One Year mark!!

The site is live!
But there's still a lot of things to do, the site is buggy and not quite functional yet. On top of this there's major usage issue with the site, it is not clear to visitor what it is and how they can purchase shirts? The home page is weak and does not give sufficient information for how the site work and will lose people right away after the first or second clicks. In addition people might be confused as to what it is that they are purchasing and what it is that they are getting.
A surprising bit is that Addai and Egem both feel that there are too much overwhelming graphics on the site. I also notice that they did not read the text, more graphics equal less text reading.. this need to be remedies.
In the end I think I have lots of things on the wall right now, needs to see what sticks and what needs to go!
Lots to do today, and coffee is not strong enough for my brain somehow.

what is needed

The last 20% represent another 80% of the obstacle, I work though most of what I known but the obstacle of collaboration is presenting a real problem.
I need to contact both of the alternate Tshirt makers to get alternate bidders.

End of July

In another few days, it would be eight month since I was layoffed from my last job, what seems a generous amount of time at the beginning of this year now look like a burning and looming deadline. All the while the idea I had expending most of my effort on, seem distant and unattainable.
Here is where I typically turn for the positive, but some how I can't quite muster what is needed.

The Post July 4th recovery plan

There are a few huge items I need to take care of, tax, fishtank and the house up in Syracuse. Meanwhile, I got the Tshirt sample and I am not very happy with it. the color was off which was expected, but I also felt some doubt in regards to the layout of the graphics.
How ever the case I don't feel like things are moving according to plans but rather that I am simply 'working" with out a schedule or plan which is sure way of stretching out schedule indefinitely.
Working backwards, in order to launch the website, I need photograph of the products. And to do that I'll need to get them screen printed and tagged. And to do that I'll need to finalize the design for both the shirt and tag. So that'll be the major push righ now.

Start of June

I am well into the seventh month of tether free living, things are still crawling and I know I am not moving at the level of efficiencies acceptable.
And i already had a late start first thing this week.. But the key is always looking forward and not back.
What needs to be done this week:
1. Solicit idea on the website design.
2. arrange for studio visit to the Tshirt peeps.
3. Finish the outline for the four missing page, ranking, credit card payment, contact and a sub about page.
4. Contact tshirt designer to request for start of design and quote.
5. sign up for point reduction course

the Banguped weekend

What have I learned from my accident this past weekend? I need to up my mental stability capacity further, can't let a bit a screaming get to me. A rather annoying turn of event but no need to dramatize it either.
I successfully sketch out my web site structure this past week, what I need to do now is to once again put together a coherent solicitation package, the people I need to contact are the following:
web site programming, designer for the site and tshirt. I need several quote from both, ultimately I'll only use one programmer but I'll need 2-3 Tshirt designer to give me the variety I need.
At the end of this week I need to have a good sense of what this venture will cost me, I have left budgeting of my life out too long and need to start reining things in a bit. Especially considering the cost of the scooter repair and the car accident.
Things are still moving too slowly, I still need to build a venue that can unclog the bottleneck between my idea and the public realm.

Divided

I feel like a bag of loose bolts today. so much to do and the uncertainties both excite and eats away at me.

Consolidation for the AIAny Marketing meeting

The suggestion made at the marketing presentation are mostly along the line of the traditional medias.
My reaction is that there is a real demand for solid information on marketing in the new media field. Of all the firms that was represented at today's meeting, there does not appear to be any experiences with the new media, my question regarding the positive or negative of blogs basically fell into a hole.
What is required to fill this hole? a source of information that have a good amount of information on the subject base on real world experience and ways to quantify results. There is a real opportunity for getting in here. To follow up on this subject, here are my reaction:
1. I should put together a short presentation to fill this hole. I can start simply on the subject of blogs. Several architecture firms either in/ off side blogs and I can reach out to those people and get some real world experiences and bring them back, either have them speak or what not.
In addition, I have decided that it would be an interesting exercise to construct an architectural firm presence and see how far I can build my self as a brand.

