NEW INDY TURKEY CALIFORNIA

Greetings and salutations, race fans.

It's been a while, eh? Sorry about that.

Here is a little grab-bag for you.

Went to Indy again to further the training of our new rep there. Cool town. This was right before Turkey Day.

On Turkey Day, the better half and I loaded up three of the four carpet crawlers and headed for Kingston Plantation at Myrtle Beach, SC. The fourth carpet crawler, by the way, was in North Dakota to visit her father -a man I like to refer to as "the _____ _______." Alas, I digress. At any rate, none of us are real big fans of Turkey. We like ham. We like the beach even better. Speaking of ham -here are the three that we took down to the beach. They had a great time. (Sorry about the more than usual personal slant to this post. But then again... )

After T-day, it was back to NYC for a quick closing on a fairly big job. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard on East 92nd to mix it up a bit. I did two photos from this "BIG WINDOW" room. I call one NYC Night. See if you can pick it out of the line up above. The other is a day time shot from the same window. Uh-huh---uh-huh--uh-huh... we closed the deal with a company that could become a big partner for our company down the road. It was great to deal with pros like the people from this company that we worked with. Unfortunately, all this business stuff got in the way of my usual camera phone happy ways. SO, not a lot of snaps from the apple. But, good news for you apple fans, this worm is returning to the core next week for three fun filled days of seminar. YEE-HA! (A cowboy in the city.) Sparks restaurant is worth the time to hunt down in the city. MAKE A RESERVATION, though.

Last week we went to Pasadena for the California Green Schools show. I think this was the first Green School Show in California. Hey man, God bless you if you are a birkenstock wearing (spelling?), tree hugging, earth muffin. I dig the fact that people suddenly want a greener, softer, and perhaps fuzzier earth. That's cool. And, I know it is here to stay. But it kind of reminds me of a sign in our office building that asks all who see it to conserve water due to the drought in NC. The mandate is to use paper cups and plates VS the dishwasher. So, the embodied energy in a paper cup and plate (not to mention the plastic ware that goes with that paper plate) VS the dishwasher or, better yet, a quick hand washing of the dishes is what exactly? It's that super-idiot thinking that kind of kills me.

Another example is LEED being the end-all, be-all of green. SO, if that is true, why do you get more LEED points for a petro-based rubber roof that is white and lasts 17.5 years on average VS one that has a life span of 100 years on average and will go into the recycling bin vs the landfill? "But you don't understand, G. The white EPDM reflects the sun and requires less cooling load." Oh. Thanks, Einstein. How much of the United States has a heating load that is bigger than the cooling load on a yearly basis? 20 % or 30% or 40% or more? Whatever it is, the answer to this little math problem is: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. LEED is cool because it, at least, is facing the problems. But, like a Washington politician, it may be a wee bit myopic. Then again, I may be, too. But, again, this isn't the USGBC website. It's the Closest Exit Blog. So, nah-nah-a-boo-boo. (Adult like, huh?)

At any rate, the show was cool, but there was a small lack of congruency in people that insist on wool carpeting while carrying around plastic give-away bottles from their favorite building product booth. One company, I won't mention any names, (DISNEY), was handing out rubic cubes with stickers that had earth friendly cartoon characters on all sides. The message was and is that Disney is very considerate of the earth. They also had a CD, "The Sacred Earth." This beautiful CD came packaged in a plastic container with full color graphics. Next to the Tree-Huggin' Plastic Rube Cube, this was pretty neat.

I am not saying that I am any better than these kids. Not at all. I love my Diet Coke in the kid friendly-drop-proof plastic bottle. I dig hitting the gas pedal and feeling the rental Malibu get up and scoot as the dinos at the Indy Children Museum (above) scream in three-part harmony from beyond the tar pit. I love the look of exotic woods as well as the look of the less than exotic woods and clients that can afford them. No doubt in my mind, there is some two-faced bastard hanging out in the G-man's body at times. I will not deny it. And, we do need to do something. Our forefathers and those hash-hitting freaks from the industrial age made a mess of things. (So did we, by the way.) We need to start and I salute the start. But hey, it's just you and me here, right? Please don't take a leak on my back and tell me that it is raining. Don't tell me that you hate people who aren't green while you eat your porterhouse-bovine-with-methane-based-by-product cooked over an open flamed charcoal fire. It lacks merit, but perhaps not more comments.

