If there is one moment I can look back and single out the moment when everything changed, it was February 22, 2010. That was the day I decided to write the post “Top Ten Reasons to be an Architect” and nothing has been the same for me ever since.
This was the post the put me on the radar screen of hundreds of thousands of people … literally. As of this writing, this post by itself has been read a mind-boggling 845,924 times, and that’s just this site. This post has been published in 167 countries that I am aware of and it is hard for me to ignore the significance of these numbers. My site was only 34 days old when I wrote this post and I’m not sure that I would have made it past the first year if I hadn’t had the motivation that this singular post brought through its success.
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As it turns out, this was the first post in a trilogy of posts I wrote – to provide some balance, the second post was titled “Top Ten Reasons Not to be an Architect” but one day that post will probably get its own dedicated podcast. Exactly one month later, I ended up writing a post on how much I wish I had never written these posts …
It was quite the rollercoaster ride.
Landon’s Spare Time [39:25]
Cuisinart Grind & Brew Coffeemaker
The newest addition to the household, my new best friend and I have spent many a morning together. Long walks on the beach, drinking piña coladas, and getting lost in the rain … are all things we can’t do together, but we sure do make a mean cup of joe to get the neurons firing in the morning. For anyone who regularly makes their own coffee and doesn’t frequent the local Starbucks daily, I can assure you making the switch from run-of-the-mill, pre-ground beans to freshly ground beans is life-changing. What’s so great about this little guy is that you simply load up the hopper at the top with whole coffee beans every now and then, and it will grind out just enough to make the number of cups you specify. Handy for the half-awake person stumbling through kitchen every morning who can barely keep enough eyes open to get all the granola in a bowl. You’ll certainly develop a greater appreciation for the fresher flavor that can found once you get beyond the staleness of cup brewed with pre-ground beans; I know I have.
Bob’s Spare Time [45:40 mark]
SketchUp Base Camp – 2018
This should be an interesting and fun event. I am a big fan of Sketchup, not only as a product but as a group of people. Our paths have crossed many times over the years and they have always been very supportive of my Playhouse Design Competition. Despite the fact that I think I am the only person presenting on a topic that has nothing to do with SketchUp, I will be glad to be there and I hope that some of the people who read this site will also be there giving us a chance to meet and say hello.
Design Chicago
This is an event I am participating in as part of my role as an NKBA Insider (National Kitchen and Bath Association). I design a lot of houses and shockingly, every single one of them has a kitchen. The role of the kitchen continues to evolve as family dynamics change the way that these spaces are used, and the kitchen island is literally at the center of it all.
Bauhaus Tour – Thuringia, Germany
The German National Tourist Office reached out to me at the very beginning of the year asking if I would participate in Bauhaus Summit taking place in Weimar, Germany, the birthplace of the Bauhaus movement. Artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Marcel Breuer and Marianne Brandt answered the call of founder Walter Gropius and came to Weimar where original Bauhaus concepts were taken up, enhanced, critiqued, discarded and rediscovered.
Sounds like fun, right?
To most people who have been through the process, the field of architecture is an extremely rewarding profession. Just like any job in any area of study, there are good days and there are bad days. All anyone can hope for is more of the former and less of the latter. I’ve been at this for more that a quarter century and I rarely have moments where I regret the path I’ve chosen.
Cheers,
Outro [52:01 mark] – eventually we will have an episode full of this foolishness …
The Gumbo Guy
I support all trombone players
Upper-shelf microphones
Pizza sandwich