End of April

Weather has been beautiful for the past three days to the point of absolute distraction. There are much to do and moss are growing on my now two live projects. Lets make a todo list and keep going!

organization principle

I constantly feel the need for realignment, I think the questions here is that I do not have any focused goal list. With out it and attached deadlines i can hardly move forward. I need to make a plan.
Where am I going to put this, I wasted just as much time trying to figuring this out as I actually writing the damn thing..
target market is the marketing department of architecture firms, my main focus right now is
condensate my idea into a pitch/ thesis that I can run it by a group of marketing people in my target market, 20.
2 aspect of this plan, getting a list of people I can contact and creating my pitch.

running

I was consumed by panicked thoughts last night when the realization came that I have been out of work for nearly half a year.
It is good that I was able to pull together the video but to me, the project continue to feel like a distraction rather then something I am truly committed to. Some how I do not feel like I have given enough of my energy to it. Distraction and lack of focus continues to be a major problem for me. Last week was productive largely due to the predefine set of goals I had. I am now at a dangerous spot since I am once again without clear goals and deadlines. So in turn that is my most pressing need.
This is not a project, this is for real. I wanted control, I have it now. But control also means responsibility. Me and I is where that lies and I need to decide.

what I learn this morning

The marketing committee was really helpful this morning, get me to think more about the nature of our business. Something about the BSA committee that I am not finding in New York.
Let me organize my notes a bit.
Having a consistent company identity, a consensus built image and an elevator pitch to go with it must be familiar to every one in the company. Not necessarily varied due to outside factor but can evolve over time.
list of media consolidation directory: Yahoo media, Cision media directory, Vocus, Burrelle's luce dir
Social media, blog, YouTube, Linkins
The client needs immersion; your image and name needs to be reminded, you need to be in your client's world as much as possible.
The 7 rules:
1Know the target publications/ website
2Create a script containing key questions and talking points
3learn their preferred methods of contact; ask
4be brief
5be flexible: take the opportunity when you were NOT mentioned to find out what it is that you missed that caused you to be missed by the editor. Use it to communicate with them.
6story telling
7buildimg a solid relationship- help journalists to do their job

My consolidated thoughts? Time has changed and so should the practice of Architecture, the act of confining your self in an ivory tower is long gone and in its place a hyper connected society where the practice it self needs to be juiced for all the entertainment and marketed.
But there's more, hard to capture my thoughts.. needs a better sticky pad some how.
Also needs a better way to capture the these lectures. Had some thoughts about the my idea of flowing websites. Off to my page.

new day new spot

I am still thinking about getting some sort of desk, a regular spot where I can work with out distraction and worry about hours and so forth. $500 is quite a bit to spend though? I'll definitely need it if I get that job in Philadelphia, but then again there are a whole host of issues that has to do with remote collaboration.
The Starbuck in Greene point is nice, some how better then what I expected from my brief look outside. they actually gave me a real cup and heated my apple pastry for me!

another test

I am having some further difficulties with Sliderocket, of course this come after my paid subscription just started. Maain problem is that the video in each slide buffers independantly, I don't mind a long buffering period in the beginning but this pause bewteen each slide is not acceptable. I will need an alternate solution or perhaps export the finished product out right, there are still some pretty major limitations that I am beginning to bump into.

buzz buzz buzz

Lots to do this morning.

1. Catchup on Email- check
   
2. Update calendar- check
   
3. spend an hour entering data for tax,- Check!
   
4. test electrical connection for my scooter trunk,
5. upload photo to fotki,- check
   
6. upload old photo to facebook - check
   
7. Sign up for sliderocket - check
   

and get the heck out early to get stuff done!!

The giant monster

The BIM presentation was an absolute revolation, it was exactly what I had in mind. Some one else has been working on the ecosystem all along, some how I am not at all discourage by this but rather encouraged! The ecosystem, and a complicated one at that, required significant amount of work to impliment and someone having done a good example of it only means perpetuation of something positive for every one.
What is the implication of this? the system is there, it is all there, what we are missing now is a project contract structure that allow architect, designer and engineers to truly work out side of the confirm of the traditional project structure. We are still missing the last part of the revolution, just as the question raised by an audience member, how are we going to get paid? well we need a innovative project structure to match the innovative technology. The puzzele are slowing being filled in and an overall picture emerging and what I am working on will play an important role in the overall picture of thing.
What I am working on, is the ability to communicate.
As designer, we understand the importance of a medium of communication that is clear and engaging. We are clearly still missing that, on all front. we have lots of extremely technical expertise but no ways of presenting it to the public, there is still a disconnect at large.
What was missing in his presentation was this last piece, I wonder how far he has gotten with it?

like a lump of wood

Its Thursday and i forgotten to pick up coffee before coming to the library. And are feeling rather treeish. lets push to get some stuff done before moving back downtown to a Starbucks for the rest of the afternoon. I do want to find an alternate location then default Astor place. As nice as it was, there were just a bit too much traffic for my liking.
I am getting closer to the end of the second draft of the presentation and are liking it much better.
I need more information, I need to organize better, I need to get more done!! Things are simply moving too slowly, I need to recommit to getting up at regular business hour and start working at 9am again!!

