So I'm sitting here on the group W bench...

2010-06-19T14:35:00.003-05:00

First Post of 2010...a little late. I confess, I have not been posting here of late since the advent of my Facebook account. Below is a life update:1. Things are basically good. 2. Work is slow these days due to the economy and some interesting decisions from the higher ups. I am still working, but we recently let go of three people, which was extremely sad to me to see who they chose. Our

2009-12-31T22:31:00.003-06:00

Movies '09... Happy new year! Below is the annual movie list divided into Theatrical and Netflix: Theatrical: 2012 9 Adventureland Armored AstroBoy Avatar District 9 Extract Fantastic Mr. Fox G.I. Joe The Hangover Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince Inglorious Basterds Jennifer's Body The Men Who

2009-11-26T19:51:00.003-06:00

Alice's Restaurant...For many years here, the local radio station in town played "Alice's Restaurant" on Thanksgiving Day every three hours starting at Midnight. Unfortunately, that album rock station was purchased about 4 or 5 years ago and is now a tejano station. So I am putting the lyrics here since I miss that tradition...Alice's RestaurantBy Arlo Guthrie This song is called Alice's

2009-06-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

Life lessons learned while watching Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (minor spoilers ahead):1. Finally found out why they built the Pyramids of Egypt.2. Archeologists and Art Historians really hate giant robots.3. The Obama Administration has not completely evaluated or modified the Bush giant robot policy.4. Michael Bay must have helped an influential Hollywood producer bury a

2009-06-15T23:00:00.004-05:00

George Thorogood was right...Posted this on Facebook, but figured I'd put it here too. We had to take photos for work, and the bosses STRONGLY suggested I get a little trim. The pic on the left is Friday at 6 and the one on the right is Monday at 9....At least my barber is cool.

2009-05-26T22:08:00.004-05:00

Pop Culture Update #9...Summer Movie Roundup...Wolverine, Star Trek, and Terminator Salvation...Star Trek is the best of the three, thought it was amazing movie, which not only appeased the fan-boy in me, but also found a great way out of the dreaded "prequel trap", by developing this alternate future concept which I have always found extremely interesting. Unfortunately, Wolverine and T4 fell

2009-04-22T22:11:00.002-05:00

Crawling from the wreckage...Haven't posted here in a while...Crawling out from under work and other bits and pieces of life's busy-ness. Have had an odd week...1. Went to Austin last weekend for a work-related convention, had the "Austin Experience" on 6th street, and was amazed at seeing these people who were way older than me stay up all night and drink like frat boys on spring break. I was

2009-01-02T22:38:00.003-06:00

Movies 2008...Happy New Year! Just got back from seeing my older bro and his wife and two lil' ones. Good trip and the kids are getting more interesting as they get older and develop their personalities. Saw a neat museum exhibit, went ice skating a few times and played the Wii for the first time and I must say it is a pretty cool piece of tech. My brother and I had a lot of fun with Rock Band

2008-12-26T15:27:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas......And happy birthday Jesus or whichever holiday or religious observance you happen to observe at this time of year!Hope everyone is doing well and surviving whatever trials are occurring in your life. Just remember it is short, so take some time to enjoy it.http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/

2008-10-30T23:48:00.002-05:00

D.I.Y. Corner...Reupholstering the couch...1 existing cat slashed couch $0.00Target, 3 fancy over-sized towels $5.99 each16 safety pins $1.99Tuck in around center couch cushionTuck in at reclining couch locations, safety pinning to the reclining part to stay in place.Easy to clean up when your cat hacks up over the place...Priceless....(Ack.)....

2008-10-04T21:07:00.005-05:00

Ike Images..They cleaned up the tree debris today on my block, so I figured I would share some photos...Tree and Power line repairmen at the staging area...People without Power...Comic book store had roof torn off...not my regular store, but one I frequent. I don't know what I would have done had this been my house.Things are getting and will get even better...normalcy is getting closer every

2008-09-27T17:24:00.006-05:00

Surviving Ike...Well, survived the Hurricane. Just got my phone line/internet back a few minutes ago thanks to an extremely overworked AT&T employee. He was actually very pleasant, I don't know if I would be if I was working 15 hour days trying to restore service to hundreds and thousands of people. He told me a great story about a guy who built his home around a utility pole.Most of the damage

