I came across this in the NYTimes today, and found it rather telling. Current events with fuel and all are making exurbia become quaint.
I had a conversation just the other day about the whole rethinking process. How it comes about and how agile you can be to the situation. There are two events that forced my rethinking recently, the first was Katrina '05 and watching Memphis folk in a freefall as gas prices temporarly hit almost exactly what they are today for a week or two. I had just arrived back from a rail trip of the west coast (SF to Vancouver, BC.) I was amazed about how people treated it like heat wave that will eventually pass. It also gas seemed weird to be around 2 bucks a gallon since the 90's. Beyond fuel, we were just fortunate people focusing all our efforts on man made terror when natural forces had such an impact.
The second rethinking was much more personal. I experienced temporary blindness during the summer of '06. Having a short term disability can force a lot of hard decisions at once, probably the scariest, my livelihood being snuffed out. All my life I had been a graphical thinker, and suddenly I had to come up with an 'alternative'. Before it got too far, things came back to normal, but ominous prognoses were out there - it may come back.
Getting back to the article, it seems that thought forms are probably breaking down every day. Paradigms are shifting, new thought forms are coming to light, and probably a few more buzz word things are happening to the world around us. At any rate, as humans we adapt to new situations. Families who sought rural settings, must concider the urban for the good of themselves and the common good. McMansions will give way to mixed use buildings, Hummers will be traded in for Priuses. What a difference a few years can make.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
tales of a bad blogger
Being that my last post was 6/1 and I was planning to get posts up every Sunday, I have fallen terribly short. It must be on the account of my shallow thoughts, or rather my deeper thoughts have been paid for and I spend most of my free time staring into the landscape.
Sometimes my neighbor at work (who happens to be the office webmaster) have tea and lament about how bad our blogging habits have gotten. Sighs all around.
That being said, I will attempt to slap something together on my way home from work everyday. Enough said.
Sometimes my neighbor at work (who happens to be the office webmaster) have tea and lament about how bad our blogging habits have gotten. Sighs all around.
That being said, I will attempt to slap something together on my way home from work everyday. Enough said.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
House - after one year of living
About a year ago I got out of the blogging game. I had just taken a new job and soon after the orientation I was pulled in the undertow of hardcore new career anxiety. I would spend days and days writing and publishing things for work and learning new ropes. I probably started about 20 posts that never got off the ground (and about 100 or more comments on other blogs that I couldn't complete) I also got this work related blog to build. Long story short, if you want to kill your personal blogging life, do something work required.
After mulling it over a bit, I began to come up with a compromise about how to get my blog back with two rules. 1) Develop my interests that tend to be work related and I don't have enough time for or interest to keep them up on the clock. 2)Avoid all meta tags that would link this to something else, my hope is that the world wide web can still be anonymous for this to happen.
The title of this post is a bow to 'House - after five years of living' a film by Charles and Ray Eames. Its a hard act to keep up enthusiasm about the early International Movement, for me, its a lot more than left over furniture and architecture. The buildings of the movement have been written off for a long time now. I think this article in NYT began to let me understand why I got into this movement in the first place. At any rate, for me there is no physical house, but as at the images in the Eameses film depict, many images over time.
In the search for trying to find words to match these images over the past year, I recently stayed with friends on the east coast, the following are some of the answers I provided to questions.
Q- How's it going?
A- Umm, great, I guess. Things are working out. It was a radical break from the South, but it wasn't shocking. Well, let me back up, it was mildly shocking, I felt my life expectancy go thru the roof, I never drive my car, and never go anywhere with out a jacket.
Q- So, what about that North West weather?
A- Yeah, its no joke. I think this place has good fraction of newcomers who just can't get over it and bail the first year. Rain is easy, but the unending grey gets on your nerves after awhile. Not to say that there aren't welcome breaks of sun but living with two months of reliably good weather takes some time getting used to. I'd love to convince friends that its a swell place to be, but I wouldn't want to make them suffer.
Q- So its like miserable all the time?
A- I actually don't mind what I call the 50/50 days, cloudy mornings and sunny afternoons. I never care for sun in my eyes first thing in the morning anyway. Something nobody told me about is that there is more sun this time of year than others, we get almost 8 hours more sun light around summer solstice than winter. It get annoying when your dog wakes you up at 4:30 cause theres lite outside, and dusk last past 10. During the fall, gloom hits fast, but it kind of feels like a Morissey album, gloomy happy/sad.
Q- Ah, music, are you into the scene out there?
A- Well, no. I first moved here and took a craiglist share in band house with some great musicians. It was an incredible lifestyle, I felt walking around that there was a band practicing in almost every house. I later moved out to an island community, not to escape it, but rather not burn myself out on it. Theres also a ton of good radio and I listen to all my old favorite stations on the Internet.
Q- All that city and you had to move out to a burb?
