo is the dome. To me the growth of a healthcare campus is facinating. The architecture doesn't just grow for the sake of growing, there are always organizational, medicinal, or technological reasons for the growth. It's a story I enjoy discovering.

And for those of you paying attention, yes I did swap out the photo. I think the current one is a bit better.