ITB-WNW

Today I ventured out for another walk Inside The Beltline. This time I covered the area WNW of my apartment, essentially the neighborhood between Wade Avenue and Glenwood Avenue. (Last time--ITB-W--was between Hillsborough Street and Wade Avenue.) I didn't take any pictures; though the neighborhood was nice and quaint, etc., there were few notable sights worthy of a photo.

Here's the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=Pineview+St+to:Grant+Ave+to:Canterbury+Rd+to:Cambridge+Rd+to:Lake+Boone+Trail+to:Ridge+Rd+%26+Glen+Eden+Dr,+Raleigh,+Wake,+North+Carolina+27612,+United+States+to:35.809148,-78.653741+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&hl=en&geocode=%3BFbpOIgIdVM9P-w%3BFVVOIgIdeJlP-w%3BFTZuIgIddp5P-w%3BFcKCIgIdZKtP-w%3BFRSAIgIdZmdP-w%3B%3B%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=1&mrsp=7&sz=15&via=1,2,3,4,5,7&dirflg=w&sll=35.806433,-78.656745&sspn=0.027391,0.055618&ie=UTF8&ll=35.809844,-78.66168&spn=0.02739,0.055618&z=15

This week at work was truly shitty--I mean, honestly, any week the involves a trip to Baltimore is a little iffy to begin with--but I worked more hours that I have in a long, long time, and this project is certainly not getting any more fun or engaging. By far my work experience here has been a real stinker and has brought my spirits low about living in Raleigh across the board. In case I hadn't yet conveyed that in previous posts...

On a more positive note, though, I did host my first guests last weekend--Mom and Steve. They stopped by on their way south to the Keys/Bahamas for the winter. Some photos:

We went to the State Fair, which was so crowded by midafternoon that you really couldn't get anywhere. Quite a shame, because it all looks like fun if you took about two thirds of the people away. That's what you get for going on the weekend, I guess.

Now time to catch up on my LEED exam studying, which has lagged due to having no energy after a long week of work...

Odd Couple?

How is it that I find Jack Lemmon's character, Felix, in The Odd Couple so repellant, and yet I know I'm him? Shouldn't that realization mean something? Or not?

It's not a linear process?

I was not able to get out--er, I am not able to get out--for a walk today. Though the weather is a gorgeous near-80 and sunny (as is customary for this time of year in Raleigh, I gather), I simply have too much to do. It is hard to multitask during a three hour walk. So perhaps next week?

Instead I'd rather gripe and rant about design and the practice of architecture; perhaps it will shed some light on my frustrations at work and, you know, in general.

If anyone has ever attended architecture school and subsequently worked for an architecture firm that holds design as an important selling point, they've heard this: "Design is not a linear process." This is usually said by someone higher up on the professional food chain when someone lower down is expressing frustration about being directed to undo and redo the same work many times over. I've heard it often. Very often.

On the face of it, I understand the statement. When we design, we cannot know all the implications of every move we make or how satisfying the outcome will be. So, in effect, design is a thousand mini experiments executed nearly simlutaneously that must be sorted out for their individual successes and failures when the experiments are over. In terms of architectural design, this means that we move a wall because it looks more right there than where it was but we also acknowledge that it works better over there and is more buildable over here, and in the end some weighting of all these factors will come together and the wall will be built in some place, but not before moving several more times for several more reasons. Executed my a proficient designer who can explain his or her methodology, the "nonlinear" design process takes this stew of uncertainty and applies values to it with the understanding that, at some point, the wall must be built somewhere and linearity must come back into the process to enable that. The experiments MUST END and you must GO FORWARD with DECISIONS and accept that further nonlinearity is not helpful.

I posit that the people who have constantly regurgitated "Design is not a linear process" are usually not these proficient designers but are actually capricious and indecisive. These people often cannot explain their methodology; despite mounting evidence that the wall needs to be "here" and not "there," they still hold out that "there" looks better and can be made to work when it cannot. And my role in this is usually to be launched on the wild goose chase for the linkage between why something is there and why it makes any sense, when it most often does not. And then to look bad when the linkage cannot be found. And then to be put on another chase immediately thereafter for why it didn't work any better two weeks ago.