The broken internet

Had some terrible frustrating time getting connected today and end up moving from the central library to starbucks. took way too long to get back the necessary connection. Problem with lack of support and a stable work environment.

One more Monday

Its Monday and I am feeling rather muddled. Once again, things are going too slowly for my taste. I need some solid deadline to meet on the front of collaboration..
I am getting closer to the finishing draft two of the presentation and there are now sufficient information to start working on the actual graphics.
Speaking of which, graphics! I need some sort of design and right now I don't have anything. I still don't have a good idea of what the general styling should be. It would be great if Kerry come up with some thing but I should prepare alt design for comparison at the minimum.
Last but not the least is the business plan. I need to review the requirement for government funding request. It would add significant credibility to my project if I can land it.

My changing work habits

Its been more then three month since the layoff. Amazing how time flied! well the prospect of employment looked more bleak then ever but I do feel pretty good about the direction my project is taking. But things are going too slow! I need to focus more on it and spend more time working on it as I am two month in and don't feel like I have much to show for it!
The library set up has been working pretty well. Only downside is that I can't talk on the phone here, which will grow to be a more substantial problem once I enter the collaborative phase of work.
I can always return to my pattern at Starbucks also. But I wouldn't mind spending some time working in the Rose room.

The Library

I was in Flushing for food this morning, seeing the library across the street I thought to give it a try. Two dollar library card later I am now log on and set up to go. I does somehow feel strange to work here and for some reason I feel less secured. Probably due to the numerous warming sign posted every where. I also are missing the cushy couch. On the other hand the reading area is absolutely wonderful, banks of long working table sidle right up the the floor to ceiling glass curtain walls fronting the street. I can really get use to this perhaps.

Enough chatters.. I do have a 5:30 deadline since I'll have to head into the city for the AIA lecture so that means only 4 hours left!

Finalize the content

The message:
The lower 9th ward.. more than three years has passed after Hurricane katrina, the extent of damages the combination of flood and wind has caused can still be seem today. As the temperature of the ocean rises, we can count on bigger hurricanes and more of them. Unless a concerted efforts can be made by every single person in this world to reduce the amount of co2 emission and put a stop to the climatic changes, the tragedies in New Orleans, will be destined to repeat it self.

Building account for 40% of the Co2 emission in this country, which in turn represent 9% of the Co2 emission of the entire world. Recognizing our implicit responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of our buildings. The building industry as a whole have accelerated the adoption of sustainable building standards such as LEED from the US green building consul.

As a firm, we recognized the need to realign our design philosophy with the new paradigm of sustainable building practices. The age of the cheap and bountiful energy has passed and we are now suffering the consequences. But at the same time we had always strive for elegant, efficient and cost effective designs for functional buildings. And in some way, it was not a dramatic shift for us to go green. Rather it was a more formal and structured process of understanding the cause and consequences of specific approaches towards individual building systems and what alternatives are available.




b. This is the USS XXXXXX on its xx day long voyage from Saudi Arabia to XXXXX, despite its enormous size it is only a small part of the 13 million barrels of oil that is needed to satisfy the demand for oil in the US every single day. In addition to oil, US also import 300 million kilowatt per day worth of electricity and 600 billion cubic feet worth of natural gas per year.
This reliance on foreign energy source, not only adds to our already enormous trade deficit but it also represents a tremendous strategic compromise and place the power to determine the cost to keep our nation running, firmly in foreign hands.
To reduce our reliance is to reduce our consumption.
And buildings, which account for 40% of the total energy consumed in the US would be a good place to start.

More tests

Further tests

believe

This is the hardest bit, I find it hard to continue to believe that this is something that will work. And with out this believe, I can not proceed.
I felt as if this week was wasted. partly due to the long weekend and partly due to my illness. As if this really have any bearing on my current state of mind.

When I open up my laptop I feel some what composed. Perhaps it is the caffeine, but I feel that at least I am partly there.

My current target audience is "general public" i.e. the TV viewing masses.
Main objective would be a short information dump limited to 10 minutes
a. 15% environmental soap box speech
b. 15% Architect/ Designer PR
c. 45% building features/ feel good rah rah PR
d. 20% instruction on operation procedure
e. 5% leads on additional info/ clips with additional item (a.) and (c.)

