Our road is like a crazy zone. They are replacing the water pipes and generally making a huge mess of everything, eveywhere. The house has been shaking non-stop and there is a constant clashing and clanging. It’s a GREEEEAT backdrop for getting work done at home. Bowser likes it though because it’s like his own personal obstacle course when we go for walks. Big dirt piles and gravel mounds, all sorts of things to smell, and construction workers to say hi to. I haven’t lost him down and trenches, yet.
Other than that, we’ve both been working our arses off. Too much work. My weeks either seem to be 20 hours or 80 hours, no middle ground. If all my clients could have a little get together and disperse their projects a bit, THAT WOULD BE GREAT. But, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! On Monday I’ll be out in sunny CA to meet Jill and continue with her on her epic roadtrip. If you haven’t read her blog yet, you must. There are some seriously enviable pictures and things going on in her life right now!
We will be meeting in San Fran, pit-stopping in Monterey, then driving down the coastal highway through Big Sur. Then, heading east through Sequoia National Forest and Death Valley. Then, just outside Vegas, in Beatty, NV (which I cannot wait to see) Jill will be participating in a tough mudder. I thought about signing up as well, but then realized I’d be much better volunteering to give people buzz cuts and mullets before the start of the race. Not yet sure if this pertains to Jill or not. Wahoo! Finally, we will be staying two nights in Vegas, where Matt will be meeting us and hopefully keeping us in line. I cannot wait to get out there and enjoy a break and overdose on gummy bears!!! YAYAYYYY.
And the last bit of news is that baby countdown is officially on!!!! Any day/week now I will be an aunt!!! I can’t wait to hear about my new nephew (or niece), though I’m guessing nephew.
We went traipsing around NoMa a few weekends back (with some black and white film in the camera) to take a look at all the construction going on, and there is a LOT of it. I snapped this shot of Bowser and Matt walking under some scaffolding, into the abyss. Look at Bowser’s tiny little hind legs! They are so so cute. I guess Matt isn’t bad, either.
The dog park that we take Bowser to (17th, S, and New Hampshire) has been reopened for awhile now after it was renovated at the beginning of the year. For the longest time, I thought that this sign at the corner of the park was accompanying these renovations. And I thought it was a little ridiculous because it’s a huge announcement just for a dog park. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to know what the ‘Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ is paying for, but maybe put more money into the thing itself instead of enormous temporary signage. However, I walked closer to it the other day, and it’s actually there to indicate the re-paving of 17th Street. The project will resurface the street from New Hampshire Ave to Massachusetts Ave and improve pedestrian spaces to the tune of $8.20M.
Tomorrow Clark is scheduled to take down the last remaining tower crane from Constitution Square. We had five swinging around for most of the project. I had always intended to climb up to the top (150 feet above terra firma) but had not gotten around to pulling the trigger. As the window of opportunity closed I jumped at the chance to give it a go this morning. The picture above is my view from the bottom level of the garage looking up on my 180′ vertical climb.
Very happy I got around to doing it. The views of the city are phenomenal and it was a good “check of the life list”.
Spent a while up top talking Paul, the crane operator. He is from the Caymans by way of Columbia Heights and has been working as an operator for about 12 years now. Paul is a fan of the city, loves living here, but is troubled by the crime that continues to plague the city despite apparent physical improvements. He has seen huge changes in the Columbia Heights neighborhood but still has high hopes for continued improvement. A very nice guy and I’m happy to have been able to chat with him way way up high.
Early this morning, Matt took me up onto the roof of his current work project, Constitution Square, so that I could shoot some video footage of the DC skyline for my final compositing project this semester. We just missed the beautiful sunrise by about 20 minutes, but I still got some great footage and views of the Capitol, Washington monument, and the NoMA Station Water Tower, pictured above.
Tomorrow, Matt and I are volunteering at the National Museum for the Festival of the Building Arts (FOBA). It runs from 10am to 4:30pm and, from their website , involves the A,B,C’s, and D’s of the built environment: Artisans and Architects, Builders, Craftsmen, Contractors, and Construction Workers, Designers and Decorators. There will be tons of demonstrations, hands-on, and activities for kids. Come check it out if you’re free tomorrow! (red line, Judiciary Square metro)
I took this photo of Virginia Tech’s solar decathlon house, LumenHaus, this past weekend as it was being constructed on the 5th St lawn outside the National Building Museum. It will be there until Sept 27th, when it will then move to the National Mall for October 9-13 and 15-18. The house features the sliding glass doors (seen in the picture) on the north and south facades, which are all about allowing in the *light*. But more importantly, there’s an app for that — the heating, cooling, lighting, insulation, and sunshades can be controlled by using a computer or iPhone. Now we’re talking! Good luck to the team as they participate in Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid next summer! US represent.
This sign on Pierce St NE (a few blocks north of Union Station) is a little depressing, but at least it’s not giving anyone a false sense of hope. Did everyone watch Obama’s speech last night? I thought the most rousing part was this:
…It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
-Barack Obama, Feb 24th, 2009
It’s not Republican or Democrat, it’s just message to people to get up and do something to better themselves, and ultimately their country.
It’s Friday the 13th… are you superstitious? Would you walk under that stack of ladders without worrying about it bringing you a string of bad luck? Or, perhaps, you think like me and see that there are 6 ladders — an even number — and they obviously cancel each other out, so you wouldn’t have to worry.
I’ll admit that when it comes to my superstitions, it’s more of a numbers game than anything else. Evens, especially multiples of 10 or any number with an 8 in it being the far superior types of number. Maybe this is more of an obsessive-compulsive trait than a superstition, but something about me just feels off when there are odd numbers present. I don’t like to set my alarms for random times, example 6:37 am, that freaks me out, but 6:40 is perfectly acceptable. The television volume has to be on an even number as well, preferably 18, but 22 if the dishwasher is running. I like even-numbered addresses, like Matt’s old address at 8508 Summit Hills, but not my work address 8505.
I guess has more to do with my quirks than it does with Friday the 13th. What are your superstitions?