A- Ok, sure I get your angle. The town was great, but in the end I didn't want to get attached to a place that gentrified and changed into something I loathed again. I loved my landing spot, but knew that I had to score a 1/2 mil house up there to really settle down. I did alot of freaking out and wanted my Memphis house back again. I considered all my options and resolved that I could live with a commute as long as I wasen't behind the wheel or in a bus. I also had to consider uprooting my son and moving him out here as well. In the end, the ferry commute made the most sense.
Q- Alright, weather conditions aside, why are you staying there and what would you tell somebody who was considering the city.
A- This place has a level of dorkiness that is way beyond anywhere else. Social groups of people who are programming new open source software, for fun?? Families who geek out on carbon footprint ratings. Road cyclists with the latest dorky technical gear (and I've been around alot of cyclists, but none with the abandon to totally dork out like this.) Wiccan covens, Dancing Mime troupes, juggling gangs, basically folks who are really into what the love doing, find friends into the same thing and don't care what others think. I think this kind of thing happens alot of places, but in little blocks here and there, here its the norm, reckless abandon, dorks rule.
More to come.. hopefully
After mulling it over a bit, I began to come up with a compromise about how to get my blog back with two rules. 1) Develop my interests that tend to be work related and I don't have enough time for or interest to keep them up on the clock. 2)Avoid all meta tags that would link this to something else, my hope is that the world wide web can still be anonymous for this to happen.
The title of this post is a bow to 'House - after five years of living' a film by Charles and Ray Eames. Its a hard act to keep up enthusiasm about the early International Movement, for me, its a lot more than left over furniture and architecture. The buildings of the movement have been written off for a long time now. I think this article in NYT began to let me understand why I got into this movement in the first place. At any rate, for me there is no physical house, but as at the images in the Eameses film depict, many images over time.
In the search for trying to find words to match these images over the past year, I recently stayed with friends on the east coast, the following are some of the answers I provided to questions.
Q- How's it going?
A- Umm, great, I guess. Things are working out. It was a radical break from the South, but it wasn't shocking. Well, let me back up, it was mildly shocking, I felt my life expectancy go thru the roof, I never drive my car, and never go anywhere with out a jacket.
Q- So, what about that North West weather?
A- Yeah, its no joke. I think this place has good fraction of newcomers who just can't get over it and bail the first year. Rain is easy, but the unending grey gets on your nerves after awhile. Not to say that there aren't welcome breaks of sun but living with two months of reliably good weather takes some time getting used to. I'd love to convince friends that its a swell place to be, but I wouldn't want to make them suffer.
Q- So its like miserable all the time?
A- I actually don't mind what I call the 50/50 days, cloudy mornings and sunny afternoons. I never care for sun in my eyes first thing in the morning anyway. Something nobody told me about is that there is more sun this time of year than others, we get almost 8 hours more sun light around summer solstice than winter. It get annoying when your dog wakes you up at 4:30 cause theres lite outside, and dusk last past 10. During the fall, gloom hits fast, but it kind of feels like a Morissey album, gloomy happy/sad.
Q- Ah, music, are you into the scene out there?
A- Well, no. I first moved here and took a craiglist share in band house with some great musicians. It was an incredible lifestyle, I felt walking around that there was a band practicing in almost every house. I later moved out to an island community, not to escape it, but rather not burn myself out on it. Theres also a ton of good radio and I listen to all my old favorite stations on the Internet.
Q- All that city and you had to move out to a burb?
A- Ok, sure I get your angle. The town was great, but in the end I didn't want to get attached to a place that gentrified and changed into something I loathed again. I loved my landing spot, but knew that I had to score a 1/2 mil house up there to really settle down. I did alot of freaking out and wanted my Memphis house back again. I considered all my options and resolved that I could live with a commute as long as I wasen't behind the wheel or in a bus. I also had to consider uprooting my son and moving him out here as well. In the end, the ferry commute made the most sense.
Q- Alright, weather conditions aside, why are you staying there and what would you tell somebody who was considering the city.
A- This place has a level of dorkiness that is way beyond anywhere else. Social groups of people who are programming new open source software, for fun?? Families who geek out on carbon footprint ratings. Road cyclists with the latest dorky technical gear (and I've been around alot of cyclists, but none with the abandon to totally dork out like this.) Wiccan covens, Dancing Mime troupes, juggling gangs, basically folks who are really into what the love doing, find friends into the same thing and don't care what others think. I think this kind of thing happens alot of places, but in little blocks here and there, here its the norm, reckless abandon, dorks rule.
More to come.. hopefully
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Week Two- Lay of the land
Chances are if you live in this city, you live on a slope. Most residential in the city is on hills of one sort of another and therefore industrial takes up most of the flatlands. Coming from a place that is mostly flat, this seems like a solid connection to where geography dictates zoning. As I've come to learn over time, much of this glacier alluvial has been heavily modified, or sluced to accomidate development here. Entire hills have been pulled down to make more level ground.
