Weary

I had something due in every class this week, and another project due for design studio on Monday (that's tomorrow).  Fortunately I was far too busy with every other assignment this week to have time for studio.   I was also lucky enough to move on Saturday and have my anniversary of having met Tiffany then, so I get to do a week's worth of project in one day.  Its joyous.  

I'm not complaining about the move, cause it was sweet to have Josh's parents and minivan to help and move most of the stuff, and Andrea and Tiffany to help too.  And having an anniversary is nice.  But not being sure when I'll even have time to shave next, let alone unpack and really move all my stuff INTO a new apartment, is not cool.  Its gotten out of control.  Its funny how quickly things turned from enjoying and working hard at school to wanting to get it done as quickly as possible.  

I gotta turn my attitude around enough that this doesn't keep up, and so that I enjoy school like I should.  But I'm certainly not given much time to actually enjoy it.  And forget trying to do anything in life but school.  Granted I'm playing soccer on Wednesdays and decided to work on a project with a professor, and its not every day you have to move, but still.  Time and money, the two main currencies of life, are both in short supply with no means of ready replenishment. 

I'm not interested in going so far as to let it be depressing, but it certainly turns me on autopilot, and the days go by.  I mean geez, I'm starting week 6 of school.  Christmas break will be magically, but even Thanksgiving I'll probably have a bunch of work to do- while I'm traveling to and from Houston.  Awesome.  I would like to practice doing school in moderation.  Or something.

You'll hear from me again next time I'm badly in need of procrastination.

Datum? I hardly even know him.

So I kinda like data.  I like making things into something I can understand.  I like numbers and ways of making sense of numbers, with graphs or otherwise, that can reveal hidden interesting information.  For example we have four professors in our design studio.  Each professor has their own students they personally meet with, and we had group projects, four groups per professor.  We pinned them up, we all voted.  Yes, its interesting to see who got the most votes, and why.  But more interesting?  Adding up votes across all projects, and see which professors students got the most votes (or in this case, the least- by FAR).  Now THAT is interesting.  Goes beyond the projects and students to say something about the professor!  Or maybe not.  But its interesting.

Here's more data I like:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122211987961064719.html?mod=yhoofront#articleTabs_interactive-PERSONALITY08%26project%3DPERSONALITY08

Me.

My favorite website, as of late.  

This is kinda what my brain is like sometimes.

Hold your mouse over the comic for a sec when you're done reading it.

http://xkcd.com/439/

The Noise in My Head

I made the wrong decision

Apple stock tanked

I have too much to do today

I need to exercise

Moving is gonna suck

How am I supposed to get all this work done?

Dammit I hate money

Why didn't I sell at $180

I hope Chris is happy at his job

I need to sell this stuff

Am I cut out for this?

I wanna watch a movie

What would I do without music

I need some chocolate

I hope I can sell this computer

I'm an idiot

This is just a down time

It'll turn around

I hope Nathan is happy at school

I gotta call about my credit card

I hate money

Just gotta get through the semester

Dammit I want an iPhone

I hope Tiffany is happy with ME

I'm not good enough

Am I good enough?

I can do this

I can't take this

I need my iPod

I can't get all this work done

I'm tired

My head is too noisy

Not sure I can take this

Breathe...................

IRISH.

Given the heavy workload we had for this coming week, I chose to go to the Notre Dame-Michigan game.  I chose "weisly".  Highlights include:

-Not spending all weekend studying

-Seeing Josh's girlfriend Andrea's sweet new circle couch

-Going to Corby's for the first time in like a year

-parking for free at Uncle Paul's dentist's office

-Andrea's friend buying the 82cent box of snozberry PopTarts from CVS

-getting soaked walking to tailgating

-having my first veal bratwurst

-having a tasty brew of Jack and Coke

-seeing Uncle Dave, Zach, Ross tailgating

-seeing Sper-uh-BRIAN LONG, and friends (Dolan Cross Hagan)

-making it to the band show on time

-sitting with Josh  Andrea Gobel and later Tiffany for the game

-seeing two ND touchdowns in 4 minutes of football

-seeing sleventeen Michigan turnovers

-seeing Michigan fans sit down often and leave early

-getting poured on in the 4th quarter and not caring

-seeing how pumped up the Irish got AFTER it started pouring

-running through "Stonehenge" water fountain with Tiffany and Andrea after the game

-eating chili at the Fulchers with some beer and wine

-watching Clausen throw a perfect TD pass to Golden Tate on Tivo at home, over and over.