2008-08-25T21:22:00.003-05:00

Olympics...Well, another Olympics has come and gone, and what is so fascinating about it is the stories of the people involved and the amazing grit and guts these people have...My absolute favorite story though, has to be the South African woman who swam in the open water swimming event...Seems she was a pool swimmer until she lost her leg in a scooter accident, who when she tried to go back to

2008-08-23T22:44:00.004-05:00

Following Up...Summer's almost over...Been real busy with work, managing a job that shouldn't have been mine in the first place, and should have been less traumatic as well, but has a case of "too many chiefs" syndrome. Finished the bowling league last week, (I'm the worst guy on the team, but make up for it with a 70 pin handicap (whoo-hoo!)), We lost over half our games, but we have fun, so who

2008-07-09T22:47:00.001-05:00

From Galway to Graceland...Oh she dressed in the dark and she whispered amenShe was pretty in pink like a young girl againTwenty years married and she never thought twiceShe sneaked out the door and walked into the nightAnd silver wings carried her over the seaFrom the west coast of Ireland to West TennesseeTo be with her sweetheart, oh she left everythingFrom Galway to Graceland to be with the

2008-06-22T21:19:00.002-05:00

Summertime...Been busy these days, with construction going full tilt as always, playing softball and bowling, studying and seeing movies. So far its been a decent summer for those:Iron Man - greatSpeed Racer - This is a pretty trippy movie. You will either like it or loathe it - I liked it, the racing is like NASCAR on Hot Wheels Tracks. Narnia - Prince Caspian - Read these years ago, so don't

2008-05-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

Iron Man...Saw Iron Man Today:1. Great Casting2. Believable Story3. Great Effects4. Cool SuitTwo thumbs up for me Dave!...Let the summer movie season begin!

2008-04-17T21:33:00.003-05:00

Its not easy being Green...Building that is...I have been up to my eyeballs of late in studying "Green Building" Techniques, in concert with a "volunteer" (re: in our company's best interests) committee in bringing these techniques to the building type our office specializes in, and in studying for a professional exam called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which after paying

2008-03-14T21:38:00.002-05:00

My Dad got to see this live the other day...having grown up around rocket scientists, this is really dang cool to me and I'm glad he finally got to see one go off...

2008-03-03T20:31:00.002-06:00

Texas Primary Part Two...Interesting...everyone has been comparing BHO (Barack Hussein Obama - Typing this, I can see why the media doesn't use the initials!) to JFK these days...In an odd coincidence, I have been hearing a lot of the original speeches of Kennedy...here's a couple...Inaugural Address Jan 20, 1961 -(Ask not what your country can do for you...)"We observe today not a victory of

2008-02-22T23:44:00.002-06:00

Texas Primary...Well, the Texas Primary is coming up (March 4) and all the presidential wanna be's are in town...I even got a message on my answering machine today from John McCain. Funny.The cool thing about the Texas Primary is you do can vote in either the democratic primary or the republican one, it does not matter which party you are registered. I have decided to vote in the Dems Primary,

2008-02-17T22:30:00.001-06:00

Cookie Monster Comes Clean...http://www.npr.org/blogs/incharacter/2008/02/cookie_monster_comes_to_npr.html...This is why we need NPR!

2008-01-21T19:09:00.000-06:00

Get a Haircut...Finally got my hair cut again after 8 months or so of growing it out. I don't care for having short hair much.Seems the boss had an issue with it, even going so far to threaten me jokingly with a pair of scissors. I thought that was kind of a rude way to provide a hint, personally. Anyhow, the hair went to a charity called locks of love, who makes wigs for children who suffer

2008-01-07T21:29:00.000-06:00

Talking Hard Work...While we are on the subject of hard work, I just wanted to tell you that I am a man who likes hard work.I was born working and I worked my way up by hard work. I ain't ever got no where, but I got there by hard work.Work of the hardest kind. I been down and I been out, I been disgusted, I been busted and I couldnt be trusted.I worked my way up and I worked my way down, I been

2007-12-31T17:31:00.000-06:00

Film List Time...The list below is the films I saw in 2007...despite the large amount there are still about 15 or so films that I wanted to see and missed...scary! This is in release date order, but not necessarily in the order I saw them, or a reference to quality. Maybe later. Smokin' Aces Universal Pictures Breach Universal Pictures Ghost Rider Columbia Black Snake Moan

2007-12-20T22:21:00.000-06:00

Linus and Christmas...Always gets me right *here*... Happy holidays!value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DKk9rv2hUfA&rel=1">

2007-12-16T21:31:00.000-06:00

I am Legend...Is am good movie! I have not read the book but I was impressed at a couple of times in the script they could have taken the "hollywood" way out and did not....worth seeing.