Man! THIS was going to be a short little post. Instead I climbed half-way up a soap box and made some half-baked statements about the half-fact that the Green movement may be more about money than it is about heartfelt beliefs. Or, that it may be more about getting on the old "hip train" instead of a deep-seated concern for the longevity of mama-san earth, kyoto. Wait, I made no such statements. I just said that the green thing is cool because it is a start, but may lack some congruency... like us...all of us.

Again, I digress. Californication is always fun. One of those places you can look at beautiful things while breathing in some of the cleanest air on the planet. I jest, of course. California is cool, though. A lot of very creative people. A lot of energy like NYC -in a laid back sort of way. If you go, log yourself a table at Dal Rae in Pico Rivera. No kidding. Rough neighborhood (kind of) but GREAT food.

This week I am in Boston. Love this town. It's very Americana. Hopefully I will get some good snaps and send them on to all of you. You, my Spotted-Owl saving, Randy Moss loving and hating, Porsche-drooling, Bovine-eating friends. I hear you. You're a little bit country, and a heck of a lot of ROCK AND ROLL! Yeah, party-on, Wayne. We're all a little incongruent. Like my bud Scott says, "Republicrat." That, my friend, is the US of A, and I love it.

Until next time, get out and live life and, oh yeah, hug the baby bamboo full color graphics on your corn-maize eco-friendly plastic-like bottle for me.

-G

Disclosure: The term "tree hugger" is not meant as a slam against those who feel that they have the right to hug the trees that I am trying to cut down for my next architectural project. We can work it out. Just hold the gas can for me while we talk about it. Thank you. -The MGMT.

RAIMUND DID NEW YORK

Greetings and Salutations, Race Fans.

I was in New York in October. I spend a good deal of time there due to the fact that it is an easy flight from Raleigh and that it is one of those markets that requires frequent trips. (someday soon we should talk about the "80-20-80" rule... a twist on the 80-20 rule).

Now I know that I am way, way behind on the posts. My apologies. As I write this I am in Charlotte, NC for a group of meetings with our new rep scheduled for tomorrow. I am listening to a tribute to Billy Crystal on the TV in my hotel room and the sounds of tribal drums on the TV in the room below me. The people next door are obviously on a honeymoon and the tribal drums are adding to their, let's say, "time together." I debated in getting caught up on all the posts I owe you OR listening to the various sounds surrounding me in this poorly built, excuse of a hotel room. (HEY HILTON! What is the STC rating on the floors? How about the walls?) At any rate, I decided that instead of posting a ton of posts, I would post just this one from October.

Like the North Dakota post below, this post is a kind of tribute-slash-love-song to one of my favorite buildings of all time. This building is the Austrian Cultural Center in New York City by Raimund Abraham The photos above do not do it justice. The construction photos and drawings are from an Arc Record article. Quite simply, it is an amazing building.

This building combines my favorite form (the triangle or, in 3-D, the pyramid -especially the asymmetrical kind) and my favorite architectural problem: a narrow lot. Mr. Abraham does more in a tiny limited sized lot than most architects do with twelve times the lot. The lot is 25 feet wide and 81 feet deep. The facade is ZINC. Not our zinc (SON OF A MONKEY!), but zinc none-the-less. It has begun to develop a beautiful soft gray patina... all zinc does this. It is stunning.

Look hard and check out the cube lit up in the early evening sky.

I usually DO NOT wax rhapsodic about my favorite architects. I feel that there is way too much hero worship in architecture and too few real ones to be had. I will visit the famous. Look at their work. Appreciate their genius. However, it is rare for me to say that so-and-so is one of my favorites. Mr. Abraham and his very limited portfollio of work is. He makes up for quantity with quality.

