Rhapsodic Graffiti

They have a full body scanner at the airport in L.A. They have a Moxie Java coffee shop in the airport at Boise. Boise is where I am today and yesterday and part of the day before yesterday.
It would be easy to discount Boise if you have never been here or if you have spent your entire life in someplace like the Upper West Side, or Miami or, dare I say it, even L.A. Discounting Boise would be a mistake. Let's just leave it at that for now.

Since Seattle (the last post) I have been to Georgia, Alabama, yes, L.A., and Seattle again. In between all of that I went to France and Belgium. I will do a special post on Euro-G, advertisements for the rock band KISS, and all that superior attitude-thingy that seems to saturate the air over there. But, of course, I will do that later.

I am growing a little weary of the road. And, in truth, it is not the road that is making me weary, it is the lack of companionship on the road -namely the wife and chitlens. So, I am brainstorming ways that I can travel, get paid and have the wife and the traveling circus join me. A good friend said to me when I took this job, ..."you will eat some of the nicest meals you will ever have in your life, however you will either be eating alone or with complete strangers. It will start to seem", he said, "hollow." Very, very true.

I console myself with the fact that this job really IS a blessing. That I get to meet and shake hands with some of the best architects in the country -if not the world. I get to indulge my passion and this overwhelming curiosity to see new buildings, new art, new restaurants and to meet new people. I get paid to do this. I am blessed.

And then, on some mornings, I wake up and know that I am traveling to a place like Boise. The reps in Boise are eerily quiet. They don't talk much and one gets the sense that they feel like they don't have to. After the first day, long into yet another car ride to yet another architect's office on the second day, you find out that the kid (in a father-son team) had lived in Washington, DC for ten years. He doesn't look old enough to have done this. He looks like he's twenty, maybe twenty-two at the most. "I love DC," you say, "Why did you leave?" The response comes back and all preconceived notions take flight across the arid landscape.

"I was the chief financial analyst for a non-profit. The money was decent and the city rocked, but I made a five year and a ten year plan and I did not want to raise kids in DC."

It turns out that the son attended GW on a golf scholarship. So much for inviting these two guys to the course at some future date. The father has said very little lately and mainly just grins at the son. I feel (and have felt) like a schmuck! I realize that this is because I am guilty of the sin I can not stand in others: A Geographical Slur. I have assumed that Boise was a fly-over city... much like people assume North Dakota is a fly-over state. And golf scholarships or not, Boise is composed of people with amazing stories and history and predilections towards art and architecture and music and good food. Suddenly it feels a lot like home, just like 5th Avenue in New York can seem like home as you walk along on a brisk day, sipping coffee, and talking architecture with a rep who should have been an architect. Or how Miami can feel like home when you walk on the beach and realize that life is really good in the small moments and occasionally grand in the large.
I walk through the local mall, knowing, feeling, sensing and remembering that I designed a store for this place a few years ago -back in Fargo, working as a project architect for a small and good firm alongside my friends: Rich, Tom and Shaun; another lifetime ago. I find the store and the ceramic glass tiles look faded because the light sucks in the location, but the curved walls and circular layout of the dressing rooms still look good. I snap a couple of shots and get some long stares from some college girls. Yeah, that's right, baby, architect -kind of... okay, not really, not anymore. But this is cool. Glory days revisited and then I realize that I am creating new glory days every day.

I flip through the local independent paper and realize that Joe Bonamassa was playing last night at a place called The Knitting Factory here in Boise. I see that Candlebox is coming, as is Ani Difranco. Nugent will be here kicking up the great white buffalo in eleven days. Coffee shops populate the nearby streets. The Capitol building catches the eye as does the terrain of surrounding hills and mountains. The locals refer to the Treasure Valley. People are friendly and smile.

I am blessed.

-G

Disclosure: It would still rock to share this with Mrs. G and the little G's on a daily basis. If you would like to be a patron of a traveling fun show and daily mini-drama, let me know. Of course, we have to wait until our 16 year old daughter graduates in two years because she "ain't going nowhere." Don't use a double negative, honey.

IPOD FANS

For all of you Big Apple fans, check out:

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5010

Thanks to Mr. R. Flaherty of Indy fame for the site.

-G

Seattle Slew

Greetings and Salutations Race Fans,

It is I, the wayward one... it has been a long, long time. Sorry about that.
I have been all over the planet of late and will follow this post up with a couple of more posts.
I went to Seattle to hire a new rep and had a great, great time. I love that city. Only city in the states that I usually enjoy more is Portland. And, of course, the two are very similar in vibe and feel.

Seattle is one of those gigs where you can catch Steven Holl, the public library, and other notable notes. I did not make it back to The Chapel of St. Ignatius -kind of bummed me out. However, I will be returning to Seattle in a few weeks and hope to hit it then. If you get a chance... http://www.seattleu.edu/chapel/ ...check it out. For my money, one of the best by Mr. Holl.

The library has received it's booty in the press, so I won't wax endlessly about the brilliant play of glass and form and light and ... you get the idea.

Of course, you can always check out Uncle Frank's E.M.P. -courtesy of Microsoft Paul.

