Friday, July 24, 2009

Accounting

These last 10 days of July are a whirlwind of good-bye's to people who I won't see for a year and less thrilling, packing up my stuff to put into storage. Luckily, I pack the boxes and then simply move them downstairs. You see, I'll be using the two bedrooms in the basement as my storage unit. Convenient.

I'm doing an adequate job of culling items that I don't need to pack up. For instance, the possibility of me actually using the Structural Geology textbook from college again is nil considering I haven't opened it since 1992. The most interesting thing to come out of this packing chore is the amount of electronic gadgetry that I have just sitting around and am no longer using. Here's a list of what's in a box that I will put into the e-waste corner of the dump next week.

Found in 121 Cortland Avenue, San Francisco, CA

1 Wireless Router
2 Land line Phones (with cord)
1 Alarm Clock
1 Cordless Phone
3 Smoke Detectors
1 Cable Television Box
1 External Hard Drive (Dead)
1 Answering Machine
1 Wireless Keyboard
1 Inkjet Printer
1 DVD Burner (I'll keep this)
1 Canon S400 Digital Camera (Dead)
2 Auto Focus Film Cameras
1 1-6 Plug Expander
1 103 Plug Expander
2 Jawbone USB Chargers
3 Jawbone Plug Chargers
3 2 Prong to 3 Prong Plugs
1 Cable Splitter
1 ???
1 Stereo/Speaker Wire
3 USB/Sqaure Side Cords
4 Mac Laptop Charger Extender Cords
3 Coaxial Cables
2 IPod Earbud Earphones
2 Airline Earphones
1 30 foot Internet Cord
1 6 foot Internet Cord
1 3-Prong Plug Extender Cord
3 Cell Phone Chargers
3 Audio/Video Television Cords
3 Phone Cords
2 Cords where I can't read my handwriting

And I consider myself someone who is about average in terms of purchasing electronica. I can only imagine the amount of e-waste sitting around this earth. Yikes.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

All you readers with kids, here's something for you (actually your kids)

Announcement and opportunity from my friend Mason K. (who now lives right in my 'hood and who has an office spitting distance from my front door)





I have some excellent news to share with you: AMK's First Annual Kids' Digital Design Contest is now up and running! It's a free juried digital design contest that we are putting on for kids between the ages of 0 and 15. That's right--take care to protect your keyboard from animal crackers and spilled juice boxes--this competition challenges kids and (with their parents help) to use SketchUp to create a "structure for living" in an aquatic, intertidal site. SketchUp is free to download, easy to learn and dangerously difficult to put down) There are separate age groups to ensure fair competition and plenty of cool prizes for participants as well as winners. For further information and links to free software downloads, click on this link.

Entries are due September 15th and winners will be announced on September 22nd as part of the AIA San Francisco's "Architecture and the City Festival." So head to our contest page for more information, or feel free to forward this mail on to anyone you know that might be interested in entering-- the more the better.

Ok, I hope to hear that the winner is some child of a reader of this blog!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

On My Game When It Counted Most

This past Saturday I was up in Seattle for my annual week long summer visit to see the family. My high school was holding it's annual alumni golf tournament the Saturday I was there so my Dad and I signed up (well he signed me up and paid the entrance fee all under my name) and off we went for an 18-hole scramble. The 20th Claude Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament, by the way I was one of the few at the event who actually played for Claude when he was the Lakeside golf coach, was held at a private course owned by a significant Seattle area and school family. It's their own private course with it's own maintenance staff. The course, in the town of Arlington/Lake Stevens is about a 40 minute drive northeast of Seattle.

My Dad and I were paired with an alum from the class of 1968 and his friend. We trekked out to the 9th tee and started our round there. This being my first round of the 2009 calendar year, one can imagine that I was rusty. I didn't contribute to the group score until the 3rd hole. However, as the round progressed, I got back in the groove and with the increasing inebriation of our playing partners, my Dad and I began making the shots and drives our group ended up using.

The big moments of the day happened first on the par 3 1st hole, which for our group was our 11th hole of the day. Lakeside's number 1 alumni cheerleader, and former teacher of mine Bruce Bailey and the alumni office members were sitting and watching groups go by. There was a $10,000 prize for a hole-in-one. I stepped up and hit what turned out to be my best shot of the day. It arced over an tree that hung over the corner of the green and landed some 15 feet from the pin. Bruce pulled out his binoculars to make sure he wasn't going to fork over a bunch of cash. (Before I hit the ball, however, I stated that I would donate the money back to the school.)

Two holes later, Bruce is driving along in a cart and pulls up behind our group which is about to hit our second shot into the 3rd green. My dad and the other two guys of the group spray their shots short and left of the green. I drop my ball, pull out a six-iron. As I'm standing over the ball, I'm thinking about how good it would look to again hit a great shot. The gods were smiling because I nailed a shot that the pros would be happy with. It had perfect arc, was dead on with the flag stick and eventually landed 6 feet from the hole. I got kudos from Bruce.

Who knows if this performance may play in the future when I apply for a job teaching at my alma mater. If not, at least Mr. Lakeside himself thinks I can hit the ball well on the links!