School Stuff

Well I guess since I finished another semester I should write about that also. Not only did I frighteningly finish my second year of grad school, Tiffany is going to grad school (as I mentioned), Jenny finished grad school and has a DOCTORATE of Physical Therapy (and passed her licensing exam) AND got a great job making a whopping $XX,XXX a year!! (She said she'd be mad if I told people how much she was making).

AND. Nathan got into Notre Dame!!!

So this semester actually went pretty smoothly, partially due to the fact that I had strategically (or lazily, but gimme a break our workload is crazy!) taken a theory class that I knew would be basically zero work. With an oooooooold professor who drones on and on...smart guy, but not very interesting, not a compelling or riveting style of lecturing...nor one that "facilitates note-taking" (as the end-of-the-semester survey asks) or results in much actual learning. But it eased up my semester.

I did enjoy my design studio because we made cool models, I learned a lot, worked hard but not too hard, and felt it went at a good pace. And the professor who lead the studio was great- he is basically a badass architect who built a house for the most important architectural family in Chicago (who give out the Nobel-equivalent Prize of architecture each year). Here are some pictures of my models, followed by group photos of everyone's models. My parents even came to watch my little 5 minute presentation followed by 15 minute grilling by the jury (a panel of professors both from the university and from other universities or firms, invited by our professors or by our dean).

First, a study model from the beginning of the semester, done as a team with my friend Shauna, then a picture of many peoples' models grouped together (3 weeks into the semester):

Now mid-terms, we did the same thing- except individually. So instead of 24 models, there were 48. I think. Again, my model plus other peoples' models:

Finally, our final models. We were basically designing housing, 12-22 units, for a 125'x125' square generic plot that would be for somewhere in Chicago. I focused on efficiency living, cheaper condos (that looked like trailers yes) for first-time buyers who don't have $250,000 for a condo yet. Everyone's models were sweet and I took lots of pictures but bloody hell it'd take forever to post all the cool ones here.

Here's a friend of mine Alex's model- one of the cooler ones.

Missing Concerts.

During my Spring Break, this little cruise (which interrupted plans of visiting Jenny (Stahl) in Denver and going skiing for my first time) made me miss a concert- notable only because this has become the year of missing concerts. I guess life is getting too busy.

Missed or will be missing:

Howie Day cause of Spring Break

Third Eye Blind cause of Guatemala

The Doves the same bloody day, so I would have missed em anyway

Guster on the 4th of July

possibly Switchfoot because I wanna celebrate Dave Cantos' birthday

Blink 182 cause I'll be helping Tiffany move in Austin

U2 who will be in Barcelona and Amsterdam July and August, where I will be in September, when they are here in Chicago

Now I'm not complaining about any of the things I'm doing instead of these concerts, just lamenting missing concerts, cause I hate missing stuff. And I love concerts.

These concerts are notable also because outside of The Doves, these are like 5 of my top however many favorite bands. Solace is that I'm also SEEING (or saw):

Travis

Ed Kowalczyk (lead singer of Live)

Counting Crows (free)

The Wallflowers (also free)

Barenaked Ladies (yes, you guessed it, free)

Jet for $20 at a bar

Ben Folds

The Beach Boys!

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

"Cruise with me baby."

Thanks Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow for that uber-cheesy song.

So Tiffany and I went on a cruise. Below will be a few pictures. Her mom paid for the whole thing as a Christmas gift/random get away and have some time together gift. So we made sure to leave from Galveston, so we could see her family, and then we went to Mexico (my first of three forays into Spanish speaking countries this year) to the Yucatan Peninsula to see Mayan ruins. Sweet. We went to Chichen Itza, the (or A) former capital of the Mayan culture that extends all the way down to Guatemala (where I just got back from).

The boat had a random old Rolls-Royce Phantom:

We spent a good portion of the trip walking around the boat, to various events- shows, free drink things, random watch/booze sales, art shows, the Casino, a sushi bar (!) open from like 5-7pm, and many random events on the main deck where the pool and (lame-ly slow) waterslide was (or maybe I'm just too fat/highly frictional). We had two days of stops- Chichen Itza was a two-hour bus ride each way plus a couple hours to tour the place. We couldn't climb the (damn) pyramid cause it was damaged by (damn) Hurricane Rita a couple years ago. Couldn't go under it into the catacomb crypt thing either (dammit). We got to see the water hole (like 40 feet down and 20 feet deep) where they used to apparently dump sacrificed bodies (mostly children- sorry for the squeamish). It occurs to me I'm using a lot of apostrophes (I mean parentheses).

Some random points from the trip- we had some giant flavored margaritas on the beach, after we did a zip line-wall climb-snorkeling adventure for a couple hours. The snorkeling was cool cause the fish were EVERYWHERE (sorry don't have pictures like that) and I saw a barracuda (sorta like the Heart song). We ate lots of decent food that was tasty and unhealthy- but the first two days we ate lunch so late that we missed dessert. I was piiiiiiiiiiissed! We also had a set dinner group, cause the seating was by room- so we ate with people whose rooms were by us. A white couple from Texas (the guy had done three tours in Iraq and was going for a fourth, for nine months) another white couple that were teachers and nice but awkward but smart, and two black couples, (one and a half, actually cause one of the girls was Latino, her boyfriend had a grill, as in a fake silver and diamonds mouthpiece that looked like teeth) and the other couple just gambled all the time apparently. Tiffany and I gambled $10 each. And lost.

It was also VERY windy at night, which I knew would happen and was excited about. It was exhilarating and felt awesome. So we went up there every night to feel the wind and watch the stars, and occasionally argue about something :)

We saw a large globe in the "library":

And I missed a couple spots, even after checking midday, on my legs. Swear words.