2007-12-09T18:34:00.000-06:00

The gym at Kingwood Park High School The pool (finALLY done!) at Kingwood Park High School.

2007-12-09T16:17:00.000-06:00

By the power of...Wal-Mart?"New Eagles album, a Wal-Mart exclusive, sold more than twice as many copies.By Gil KaufmanBritney Spears just can't catch a break. Even when she makes a positive career move — i.e. a strong album — things seem to fall apart in unprecedented ways. In this case, after a surprising last-minute rule change on Tuesday night, her expected #1 debut on next week's

2007-10-26T22:57:00.000-05:00

Pool Update...Arrrgh!....more pool delays...this time someone forgot to get a permit...no inspection,no kids swimming.I think the General Contractor has some odd form of Stockholm syndrome and doesn't want to leave the job...And the day started so well, we had a nice building dedication for the other project (minus handrails of course-4 to 8 weeks for delivery, 'doh!) But the school at least has

2007-10-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

30 Days of Night...I can't say I'm really up on the current horror genre, the Saws, Hostels, Jenifer Lopez movies, etc. But I went and saw 30 Days of Night because I had read "The ground-breaking graphic novel" to quote the trailer (A.K.A. "comic book" it is based on) and I do feel a certain obligation to those films based on comics. I also have a soft spot in my heart for zombie movies and this

2007-10-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

Why I love Texas #45...Only in Texas would a furniture store paint their building with the state flag...Can't picture this being done with the California or Maine state flag.

2007-10-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

Murphy strikes again..."Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance." I think Mr. Murphy was talking about building an indoor swimming pool. As of today, we have had a five month delay due to a bad pool subcontractor, delays due to rain, delays due to the special type of paint involved in painting all the metal in a chlorinated environment, delays in getting the pool

2007-09-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

Feelin' Minnesota...Just came back from visiting my brother in Minnesota. (He's my Mom's favorite now since he is the only one with the wife and the 2 grandchilluns.) It's funny to see him all grown up but he is a great dad and his kids are a lot of fun. I mostly played Uncle during the visit (and by gosh, even did some actual babysitting!) Lots of Lego fun and watching cartoons (right up my

2007-08-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

*gasp!!!!***Coming up for air, the summer is over, school is starting, will post pictures of the buildings soon. Building A - everyone seems to like but one cranky old chemistry teacher, who called her lab "unworkable". Working on expensive fix. Building is still not finished, fancy handrails creating issue with subcontractor with no sense of time management. Temps are in place, but no clue when

2007-06-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Life Update...Still working my butt off.Cats are still loony tunes, but lovable.Projects are going. One 4 months behind and the other down to the wire. Should be a fun summer!Built a big sandcastle/robot. "sand-former" big pile of sand collapsed spectacularly. Transformed back into sand! Fun and exhaustion had by all.Architect softball league is over. Discovered not great at softball, but

2007-05-15T22:05:00.000-05:00

Movie update...Spider-Man 3 - good but two crowded...should have reduced it to sandman only and saved Venom for SM$, oh wait, I mean 4.28 weeks later...because I have a soft spot for the zombie movie. It was pretty good, the basic premise of the movie is how to deal with a biological threat? In this case it happens to be one that turns into zombies.Hot Fuzz...If you like action films, you will

2007-04-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

The computer has been down...Attemped to update my virus protection...it protected my computer all right...It decided that it would not let me access the internet at all.So I guess in McAfee's mind, that means it works, right?

2007-02-11T11:59:00.000-06:00

I can't believe someone said that #150...I am currently on a building committee at a Catholic church. One of the members expressed the concern that the Mechanical Engineer consultant was...'gasp'...Muslim. They said it "didn't sit well with them".And people wonder why I have issues with my faith...Tolerance...Jesus...all supposed to go together, people!

