Hiking, Treks and Updates
The new mixtape is up for download and listening over on the sidebar. It is more or less inspired by the things that I think about while I’m out on whatever walk. I talk a lot about the benefits walk friendly cities can have on communities. Additionally, one of my favorite benefits is being able to clear my mind and find new things. Any one of my various hikes has led to discovering something I had never seen before. It gives me a chance to put a different spin on life. Hiking and getting fresh air can do a bunch to benefit mood and reduce stress caused by the challenges of day to day life.
On Monday I took the bus up to the bottom of OHSU, to take an unplanned hike through Maquam Nature Park. I never knew this trail system existed up until Sunday when I was searching for a way to get out of the urban environment, but still be close to a bus line. When I arrived at the trail head I set my sites on the 4T trail that leads up to Council Crest, then over to Washington Park. After about an hour I arrived at Washington Park I moved off the 4T trail and on up to Hoyt Arboretum. I spent over an hour walking through the Arboretum soaking in the trees, sun and fresh air. I wandered through a few of the trails and learned to identify some of the trees I see around the Northwest. I got onto the Wildwood trail and followed that over to the Pittock Mansion and then down into Forest Park where I ended my journey at MacLeay Park.
It was a fantastic day, and I really needed to get out of the house. The thing that I really enjoyed about it was being able to get away from of all the noise and stress of the city, but still be close to home. When you don’t have a car, and are limited to public transit and foot travel, park systems like what I experienced are a wonderful way to connect with nature. I didn’t spend a single dollar, and had more fun than I would at any bar, movie theatre or most other entertainment sources. Here is a rough route of my adventure, click on it to make it bigger.
Next week I plan on setting out on a much larger hike. I will take the Tillamook County Shuttle to Tillamook and then hike back to Forest Grove, where I will either walk home or take Trimet. Just depends on how I feel. My friend Andy might come along. We have been talking about going out for a walk while he is on his break from PCC. I just need to get my paperwork from OHSU, so I can sign the forms and send them back. And then I am free until my start date on the 28th. Below is my intended route, which is about 52 miles. Which should take 3 days. If the weather is nice, I might keep going and hike out to another destination. Looking forward to the freedom of the woods and open road.
Public Transit and Why a Zebra?
I’ve wondered for a few years now while contemplating being car-less, and now being car-less if it would be possible to travel to and from multiple cities via public transit. It turns out it is! Evan Siroky has assembled various routes to prove the point. You got to love the efforts people make to share points on just how realistic transportation is without a car.
This oil spill is incredibly awful, but in terms of its effect on the planet vs. our total consumption and demand for oil have. It does’t even come close. You may argue the point that man made climate change is a hoax, and this is just the natural cycle. Fine, I’m not going to argue that with anyone because I am not an expert. There are scientist and people seeing it first hand that are better suited to do so. But for what it is worth the difference I see between man made development vs. a balanced ecosystem is visually disturbing to me. If it weren’t for my student loans I would surly kiss this capitalistic resource hogging world behind, and live with less out on the road.
Ok, back on topic. I really like this idea of public transit being used to travel great distances. Think about it, I could get on Trimet then connect with other regional transit systems and in a matter of hours I am in Seattle. It may not be as convenient, but there is nothing convenient about sitting in your car all alone unable to share the experience with other people. We are social animals, and while some of the people you may encounter on the bus aren’t the type of people you want to buddy up to. If more people ditched their cars the chances are better that you could meet someone new on your commute to — for example, Seattle.
This is just another idea that a better planned urban area, that focuses resources on transit of the foot, pedal, and mass-transit systems could go a long way towards developing stronger communities. So what am I missing? I’m not sure human beings; despite our social nature are ready for that close of a community. Some people just don’t want to change, don’t want to listen, and don’t want to give up on what they have come to believe is the American Dream. I wish it were different. My inner hippy mellow is being harshend, haha.
California just banned plastic bags. Oregon, are you listening? Safeway, you are the worst offender. My Safeway store doesn’t even offer paper. So if I forget my reusable bag, I have to take plastic. Boo!
Oh, check out this great audio visual bliss of five New York neighborhoods captured in their full glory. No inserted outside music, just a great ambient soundtrack and neighborhood blips. Sources: Architects Newspaper Blog and Urban Omnibus
Daniel, stop being such a gloating flower power dude and show us a cool house. Ok, here you go.
This is the JD House. It is located in the forest of Mar Azul, in the Argentinian province of Buenos Aires. Minus the Zebra skin on the ground, I really love this. The Architecture is so inspiring. I also like the minimalism of the interior. Sure it could use some art and a bit of color, but that is really those personal touches that are made by the inhabitant. Here, have a look.