But ok, fine, I'm just a disgruntled and frustrated employee who will find anything to be stressed about. So let's assume for a moment that all architects believed that design could be a nonlinear process and it could actually work without frustrating their own employees. What about the rest of the world? Architects aren't the only people who work on building buildings. What about clients? Engineers? Contractors? Do these people see any value in our nonlinearity? Because the process they're on in most definitely linear. In fact, there's a goddamn calendar up on the wall in the client's office that shows the project kickoff date and the date of building occupancy. That's pretty linear--he or she wants to see progress get made at each step. Things must always progress from being vague ideas and concepts towards being refined, detailed, and executable as built elements. What about the engineers? In my experience, the engineers must always be responding to our design intent with their technical systems. If we move a wall from here to there, we could invalidate their entire system design. That would sure make their process nonlinear as well. Actually, that would probably drive them to just wait us out... and not do anything until they knew that those walls can't move anymore. And contractors... whew. They don't like this nonlinear bullshit, because when you pay ten guys to nail some shit up on the wall, IT IS UP, and if some prickish designer decides he wants that shit over there instead, he better be ready to pay for it all over again.

Listen, this nonlinear process thing is a fiction, a myth. At some date, the architect hands over a set of drawings that becomes a legal contract. The date is fixed, and the legality is fixed. You may hash over and revise your ideas and drawings and move that wall back and forth a hundred times, but you ARE and MUST BE constantly narrowing the range of possibilities over time or else you are not engaged in an actual process. You're essentially jerking off and expecting a boat load of people who depend on you to watch in rapt awe.

If being a designer means that I should be capriciously fucking with what obviously needs to be a linear process, than fine, I don't have to be a designer. Nonlinearity really gives design a bad name.

P.S.: I guess what I'm saying is, every divergence from the path needs to either provide success or at least useful feedback that brings the design closer to a desirable outcome. To make a move that runs contrary to established design goals or does not bring with it at least the expectation of progressing the design in some range of value is a worthless waste of time. Even in a situation of infinite available time, who would want to be a part of THAT nonlinear process?

ITB-W

So apparently it takes about three months for me to get used to/less anxious about a new living situation. Here it is, end of September, end of month three, and the weather has gotten better, the job has gotten easier to deal with, there's better TV on, and my exam paperwork is going through ahead of schedule. Sure, gas is scarce and expensive... actually, most things are scarce and expensive. The economy is poised to slide down the poop chute. I've had to quit my favorite habit (coffee). But I'm starting to feel a certain level of familiarity with Raleigh, with commuting, with being an architect again, etc. etc. Life is certainly less shitty than it was during the summer.

In between studying for my LEED exam (which is probably not worth studying for, but that's just me I guess) I decided to take my first long walk to a part of the city I haven't visited before. Actually, back up a bit. I was thinking about Rome. And how, in the few months I lived in Rome in 1999, I could and would walk just about anywhere within the ancient walls of the city. Sure, my feet would get tired, but the fact is, it's only a couple miles from Campo dei Fiori (in the center) to any point on the wall. Then I realized that Raleigh isn't that different (uh, eh) in that its center is surrounded by the Beltline highway; the Beltline is only three miles from the center (give or take). And I live kinda close to the center. So... why not utilize this great weather and pedestrianilate my way around the city, from center to wall?

Today's tour was ITB-W: Inside The Beltline - West. It will be the shortest and easiest walk. And maybe the only one. No promises. Basically, it's the area between NC State, Meredith College, and Cameron Village (where I live).

Here's the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=Gardner+St+to:Clark+Ave+to:Hillsborough+and+Beryl+rd,+Raleigh+to:35.781022,-78.650694+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&hl=en&geocode=%3BFcIfIgId1JZP-w%3BFWMrIgIdrV9P-w%3B%3B%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=1&mrsp=4&sz=15&via=1,2,4&dirflg=w&sll=35.792684,-78.671165&sspn=0.027396,0.055618&ie=UTF8&z=15.

Here are the highlights:

I stumbled upon this amphitheater not too far from my supermarket... it's attached to Raleigh's Little Theater, that box behind it.

This is the kind of neighborhood it is--pretty clean, family-friendly, fairly affluent, but with some college student apartments in the mix. Decent sidewalks.

This is Meredith College, about which I know nothing aside from that it has a public bikepath along the campus edge that is fenced in, so I couldn't get off it where I wanted to and had to backtrack.

