ugh. sorry, but if a cat ever sat on my clothes like that i'd probably have to empty out and wash the whole dresser-full. and then run a lint-brush over everything. and then wash it again. i truly can't live in close quarters with non-human animals.

yellowstone is scary.

i grew up with dogs, big country dogs, not the mouse-sized ones everyone seems to have here (no offence to small dogs, nor the small dog lovers out there), always strays and just huge slobbery beasties...oh and a cat or two. always a cat or two. on the farm we had a barn full of them but at home just one or two...and now i am in a city where i could not imagine putting a dog or cat through the hell of confineent in an apt. ...so my kids don't get to know the joy of animals in the house.

but it makes me wonder sometimes...tokyo is fine for people but not good enough for pets? how wrong is that?

there was an earthquake last night here. i thought i was just half asleep and woozy...but checked the ceiling lamp and it was waving away so not all in my head after all. i think earthquakes are fine, right up until the point when they are not. so NOT looking forward to being here when that moment comes...

myriam, my cats are awesome! I couldn't imagine not having them. My family farm is notorious for raising many great housecats that are live with family and friends across the country. If I had known, I would have brought you one (I was even in Chicago). My cousin in Chicago backed out at the last minute, so kitty was ready to go anyways!

Please remember to spay or nueter your pets.

Dita von Teese says so:

LB - I wouldn't want them any other way. I've already got a neutered cat that likes stuffed walruses so I can only imagine the trouble I'd get into if he wasn't.

she looks like she would neuter me!

welcome back brother vado...

it is very quiet and eerie at the moment, I have loads to do but I had to share the good news with T'Central. The owners accepted my offer on the second house...sketches, photographs to come. This one doesn't have a pool yet but by the vado 10K post it will. Anyone fancy a working vacation?

for those of you looking for some additional sk'up information, how about a video?

Congrats, techno! Very exciting! I would love, love to come for a working holiday but don't think it's in my near future - maybe by 2013, Angus will be 10 years old and should be good for some light labor?

Whoot-woo Techno! How very exciting. Can't wait to see the photos and the sketches. Do you have an idea of when you might close?

I'm happy to report that I had a delightful lunch with stephanie today. She is an absolute sweetheart. I wish she would move to DC, but she seems pretty happy where she lives now.

And I even twisted her arm to join us at happy hour on Friday. What a trooper :)

didd she get a vado tattoo yet???

a girlfriend AND a house? banner week, techno!

does vado get a stephanie tattoo?

the house should close by early next year (things take longer here, esp since I am in theory a foriegner). Its my first house, and yes mortage worries the b'jesus out of me. But the intention is to keep it in profit...fingers crossed. Photos to come...in the meantime, time for a little celebrating

whatever you do, don't type craiglist when you mean craigslist. just don't.

Beta that's like telling people not to look at the accident on the side of the highway while driving by.

well Steven took the words out of my, er, fingers. Hell of a week.

on other threads, I feel like a portfolio butcher.

Every night lately about this time I start to feel a little sad. Like something is missing, like I need a pick me up but I can't get it because the source is being denied to me.

Oh that's right - it's because the Daily Show is in reruns...still.

When will this damn strike be over?!? I need my intelligent asshat-skewering humor to remind me that the world is populated by smart creative people outside of the field of architecture so I can sleep well at night!

<sigh>

;]

tuna...

That tortured sentence above is meant to say you guys are all intelligent creative and funny AS ARE the people on the Daily Show. Not sure it came out that way.

I'm following beta's advice on this one, since it was he who inadvertently taught me what a blumpkin is - knowledge I wish I could forever delete. ;-)

looks nice.

looks a lot like the todds work and ocean ark institute, so am very interested. looks also a lot like m. blanc, which i love, but am not so interested in as wave of future. its just really cool.

dissapointed that the prototype is just a set of renderings. at least the todds grew tilapia in the basement and set up some geodesic domes...nothing real on the horizon? i was actually expecting a prototype, not a concept.

i do hope you get to build some of this. i am not convinced it is that much better than the status quo, but that is cuz i am greened out right now (damn the me-generation 90's!), and would love to be convinced otherwise.

look forward to seeing it grow too.

woh. how the heck did i do that.

sorry, above was meant to be comment for growhome thread. i think i am drunk or having an episode of some sort .


damn. that kinda freaks me out really. didn't even notice what i was doing.