I had looked and looked for this building every time I traveled to New York. Somehow I got the address wrong each time or ran out of time. In fading early October evening light, persistance came through and I stumbled upon Raimund's masterpiece. This project, the Austrian Cultural Center, was a competition winner. Mr. Abraham, by the way, is more versed in the academic world than he is in one of private practice. Which makes this building even more remarkable.

If you would like to know more about the building, check out the virtual tour on www.acfny.org

It is fantastic! And do yourself a favor next time you are in NYC. Go to a great restaurant near Times Square and then, as the sun is just starting to get low, go for a walk and find 11 EAST 52nd Street... you will be glad that you did.

Until next time, I hope that you enjoyed this brief introduction to Mr. Abraham and the Austrian Cultural Center.

-G

SoCar

Greetings and belated salutations race fans,

I am way behind on the old posting. SOrry about that.

After my INDY trip (see below) I had the good fortune to drive down to South Carolina from the home office in Raleigh. Unfortunately, I did not have the kind of time one hopes for to really explore the Charleston area, however,
my gracious host did give me . . .



the opportunity to take a peek at some of the nicer areas in town.

For you new urbanists, check out Ion -the NU sub in Charleston. It is typical NU and fairly well done. The big "minimal car" aspect of NU, by the way, does not work too well in places like Minot, North Dakota where the winter temps can dip well below the zero line fairly often.

I am hoping for another trip to Charleston soon. The architecture is cool and old. The people are very nice and the town has an art-edge-type-feel-thing that is pretty cool. In addition to the history, if you go, check out...

PAWLEY Island. I had the good fortune to be invited out to our representative's home to meet his wife and share a meal. They live on Pawley and it is a quick drive from downtown Charleston. Definitely a beach feel, but a little bit more quiet and peaceful than a lot of tourist driven spots. Check it out if you go.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in historical downtown Charleston. It was pretty cool, however the parking is so-so and the bums are nearby. The cool thing is that if you hang a left and walk down about three blocks from the front door-parking entrance, you will find yourself in the heart of a pretty cool little shopping district. The college is nearby, so expect a lot of college kids. I took a left on this street -the name of which escapes me right now at 12:06 AM (the posting times on the blog are not correct, BTW). I ate fairly cheaply at MOES (the chain of taco and Southwest fare -"Welcome to Moes!") Before my fare of Charleston Moes, I walked down in the direction of the waterfront pausing to glance into the shops -one or two of which were gallaries with some nice work in the windows.

Overall, I would highly recommend a trip to this area of SC if the opportunity arises in your future.

Until next time...
-G

BRICKYARD

Greetings, Race Fans!

It has been a long, long time and I have been a bad boy. Sorry for the delay.

After North Dakota (see below) I went to the home of the Indy 500. Of course, I am talking about Indianapolis. Now here is the crazy part...

Years and years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, yours truly was attending a little university that the locals were calling "Silo Tech" or "Moo U." I called it, "North Dakota State University." I did my thesis for my B. of Arch degree on mixed used development. I decided to look at Indianapolis at that time. I knew a few people there and knew that the city was going through transformation. My whole premise was that the White river in Indy was under-utilized and should be developed and taken advantage of much like numerous other cities have done so all over the country. Well, low and behold, he river is now developed. A Gulliver before his time.

I didn't get much of a chance to look around Indy again, but I can recommend the downtown area to you. It is vibrant and the local AIA chapter has a great office and small bookstore down there. The other cool place to check out is Carmel -a nice little suburb of Indy. If you dig arts and that sort of thing, the place is pretty cool

I had a good friend in Indy at one time. The above keg picture is what his backyard looked like back then and probably looks like now. And thus ends the personal interest side of this rather personal blog post.

I will be in INDY again soon and will try to get a few more snaps of some good architecture, etc.

Until next time, please drink in moderation.