-sleeping.

-eating and drinking tasty things at my parents house: Bailey's Ice Cream, Very Vanilla Silk, Jordan Almonds (Italian Wedding Almonds), pasta, Ruby Red Squirt.

-getting new batteries for my watches, and glasses for Tiffany, and Nutty Bars, at Walmart- and getting the opportunity to mutter "Irish" to myself every time I saw Wolverines apparel

-cleaning up the floodwaters in my parents basement before we left town

Now back to the grind.  Deciding about an apartment tonight.  Moving soon hopefully.

A Brief One (Its About Underwear) (No Its Not)

Whats funny is that with everyone texting, we have conversations like "I hate when I type 'go' and it substitutes 'in' instead" and people know what you're talking about.  'Home' always ends up 'good'.  Well here's some words that get substituted when the real words aren't in the phone's dictionary cause they're swear words.  Ha.

Dual

Eval

Duck

Dial

Econ

Shiv

Coal

Remis

That's all I got.

Its now back to work for me.  Looking at apartments, packing, doing school work, going to (a) Notre Dame game, can keep you busy.  But I'm already done with three of my sixteen weeks of the semester already so there's that.  Sweet.  Gotta go.  Irish.

Twitter

I am thinking in Twitter-length posts lately.  Probably because my mind is more scattered and busy, with starting school.  Though I also realize that it was a way I adapted last year and have immediately taken on as the way I need to be, and maybe I need to rethink that.  Could actually feel my mind and pulse race on the first day.  Just not necessary.

Twitter, ps, is like blogging except in 140 characters or less, but multiple times throughout the day.  Its a way of keeping up with people's thoughts and daily activities.  Yes, it sounds boring or invasive or both, but it turns out to be kinda addicting, for some anyway.  Once I get an iPhone, I'll be posting to it like mad, because I have lots of one-line thoughts that I wish I could tell someone or put somewhere.

Like:

How many department chairs at this university wear bright blue plastic watches?

This year I get to see the Trump Tower be finished out my window!

This damn chair's squeakiness is driving me crazy.

I don't have time to meet all these new people.

How is it that practicing and teaching architects can have such mastery of design software and still be so inept at using the basic functions of their computer?

And so on.  Twitter.com.  You can sign up and "follow" me, and then see who else I'm following or who is following me, and add them as well.  Another way of networking, which people love these days.

As you may have surmised, I've started school again.  I have a new studio (upstairs) with a balcony behind me overlooking the old one, and a window in front of me looking at the skyline instead of into my director's office.  I have 47 or so classmates, instead of 18.  All of whom I think are either younger than me or exchange students.  I have four less hours of class this year, and probably more than enough extra work to make up for it.  I no longer have 8am classes.  But I have class until 6pm every day.  There are already three party-ish things happening this weekend, all which I'm missing.  Oops.  My butt is already sore, I'm waiting for a new iPhone and laptop to come out, and I already knocked off a hefty to-do list the past couple days.

Year two is underway.  Damn this squeaky chair.  Everyone hates it.  Next week I start running again and start learning Spanish.  T-minus one year until Barcelona.

Tiffany started class too- Human Anatomy.  She gets to learn all the stuff Jenny did.  Til 8:30pm, Mon/Wed, all semester.  Wow.  Time for me to go and do something useful.

Another Side Note

One thing I've thought much about recently is future plans.  Tiffany and I have talked about her grad school a lot- where that would be, what it would be, etc.  She wants to go to Houston for school to be near her family.  She also wouldn't start until next fall.  So if she has a two-year program (the first semester of which I'll be in Barcelona for school anyway) then presumably I'll be moving down to Houston when I graduate.  That's when I'm buying my Mini Cooper.  Hopefully at that point we'll only need one apartment.  