For all those that were enjoying to Plant Identification Thread until it was so rudely hijacked... the horrible image has since been deleted. Sucks though as I'm scared to post any more images.

A friend of mine up here at work went to craigslist without the 's' once. It was definately an "OH CRAP! Quick! Cover the monitor!" moment. I think I blushed for him.

Why didn't I think to register all these creative domain names 10 years ago? I could've made a fortune.

I'm still trying to think of a decent domain name for my blog site... Right now I've got it set up as www.(first initial)(middle initial)(last name).net. It's short and sweet, but doesn't have much flair. Also, I'm a little concerned about privacy. I sort of set the whole thing up on a whim, but now I'm thinking about getting another domain name and making that the official name of the site.

In other news, I'm once again reminded of why I'm usually single. I sat next to an attractive woman on the subway for a good ten minutes, and had the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation. But I absolutely suck at small talk, and my mind went blank. As usual, I sat there awkwardly until I got to my stop, and we went our separate ways without saying a word. I'm starting to think arranged marriages weren't such a bad idea; at least it cuts out all the stupid courtship games.

Finally, it looks like things might be starting to go forward in terms of my firm moving to a larger space. Based on my experiences designing my old firm's new office in Chicago (still yet to be built), I've been assigned the task of putting together some preliminary space plans for my current firm's new space -- wherever it turns out to be. I guess right now they're looking at a couple different properties, and want to explore how we might be able to work with the available spaces. This should be interesting.

gin I take it you haven't seen the small talk for architects post up on BLDGBLG or one of those other nifty blogs the other day. It was about how to inject into random conversations that you are an architect. Brilliant piece I thought, and would woo any unsuspecting member of the appropriate sex.

Never saw it... Do you have a link?

just cuz a woman is on the subway doesn't mean she wants to talk to you.

vado, although blunt, makes a good point. If someone tried to pick me up on the subway, I might have gotten off at the next stop and just walked. The exception, of course, would have been when we saw Joey McIntyre (formerly of New Kids on the Block) on the Subway. I definitely would have responded to him! ;o)

NKOTB?!

I am so there!

anyone else find it strange about the success of Donny Walberg as an actor - I find I still look at him and see that arrogant kid from the block. You somehow wonder what saved him from falling into obsurity like the rest of them - them being boy band members

When guys have talked to me on the subway/bus/sidewalk/whatever I generally made it pretty clear within ten seconds whether I was interested in continuing the conversation - sometimes I was, sometimes I wasn't. I think you should talk to whomever you want, LiG - being that it is NYC if someone doesn't like it she will very likely tell you straight up to fuck off - no ambiguity required. But it can't hurt to try, and you'll never gain anything by not trying.

That's my relationship advice.

I'm somewhere in between DubK and Liberty Bell's camps... my gut reaction would be to get off the bus/subway/whatever, but then again I envy people who meet guys in random places, so maybe I should be more open? Anyway, I say go for it, but if she clearly doesn't want to continue the conversation, be kind enough to move to a seat further away from her afterwards so that she doesn't feel the need to get off the subway.

Gin,

You have to loosen up man! Today my ask me to go out and get some coffee filters....you know the unbleached kind, cause coffee is king in our house....and even more so lately. So I go to our little
alternative grocery store and there was a nice looking young lady working behind the counter....I got the coffee filters and a couple bars of Panda Licorice, paid with them with my debit card. Then it dawned on me better get something for the Mrs....or I will sleeping with the dogs in the garage tonight. So I blurted out, I'm sorry I need to get something else. She looked a bit cross-eyed at me so
I responded, I will pay cash for the other thing. I turned around and
about 5 feet away were those fancy dark chocolate bars, I grabbed one and said to her, I would be in big trouble if I forgot this. Mrs
sent me to the store for coffee filters, but she really sent me to the store for this. A big smile comes across her space and she said,
You can't deny a woman her chocolate. So a conversation which started off on the bump didn't end up to bad. My suggestion is
go out and make conversation with people, who knows they might end up being your next client or better half.

oh, snooker, that's so cute! good for you.

