General Life Updates January 29, 2008
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- Hands On’s 80s Roller Skating Party last night was a blast. Wish I had some pictures… hopefully others will make some available. Felt a little sore today, but still played Tuesday night Ultimate until we got downpoured on.
- The rear window of my car was smashed while it was sitting in the parking lot at work. No clue what happened. Was it done with a brick? Was it done with a stick? Did they run very far? Why was it done to my car? I got it repaired today, putting me awfully close to having spent more money fixing the car than I did buying it.
- Work is progressing with my new clients (the Lais). I am designing them a fairly simple three-bedroom house but it is taking a while as I try to figure out ways to make construction necessities and design elements harmonize (for instance, porches that could serve as construction platforms to eliminate some scaffolding).
- I am getting people together to start a Spanish conversation group (called Tertulia… thank you to the Casa Bolivar at UVa). My Spanish is as horrible as ever but I think we will have a lot of fun and get some good practice. So if you are reading this and interested, come to Hands On after dinner (around 7:15) on Thursday.
Lack of Concentration January 29, 2008
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Guys I am sorry. I should be writing more. I am not currently doing a very good job of concentrating on any one thing for more than several seconds. However, I am alive and well and will add updates soon, promise.
East Biloxi Scavenger Hunt January 9, 2008
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Highlights from a photo scavenger hunt of East Biloxi that we did today as part of our AmeriCorps orientation:
Getting thrown out of Yankie Stadium… I am not quite on board with the general mood:
This house is green because its owner wanted it painted “the color of money”… and we are rockin’ the Benjamins:
There is nothing sketchy about trying to break into the Boys and Girls club to try and take pictures of little children is there?
This is the Bennett house, as masterminded by Jody. As you can see we are interpreting this scene in four entirely different directions:
Joining Up January 8, 2008
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It’s back to work, but not yet back into the swing of things. I shifted as of yesterday to being paid by AmeriCorps, which doesn’t change much except that I have a new weekly meeting to go to, extra paperwork, and four days of “orientation” at Hands On this week. Orientation is tedious, and I’d rather be doing work, but so it goes. I’m looking forward to this weekend, however, and to hopefully getting a new client next week.
Outside of architecture work, I want to resume learning Spanish. For now I am working on reading Los Diarios de motocicleta and may alternate with El amor en los tiempos del cólera. They are both too hard for me; to get all the vocabulary, I have to pause at every sentence to look up words. So, when I’m tired of that I read normally and sacrifice comprehension for the gist of the passage. Listening to music lyrics also helps me, particularly with pronunciation. Even better would be to find enough people for a Spanish conversation group.
Rebuilding Hoxie Street January 4, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 149 Hoxie, 188 Hoxie
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Well I am very excited to see progress in my effort to singlehandedly* rebuild Hoxie Street here in East Biloxi! Danny’s house (a combination rehab/rebuild) now has a nearly finished exterior, thanks to the fast work of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia; they started sheetrocking the inside today:
And just a block down the street, Habitat has begun digging foundations for Lendell’s house, the first house that I designed from the ground up (10 feet up, in this case). It sounds like this project will be moving faster than I could have hoped for (even despite a few obstacles like the post holes filling with six feet of water). Click below for pictures!
* By singlehandly, of course, I mean: with many dozens of other people.
Progress on Rosetti January 4, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Design/Build, Residential Design.Tags: 145 rosetti
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The inside of Patty’s house is starting to take its finished form, as the first wall and ceiling materials were installed over the holidays. Brian Stewart somehow coordinated up to 30-40 volunteers at a time to make great progress on installing the tongue-and-groove pine board that we chose for the ceilings, walls, and most of the floor. Although the material is nothing fancy — standard No.2 Southern Yellow Pine — it gives the room a very warm look, especially when the sun shines on it, and it should look great when finished:
By itself, it looks a little overwhelmingly uniform. However, the cabinets, fixtures, shelves, furniture, and areas of tile floor should make for plenty of visual contrast. We hope to keep making progress Monday, and could conceivably be done with floor, walls, and ceiling by the end of the week. More pictures after the break:
(Belated) Happy New Year January 3, 2008
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Happy 2008!
It was good to spend some time back home for the first time since I moved down to Mississippi. I’m back in Biloxi now, having flown into New Orleans late on the 1st. It’s surprisingly cold here on the coast, and our house’s heater is struggling, but we should be back in the sixties by the weekend. Work is starting back up: yesterday it was just me and David and Mike in the office; today we added Jody, and I picked Sarah and James up from the airport this evening. In some exciting news, construction is just starting on my first new house (Lendell’s) — Kiwi Brian and a group of volunteers began laying out batter boards for the foundations today. Brian also marshaled dozens of volunteers over the holidays in order to make significant progress on the interior of Patty’s house — pictures to follow.
Best wishes to all for the new year!