Sources: Contemporist and BAK Architects
Good News, New Stuff and Things to Share
First, the good news. Starting June 21st I will no longer be unemployed! After more than 8 months of inconsistent income, overwhelming stress and general economic slumps — I will rejoin the working class. Awesome, and I have 3 weeks off until then to work on odds and ends without dwelling on the future.
I put up this weeks mixtape. You can listen to it, or download it on the sidebar to the right. Um, the language is NSFW. But so is leaving the window open. I guess try it out with headphones first before you start a dance party in the office. This will be a weekly thing, unless I find it to be too much to keep up on. For now, no problem on that front. Enjoy.
30 Days of Creativity starts today. I made a mix to kick things off. I have a few ideas in my head and sketch pad that I am going to try and get more developed. One of them includes a remodel experiment for my family’s house down in Florence, Oregon. It’s a really great mid-century ranch style house. Some other things will show up here before or after that. This 30 day project will be my motivation to really kick my portfolio into high gear.
“30 Days of Creativity is a social initiative encouraging people to create stuff, anything, every day for 30 days.
This is your excuse to buy that tub of Playdough, unbox your Erector set, or dust off your Holga. You might be working on one huge project for 30 days straight. Maybe you are creating something new thing every day. (That’s the best way to participate!) It could be as simple as taking a picture of your outfit for 30 days to something as involved as a writing a song or making a movie every day.” — MAKE Magazine Blog
#30daysofcreativity — A How To Guide from 30 Days of Creativity on Vimeo.
Finally, something to share. I’ve been trying to share at least one project/design a week that inspires me. Today I am sharring the Palmyra House located in Nandgaon, Maharashtra, India. This has been featured on a few architecture blogs. So it may look familiar. It was designed by Studio Mumbai Architects.
What I like most about it is the interior use of very dark and rich woods, along with natural stone and concrete elements. It has a strong textural aesthetic — almost rough looking. Still though, the end experience that I observed from the images it that the the house has a quiet and soft feeling. The house has great Eastern Asian design elements as well, to unify the modern design with traditional finishes. More images and observations are available over at Contemporist.
Oil, Greed, and Distractions
I have kept my opinions on the Gulf oil spill to myself. Mostly for the reason that there are more knowledgeable figures to take on this sad, sad topic. And with ignorance I can focus on the weighing problems in my life. But this catastrophic baloney that is happening outside of my selfish world has pissed me off enough to say something. I mean that’s what blogs are for, right? Haha.
These greedy oil tycoons and lobbyist controlled politicians with their thumbs up their butts need to step aside from their agendas, and deal with this HUGE problem. I know efforts are being made were made, and it was successful at stopping the flow, but it’s not enough. It is not just this spill. It is their inability to control technology, due to greed and status whoring.
Then there is this guy, who is too smart for Washington. Thank you Dennis Kucinich. Though once again, you have proven that these morons in Washington have too much dirty money in their ears to hear you. Sadly though, much of this falls on people like me. I and others like me demand for products that do more to sustain our oil addiction.
I don’t drive anymore, and I try to limit the amount of energy I consume. I am however not doing enough to demand for better sources of energy, better technology and better food production/packaging practices. We are simply victims of our own ignorance. Mother Nature — we are not worthy.
Treehugger.com has some images to help calm some anger, with satire. Which is different than Sarah Palin’s definition. /rant
Now for my daily distraction. Sports! This is a promo for the Portland Timbers MLS 2011 crest design. The Timbers will unveil the crest on June 12 — in a friendly against England. Great production, and I am very excited for the future of Portland Football. Thanks to Dropping Timber and PortlandMLS2011 for showing me this.
This fantastic boardwalk is located on the Benidorm Seafront in Spain . Designed by Office of Architecture in Barcelona. I can only imagine how the air flows through these elegant curves. The design reminds me of a wind sock. I’ll have to add this to my list of places to see someday. Found on Archdaily and Abitare.
Seedbombs and Walking in L.A.
Designed by L.A.’s Common Studio, the Seedbomb project has made it’s first installation in San Francisco. They use old gum ball machines, fill them with clay balls full of seeds to assist in spreading the gorilla guerilla gardening movement. This project helps to turn otherwise dead, grey, and vacant locations into colorful, life filled spaces.
This project needs support and you can help. For a minimum $1.00 pledge you can help fund this. Go here and help out. Find out more about this over at Inhabitat.
“Nobody walks in L.A.”, at least that’s what Missing Persons sang about. Over at GOOD, Ryan Bradley has started a series discussing walking in Los Angeles, and how to open the city to pedestrian friendly transportation. Narrow roads that are friendly to on-foot transportation are a staple for European cities. It brings neighbors closer together — which strengthens the bond of their inhabitants. It builds micro-economic markets and enriches culture. Both of which could use some help in my neighborhood.