2007-01-12T22:58:00.000-06:00

List of Films I Saw Last Year...TOP 10...The DepartedV For VendettaAn Inconvenient TruthThank You For SmokingCasino RoyaleSnakes On A Plane (sorrry...damn funny movie!)Clerks IIThe FountainA Scanner DarklyTalladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky BobbyOther films I saw from '06…in no particular order... Underworld: EvolutionThe MatadorFirewallUltravioletInside ManLucky Number SlevinThe SentinelSilent

2007-01-01T20:16:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!Survived the family, Santa Claus, etc.My niece and nephew came to town with my brother and his wife. Kids are interesting to say the least. I always forget how loud the house gets. I like them, though. The boy is smart as all get out and listens to everything the adults are talking about. As a result of this, he is the only stressed out 6 year old I know. If his folks are worried

2006-12-21T22:57:00.000-06:00

Good News...Finally got off my butt and took the first of 9 Exams to get my architecture license back at the beginning of this month. Got my results today. PASS.Needless to say, I did the happy dance....8 more to go...Need to do it in a five year time frame...Before 2011!Family coming into town tomorrow for Christmas...Much prep to be done!

2006-11-16T21:24:00.000-06:00

Weird, Funny, Kinda Neat...An interesting thing happened at work today...I had an engineer come to our office completely Flummoxed (the word he used...great word!) on how to build something I designed......I consider that an Architectural Triumph.We got it figured out though, everybody went away happy. :)

2006-10-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

Life's Little Accomplishments #4,950...Installed a gas stove. Didn't blow up.

2006-10-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

Life in general...The work is proceeding, gettin' a bit older, Turned 35 last week not entirely sure I am OK with it...Feeling old and then my Family gives me Legos and a voice activated R2-D2, which really reminds me how much I am still just a big kid, which made me feel a whole lot better. We have a lot of "young-uns" at the office (30 and under) and now I am a "them" instead of an "us" so I am

2006-09-02T23:58:00.000-05:00

Free Country....Heard this song by Pink of all people on the radio on my way home tonight...Surprised me a bit. I haven't heard a protest song in awhile. In a lot of countries this would be known as treason....Dear Mr. President...Come take a walk with meLet's pretend we're just two people andYou're not better than meI'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestlyWhat do you feel

2006-08-28T20:24:00.000-05:00

Been a long time...Ouch! A couple months have gone by...Summer is always nasty for my workaholic-ness, the buildings had to get to a certain point by the end of the summer, so everyone involved has been busting their hump to make it happen, and when you think everything is up and running, BAM! Something else hits the fan. Makes life fun. At least things are mostly working and the kids are in

2006-06-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

Becoming one of "them"...Well, in another batch of work related strangeness, I had the dreaded annual "employee review" (bum bum bummmm!) last week. Instead of the normal one on one routine, they tell me it's going to be with the 4 bosses, so needless to say I am thinking "what the heck?"Turns out, they decide to make me one of "them", an "associate" (more bum bum, bummm!"), I say yes, maybe

2006-05-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day Weekend...Finally got a little break from the office this weekend (Still worked 3 hrs on Sat., though) But I am taking tomorrow off from work to rest and recover a bit from a sinus infection. It's been a couple of months since I updated this sucker, but I have been mostly working the dreaded 80 hr. work week and when I get home I really don't want to get back on the computer.Things

2006-03-24T23:21:00.000-06:00

Work work work work....Been awhile since my last post, I know. I have been busy working on the above building for the last month. I am excited about it, first college campus building, I hope everything goes well with it (knock on wood). The plans went out to bid today, so I have a slight breather and catch up before it all hits the fan this summer, with this and the high school going full out.

2006-02-10T23:14:00.000-06:00

More Life Weirdness...Ok, guys, this falls into one of my "never in a million years would I ever..." Category of my life, which is more and more becoming the norm in my life. It's usually things like "never in a million years would I ever think I, the former hippy artist type guy, would ever have a job where he would wear a tie to an office every day", but this is a bit stranger. Here goes..."

2006-01-06T23:52:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!Well, I'm a bit late with this but things are crazy as usual. Last year was pretty good to me, with the haircut, new car, work promotions, dodging hurricanes, no funerals, a wedding or two. Went to New York City, and actually making a valiant attempt to get out of my house and actually get a social life. Personally, I am really thankful for the good fortune that I have had this

2005-12-03T20:25:00.000-06:00

Holidazed...Man, I am so not ready for the holidays. Here I am thinking its only August or so, and here it is December already! Thanksgiving came and went quietly and quickly, it was just the local Houston family this year, but I ended up working both Friday and Saturday, instead of taking a few days to re-charge. I have several work deadlines coming up, so I don't think it's going to get much

2005-11-05T22:11:00.000-06:00

Hybrid-ey goodness...Well, about a month ago (the Monday after Rita, actually) I went and gots me a brand spankin' new vee-hick-le. Lazarus the truck had been actin' up of late, with the clutch seals bein shot to hell and if I had evacuated, probably would have been a dead husk on the side of some freeway, and I had been searching for a while, but finally just went ahead and did it.Yes-sirree,

2005-10-22T01:47:00.000-05:00

Go 'stros!Well, they finally did it! Astros are going to the big show!Should be a good series, both teams have excellent pitchers.Nice to see the Houston community really come together in these times.