With all this re-grading going on to benefit the greater good, my knees still feel the burn. They were spoiled with walking and biking on flat ground for three years and now tell me when its going to rain and threaten to give way when I least expect it. I've done everything humanly possible to avoid a blowout, but I think its time I conceder the unthinkable, I might have to see a doc who will tell me that I will be on crutches for six months after surgery.
Seeing coworker go thru this is painful enough, even more distressing is that he will be out of commission the entire 'nice weather season' here. If it comes to that I would be fine, at least I'm not sweating my ass off and get to catch up on some reading and blogging.
With all this re-grading going on to benefit the greater good, my knees still feel the burn. They were spoiled with walking and biking on flat ground for three years and now tell me when its going to rain and threaten to give way when I least expect it. I've done everything humanly possible to avoid a blowout, but I think its time I conceder the unthinkable, I might have to see a doc who will tell me that I will be on crutches for six months after surgery.
Seeing coworker go thru this is painful enough, even more distressing is that he will be out of commission the entire 'nice weather season' here. If it comes to that I would be fine, at least I'm not sweating my ass off and get to catch up on some reading and blogging.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Seattle : One week down
Its very hard to document personal change, but from reviewing other blogs on relocations, I'm committed to giving a weekly revue of events and conclusions as I have time.
First of all, I came to this place with almost no connections to the city limits. I found a room on craigslist and picked it up. This neighborhood is very 1930s/40s suburban, yet the downtown skyline is in view on all the streets. My neighbors are predominantly Japanese-American retirees who little more than manicure their garden/yards sunup to sundown. There is a more Filipino element a few blocks away and just down the hill is Little Saigon (which is haunting similar to Cleveland) and at the bottom of the hill is call the 'International District' which I take as being p.c. for 'Chinatown'
I've tried to get out on my bike a few times, but the hills are too much for me and I need time to condition myself up before I can. I take the bus to work although I could beat it easily on bike. The entire city is addicted to buses for the time being until real (portland MAX style) light rail is completed. Being that my only places to be at the time are work and home, they do the job with few frills. I keep my headphones cranked up to avoid loudness in other languages.
The weather here is very nice, and all the locals tell me its a total anomaly that there is so much sun. So far the people are very nice also, but I guess that may change as the weather does. The generalization that this place is jacked up on espresso is for the most part true. But I've come to the point where my nervous system can't handle it and have to settle for my tea. I'm still shaking off a very long stressful road trip and sleeping and eating are finally coming back to normal. My landlord also co-owns a yoga studio down the street that is helping me adjust. My work here is going to be a lot harder than back in Memphis, I knew that before hand, and took it anyway. Now I just have to work on the defense mechnisims to keep my going.
More later..
First of all, I came to this place with almost no connections to the city limits. I found a room on craigslist and picked it up. This neighborhood is very 1930s/40s suburban, yet the downtown skyline is in view on all the streets. My neighbors are predominantly Japanese-American retirees who little more than manicure their garden/yards sunup to sundown. There is a more Filipino element a few blocks away and just down the hill is Little Saigon (which is haunting similar to Cleveland) and at the bottom of the hill is call the 'International District' which I take as being p.c. for 'Chinatown'
I've tried to get out on my bike a few times, but the hills are too much for me and I need time to condition myself up before I can. I take the bus to work although I could beat it easily on bike. The entire city is addicted to buses for the time being until real (portland MAX style) light rail is completed. Being that my only places to be at the time are work and home, they do the job with few frills. I keep my headphones cranked up to avoid loudness in other languages.
The weather here is very nice, and all the locals tell me its a total anomaly that there is so much sun. So far the people are very nice also, but I guess that may change as the weather does. The generalization that this place is jacked up on espresso is for the most part true. But I've come to the point where my nervous system can't handle it and have to settle for my tea. I'm still shaking off a very long stressful road trip and sleeping and eating are finally coming back to normal. My landlord also co-owns a yoga studio down the street that is helping me adjust. My work here is going to be a lot harder than back in Memphis, I knew that before hand, and took it anyway. Now I just have to work on the defense mechnisims to keep my going.
More later..
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Coming Clean
Its already May! Its about to get hotter than hell, and I will be leaving soon.
I've been very cagey with my posts as of late mostly due to a job hunt, and the dangers of totally blowing my cover, to possible future employers and current co-workers. But things have settled down recently, and the quest is over. I got the gig and now I've got to get to the business of sorting myself out, packing up and driving over that bridge one more time.
