Table

http://sintesi.gruppo-sintesi.com/en/product/28-be-bop

ID 4 Conference Room

ID3 Project 1 Flux

We got our ID3 projects back, and I spent the last few days getting it updated on my site.

www.llamanade.net/id/id31

Flux

Interior Design 3
Finished Feb 28th, 2008
Grade: 90%

Flux strives to achieve a balance of energy levels to facilitate the needs of the individual workers The floor plan expresses a dynamic traffic flow, allowing speedy transmission of ideas throughout the design process, High Ceilings and natural light over the work areas stimulate the mind and body, while the lounge and patio areas allow quiet relaxation.

I'm Upset

Up in Seattle last night an arson group burned down a series of luxury homes in a new development. No one was hurt, but four houses were ruined

Full Story Here

The group who claimed responsibility calls themselves ELF - Earth Liberation Front. They left a sign at the scene that said:

"Built Green? Nope BLACK! McMansions + RCD's r not green. ELF"

RCD means rural cluter development.

I have no idea what the LEED specs for this development is, so I don't know exactly how green the construction is. It doesn't matter, burning down a house isn't the way to get your point across.

Eco-Terrorists, and for that matter, anyone who chooses to spread their message through destruction, are hypocritical and immoral. But specifically for environmental activists, who philosophically search for balance in nature, to believe that destruction of property counteracts destruction of the earth is illogical. The burnt out husk of a building didn't make room for regrowth of a forest, it left a charred foundation on which another house will be built.

And it bothers me so much because on a daily basis I'm working towards the balance that the eco-fiends say they want. I study building design, material usage, and recycling practices in order to bring sustainable living to the world. The ELF and their ilk take the easy way out and go break something.

I'm really too upset to even finish this with coherent thought. But I do believe I've found a new source of motivation.

Motivation

A common sentiment has been creeping up among the Interior Design denizens, myself included.


"I'm not motivated"


Over winter break I was constantly excited about what lay ahead. I got a couple of paintings done, did some matting work and put down sketches or concept statements for a dozen other projects. Then the new semester hit and nothing seemed worthwhile. The two new design assignments handed down were rather bland in my opinion (heaven help me if an ID instructor reads this). I thrive on creative problem solving, and neither of the new assignments offered me a place to shine in that regard. But assuming I was the only one feeling this way, I kept my opinions to myself. Then someone else mentioned that they weren't feeing motivated, then someone else said it, then another person, and another person.

I'm a firm believer in grading curves. If a few people aren't performing well, its their fault. If the majority aren't doing well, maybe something is wrong with the institution. Of course, it would take a very (very very) brave soul to complain about lack of motivation to the instructors because one of two responses are expected.

• "You're just being lazy"
• "Its not my job to motivate you"

So its unlikely that the topic will even be breached with the powers that be.

Is cooperative motivation a viable solution? Do we need to be each others cheerleaders? I think its a great motivator to have someone offer words of encouragement, but unless its an instructor, I usually treat compliments from others as sycophantic ass kissing. Maybe thats just a personal problem I need to overcome. In any event, I'm not sure I have the type of personality to inspire motivation in others. I'm much more of a 'shoulder to cry on' kind of person, which is a necessary role to play, but not always the most helpful.

So it all boils down to self motivation. We all have days when we don't want to get out of bed, or when being a couch potato is the highest aspiration of the day. But god dammit, we're artists! We create. It is our passion, and we're good at it. If we cease to create, we destroy our identity. And that perhaps is the greatest long term motivating factor in my life.

Persistence until death.

This Weekend

This weekend started off with an experience which exemplifies why I hate dental/doctor appointments.
I had previously made my appointment for Friday at 11:00am to have a full exam.


Timeline:
10:20 I arrive at Western Dental
10:40 I finish filling out insurance paperwork
-HUGE ANNOYING GAP-
12:10 I'm taken into an X-Ray room, an hour and ten minutes late
-30 MINUTE GODDAMN GAP-
12:40 Nurse arrives, takes my X-Ray
12:55 Nurse leads me to scary dental exam chair
1:10 Dentist arrives to start the exam.