-G

A BRIEF LOVE SONG

When the movie "Fargo" came out, people automatically associated the quaint, hickish, backwoods accent and personality traits of the movies stars with North Dakota. If you watch the extras on the DVD or the special edition DVD (I do not remember which), you discover that the movie was based partly on memories of "Minnesota Nice" and that the Coen brothers were originally going to name the movie "Brainerd" -after a small Minnesota town. However, at the end of the day, they felt that the name "Fargo" had more substance with the added benefit of fascination for the movie going public. As I used to like to tell people, "Only the killers were from Fargo. And they didn't sound like back-woods hicks."



I recently posted about Fargo. I obviously am going to post about it again. I was there three weeks ago or so for the AIA North Dakota annual event and, in fact, had the honor of giving a little breakfast speech about our companies products to the architects attending. This room full of women and men were and are past friends, foes and colleagues.



Fargo, as some of you know, is about the flattest area or territory in North Dakota. The "Valley" is the result of a glacier flow from a bygone era. The rich, dark black soil is a result of the same event. The people, on the other hand, are the real event.



I don't mean to wax rhapsodic often, but I fully intend to do so now. I am behind on two or three posts, so if this kind of sing-song praise bothers a person of your constitution, perhaps you may want to skip ahead, Sparky.



I drove by the house I once lived in behind a pizza joint. The small apartment was the low point of my existence so far. The neighbor in the apartment next door subsidized his food with wild edible berries and plants that grew by the nearby railroad tracks. He would go on daily summer and early fall journeys to see what he could salvage from the plants. He built small wooden crosses and decorated them with flowers. We shared a bathroom at the end of the hall and the water came out of the shower head in fitful spurts, a thin pencil like stream, or not at all. I lived off of either Ramen noodles or potatoes -depending on my affluence by the day or week. I slept on the floor in an old sleeping bag that my father had bought for me while I was an active member of Boy Scout Troop 32 years before. Life pretty much sucked and, for the longest time, I associated my lack of funds, lack of food and lack of a decent living standard with North Dakota in general and Fargo in particular. Many years later I learned that I should have been associating those life polemics with me and not with location.



Shortly after the pizza house living experience, my life turned around and I moved to Portland, Oregon. I lived there for a few years and then returned to North Dakota to pursue an architecture degree. When I arrived back in North Dakota, as now, I would drive by that house and feel a sense of dread and foreboding -I didn't want to return to that place called Scarcity. (Thank the good Lord above, I haven't as of this posting.) I tell you all of this because it is never easy for me to return to North Dakota due to some of those dark and brooding memories. And yet...



North Dakota is one of the most underrated states in the union. As you fly in or out of eastern ND, the lakes of Minnesota start to give way to the prairie-quilt of farmland. And like the visual warmth one can take from a quilt, the people are, for the most part, warm and friendly. I tell people that the people in the South are more polite than those that live in North Dakota, but the North Dakota people are more friendly and accepting of outsiders.



The land ranges from the stark, at first blush, to the dynamic shapes and forms of the badlands in the West. The rolling prairie on I-94 will lull you to sleep, like a baby carriage, if you let someone else drive and relax. Sleeping, however, would be a mistake. For even in the flat East side of the state, there is a great exuberance and diversity of life in those fields, rivers and shelter belts. The deer and raccoon and ducks and geese and fox and the occasional moose (I saw one in North Dakota) will be in those fields in greater numbers than you may imagine. The fields will go from greens and browns to golds, silvers and rust colors. Purple will dance among the gold like some sort of royal procession and everywhere you turn, at every stop, you will find the people.



At first the people may appear simple or naive to you. This too would be a mistake on your part. Like the hard cold January winds that blow through this part of the country, these people are strong and hearty to the core. They will think nothing of shoveling feet of snow, going to work all day, coming home and shoveling some more. Many of these people will have two or three jobs at a time while managing their homes, their families and the elements of nature. At one time, when I was a kid, North Dakota had more millionaires per population than any other place in the country. This was due in part to the low population of the state and also due to the fact that when a farmer gets done paying off millions of dollars worth of equipment and land, he is in fact a millionaire -if not only on paper. The East Germans have a cliche about being smart like a dumb potato farmer... a lot of well fed farmers out there. Some may say, "Millionaires and farmers aside, why would you live there? Why would you want to shovel snow twice in one day?" The residents will say that it comes down to a standard of living. More often than not, what they mean is that it comes down to a very low crime rate and outstanding people. As far as the snow is concerned, they will say only half joking, "It keeps the riff-raff out."