This being the case, my last day set, I've got a lot of explaining to do. I don't use canned answers and never downplay the feeling of getting ripped apart. We all have one hometown, and mine will always be Memphis. Short of a natural disaster, it will always be here, clunking along, happily running about 10 years behind the coasts. My decision was based on the assumption that I am (professionally) a sum of all my experiences. I thrive off of exposure to new ideas, and my livelihood banks upon that assumption. I'm almost ready to turn around and give back my lessons learned, but need a better capstone before settling down.
One reading this would probably expect that I just wanted to go to grad school, which is far from what I'm getting at. I'm the type that needs to apply learned items immediately to resonate. After absorption, I tend to broadcast these items quickly. Coincidentally,
this is a very marketable skill for workplaces. I was in search of the perfect space that can handle the convergence of Architecture, technology and sustainability. I can now say that I've found that place where I feel very comfortable and feel surrounded by people who take the 'changing the world' phrase very seriously.
On the local blogs, I find the enthusiasm about locals wanting to make good changes here very refreshing. But what about the bigger idea, that there really are 'change the world' ideas out there that could have far reaching effects. Leadership here feels like being a missionary of great ideas that are worth spreading, but look elsewhere for application. Life is short and impatience is a virtue of mine. The sense of urgency in my tone comes from a gut feeling that the problem solving momentum should be kept at a fever pitch.
As a second motivator, I think that Memphis folk are generally a stagnant lot, that could use a lot more exposure to the rest of the world. Thats a generalizing statement if there every was one, but I work on a theory that the more exposed a populace is to the outside, the better rounded its attitudes (tword civic, social and professional ends.) In the end it comes down to perspective, and lack thereof.
Can perspective change in a vacuum? Rhetorical question, but its rather obvious that this city depends heavily on outsiders for leadership. Sometimes branded as carpetbaggers, they are literally the lifeblood of the town. Some mornings, I wake up and think that the city will just come to its senses, admit that it has nothing to lose, stop defending its sacred cows and realize that its statistically impossible to increase the Graceland fan base. Greater success stories have been made from much less fertile soil than here.
The above are just some things that stuck in my head from many conversations recently that have been raking me over the coals for such an insensitive act. My comeback is that I plan to be a bridge of good ideas back and forth, and that having folks out there spreading the word of what a cool place Memphis is can be better than having all this activity bottled up and undersold.
I've been very cagey with my posts as of late mostly due to a job hunt, and the dangers of totally blowing my cover, to possible future employers and current co-workers. But things have settled down recently, and the quest is over. I got the gig and now I've got to get to the business of sorting myself out, packing up and driving over that bridge one more time.
This being the case, my last day set, I've got a lot of explaining to do. I don't use canned answers and never downplay the feeling of getting ripped apart. We all have one hometown, and mine will always be Memphis. Short of a natural disaster, it will always be here, clunking along, happily running about 10 years behind the coasts. My decision was based on the assumption that I am (professionally) a sum of all my experiences. I thrive off of exposure to new ideas, and my livelihood banks upon that assumption. I'm almost ready to turn around and give back my lessons learned, but need a better capstone before settling down.
One reading this would probably expect that I just wanted to go to grad school, which is far from what I'm getting at. I'm the type that needs to apply learned items immediately to resonate. After absorption, I tend to broadcast these items quickly. Coincidentally,
this is a very marketable skill for workplaces. I was in search of the perfect space that can handle the convergence of Architecture, technology and sustainability. I can now say that I've found that place where I feel very comfortable and feel surrounded by people who take the 'changing the world' phrase very seriously.
On the local blogs, I find the enthusiasm about locals wanting to make good changes here very refreshing. But what about the bigger idea, that there really are 'change the world' ideas out there that could have far reaching effects. Leadership here feels like being a missionary of great ideas that are worth spreading, but look elsewhere for application. Life is short and impatience is a virtue of mine. The sense of urgency in my tone comes from a gut feeling that the problem solving momentum should be kept at a fever pitch.
As a second motivator, I think that Memphis folk are generally a stagnant lot, that could use a lot more exposure to the rest of the world. Thats a generalizing statement if there every was one, but I work on a theory that the more exposed a populace is to the outside, the better rounded its attitudes (tword civic, social and professional ends.) In the end it comes down to perspective, and lack thereof.
Can perspective change in a vacuum? Rhetorical question, but its rather obvious that this city depends heavily on outsiders for leadership. Sometimes branded as carpetbaggers, they are literally the lifeblood of the town. Some mornings, I wake up and think that the city will just come to its senses, admit that it has nothing to lose, stop defending its sacred cows and realize that its statistically impossible to increase the Graceland fan base. Greater success stories have been made from much less fertile soil than here.
The above are just some things that stuck in my head from many conversations recently that have been raking me over the coals for such an insensitive act. My comeback is that I plan to be a bridge of good ideas back and forth, and that having folks out there spreading the word of what a cool place Memphis is can be better than having all this activity bottled up and undersold.
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