Good advice re: moving seats, rationalist. That way even if she says fuck off she can see that you are a decent guy.

Nothing ventured nothing gained, I stick by it.

i would love to get a kitty, but i am concerned about the problem steven mentioned above. i am terrified of being that lady on the train all covered in cat hair! maybe it's a stupid fear. your kitty looks so comically tragic, wonderk. and cute... it would be fun to have one. i would have to find one that is SUPER friendly (the kind that goes up to new people at the door and meows at them) and doesn't shed all over the place. do those kind of cats exist?

if you are looking for a woman like that you won't find one. its like being a salesman making cold calls. lacks dignity if you ask me. if you want to do that might as well join match.com or something. just give yourself some time to find some places to hang and get familiar with your surroundings and eventually you something will happen with someone. or maybe you'll die alone and be discovered only after the cat has eaten your face off.

The only people who talk to me on Metro always seem to be trying to pose their religious beliefs on me.


I'm generally not one to start conversations with people, but I'm not opposed to speaking with people who have something interesting to say.

But sometimes, I want to barge in on a tourist-family-on-the-brink who has been touristing for WAY too long - to settle their petty arguments. ("No, you need to take the BLUE Line to Arlington Cemetery." etc.)

Myriam - they have these things called lint rollers... they work wonders on removing cat hair ;-)

Gin - I agree with LB, what do you have to lose?

Does talking to a woman on the bus lack dignity more than talking to a woman in a bar? (or a man, of course)

lol.

i get upset when men start talking to my daughter on the train. i have gone so far as to tell one person to stop + back off. my wife caught him looking up my daughters skirt but i didn't know at the time or i would have done more than scare him away for being obnoxious. little old ladies though are totally cool. overprotective? hypocritical?

i don't talk to ladies on the train. But then again in Tokyo they have special cars that are women only cuz of all the sexual harassment they get...apparently some guys think a packed train is a good opportunity to get grabby...so perhaps it is for the best...Sometimes I strike up a conversation with another foreigner, but not too often. More often than not people start talking to me out of blue as a chance to practice their English. Usually the conversation hovers around the level of "I am a pen..."

bars still seem the best place to meet strangers...maybe you should come to tokyo, LIG. there are bars that foreign men and japanese-women-who-like-foreign-men go to hook up that would do wonders for your self-esteem. i find that whole scene a bit off-kilter, but know lots of guys here who love it...

i meant the saleman aspect lacks dignity. you can meet people anywhere and talk to people anywhere, but if you are walkin around thinkin every unaccompanied woman out there is a potential mate, well that aint the way to go about it.

Granted. Please make sure to check their ring finger first! (Hard to do in winter.)

tumbles

there was another secret ingredient in the pie ;o

LIG: WARNING! BLET...BLEEET! If some extremely good looking woman approaches you and wants to get chattie...well be careful.
She could be a Tom Cruise Girl....Sciencetologist our recruiting.
Them babes look so hot but they are not!

Archie.....congrats on the potential new digs....Now you can join all of us who were fools, with weekend remodeling projects.....that never seem to get done. I painted our bathroom two months ago and I need to go back and recut in some edges, but just can't put aside enough time to do it for one reason or another. I'm sure everyone
who owns is in the same situation. I love to work on other peoples
projects where I know everything will be done in a timely manner.

LEG: or she could be rupaul!


A shout out to my main man Daniel, who's second ever entry on archintect is already over 100 posts after just 2 days! Now you get to see what a real landscape architect can do. I'm just a poser with plants next to him!