Fun town... I highly recommend it.

Stay tuned...

-G

Disclosure: I like architecture and I am not afraid to admit it.

Back at Stan and Frans

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS RACE FANS,

It is I ...the wayward one. Sorry for the long silence. Check out the parking ticket on the seat of the rental car. Yeah... Actually this was a toll violation. So, a word of warning, TAKE CASH when you cross the Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate. It's a $25 fine if you do not. "

"Excuse me, do you take Visa or Master Card?"

"No. But I will take your picture and give you a fine. Have a nice day." Fun.

Speaking of speeding and breaking the law, San Fran is the home of nice cars that people actually drive on a daily basis. Check out the Italian exotic cars seen on the streets of San Francisco. Needless to say, I left my envy in San Francisco.

The days were actually sunny. Seems like every time I am there it is overcast, cloudy or, you guessed it, foggy. (Think Scooby Doo meets the Creeper back in the day when you were a carpet crawler.) There were moments, but by and large it was sunny and nice.

We ate at McCormicks at Ghirardelli Square. My favorite wine store is located there in the square... 360 Cellar... Check it out if you go. The Square is undergoing renovations...I have been in San Francisco quite a few times over the last couple of years, but I have not been back to the square since 1992 or 1993... even though I have been to the Wharf almost every time. Wow! What a change.

The other big change is over in Oakland. Check out the "Cathedral of Christ the Light" by SOM... just finishing completition. This is a pretty cool project with an even cooler interior. Almost done... I will be going back. http://www.som.com/content.cfm/cathedral_of_christ_the_light I am sorry that the snaps are so crappy... better photos on the SOM site.

I will be spending more and more time on the West coast as our company brings some new reps on line. As time goes by, I will add to the architecturally superior work photo file. (See the last posting on Stan Fran's Disco from months and months ago.)

Until then,

Take good care.

_G

Disclaimer: (Actually more of a plea.) The author of this blog is Italian car-less. I don't know what I have been doing with my time. If you have any suggestions, I promise to hold you harmless in future litigation. Thanks.

ral-VER

Greetings and salutations race fans,

A good friend came to visit the G in his adopted town of Raleigh. One snap in this montage is of a Raleigh construction site. Wooo-whooo! I can sense your excitement. However, he is also of the architecture bent or ilk or illness, so... this is the kind of thing we did. "Hey Leap (no kidding... his real name), want to go check out some construction sites?" "Why yes, that sounds wonderful. I flew 1,500 miles to look at construction sites, which, let's be honest, is a nice break from watching how fast your four year old can disrobe after being dressed yet again. Where to?" So, we went to look at some of the cranes and construction elevators and construction in and around Raleigh. The day before we went to a couple of the famed North Carolina beaches where Leap, much to TSA's delight, snagged a crap load of dead crustaceans on the beach for his own little chitlens. (I hope I spelled that correctly... sometimes the old blogger spell check sucks. "Sucks," of course is a technical term. Of course, my own spelling prowess also "sucks!")

Anywho, Leap left soon thereafter for the lovely midwestern plains and subzero temps that all midwesterners know and love. Said something about neck strain from the fast Mustang we rented to see how quickly two middle aged children actually can get to a beach. Wow! What a fun car. But I digress, pony boy.

Soon after Leap flew the G coop and bid farewell to my unruly kids, I took the now familiar trip to the RDU Airport. Destination: The Big D. The Mile High Miracle of arts and life. Yes, race fans, I speak of course of that mythical land known as Duluth. Just kidding... though Duluth is equally as cool. (Take the drive from Duluth northwards along the lake. A good place to end is Swen and Ole's pizza joint. I will not tell you which city Swen and O's is in... make it a travel adventure and see if you can find it.) No, you silly snow goose, I went to Denver. Last time I was in the Mile High it was nice and temps were warm. This time, in the middle of February, the temps were warm and the atmosphere was nice. I stayed at ________ hotel and disco on Zuni. Nice hotel with probably the grossest hot tub I have ever been in sober. Just a caution note for those of you on line saying, "Well the _________ looks cool." (sorry. deleted on the advice of an _______ lawyer.) (Sorry. I had to delete the word "OVERPAID" from the last sentence.)

The next day I drove to Vail in the earth friendly Ford Expedition for a big meeting with a big group of big developers doing a big project for big bucks in a town known for big coin. I had a modest hotel room booked on one of the modest travel discount sites. However, alas, a night in Vail hob-knobbing with the rich and richer was not in the cards. Rumor had it that a big snow storm was coming in. Now I am a midwest boy. I love snow. And although I don't mind steering with my knees while driving over a mountain and snapping a picture of the Good Lord's creation, I do mind doing so when the mountain roads are loaded with ice and the chances of meeting the Good Lord face to face are, excuse the pun, elevated. So, after the meeting, I bailed. I crusied back to Denver and snagged a room at the Embassy Suites between Denver and the Airport. Speaking of the airport, if you want to know what it is like to be under the big white burkas, check out the crappy photo above. Thankfully, the hot tub in this Hilton Family Brand hotel looked and felt clean. Or was that the Koi pond? Darn high altitudes and thin air. It was a nice hotel -no kidding, and it was very reasonable in cost.