Speaking of riff-raff, when crime appears in North Dakota the people stop and stare and talk about it. When crime happens in the big city, people change the channel. If I had power beyond imagination I would do two things: I would transport the entire state of North Dakota to the freeways of California, New Jersey and a few other places and teach them how to drive. I would also transport the entire United States (in small handfuls) to North Dakota and teach them how to be real, honest and humane.

Suffice to say that this is one exit that is very close to me and one that I highly recommend that you take. You can multiply that statement by ten if you are talking about central and western North Dakota. Next time you are driving through North Dakota -don't. Drive into North Dakota and stay a while.

PHOTOS TO BE POSTED SOON

Disclaimer: The North Dakota Department of Tourism is not paying me for these kinds words. These words are lofted out there for the world to see based on a deep-seated love for the state. However, if you are with the NDDoTourism, my mailing address is...

DICE BIRD REDEUX

GREETINGS and salutations, race fans. It's been a long, long, long time and I have been remiss in my duties of keeping you posted. Just when you started thinking, Gee, what happened to that guy? OR Gee, I'm glad that guy isn't "updating" me every flippin' week. VOILA! Here I am. Nice to see you again, OR sorry about all this.

The week before the week I did my two-fer to Vegas and Phoenix, I went to Charlotte to see a man about a horse. Or about a job with our company as our North Carolina representative. I had some good photos of Charlotte, as well as some stellar snaps of a nice industrial plant south of Raleigh, but, for some inexplicable reason, I can not find the photo file right now. If I find them, I will post them. All I can say right now is: North Carolina is cool. Poetic, huh?

At any rate, two weeks ago I did a double header to Las Vegas and Phoenix. I slipped the Phoenix trip into the Vegas trip because it is cheaper for me to fly to Phoenix from Vegas than it is from North Carolina. Vegas is what it is. I think I have already mentioned my opinion of Craptacular Lost Wages. However, allow me to say that there seems to be a nicer and easier feel to the Wynn than pretty much any other place in the town with the possible exception of "The Hotel" which is directly behind Mandalay Bay. The Wynn has this fairly jaw dropping water wall off it's main casino area. The bar between the slots and the water wall is expensive but nice. Like everything else in Las Vegas, you are on display when you drink there. Our Vegas rep and I had a drink while waiting for our reservation at one of the Wynn's restaurants... I forget the name. The surprising thing was that the price was actually very decent for the quality of the food. We were not approached by any prostitutes either, which can be a little bit uncomfortable without a salad fork in your hand and much more so with one.

When I left the Wynn, I went to the valet area where I dropped IT off. Wynn was busy like most places and there was a wait for the ride. As I stood there under the oversized lamps that look a lot like the thing my dad had on our cabinet TV back in the '70s, I could hear the tires screaching in the parking garage beneath us. You would hear this screaching and then count to four or five before seeing the headlight patterns on the wall of the up ramp. The valets were reving the living urine out of these Hummers, BMWs, Escalades, etc. And yet, not one of the patrons failed to tip the kid who had just tested the handling on their very exensive vehicle. While waiting I saw the same tall, sunglassed prostitute that I had seen earlier in the night. Her date this time around fit the same demographic as her earlier date: Short, balding and on the cusp of senior citizenship. Busy night all the way around at the Wynn. I waited for the squealing of my rental car, but the squealing never arrived. I guess that you can rod the living piss out of a Toyota Corrola and still not squeal the tires. I laughed. And no, I am not sure how to spell "Corrola." I laughed again as all the people waiting for the Italian, German, British and American luxury cars looked at me like an interloper in their midst. I walked fast but not too fast, as if to say, "That's right, baby. The really, really smart money." I tipped the kid and took my time playing with the GPS system while the window was still down. DESTINATION... pause... "CITY OR STREET ADDRESS"... Then I rolled up the window and drove slowly away. Of course, like everything in that town, it was all an act. Why? Because earlier that evening, when we finished din-din and said our goodbyes, I strolled over to the sports book section of the casino and gave Mr. Wynn $10 through one of his minions. What for, you ask? That my beloved and somewhat cursed Seahawks will make it to the SuperBowl. "Smart money," my butt. Oh well. I can frame the ticket and say at iffy cocktail parties with iffy conversation, "I placed a bet with my bookie on the Hawks." Imagine the stares one would get?