2005-09-24T22:26:00.000-05:00

Lovely Rita...Well, out of a city of 5.2 million people- 1.5 million who left Houston, I was one of the people who did not try to leave the city.I spent Thursday at work by myself along with two of the bosses who live close. The people that commute to the suburbs would not have been able to get back home because of the main highway evacuation routes.The Galleria was closed, and so were most

2005-09-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

Found this paper when I was looking for something else...Figured I would post it. This was written in 2001, so I didn't include the new Star Wars Films.BAD GUY MODERNISM:Modernism as perceived in mainstream filmWhen I was a child growing up, I lived in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. My father worked for NASA as a rocket scientist, and so in that environment I gained an appreciation for technology

2005-08-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

The days when life gets ya...I actually left work at a reasonable hour tonight when I get home and as I greet my little furball psycho kitties at the door, I hit the answering machine that is flashing , and it appears that I have been so caught up in things that I forgot to mail the rent check! Needless to say I rushed it right over and after much apologizing spoke with the landlord about selling

2005-08-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

Living in interesting times...I bought a CD today that had a sticker on it that said "as heard on the iPOD COMMERCIAL".Now, personally, I have never seen that commercial, or if I did, I didn't know it was this band, the Gorillaz, who in itself is a made up band of animated characters who play music, created by Damon Albarn and a guy who goes by the name "Danger Mouse."Obviously, a guy like me is

2005-07-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

YAY!The Shuttle is up again after 2+ years of a suspended space program! I have to admit that because I grew up in the shadow of NASA, I still get a nice warm feeling when I see a launch.I saw on MSNBC that the external tank collided with a bird on the way out...You have to feel sorry for that. A bird getting hit at 2000 MPH and the last thought is "Hey what is that thing?"...Say a hopeful wish

2005-07-17T22:15:00.000-05:00

Sunday, Sunday Sunday!...Went and did the whole sing for Jesus thing this morning. It's still a bit on the tense side since they have started telling me what to wear, but we did get a new priest (an Irish fellow with a keen sense of humor) who hopefully will get the administration to freakin relax!Also, went to the museums today to see the baseball exhibit from Cooperstown, and the Lord of the

2005-07-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

Scary Thought of the Day...Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring from the Supreme Court...That means dubya gets to pick a new one....Nothing like good scary stories told around a campfire...

2005-07-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

More Office Drama...We had 2 people quit this week, and we have 2 new people starting on Tuesday...One of the ex employees is moving to New York City, which he just decided after a recent vacation there. He only worked for us for 6 months, and was known as "that guy" in the office, you know the one who is, I dunno, a little Off? I liked him though, in terms of personal entertainment value, but I

2005-06-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

Let the Summer Movie Season Begin...Saw Batman Begins this last weekend. Saw it twice, once on the IMAX with my geek friends, and once in a regular movie theater with my autistic brother and a friend from church.And lemmee tell you folks, It kicked @$$! I really enjoyed it, and it stood up to a second viewing which is rare for a change. To be fair though, I did see EP3 for a second time with my

2005-06-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

God doesn't care what you look like, but your church sure does...I go to the same Catholic church that I have been going to since I was about 3 years old, when we moved to Houston. I still go there even though I live 40 miles away from it, because I like the people and the music and the relaxed atmosphere. I also have been a participant in the mass for a number of years, starting out as an altar

2005-05-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

Episode III...There may be a few spoilers here, I will try to be as spoiler free as possible.The Good...As usual the visual effects are amazing and mostly seamless. CGI is getting better and better.The scenes between Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine where all is revealed. A nicely done dialogue scene, probably the only good one in the movie, where the camera rotates around the two characters as

2005-05-13T21:51:00.000-05:00

New York, New York...I just got back from a very cool trip to the Big Apple, and I had a lot of fun, Checked out a lot of Architecture and Museums, and Architecture of Museums. I also had the wonderful opportunity to see two Broadway shows, Wicked and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and see an amazing Jazz concert put on by an 87 year old piano player (I hope I am that nimble-fingered when I get to that