The sweet bit

I need to produce something much more convincing if I were to make my idea viable. The premise is still the same, either the architect or CxA will have little time to produce something clear and engaging, and this is where I step in. But in order to overcome the inevitable cynicism and reluctance to act. I'll need something truely convincing that architect won't be afraid to forward their client and be able to take credit for. it'll have to reflect their character.

How to face the mountain

I feel some what floundering after a weekend and two days of out of commission by food poisoning. Things and schedule seems to be slipping, but enough with my self, pitys, its more important to get up and go.
After some work and plans to further flesh out my video, I am now convinced that in order for me to make this project truly convincing, I need to have an absolutely convincing end product. ie an video that looks interesting and exciting.
After spending lots of time watching videos I still don't get the exact sense and sensibility of a videographer. And I need to consult Keith and Kyla on this.

I feel ever the press of time and slowness of progress.

The wall and the revolution

We are wildly off the mark with our ability to communicate, liability and other obstcle

I love architecture, but I hated the practice. Why? my number one frustration was our inability to communicate.
I sincerely believe that we have an absolutely mind blowingly creative collective of people in the architecture community, full of amazing ideas. But there is a disconnect, this has always bother me from day one of my architectural education.

The inability of the public to understand our Brilliance!!

We spend years polishing the theoretical basis, experiment with forms and this is what we get.

*run videos of interview of people on the street on what they thought of great work of architecture*

What is the other big problem we have in our field? Contractor! I am sorry if there are any here, but they just consistently make our life a living hell! They read our drawings but have no conception of what is our INTENT. Failure of communication again.

One more, I present to you my theory of our their greatest obstacle. Our self. What is it that we produce, building you said. I argue otherwise, we produce content! What is the end product of 70-80 percent of our man hour? contract documents, which we reluctantly gave to the contractor, knowing that they are just going to screw it up, and reluctantly gave to the client, knowing that they will never take a second look at it, and call us any way to ask about every little thing that's in it any way.

We are like authors except that people can only know our work through recording on a audio tape from a 99 cents store read by some one who didn't speak the language the book was written in, in the first place!

Looking across discipline, how does the other cotent provider operate differently from us? Authors for instance, well first of all, books can be duplicated and sold to millions of people. Text can be digitized for e-book, recorded for audio book, portion posted on the web as a hook and so on and so forth. *picture of construction document set* can you imagine doing any of that with your documents?

Yet I would argu that this inflexibility and inability to share information even amongs our selves is primary source of our problem, and the cause for our inability to communicate fluently paradoxically in a primarily information based society.

Liability has traditionally been sited as the primary barrier to the flow of information.

What we lacked, is information flexibility. Fine tune control of our information, for us it is all *flash document set slide* or nothing! or in the updated version all *flash BIM model* or nothing!

Do you really care to keep your wood floor selection a secret? No, I have never met an architect who don't like to talk shop and giving out product reviews but yet there are no way to separate out the information that can be shared from the information that best be kept proprietary, which is perfectly reasonable although some people might feel some what guilty to acknowledge.

Information flexibility, the ability to control the information you share, and the information that you don't. Is what we need.

Photographer had learn this the hard way through the internet revolution. Do you post your photos on the web so ppl will likely "burrow" your work with out paying you a dime, or do you keep it safe on your hard drive but get no exposure.

Photographer learned that they can post low resolution photos, and still sell the same photo at the original resolution because ultimatly people realized that it represent value. we need to learn how to reduce the resolution of our document so that we can share it to imporove our ability to communicate with our client, with the contractor, and with one another.

And that is what I am looking to achieve.

the road ahead

I am still looking for the giant obstacle that is going to stop me dead in my track. I fear it but looks forward for it at the same time. I still am humbled by the mountain that I must climb and am can only hope that I am up to the challenge.
I spoke to Peter, Amil and Evan about my idea this past weekend and the feed back are positive. The next step I need to take is to first document what I learned that I have to do and then start cartooning the whole web demo out in detail.

Uncharted water

it is week 9 and I don't feel like I have accomplished very much, the main step at this point is to get the demo ready for review.. So lets set a deadline and get it done, Friday it is.

Deeper into the rabbit's hole

I have been thinking and doing more research about my initial idea. The end of construction divide, which aside from being the target problem, also present a development barrier as I personally do not have much information on the ins and out of the trade of facility management.
I have two choices in regards to this blind spot, either find the necessary training to become a FMP (facility management professional) or hire the expertise out to some one. The earlier route required more commitment on my part, time and more importantly money. Which I do not mind as long as there are sufficient proof that my idea can indeed fly.
I need to talk to more FMs to gather more information on the existing systems.