The next day I flew to Phoenix and back to Vegas in the same day. My sole purpose was to find a rep for Arizona for us and I had some hot leads. I ended up on Camelback and not too far from Scottsdale. I actually enjoyed it much, much more than the last time I was there. And, I have always dug Scottsdale due to the Frankster's establishing Taliesin West out there. I won't tell you my deep seated beliefs about Frank's personal side, I wouldn't want to offend you too much in one sitting, but suffice to say that even the most insane egomaniacs (not to be confused with those crased breakfast fans -Eggo-maniacs) can do some amazing things.

Anywho, the trip was a bust for finding the rep, but successful for determining who not to hire. And, a nice and kind soul gave me a heads up about one potential hire who couldn't make it and that individual looks promising. So, I will probably be in Phoenix again soon.

I drove past what I think was a gas station. My favorite form in the formal world of architecture, the three side pyrmidal form, was self-evident in all of it's past and neglected present glory. I only had five seconds to get two crappy shots off. I post them here for you anyway. This started me thinking about the house addition I just designed for a friend. Not a three sided form in sight. Same could be said for the drawing and painting studios I am designing for my own little utopia outside of Raleigh. The three sided form must be used with discernment, I thought. You shouldn't just pull it out willy nilly like some museum designers seem to be doing lately. Or mess with it's formal characterizations, like a lot of goof balls have. No, dang it! It needs to be handled with care and made into something important. Like a 1950s gas station type of building. I was just thinking this thought and one about getting back into the architectural game on the original side of the pencil when I rolled up behind the van that is photographed above. DESIGNER/DRIVER... And a third career contender raises it's monotone white head! Hmm.... For now, I think I will stick with the gig I have. It's a great gig. And besides, without it, who would send you email telling you the blog has been updated?

I flew back to Vegas. The next morning, flying out on my way home to NC, I snapped the photo in negative above. The stools in front of the slots look like tombstones. Another "deep thoughts" moment.

Until next time, keep your design intent pure and your van's tire pressure checked.

-Gulliver

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with Eggos. You don't have to be crazy or insane or even stupid to enjoy them. They may even be healthy -if you use organic syrup and have been wasting away at some base camp in the mountains for a few weeks.

Camera Phone Crazy in ATL and DEN

Greetings and blurry Monday morning salutations, Race Fans.

I had the good fortune to do a wee bit of traveling over the last couple of weeks. Last week from Wednesday on I was in the office trying to dig my backside out of the landslide of paperwork that awaited me upon my return from the open road. So, this post is a little bit tardy -sorry about that.

First stop: ATLANTA-G-A. 18 wheels and trucking. We're going to do what they say can't be done. I stayed at the Stone Mountain Hampton Inn. Not bad. Not great. But definitely not bad and better than the one right near the airport. I said it before in a previous post and I will say it again... if you can avoid Atlanta's airport and especially the Habi-Trail thing they have going on at security (upon your return), do so. Security lines here, suck. This place, you may remember, is the gig where they have two display cases near the scanner-metal-detect thingy. They have one display case on one side of the multiple lines (mostly closed) and one on the other side of the multiple lines (mostly closed). Inside said display cases are items you should not carry on board the aircraft or even try to get through security. Included in this round up of "no dice" items are: a two gallon gas can and a CHAINSAW! Look, if you can get a chainsaw past security or if you even think you can get a chainsaw past security, give me a call. Drop a line. I want to talk to you because you are either incredibly fascinating or incredibly stupid. Either way, I would like to talk to you because I enjoy extremes.