2005-04-17T20:11:00.000-05:00

On Families...I come from a large family, three older brothers, two parents, dogs, cats, mice, myself and once even a pet chicken. Because of growing up in a house full of people, I have come to value my personal space, and like to have time to myself a good majority of the time. I guess this makes me "a bit of a loner" as referred to by a former professor recently. However, if I am a loner, the

2005-04-03T22:44:00.000-05:00

A diatribe about the Papacy...Since Pope John Paul II has passed from this world into the next, and the difficult and arduous task of choosing a new Pope will begin soon, here are a few things I would like to see the new head of the catholic church address:1. The role of women in the Catholic Church as keepers of the faith. Who made you go to church as a kid? Mom, of course. When young people

2005-03-25T22:40:00.000-06:00

Still among the living...Damn, didn't realize it has been a month since the last posting...Things have been rather busy. I did have some time to go out for St. Paddy's day, which is a requirement for us Irish-type folks, or you risk losing your official Irishman license. A good time was had by all. I also figured out that I have worked an extra month of overtime already this year. I think I am

2005-02-26T09:11:00.000-06:00

Ugliest...Sculpture...Ever!

2005-02-26T08:59:00.000-06:00

A Good Evening...After a long day at work, I went and saw Finding Neverland at the art house theater in Downtown Houston, then walked to Frank's Pizza and got some Pizza Rolls, then walked to the Chase bank plaza where I sat next to a mural, the ugliest Miro sculpture ever, Personage and Birds, Phillip Johnson's Penzoil Building is across the street along with the limestone clad Jones Hall, and

2005-02-19T13:28:00.000-06:00

In Memoriam Part Three-Revenge of the Intern...We had an office happy hour last night, where I learned yet another person at our firm is leaving...A young guy who is really skilled, talented and an all around nice guy, was offered a job by his Intern Development Program Mentor......I'm happy for my coworker, but I can't help wonder if he was "headhunted". Is it ethical for the mentor to offer him

2005-02-17T22:39:00.000-06:00

In Memoriam Part Deux...In those days where the only thing constant is change...Our receptionist at the office quit yesterday.I kind of wonder about this, you see, she had taken a lot of sick leave (9 days in two months) due to a new baby who has some kind of respiratory ailment, and was offered a choice...Leave and be granted three weeks pay or try to stay, and don't miss another day at work for

2005-02-14T22:21:00.000-06:00

The deceased Mark Twain Outdoor Reading Classroom...

2005-02-14T22:18:00.000-06:00

Before...Me and My Nephew, Sean at X-mas

2005-02-14T22:16:00.000-06:00

After...My jaw is bigger than Jay Leno!

2005-02-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

In Memoriam...One of my projects was torn down recently in the name of progress...An outdoor reading classroom for a school in Bellaire was destroyed along with the old school in order to build a brand new school for the area. Personally, if I had gotten the chance, I would have left the outdoor classroom where it was and used it for the reading circle in the center of the library, but they never

2005-02-08T21:31:00.000-06:00

More life weirdness... Well, the high school I have been working on is now been released to the general public, in order to find the best contractor for the job. This will last about six weeks and then each contractor will submit a bid and the one who has the best qualifications and the lowest price will get the job. I am just so relieved that we got the documents out that it feels like the

2005-01-14T23:42:00.000-06:00

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX

2005-01-14T23:36:00.000-06:00

What Happens When... ...You get a couple of architects with a few odd ideas and add in a smattering of psychedelic drugs? http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/Lord/AntFarm.html Ant Farm -Doug Michels http://www.well.com/user/parasw/dougmichels/visions.html

2005-01-03T22:46:00.000-06:00

The Man Without Fear...

2005-01-03T22:22:00.000-06:00

A Commentary on the Director's Cut... I just watched the director's cut of Daredevil, a movie that which, in the theater, frankly: SUCKED. Now, the reason I gave the director's cut even a chance is because: A. I am a hardcore serious comic book fan nerd-o-rama and feel obligated to support comic based films. B. I Really dig Daredevil...In a way, he's the redheaded stepchild to Spider-Man,

2005-01-01T10:56:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year.... Another year has come and gone, and so now it is time to reflect on the good and the bad & the ugly: The Good: 1. Just got back from frozen Minnesota to see my brother Bob, his wife and two chilluns, a 4 year old boy and a 15 month year old girl. The rest of Clan McSherry was there as well. Did the whole winter experience, went skiing and came back with all my limbs intact!