That is all I have to say about that. I'm sure I'm missing things. But it was fun and warm and sunny and windy and food-y. On to the next event. Which is again why blogs are weird- now that you've finished scrolling down to read this entry, you hafta scroll up to the next one, but then back down to read the next one. Odd.

Back from the Dead!

My triumphant return to writing starts now. Over the course of a week or so hopefully I can recount the past two plus months in multiple entries. Here goes. First, I alarmingly realized that my last real post was in February. So I guess if I had any faithful readers, they are long since gone. I'm gonna try and do this in however many installments it takes to recap things more or less. I'm actually going to have to look at my calendar to discuss whats been going on with me...

I'm going to have to make multiple entries so they're bite-sized. And I'm going to hafta go back to February to begin with. Man. I think back then Tiffany was still waiting to hear from UT about acceptance to her program- she's since been accepted, which I think most people know. Three-year joint Master's of Social Work and Public Health. I think she'll actually have two Master's degrees. But I forget. Which probably annoys her :)

In the Spring U2's new album came out, and I listened to only one or two songs from it each day for like five days. I wanted to stretch out the elusive and rare experience of hearing a song for the first time- which obviously you only get once, with any particular song- which could be the next great thing. And that feeling of discovery is pretty amazing, like the first time you saw a beautiful sunset and your jaw dropped. By the time you're done looking at it, its cool, but not the same anymore.

We also back in March went to the Southside parade for St. Patrick's Day for the first time- and apparently the last, cause it sounds like they cancelled the old and revered drinking celebration because it was too much of a ruckus. Single white college graduates across the city who like drinking Guinness one day out of the year lamented. We had fun on the $10 bus ride down to the South Side, where some unnamed friend of mine was mooning passing school buses full of people just like us- white, wearing green, drinking beers on the bus. See below for the mustache I sported for the day :)

ALSO! I just remembered, that Tiffany and I went on a cruise in March :) So that's next post.

UNBELIEVABLE.

I'll post a new real entry soon.  Soon as in after May 5th, when my final review is.  In the meantime, I have something to share courtesy of my professor's firm's website:

"If green roofs are installed on 10% of Chicago's rooftops, the overall temperature of the city can be reduced by 6-10 degrees on a hot summer day. For every degree the city temperature is lowered, the City can save $150 million."

Hair

There should be a name, a technical term, for when the number of hair follicles on your face exceeds the number on your head.  I'm not there yet, but like they say, all the hair on my head is rapidly flying south for the winter. so it won't be long.

I love sweet cars.

Cars I can (and would) buy for under $20,000 

(assuming I needed one, which I don't for at least another year+)

Porsche 968/968 Cabrio

Audi TT/TT Cabrio

Mercedes SLK

BMW M3

Lexus IS

Mini Cooper S

Mazda RX-8

Mazda Miata

Mazda 3

Nissan 350z

Infiniti G35

VW GTI

Scion tc

Honda Accord Coupe

Obviously year and mileage is a significant factor.  But I could own a Porsche or a 2000+ Mercedes, Audi, Lexus or BMW for under $10k!  Wow.  I can't wait.  But I think I want a TT, an RX-8, or an M3.  Assuming Tiffany already has a Mini Cooper :)

Why

I think I blog because I wanna be heard or understood.  

And maybe eventually respected or admired.  Liked.

Sometimes its just a way of turning my head inside out like a sock, so everyone else can see what's going on in there.  

Maybe someone can make sense of what I can't.

Perhaps its all just another wave crashing out in the ocean though.  No one sees, but they keep right on, because that's just what they do.

Monty Python

THIS

Monty Python - The architect sketch

is EXACTLY what being an architect is like.

I Don't Like Losing At Poker.

So now that over a month of 2009 has gone by, its time to think- GEEZ, over a month of 2009 has gone by!!  Are your New Years' Resolutions gone already?  Forgotten?  Barely started?  Well the nice thing about springtime is Lent is right around the corner :)  I thought I'd share some of my New Years' things- resolutions and other such things.

My general resolution of the year is an extension of last year, which is to focus on being selfless.  I also reminded myself that in nine months, Tiffany moves presumably to Austin to start grad school, and I move to Barcelona for 4 months for school.  Meaning we have 9 months to maybe work out things we need to talk about and do whatever else we need to do to further and strengthen our relationship before we're apart for the better part of a year.

I also resolved that this would be the best year yet.  I resolved that the year I got my favorite job, met Tiffany, and decided on grad school.  That was 2006, and 2007  I started grad school and Tiffany moved to Chicago, 2008 was great as well (though a kick in the pants in terms of the amount of work I had to do).

Finally, Christmas break gave me a chance to do some things- to get my life back on track.  The important thing is I got to start cutting back my possessions. I cut back my expenses when I started school, but now I'm cutting back my belongings too- thinking of having to move, thinking of consolidating stuff with another person at some point :), and thinking about all the stuff I don't need, don't use, don't want, and takes up space- and space costs money, when you're talking about a house or storage or something.  So I feel much more streamlined.  

I got my apartment how I want it and my room how I want it, so now its easy to start my New Years things before I go to bed- reading a book, reading the Bible (been going two years now trying to read the whole thing...) playing some guitar, reading my three books of extensive pictures called Modern House, and doing Rosetta Stone so I can learn Spanish in time to hone it in Guatemala.

I'm also doing well at not taking school too seriously, which is a resolution for my own well-being but also for what I'm like when I'm with Tiffany during the semester, which is important.  I just gotta make sure I still pass my classes however :)

SO, 2009 is gonna kick ass.  Onward and upward.  Someday I'll get to my long-term goals of building my own house and buying a Lamborghini, and taking a trip once a year out of the country with Tiffany.  And paying Chris to fly me places :)