It wouldn't have made sense to not get all the way to the edge of the Beltline, right?

This place on Hillsborough Street across from NC State looks neat... but probably rife with college kids. Homecoming week starts today, and there were a bunch of coeds and frat boys out painting storefront windows with red letters and wolves (they're the Wolfpack). They play Boston University for their homecoming game next week. Hope they don't suck it like they did this week!



This is State's bell tower. You can see it from my supermarket, but I had no idea what it was until a few weeks ago.



So there you have it! It was a two-hour walk and approximately 6 miles.

Now for anyone keeping score on the weather here: it's been rainy here lately, too. In fact, the lawn outside my patio has been spongy wet since TS Hannah several weeks ago. It's been an unusually wet summer for this drought-prone area. I was surprised that, within the span of a few weeks from mid-September to late-September, we went from a temperature ceiling of about 90 degrees to one of about 80 degrees (and thank God for it). I guess ceiling is the wrong term... it went from hovering around 90 to hovering around 80. For a few days, it hovered closer to 70, but that was an oddity. In my mind, I imagined it staying hot hot into October and then peeling back a degree a week, so I was happy to get the same feeling of post-summer relief I'm used to up north. Today it's about 82, sunny, not humid... pretty ideal. Great for a long walk in shorts. Too bad I wore my jeans instead duh!).

Manbearpig?

Despite the awesome (though still sweaty) weather, I'm afraid to rescue my bicycle from the patio closet where I deposited it more than two months ago. I don't have a helmet yet, but that's not the root of my fear. Rather, it's the family of Crabfrogcrickets that dwell in the closet that truly freak me out. I've never seen such abominations in my life. They have the body shape of crabs (like huge lozenges), the "skin" color and texture of frogs, and the legs of mutantly large crickets. I can tell they are a family, because there is one of about every size from tiny baby up to big daddy. It's a large multigenerational Catholic family, too... there are a lot of 'em. I've become a little more inured to the big fucking hugantic bugs and spiders around here, I guess. But these ones really creep me out because they make joint-popping sounds when I open the closet door. It's like their legs are that big... it makes me want to set fire to them or spray them with Windex, not because they threaten me, per se, but just because they are SO WRONG. But instead I think I'll just avoid that closet. Maybe something bigger will come along and eat them. I bet they taste like chicken.

Today's mission was to enclose the porch/patio in some kind of netting so that the cat could roam out there sans leash... and so I could read my paper without him dragging me out of my chair. I spent about $20 at Ace getting garden netting--the real light vinyl kind you throw over your vegetable garden to prevent it from becoming the most popular salad bar amongst the local woodland creature population. The result looks like a clusterfuck, as most homemade project without instructions or design time tend to. But I was confident that it would dissuade the cat from leaving the patio. Well, it took him some time, but I blinked and he was suddenly on the other side of the netting. So not only did I have to undo the net to tackle him, I don't even know how to fix the clusterfuck. So now it will simply be a cat slow-down net so I can stop kicking the door jamb every time I come in and out to keep him from bolting. But he'll still have to wear the leash, only now there will be no walkies. He'll be leashed and lying down or leashed and tangled up in a net. Sucks to be rash, huh Fenway?

What is it with working on the weekend? What the fuck? Who else on earth has to do this? Is it really not enough to work a 48 hour week? I feel like I was given a guilt trip for not volunteering my Sunday afternoon to head back into the office, 20 miles away. Instead, I ended up doing a half day of work in my low-tech home so that I could at least claim to have made a contribution, but REALLY... what is this bullshit about? Don't feed me this line that architects, like lawyers and doctors, must do whatever it takes to get the job done. Those people make three times what I make straight out of their higher ed graduation. And they go on lengthy vacations. And get scads of misappropriated respect from the laypeople. I get shit. I get lousy stress working on junky projects that no one will care about even at the ribbon cutting ceremony. I AM NOT ON CALL. YOU DO NOT OWN MY TIME PAST 40 HOURS. Any time I'm willing to work past that is because I like to do a good job, so please start approaching your requests for my sacred weekend time in that light. I do not have a fiancee or wife or girlfriend or mom to cook my meals, do my laundry, feed my cat, do my grocery shopping, clean my bathroom, and return my library books. THERE MUST BE A TIME IN MY WEEK TO DO THIS AS WELL AS FIGURE OUT WHY THE FUCK I MOVED TO RALEIGH. Every minute I spend in the office is another minute that my ACTUAL life goals are not realized. So, do not be SURPRISED, do not act DISAPPOINTED, and certainly do not try to GUILT me if, for God's sake and my own, I want two full fucking days of not having to work. Fuck you, gees.

