Life of an Architect.

A friend introduced me to this website the other day. It's an interesting blog for those wondering what being an architect is really like, those that can relate or sympathize. I've only managed to watch a minute or two of How I Met Your Mother, and from the little I saw, I know the one character does not correctly portray someone who works at an architectural firm. Or perhaps he was off that day and that's how he had so much free time.... ;)

I particularly enjoyed "What's an architects day like". Read. Enjoy!


http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/

It's been a while...

...since I've posted some Nasa photos.

Remember it was super popular to create images made up by hundreds of tiny images? Then some people got lazy and just overlayed the image on to hundreds of tiny images... anyway, check out this (real) one made by PHD astronomy student Alex Parker. It's Starry Night (one of my favorite paintings on earth) made up of hundreds of photos from the Hubble telescope. 

Click the image to see the Daily Mail article and a close up!

Want to live in an eco-friendly tree house?

I'm always curious about the physics of living in a tree house. And the tree houses that have actual trees growing through them, or should I say the houses were built around the tree.. how does that work in the years to come?

Maybe I'm too practical. I do love tree houses. To stay in for a vacation that is. I stayed in one in no-where's-land Georgia on my road trip back in 2005. It was a great nights sleep, once I calmed down from my roommate telling me she saw a brown recluse. I think the bugs would really bother me if I lived in a tree house. I'm not saying this to sound like a girly girl. I really do have a problem with bugs. If there is a bug in the vicinity of me, it WILL fly at my face. It's the bug version of Murphy's Law. So unless I wear a fencing mask every day in my tree house home, I think non-tree houses are the way to go for me.

Anyway, back on track. Check out these amazing Eco-Friendly tree houses. Below is my favorite, click the photo to see the original article from National Geographic.

Recycled Spaces... from trains

After looking through these articles, I really want to find an old train and convert it into a sweet little house. I mean, how cool is this? 

That photo is actually a bed and breakfast (still cool), but me and my love for recycled spaces would move in there in a heartbeat.

This is another awesome place I'd live. It's in Portland and I'm having a hard time finding more information on it., although I do know it's for sale!

Check out this article to see more homes made out of not only trains, but buses and even a garbage truck.
http://www.oddee.com/item_98338.aspx

Now that's a bright idea.

I came across these beautiful lamps made by lzf. It seems like the lzf website showcases multiple designers. Their lamps are very sculptural, very fluid.

This is probably my favorite:

Click on each image to see more, and click on lzf to see the entire website.

Winos are us.

 I came across a flooring company called Fontenay that recycles used wine barrels into beautiful and unique flooring. I'm not sure which I like best, the wine stained floor, the printed barrel floor, or the flooring made with the part of the barrel marked up by the metal rings.

As always, click on the image to go to their website.

Danger! Danger!

So I found an amazing website that will surely take away your free time. It's an amazing collection of decorating and design photos. Yeah that's nice, you're thinking. But wait. It's categorized by room and/or style.

Just look: http://www.houzz.com/

So, you will either spend most of your time scouring the website, or you'll be off trying to replicate the pictures.

Good luck. Maybe set a kitchen timer to bring you back into the real world.

 Here are a few of my favorites:

Instagram. Again.

My fascination with Instagram is endless. Yes, maybe endless for now, but it seems endless. Anyway, someone just showed me this website to add more fuel to my Instagram fire.

Get rid of that camera app and get out your camera.

Interesting article on photos taken with phone cameras versus real cameras. Sadly I know some of you are reading this thinking, well duh real cameras are better. Yes, but that doesn't stop us from whipping our phones out to quickly take a photo. I have seen some very nice photos taken with iphones. I'm not talking the photos piled thick with Instagram filters, but just plain ol' iphone photos. The bad thing about these photos, and really any digital photo taken, is that technology moves on faster than we can catch up, and our photos stay frozen in time.

I went to China in 2002. I took countless rolls of film and I think around a thousand digital photos. I recently tried to print out some of those digital photos and was broken hearted to see pixelated junk when I got them back.

So, in that respect, it's kind of funny to read this article and not walk away thinking, well duh.

New York City Corners

I figured this post was fitting since I spent Saturday up at a Yankees game and wandering New York City. I'd post my own photos, but they're all of friends at the game, dinner, and random shenanigans. Well, here's one of me for fun. :)

Anyway, back to my original post.

Street corners, then and now.

And the full website, which is just solely photos of New York City Street corners.

Space Weather

You all may be sick of me posting NASA links and things of the sort. Well, good news this isn't a NASA link! It's a Spaceweather.com link! :)

Either way I think you'll enjoy these photos... they're beautiful. The photos usually have information on location, exposure, camera, filters etc.

Here's two of my favorites.

Venus

As you know, Venus passed in front of the sun the other day. Nasa has posted this amazing 3 minute video for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9rM8ChTjY&feature=youtu.be

Luxury Camping

When I was younger we used to camp on every family vacation. I couldn't understand why we couldn't go to Disney World like all my friends. I hated it.

Now that I'm older and paying my own bills, I see why we used to camp out so much. Also, as someone who is indoors more frequently than I would like to admit, I see the desire to camp.

This opens in July, not sure I would want to camp in the dead of summer, but it looks awesome. Also it's not really the camping I used to do as a kid, but I like it.

Kodak?

Not everyday you read the words 'secret nuclear reactor' and Kodak in the same sentence. Seems like it has been dismantled for a few years, but it's existence is still curious. Click on the link to read more about it, but you're still left wondering, what the heck?

Here's another article, giving more details. I would be nervous if I lived in Rochester all those years!

Claustrophobia

Great photos taken of Kowloon Walled City before it was demolished.

"The area was made up of 300 interconnected high-rise buildings, built without the contributions of a single architect and ungoverned by Hong Kong's health and safety regulations"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html#ixzz1uEP2eMAz

To see more photos from Greg Girard, click here.

Bio-Glass

I love interesting surfaces. Add some color, some texture, lighting.... love it. CaraGreen, a sustainable material company based in North Carolina, has some beautiful materials which you can see on their website.






I love this section of their website. Gorgeous applications. Cradle to cradle certified and beautiful on top of that!

Remembering Dick Clark

My heart goes out to the friends and family of Dick Clark. Yahoo posted this great photo gallery yesterday. I don't believe I've ever seen young photos of him...

http://tv.yahoo.com/photos/dick-clark-obit-slideshow/dick-clark-photo-1334779831.html

Smartphone Users!

Check out this new Google Maps App, Floor Plan Marker. Google Maps needs your help getting information on floor plans in public places like the mall, museums, etc.

It seems like it's more for nerds, although they say it nicely: Map Enthusiasts. I'm not a map enthusiast, but I am a nerd and I love anything to do with floor plans!

Rear Window Fans!

The movie, not fans you put in your window...

A friend sent me this... I absolutely love it. For those of you who have seen the fantastic classic, you can appreciate it. For those of you who have not seen the movie, see it. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you can appreciate this creative visual, although don't look too closely because it is literally the entire movie in two minutes.

http://gizmodo.com/5898639/the-entirety-of-rear-windows-rear-window-in-one-glorious-time+lapse-panorama

Hello again!

Getting busy again! And in the midst of designing my computer contracted a virus! Eek! It's in the safe hands of Central Bucks Computer right now, and I will be back to work soon.

In the meantime, I came across this photo which I found interesting...



Click on photo to see the entire image, as always when the photo isn't mine!