At this point I'm in so much pain, and so frustrated from the wait, that I tell the dentist that I don't want a full exam, I just want my wisdom teeth looked at so she can refer me to an oral surgeon. The dentist obliges, sets me up with the surgeon for March 4th - two days before my first ID project is due. Wonderful. She also prescribed me Amoxocillin and Vicodin. Oddly enough the vicodin has no effect on me. Doesn't kill any pain, hardly even makes me sleepy. An opiate immunity would be interesting - morphine won't work on me, but I'll never get hooked on heroin! So after three days of taking the medicine my teeth aren't in constant pain, so I can live out the next two weeks in relative normalcy.

Last night (Sunday) Jaimie, Aaron, Dana, Jackie and I went to Dizzy's and listened to a couple of Jazz sets. I went for extra credit in my History of Jazz class, but I liked it so much, I'll be going back a few more times this month.

Right now I'm under self sequestering in an ID classroom, getting some major work done on my two projects. Taking a break to write this up, and go get a beer, before I work until the wee hours.

Roses

This year I really don't have anyone to give flowers to, so I decided to give flowers to anyone that wanted one.








Over the past three weeks I drew out and rendered 40 of these flowers. I ended up giving away 2 at work, but the other 38 I just hung on a bulletin board in the art building for anyone who walks by to take.

A Burger Blast From The Past

Unbeknownst to me, a Portillos opened up near Disneyland.   This is a big deal!  Previously, Portillos was a Chicago-land only burger chain, with a few dozen spread around the city and 'burbs.  Being my favorite burger place EVER, I naturally had to go check out the one in Anaheim to see if it met up to my standards.

I was not disappointed!

After a bacon double cheeseburger, large cheesy fries, large strawberry shake, and a piece of chocolate cake, I left fat and happy.

SDSU Sculpture Class Installation

So the other day I was walking to class And I see this.






The freshman sculpture class had posed themselves and wrapped themselves in packing tape, creating hollow life sized sculptures. This in itself was pretty cool, but the installation of the jumping/falling guy was freaking sweet.





Here are all the ones they put up around the art building

Trip To Tijuana

Saturday I went to Tijuana with some of the ID folks.
Our first stop was the office of Bosque de Agua Caliente, an architecture firm based in Mexico City. Angelica, our guide, took us first to a community of new house/condo/apartment buildings, where we were shown around by a man named Rrrrrrogelio (trill those R's).

The architecture and floorplans were nice, about what you'd expect out of a high income, densely populated American city. The community is situated on top of a hill, overlooking most of Tijuana. Maybe not one of the prettiest cities to live above, but still a very nice view.

Next we stopped off at the Bosque High-Rise project. The site includes 12 buildings, each 12 stories high, a central forest area with pine trees transplanted from central mexico, quite a few community amenities, such as a movie theater and day care. Each unit is 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath plus the normal kitchen, laundry, etc. And each unit comes with a fully computerized wireless system to control Audio/Video, lights, window covering, security cameras and pretty much anything else you can run off of a windows system. Price ranged from $265,000 US to $325,000 US, which is about comparable to similar sized apartments/condos in the San Diego area.

We lunched at a gourmet Pizza place, and then set off towards Rosarito, where an American development company had finished building (nearly) beach front condos. The architecture here was familiar to us, as it was similar to a building in Little Italy in San Diego, designed by an Architect who lives and works there.

I did enjoy the reflection pool in the center of the compound. This development also has a cascading waterfall pool being constructed, which looked awesome. The overall purpose of the trip was for us to learn differences in Architecture and construction in an area outside of the US. From what we saw, the differences I noted were: Most construction is done in concrete because northern Mexico doesn't have as vast forest resources as the US does. Many of the building codes are more relaxed because Mexican society is lest litigious than in the US.

The trip was fun and informative, but I don't think I'll be returning any time soon. Border wait, insane drivers (myself included) and the cops carrying M1A4s may be the subject of a later blog.

Interesting (or maybe not so) Links
Bosque de Agua Caliente
Toke - Galeria del Objecto
Expo Marmol Natural

Back in business

Its finished, uploaded, and awesome.
And I'm exhausted.

Its been a really productive break. Since I took the site down to redesign it I've completed six projects that I had been sitting on for a while.

-Two new large canvas paintings
-Three new mats
-And one new over the door "Protection Charm" that I haven't had a chance to mat and photograph yet.

Today I'm going to work on staining a bare wood shelf I have in the garage, then install it as a bedside table in my room next week some time.

Thats all for now, I'm gonna to take a nap I think.

----------------
Now playing: Kanye West - Stronger
via FoxyTunes