m@

Hello internet people. Good to hear that Pete and Anne (and Will) are doing well.

I think I'm doing well as well. I've been working at what's currently called studio jva in Grand Rapids... it's basically a one-person firm (Jim Vander Molen is the boss figure...he did the Rapid Central Station when he was at Progressive AE). It's been a big blessing of a job as far as experience goes since I get to tag along to a lot of presentations, meetings, community workshops/charettes, etc and I'm always doing something different (ie not just autocad everyday). It's probably better than the jobs I'll have the first few years after gradschool... The only downside is that Jim is getting so much work in California now that he's there almost as much as he's in Michigan so I'm starting to get a few more days off than I would like (I did get to go with him to CA once though so I'm not really complaining). Anyway, we are currently working with four-ish churches and also North Park Elementary in GR. The work is mostly renovations/small additions and master planning...it has been cool seeing things progress through the various design stages....hopefully, I'll get to see something completed one of these days.


So that's good...then I'm hoping to go to archy school at UIC in Chicago in the Fall...the girl I'm getting married to in May is going to attend Loyola/Erikson for social work/child developement and so yeah, Chicago just worked out best for us--so hopefully it all works out. I'm excited for architecture school...I'm not as excited for mounds of addtional debt and the mounds of stress and busy-ness...but it'll work out I suppose. Any horror stories of the workload and any advice for maintaining balance?

Hi everyone.

Cheers to Will for encouraging more posting. I am curious to what everyone has been doing and where the pre-arch has taken you.

I am now living in Denver and attending CU Denver for Architecture.

While the school does not have the highest standards, there are some very talented people here--mostly drawn for the outdoor life, but talented nevertheless. I like what we are doing and am currently in the process of diagraming our new site for the current studio project. Lots of mixed media drawings, graphics and presentation stuff right now.

I am working now on yet another portfolio for a summer job. Hopefully I get something with the way the economy is now. Denver is still growing, but it is scary to think I may finish school with big loans and not much of a job market.

The photo is of my dog Fen. He looks like a bully, but is really a big lover.

all for now. peace out.

Oh, and don't ask why I have three usernames on this blog. I spaced and only know the current one.

Hoy Hoy

update pete v:

Been living in Delaware, was doing print production for about a year.

Recently switched careers *ha* now working from home (parents')

doing graphic design. Which is pretty cool with the Mac and all

but tough, because I have no training and am not very good.

Mostly page layout kind of stuff. I pretend to know

how to use the Adobe Creative Suite, that 

was supplied by employer – score!

Really it's going well and I'm learning a lot.

Very thankful for the opportunity to 

get into this kind of work.

Took a couple of AutoCAD classes; forgot everything.

Finally finished reading The Fountainhead.

No plans for grad school (right now).

p.s. – Congratulations Will, best wishes.

Resurrection

This is a picture of my wedding. I doctored it slightly :)... but I thought I'd bring every one up to speed.

Ok... this blog needs a bit of resurrection. To fill every one in on what I'm doing, in life, and in my architecture ambitions. I'm living in Whittier CA, working for an architect in Brea CA. Last time I posted the name of the architect I worked for, he googled himself in front of me, and read my post about him. Anyway, I won't repeat that mistake. I work for an architect who does mainly government work. We have contracts with LA Unified School District, LA county, Internal Services... all the state run stuff, so we mainly get jobs with stuff like schools and parks, and government office buildings. Its almost always updating old buildings to meet ADA. So I've become somewhat knowledgeable in accessibility issues. Its terribly uncreative work, but I'm learning how the architecture profession is run from a business stand point. I'm also learning a bit about programming and scheduling, which I'm not instinctively good at. Its been good. I'm also applying to graduate schools, 5 of them, hoping I get into one of the better ones, but I'll take anything. I'm applying to U of Oregon, U of Washington, U of Colorado, U of New Mexico, and U of Illinois Chicago. Do any of you have any experience in those? I know Anne went to U of Colorado. I actually visited her in Colorado right at the tail end of my honeymoon (of all things), and Denver seemed to be a really interesting city to live in. Anyway... those are the items I've been up to. What about Zoe, Peter, Matt??? Any of you feel like posting?