After SHE graduates, we've talked about moving to Dubai, if jobs are really as plentiful as they seem, and if I could make enough money in a year or two to save up a bunch, and get an employer to fund flights home for holidays.  Thankfully her (our) friend Shubair shook hands that he'd move there if we did, since he has family in town there and his dad might move there for a job.  So at least we'll have someone to keep us company.  Chris said he'd come if he could :)

So it'd be nice to be able to come home from Dubai with enough cash in the bank to buy a house, or better yet build my own.  I'd also like to buy an electric car by then- unfortunately currently, they're at least 80 grand, if I bought a Tesla or more for a four-door Fisker Karma.  We'll see about those plans.  Where this house would be is the next question.

Its gorgeous though check it out:

http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/index.php/vehicles/features/

Going Home

We slept in, we got woken up by housekeeping (housekeeping, are you checking out today? housekeeping, are you checking out today?  housekeeping, are you checking out today?) and rode the train downtown just to have lunch at a waaaaay expensive German beer hall (shoulda just gone to "Innn-Out Burr-jah" and Jamba Juice), and then stopped to check out a water fountain TIffany recommended.  The weather was great again, I really enjoyed this city.  The only other place I've been besides Chicago and NY with a genuine real worthwhile large walkable downtown and extended city-scape.  Not Houston, LA, Denver, Atlanta (though they have a decent downtown) are that seamless to be able to walk 19 miles and seeing stuff the whole time.

Then we got back on the train, and after a million people took their time getting off so we could get on, the train driver decided to shut the doors and leave halfway through people boarding, so my dad and some girl also going to the airport got left on the platform while Chris and I drove away on the train.  Ridiculous.  They literally snapped shut between us.  Lame sauce.  The airport better have free wireless.  (Yeah as you can see, it didn't- dammit).

Last Day (ish)

So our last day was full.  Of walking.  According to my phone pedometer, 19.1 miles.  Rockin.  A trip record.  Due mostly to my destinations around the city- thankfully Chris was mostly in agreement and my dad assuaged to my plans.  Not only did we see Thom Mayne's Federal Building (more hideous than I had expected) and Daniel Libeskind's Comtemporary Jewish Museum (less interesting than I had hoped, but still cool) we got to see a small Frank Lloyd Wright building, built after The Guggenheim both in time order and in design aesthetic, the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park by Herzog & de Meuron, and across the way the new California Academy of the Sciences by Renzo Piano, which I forget was even here until I saw it.  That was a close one- almost missed it!  

We also walked through Japantown, where were underwhelmed by the pagoda thing but pleasantly surprised by a sweet Catholic Church (St. Mary's) across the street, and walked way way down Haight St. and saw miles of hippies and hookah shops and record stores.  We even saw the SFLBC in Golden Gate Park.  Yeah thats the San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club.  Old people wearing all white playing sort-of Bocce on a putting green surrounded by fence. 

I also found out this morning that we literally walked right by my friend Amy's work, BCV Architects, yesterday in a place called The Cannery, right near Ghirardelli Square in the Wharf area- I remember seeing the office and thinking hmmm, thats nice, I bet this is a cool hip area for lots of architects' offices- I wonder if Amy works around here?  Turns out YEAH.  

We also saw some other churches, and found out that while the streets are on a grid, the addresses are not so much, because while they follow a linear pattern, if you follow a street you might see a 2300 on the cross street at one block and then 2200 at the cross street of another.  Stupid, hard to find addresses that way, and hard to understand the map.  Oh well. 

Lastly, we went to dinner with an old employee of First Response, a good friend of my dad's.  And her husband and son.  We went to an Italian place called A16, had appetizers, pizza, pasta, wine, and wine, and then proceeded to a pub in Oakland to have a Belgian beer.  Tasty, and perfect for us weary travelers.  By a recommendation we're also gonna have lunch and possibly a beverage at a pub before scooting outta town tomorrow.  And hopefully finding wireless and seeing the Ferry Building that Tiffany told me to see.  

Now its time to give Chris a sensual back massage for his messed up shoulders, and go to bed.  Oh Motel 6 I shall miss you.  And sleeping on the edge of the bed while Chris sleeps in the middle with his grandma knee-pillow in my back...