As I spend more time thinking about what is needed, it is increasingly evident that an universal translator of sort is needed, in essence that is the main function of the web site, depository for the building information and dispensing it in user friendly manner.

At the same time, the expanded envelope also make the project tremendously large and complex, it is beginning feel like it will be way beyond the scope of what my resources and experiences will allow. A potential approach will be to carefully assess the over all grand plan, and then attempting to implement an modular portions of the plan successfully and then grow from that established position. A candidate that comes to mind initially would be the training of the end user. It has the portion that contain the most amount of interest to me and is also relatively easy to implement.

King Midas has donkey's ears!!

I thought I was protected under the shield of obscurity, who would have imagined that the reeds would sprang forth and replies?
In the course of studying for LEED, I had an idea regarding the building manual and would like to explore it a bit more.
The building manual is part of the requirements of most building construction documents. Just as most consumer products would comes with a set of user instructions and warranties, at the end of the construction process, either the architect or the construction manager will provide the client with a set of documents that contain a complete record of the building system, as well as the warranties for everything installed in the building. This is usually couple with a short training session showing the staff how to use the systems.
The existing systems of binders I have encounter in the past seemed terribly inefficient and I thought there would be a great opportunities here to create something more user friendly.

LEED NC 2.2

I am studying for the LEED NC exam now. I do need a bit of a brain dump to get a few things off my mind that will need attention.
1. Call CitySites again to see about the payment.
2. Deal with the Delaware ticket and call again to check what's going on.
3. Call the water company and deal with the payment for 424 Helen.
4. Email management for an update on inspection.
5. Call Alice to start on the tax for business portions of work.
6. Call the women back regarding the super market job.
7. Contact Chilton to update them on the job.
8. Verify that I don't have an outstanding ticket that haven't been dealt with.
10. Manage all the returns, waterproof case, B&H, campmor.
9. Pack for Boston.

The climb back on the horse

Its been two days since we got back and I have gotten through the study material for LEED, I still need to do the sample tests and see how I do.
I still feel convinced that the two ongoing ideas I have currently can work, but both require significant amount of work to define and make real, both structure and content wise. Time sensitive and I must act as soon as I can.

OWGAC- the off kilter title draws the initial attention but I hope that the attempt to inspire is what will sustain the concept.

There are bad news every where and you have just join the ranks of the jobless millions, a victim of the time.
Bullock we say! Your life have just begun! Instead of busting your ass working just so you can afford to buy that large screen TV t0 help you relax and recover from busting your ass working. You're done! You are no longer a nameless cog in a cold, uncaring profitability machine, you are a fine gentleman with dreams and dignity. You should wear a large name tag that said "My name is John and I am sick and tired of your bull shit!" in thick, red, permanent markered print!

Why adventure?

Make them cry! People's reaction went from "I am soo sorry to hear.." to "I am soo jealous of you!"

Me, me, me and ME! You spend the past X number of years of your life groveling at the heel of your bosses serving their every whim and what did you get? You even shaped your life to fit their needs till that job title is now of more interest to others then who you are. Who are you?

The collective wisdom of desktop support. What do you do when your computer is slow, and nothing work? Reset the damn thing! And we believe here at the OWGAC that the best way to do that, is to drag your ass to a remote corner of this planet, through a hundred miles of sleet and bad road and scream at the top of your lung "I AM SEAN!"

Next time when some one ask you "so what do you do?" look straight into their eyes and say "I do Sean" if you sense any hints of a lack of conviction on your part. Repeat step 2.

This is not a cult, we're not going to make you sell flower by the side of the off ramp. But if you agree with our belief, join us and tell us who you are.

The How,

It is not a worthy advanture unless it is hard, failure will be wholy attribute to the lack of creativity and commitment on your part. These are harsh terms but you'll surprise your self.

What you have. People often forget that money isn't the only precious resource in their life. The other, just as important if not more is time. Yes your income has just gone on the miracle diet plan but you also just gotten an 100% raise in free time. A plane ticket is 50% cheaper on Tuesday then it is on Sunday, that difference is part of your capital.

The unemployment payment max out at $405 a month, congradulation, you just found the best job in the world, you get paid and are not committed for any time. Use this resource wisely.

You might need a cellphone, eliminiate any other expenses in your life. Move in with your parents.