Raleigh Wide Open

I was anticipating missing the Sterling Fair this year, my first in a few. The Fair has been about my only opportunity to eat really, really bad-for-me food in great quantity and convincingly pass it off as family funtime. It was also my sole flirtation with gambling--I was happy to hand over much money to the token-conveyor thingy, just rolling them down their little sluce pipe into the kicking feet of the clown, hoping for many awful and cheap trinkets during my hours of standing there.

I definitely felt like it was time for a Fair. The Sterling Fair always comes the weekend after Labor Day, just as the summer heat has either been put over a barrel or is making its last heroic stand before being cut down in the first really cold morning the following week. I'm looking forward to that weekend down here in Raleigh and was subconsciously feeling like a good fair would hasten its arrival.

Well, though I could not make it to Sterling this weekend, the fair managed to find me here in Raleigh. This weekend was the third annual Raleigh Wide Open, a downtown fair and carnival that, aside from the tall buildings, is not too different than the parts of the Sterling Fair I like. Alight, there's not much "agricultural" to it; that fair is the NC State Fair in October, and it will blow the doors off of anything Sterling has ever seen. But Raleigh Wide Open had all the bad food, aimlessly wandering morons, inexplicable commercial booths, and attractions that the Sterling Fair has. RWO, though, has alcohol, which makes it much cooler (for someone like me, anyway). This year's RWO fair also had the much-anticipated opening of the new Raleigh Convention Center, which has some nice spaces and features, though I doubt it will make a big difference in how cosmopolitan Raleigh feels...

When not downtown, I've been conducting marathon tech support chat sessions with Dell to get my DVD drive replaced (it started skipping on my Michael Clayton Netflix DVD last night and never stopped after testing several other CDs; trying to break in my couch; buying new screen inserts so I can keep my windows open without the cat flopping out; catching up with my DVR recordings; NOT watching the Patriots, as they are not picked up by the local network coverage (bad news about Brady, though, huh?); etc. etc.

Not too bad of a weekend... now to just avoid thinking about work for another 12 hours!

Month 2 in the can

I have a couch now! I'm bonafide!

Now, just have to keep Fenway from scratching it up and making it instantly worthless. So the trappings of a real life are starting to collect here--car brakes that don't sound like they'll break on my next commute, furniture, wireless internet... yes, it's costing a lot, but so far I'm not at risk of getting myself into debt. You know... more debt. Still plenty of student loans to pay off.

With at least three named tropical storms kicking around right now, can I ask a simple question? When did hurricanes become political events? While visiting Grandma this weekend, I was forced to watch/roll eyes at Fox News. Their entire converage of Gustav last night was POLITICAL REPORTING. It was 100% about how the GOP was reacting to Gustav in regards to their convention planning. I sat there for an hour waiting for someone to simply say "Gustav is expect to make landfall at _____ at about _____ o'clock tomorrow." Nuthin. It was instead "McCain has halted all RNC activities for day one in order to 'focus attention' on the hurricane preparedness and cleanup efforts for Hurrican Gustav." They repeated that about every 30 seconds with a rolling clip of him and Tina Fey visiting the hurricane preparedness center, shaking lots of hands and apparently getting briefed on NO INFORMATION.

Like, I get it. Zoiks, Scoob. Hurricane. Fucked up once before, gotta get it right now, make sure Katrina isn't a Republican thing for ever and ever. But who shed a goddamn tear a couple weeks ago as Tropical Storm Fay hit Florida FOUR TIMES and dumped half the fucking Atlantic all over the flattest and wettest state in the country? I don't remember McCain or Obama cancelling any events except THE ONES IN FLORIDA. So honestly, folks. This is bullshit. Hurricanes are not political events and should not be in political news. Especially if they aren't being preceded by or followed by horrible political ineptitude, which has obviously not been the case this time around. Get back to your fucking party in MINNESOTA and get on with your lame ass convention.

And Tina Fey is OURS. Give her back.