At any rate, Atlanta is divided into the downtown, midtown and Buckhead areas. (I think that's what they call them.) The downtown and midtown are cool -especially all of the John Portman buildings. The Buckhead area smells of money. Very nice with a slightly criminal feel. Our man on the street in ATL, GA tells me that a shooting or some other kind of violence took place in Buckhead with a major sports star in the not too distant past. Still cool. I suggest you take a peek when down Smokey and the Bandit way.

The other thing to check out is SEAR -good food for a chain and a good price. The added bonus is that you get to check out one of Portman's best works. The hotel looks like the inner rib cage of a giant in need of some serious chiro care. Which would put the observer in either the gut or the intestine of the building. Draw what metaphors you will, however I am one who digs Portman. Back in the early days, I thought Big John was very cool because he was the original architect as developer. John is also the master of the catch and release... or compress and release... he shoots you through Habi-Trail tubes (there's that analogy again) and then releases you into these phenom type of spaces. "Whoa, Nelly!" Our man on the street says that more than one person has either been pushed, jumped or fell off of the upper terraces.

Before SEAR, we went over to the Sundial and took some nice snaps of the skyline. This is one of the original rotating bar/din-din joints. Jump on, order an over priced Bombay Saphire and Tonic, and enjoy the view. Make sure you go on a clear day, though. It was fairly hot and hazy when we were there. I did manage to grap a few interesting context and texture shots.

Overall, I dig Atlanta. Nice town. Higher in elevation than you may think. And surrounded by nice areas. Check it out.

I then went home, bought a house, moved and on Sunday morning I jumped a big bird for Denver. On the way in I saw crop circles from the window and thought, "Oh man, it's New Mexico Dos." When we touched down I could not see the big white pup tents. Bummer. Then, after jumping the Atlanta-esque train to the main terminal, I popped off of the train and VOILA! Pup tent city. I know that it is an architectural reference to the mountains. And the interior space is very fun. However, from the outside, driving up to it on my way back, it reminded me of a bunch of mishappened women in white burkas. Google BURKA and look at some of the images... no kidding. Burkaville.

I then jumped into the trusty MALIBU by Hertz and headed for Vail, Edwards and Glenwood Springs. I always wanted a photo of a cheeseburger in paradise (ode to Jimmy B.) and thought that only way to top this was to have a cheeseburger in paradise while driving over the mountains and taking a photo -all at 55+ MPH. Foolhardy? Yes. Fun? Not really. Cool picture? That's debatable. Done? Yes. Now I can sleep at night.

After the big important meetings in Edwards, I drove back to Denver and was lucky enough to see some of the city. Check out the big blue bear bare butt at the convention center. And don't forget the flip side of the performing arts center. And of course Danny L's masterpiece (think zinc), and 16th street marketplace and... what a cool town. Somewhere I got the notion that one percent of all construction costs go to art in Denver. This could definitely be true judging by all the cool sculpture, art and architecture in this town. DENVER ROCKS!

I took a few snaps and have to say that the construction photos and the underpass photo are my favorites. No kidding. I used to do the triangular forms ad nauseum in arch school. Still do. And Dan's place is definitely cool (DENVER ART MUSEUM -DAM). But there is something about formwork or the bare shell of columns and floors or the texture in the underpass that get's to me. I know, I know. "Shut your pie hole, traveling man." Sorry. Take a look, though, next time you pass a construction site. The colors, the texture and the activity will grab your attention if you let it.

Anywho, I had a very limited window of time and did not get to see and do all that I would have liked to in this city. Of course, that could take a lifetime in a place like Denver. I definitely recommend that you check it out. And check out Glenwood Springs and Vail and ... you get the idea.

Until next time....

Disclaimer: Bare Butts in public are not cool. They could be cool, but if your butt is blue or looks like cottage cheese, please do not do as our friend the blue bear in Denver does. Thank you for your attention during this important public welfare and safety notice.