You are define by that which you made. Go take a pottery class, take a lump of clay and shape it into what ever that fit your fancy and make sure that it is relatively compact. Then take it with you, this is your avatar and who you are. Its your job now to understand what it means.

returning from our adventure

After a grueling 26 hours drive, we are back in NYC and trying to get our life back organized. The OWGAC blog is way behind and needs some serious catching up. I have been having some trouble focusing on the various tasks in my life outside of our adventure. I need to catch up and do them now.

On the brink of the big trip!!

Amazingly enough, Evan was able to resolve his problem with his parent. And the trip is still on!!

It took us a little bit more then a week to take the necessary step to plan out our trip, but it still seem a bit unreal for us to have gotten this far. It all seem straight forward enough, grab a tent, throw the kayak in the trunk and off we go. Of course things never turn out to be that simple.
There's still a few things left for me to do before our departure tomorrow night.

1. I need to mail out my insurance check.
2. I need to send out the proposal, first thing in the morning.
3. I need to email the management company to check in on the status of Helen street.
4. I need to Call about the billing for my photographs.
5. I need to attend the meeting for the La Esperanza AFH meeting.

For the trip.
I still need to pack my clothing.
I need to have the Garmin map unlock on my laptop.
I need to configure the minoHD when it arrive tomorrow.
We need LOTS of AA batteries

Houston, we have a problem.

We are hitting some major snags with the Florida trips. Still trying to figure out the details. In the mean time, my LEED test is coming up fast and I NEED to get more pages under my belt!!

I am having a lot of trouble coming up with ideas for the La Esperanza project, not having the chance to meet the rest of the team as well as not having a definite idea of what the place look like really made it hard for me to think of something. I have to attend the meeting on Monday and then perhaps something will come then. In the mean time I should still keep it in the back of my mind and see if anything comes to me in the mean time.

I had a brilliant idea while studying for LEED this morning, as in all brilliant ideas I wonder if some one else came up with it already. I should talk it over with Kathy when we have the chance and see what she think.

Learning of web 2.0

Working on the everglades blog project really opened my eyes towards the possibility made available by the web 2.0 apps by Google. Totally different level of collaboration and so forth..

Two areas of focus now is the La Esperanza project and my LEED exam. Both pressing, in a good way that is.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas:
Centro Social la Esperanza, the original idea behind the funding of the organization is to provide an community plaza where exchange of information can take place.
The exchange of information and culture is just as important as the economic activities.
Take advantage of the "natural resources" available in an urban environment.
Recycling, what do people throw out? Can it be taken advantage of?

The everglade trip blog

We're getting more into the planning of the Florida trip, we started a blog to track our progress. The Out of Work Gentle Man's Adventure Company

A fragmanted week

There's still a lot to do before our trip, I do need to make sure that I am on track with the professional side of things. One of the more pressing issue is studying for LEED, if we are to leave on Sunday for a week long trip. I will only have 8 more days to study for the upcoming exam. Difficult but possible.
I also need to make sure that I don't neglect my other task, networking which I haven't done much in the past few days.
I need to start transfer some of the documentation on this blog to google document also.

You are going where??

We're still trying to plan out our trip to the Everglades national park, its quite some work to plan this out. Lots of things needed for a kayak camping trip, made more complicated by the fact that Evan isn't an experienced kayaker. We're looking into renting a peddle drive kayak for him, which will hopefully wok better since he can bike. I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity and start video blogging the whole trip.

off to the Everglades

Talking to Evan today we had the crazy idea of goingdown to the Everglades national park for a camping trips. There's the chance that he'll start work soon so we'll have to make the trip with in the next few days to take advantage of his off time also.
Before that happen I'll have to get the proposals for the Philadelphia community college completed and send out as well as make up for the lost time in studying. If we leave for a week, I'll only have one and half week after I come back for study, and I certainly haven't been making much headway lately.

A new year and a new beginning

I watched the "ground hog day" last night, if it weren't for the program I heard on npr about the guy who voted it to be the best movie of all time, I might not have revisit it.
I felt some parallel with what the character in the movie was going through. Not having a job, there are essentially no distinction to my day to day live. It was inspiring to see that ultimately happiness was found though helping others. It was a path that came to me at the very beginning of this road and I still feel that it is the right path, I do need to be more proactive in seeking out more opportunities. These are the three areas where I need further developments.
1. Strengthening and growth of relationships.
a. contact John for lunch.
b. contact Maria and see how she's doing.
2. Finding additional volunteering opportunities.
3. Continue development of Architectural Skill sets.