2004-12-17T22:19:00.000-06:00

Jim's swingin' bachelor pad.... I have just recently added to my house the final accessory which makes my house qualify as a "bachelor pad"...You see, I now have something gasoline powered sitting in my kitchen. While it is not a 1978 straight block V-12 engine (which also gives you extra points on your man license exam), it is a 1980 Honda moped I am trying to get up and running, with

2004-11-23T19:56:00.000-06:00

The weirdness that is C-Span... I was flipping channels today and I ran across the video game report card. Here is the Press Release... The National Institute on Media and the Family has issued its eight annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card. The report gives a mixed notice on the video and PC gaming industry, with praise for the rating system and for retailers that have a ratings enforcement

2004-10-29T17:23:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

2004-10-15T21:03:00.000-05:00

A mumbler's comments on public speaking... Went to A RDA Lecture this week regarding the architectural history of Berlin. This was the second of a series of 4 lectures, and while I expected the first lecture to be painfully boring, I was surprised because the speaker actually knew how to talk and while the information he presented could have been boring if placed into the wrong hands, I found it

2004-10-10T20:04:00.000-05:00

KPHS- Interior Auditorium

2004-10-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

KPHS - Auditorium Entrance

2004-09-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

The Good, the bad, and the Ugly... The Good: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow...Great movie! Seen it twice! I want toys! Three Seasons of Due South on DVD...This was a really quirky show that I liked about a Canadian Mountie that came to Chicago to find his father's killer, and teams up with a hard boiled American police officer. It's dramatic, funny, cool and has a really good soundtrack

2004-09-12T09:17:00.000-05:00

What Star Wars Character Are You? http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/personality/ I am Chewbacca...Loyal to a fault, a little bit hairy. I have 5 bosses....The Emperor, R2D2 & C3PO, Obi Wan Kenobi and a Jawa.

2004-09-06T01:38:00.000-05:00

What to do after falling off the face of the earth... Well, after working 12+ hour days seven days a week for the last month, we finally got my project at work finished. However, we are going to take more time with it to redesign and make it the smaller school (thanks, school board.) Anyhow, between the family coming to town, and working like a dog, I seem to have fallen off the face of the

2004-08-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

The Only Thing Constant is Change... As usual work has been taking over my life again of late...I did actually take a weekend off from work a few weeks ago and went up to PA for a family reunion...Now, I hadn't seen these folk in 15 years and some I had never met, and it was nice to find out these people are pretty cool. We had one of my co-workers quit this week, which will mean more work for

2004-08-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

work work work work... I have been working a lot this week. My boss had a family emergency this week and so I was doing a large chunk of his job for him, plus doing my own. I realized I had actually worked over 80 hours last week as a result. All of this is unpaid overtime...It supposedly factors into our bonus at the end of the year and we are allowed comp time, but I don't think they would

2004-07-25T20:38:00.000-05:00

The Celebrity Intelligence Index... I was talking to a friend of mine last night before a screening of The Bourne Supremacy (good movie!) and we were talking about reality television and how stupid most of the people are on it eg. Jessica Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith, which led into a conversation about smart vs. dumb celebrities. It seems to me that actors are either real dumb or real

2004-07-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

The "Family" is in town... The last few weeks have been exhausting...My older, shorter brothers have been in town and one with their wife and two small chillun's, one 4 and one a newly mobile 9 months. Now being the rebel and a loner that I am, while I enjoy seeing everybody, I am always amazed how LOUD it is when the Italian-Irish (McWop, as I refer to it) mix that is everyone is

2004-07-09T21:49:00.000-05:00

On Socializing with the Bosses... Every once in a while our office goes for an "official" office happy hour. The reason for this is twofold: 1. It gives the employees a chance to relax and unwind and relax after a stressful day. 2. It lets us employees find out what the upper level people really think about us. Seriously, we have a young (a few years older than myself) "associate", who

2004-07-04T18:46:00.000-05:00

FREEDOM!

2004-07-04T18:14:00.000-05:00

USA...USA...USA! I love this country...It's the only place in the world where: ... People can be shocked by Bill Cosby telling it like it is ...Kobe can be flown from Colorado to LA to play in the NBA Playoffs, and Robert Downey Jr. can be let out of jail for an acting job. ...A documentary about the evils of the Bush administration can be the number one film of the week, while his standing