The day after that we had a nice little continuing ed thing with some architects in North Denver near, you guessed it, Zuni street and the petri dish hot tub. North Denver is really cool and coming around quickly. Think of the Pearl in Portland before it was the Pearl. Or, any quaint and cool neighborhood first populated by the locals, then the artistic types and then by the snobs. I personally am waiting to make the transition from the artistic class to the snob class. Hasn't happened yet.

Finally, it was back to the burkas and a quick flight on an oversold US Airways flight. Ah, fun!

Today, back in the South, I drove to Charleston, SC. Stay tuned.

-G

Disclaimer: Hot tubs sometimes only look dirty.

MUST SEE SITE

Hey Race Fans,

Like architecture?

Like pithy humor?

Like monkeys?

If you have answered "yes" to any of the above except the monkey question, then you MUST check out this site:

http://designguide.com/Moviehouse.aspx

The rest of the site rocks equally as hard.

This site has just moved to the top of the old Gulliver song and dance road show favorite list. As those pesky kids from Greenland say, "Sa-weet!"

You can thank me later.

Later,

G

Disclaimer: Money is always appreciated more than "thank you." At least in this circus. Send in the Benjamin Franklin clowns.

Mixed Holiday Bag

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS, race fans.

It is I. Who else would it be. Sorry for the long-time-no-see-G-thing, but as the photos attest, I have been a little bit active.

These photos are all out of order. See if you can match them up to the list of events.

I took my oldest son (Mini-G) to a Panthers-Seahawks game. (GO HAWKS!) We lost. (we lost recently to Green Bay, too, but it's okay. You know when you are a fan of the greatest team in the world without regard to wins and losses.) I then left the game and jumped on a plane for Beantown. I always enjoy Boston because I lived there in the summer of 1985. It still feels kind of like home even though a lot has changed.

For you non-architect types, architects are required to do continuing education -like many professions. I was in Boston visiting architects and doing a lunch and learn with our esteemed representatives. The "lunch and learn" was the education gig. On the walk over to the architect's office I snapped a couple of nice snaps. I will give you this one -see the second row of photos above. During the lunch and learn I looked out the architect's upper story window and noticed the snow starting to fall. Suffice to say it took us over four hours to drive twenty miles after the lunch and learn due to a rather quick and heavy snow fall. The reps office in nearby Sudbury seemed like it was world's away. The reps were tense. As we neared the end of the ordeal, or should I say, as they neared the end of their ordeal -I still had to drive five miles to my hotel, they suddenly lightened up and started cracking jokes. The jokes, of course, were aimed at yours truly and my beloved home state of North Dakota. These jokes went on for a while until we passed an actual road sign for an Otter crossing.

"Let me get this straight. You are going to slam a state you have never set foot into, and yet your home turf has a warning sign for an otter crossing?"

That dampered them for a moment or two.

At any rate, there was a quick trip to NYC for a seminar on Memory Retention or something like that -I forget. I found the famous church crouching under the Citigroup/Citibank/Official Usury Card Company and snapped some shots that absolutely did not come out. I also roamed past Lever House and the statue in the center courtyard and all the crazy Christmas types around Macys, et al. My favorite piece of architecture or public art, though was this cool little side park with a waterfall. Sorry, name is completely gone. If you know the name of the park, let me know.

From NYC it was back to the sun drenched RDU airport in Raleigh and then off to Florida for Christmas with the in-laws. Let us imagine for a moment that I am in charge of hell and I have a new torture device. What is it? I place all occupants on a boat and play that Small World Afterall tune from the Disney exhibit of the same name... over and over and over. MAN!

Now let us imagine that I am in charge of Purgatory. Okay, here are your free tickets to the Magic Kingdom at Christmas. What a zoo! The lines made the lines in communist countries look like a walk in the park. And the people. Geez! Is it a rule that if you go to Florida at Christmas you have to look at blue veins popping out of white legs on every street corner? It wasn't all bad, though.

The kids had a great time and, let's be honest, that is what it is all about. My wife had the opportunity to see her family which was very cool, too. We stayed at a nice resort and had a wonderful room with a wonderful hot tub and pool very close by. That was all cool. And, at times, fun and even funny. One of the more, can we say, semi-humorous parts was when my four year old (pictured above) had a little accident and head-butted one of the Disney characters right in the old south-of-his-personal-disney-main-street-anatomy. I actually heard the guy moan softly under the plastic face he was sporting. I felt bad for the guy, but then wondered how often that happened before a new hire sought protection. Maybe Disney can market their own line of Disney character protective cups for the actual Disney Characters. They market everything else. Tinkerbell purse, Buzz Lightyear ball, Mickey flashlight, etc. The Donald Duck Jock Stap and Protective Cup should be an easy sell.

Well, until next time, kids...

take good, good care.

-Gulliver

Disclaimer: The posting party of this particular blog sincerely regrets any bodily harm that his offspring may have inflicted upon guys dressed in heavy costumes in 80 degree heat.

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.