I am a strong advocate for pedestrian friendly cities. It’s part of the reasons my friends have to put up with my biased love for Northwest Portland — my favorite and former neighborhood. I now live right on Cesar E Chavez Blvd; which is horrific for foot travel and keeps me from enjoying my neighborhood. I just don’t see the bond between people the way I did living in a close, walk friendly part of town. I’m glad someone is starting to ask these questions in Los Angeles. It could go a long way towards our continued efforts to build smarter transportation systems through better urban planning. It could also help small local based businesses open doors and thrive.
What’s Next?
I finished up work on the house restoration project I was working on. Everyone did a fantastic job, and it shows. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can. It was a tremendous learning experience, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Except for painting ceilings.
Walking is awesome! Now that I am carless/liberated I have come to enjoy Portland more than ever. There are so many great spots and neighborhoods that by car you will never see. I walk everywhere now, occasionally taking the bus for trips greater than 3–4 miles. Before, when I had a car the idea of walking more than 1/4 mile seeming daunting and inefficient. But really, I can walk 3 miles in less than an hour. So pretty much anything I need is within that scope. And I’ve lost 10lbs. I’ve been without wheels for 4 months now and I don’t miss it at all. Traffic is loud, really loud! We need to find a way to leave the automobile behind. I’m encouraged now it can be done.
I made a short video of the woods that are behind my childhood home. I spent whole summers in these acres and there are so many great memories of adventures had. It is the first video I’ve edited and the camera work is not up to par. But I think the sound does a good job of capturing what I remember about the years I spent in what we called “The Field”.
This is an aerial shot of the location of “The Field”. Now renamed Springwater. “A” is my old house.
Still Keeping On
I’ve been busy lately, which is why nothing new has gone up here recently. So what have I been up to? Work. Just as I typed my desire for work, situations present themselves.
First, I’ve been finishing up some revisions for the Whole Foods project I was working on last month. Secondly, I’ve had the opportunity to work on restoring a 1890’s era house that a friend of mine purchased. No design work though, just good ol’ back breaking labor! This is turning out to be a very rewarding and educational project, working close with the General Contractor and asking questions on the blood and guts of a restoration project from the man building it. They didn’t teach me this stuff in school, and a good deal of this experience should go toward helping me be a better designer. The bad part is there isn’t much work left that I can do.
Last week I had another interview with Netflix for a call center position. I found out today they went another direction, which I guess has a positive outcome. I needed more experience interviewing, cause I know I don’t make the best first impression.
So well, it’s back to the grind of Craigslist and the land of lost resumes. Hey, at least I can pay half my bills this month. Right? The question is though, what the hell am I qualified to do now? It seems all I hear back is I am overqualified for the opportunities available at the moment. The work I do want, which I am qualified for isn’t available because of the great economic slump we are in. Even then, I am only entry level at this point and there is better experience in the talent pool right now. Meh.
On to other stuff, and what my fellow peers in the unemployed designers subculture have been up to…
My friend Colin just finished his book Pedestrian. It can be purchased here. Colin is my typography and design critic, who has countless times torn apart my own attempts at graphic and print media. And I listen and respect every nag he has about my work because of things like this. Pedestrian is a very strong mixed media project.
How about some music? I want to start a podcast of sorts called “Permanent Solution”, I’ll try and discipline myself to get that going this weekend. Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to the release by Cast Spells titled “Bright Works and Baton”. This is a track off that called “A Badge”. Cool.
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Stay Positive
I’ve been staying busy lately, but I am really hoping this unemployment stint comes to an end. I’m completely broke, and well I suppose it could be worse. But the fear of being homeless is way too close for comfort, so I really need some good news soon. I had no idea I would be hit this hard by following my goals, getting an education and trying to find real success before 30. I am two months away from 30. Initially my goal was to complete my education before I turned 30 — done. My new goal is to be apart of something real, with a great team around me and making good money too. Two months until this deadline. Stay positive.
This is a flat out stunning film done by Alex Roman. All computer modeled and rendered. If you watch it, do it right and go here to see it in HD. I should learn Maya. Speechless.
I saw two great films this week, thanks to a generous Regal gift card from my family. Up in the Air is the truth. Made me feel a little less alone during this economic crisis thing. Go see it, go alone.
Yesterday I saw Youth in Revolt. Holy hell this is the best Michael Cera movie yet, and it will be truly difficult for him to top it. Great humor, outstanding rebellious actions, and an all around well written screen play.
Stay positive.
