opening day [squeezed in versinon]

readers of this blog will know that many of my posts involve keeping traditions going.  i love how keeping favorite events or activities going on year after year, give a sort of rhythm to your life.  it provides a structure for memories in a way.  now i'm in no way oppose to new experiences, but i like a few favorites dotted in throughout the year.

one of those is the opening of  "portland lobster company." besides a couple of years during covid, i believe ive been at every opening day for the past 7 years.  it's a sign that spring is finally here.  a time to put that winter coat away and emjoy patios again.  this year was to be no different.  there was one big item that i had going on in my life, so this year's opening day consisted of just one beer on the patio.  

but it still counts!

architalx[notes] 2023

my first year in six years i'm not on the architalx board meant that i only attended one lecture this year.  wanting to keep the tradition alive i took notes in the form of doodles during the lecture.

[chalk] is back in town

 snow seems to be gone...time to get this started again.

slippery when.....[all the time]

 i hate being that guy who covers up hardwood, but these stairs were so slippery.  they've caused one bad fall and many, many near injuries due to their lack of grip.  so a small home improvement task i took on was getting a stair runner in place.  as much as i love learning about my home by taking on projects, i was happy to have a professional install this.

this is [42]

 thankful for one more lap around the sun...

having a [ball]

any kid from the 80's or 90's remembers that pizza hut would put out a commemorative basketball for the ncaa tournament.  i loved these balls and many of them would have logos of the teams on them.

then they didn't.

well this year they brought it back on mini basketballs, and i had to get one!

finally found the [exet]er library

 the exeter library by louis kahn is surprisingly hard to get into to view.

after a few years and several attempts it finally worked out. i found myself in that neck of the woods during spring break, which meant the public could tour the library and take pictures...since there were no students studying.

i'm torn.  there are very few spaces that give me a sense of awe as i walk into them.  this was one of them.  however i'm not sure if it's because it's actually an awe inspiring space or if it's just because ii studied this building back in architecture school and i finally saw it in person.  either way it was an incredible space to walk through and i'm thankful i took the time and patience to finally see it.

pocket full of [cozy]

 im not sure if it's after i moved to new england or if i'm just getting older, but the pursuit of trying to be as cozy as possible is high on my priority list. whether it's a char, or a seat on a bus, or my bed, or a restaurant....dammit i like to be cozy.  i don't have time to waste not being cozy.  it's no surprise that part of being cozy in the winter time is a fireplace and i find myself drawn to restaurants that have fireplaces.  if no fireplaces is available, a wood fired pizza oven is a great alternative.

[covid] hit the fan

 well... covid finally hit our house.

after almost three years of avoiding it, it hit our house hard. our daughter was the first one to show symptoms and test positive.  shortly there after my wife and i did as well.  the real annoying part was that our daughter basically recovered from it in 24 hours, right around the time we got it.  it wasn't painful, but i can't lie, it was miserable.  i'm glad we were all vaccinated and handled it relatively well, but it did suck.

as i'm writing this a few weeks after the fact i will include our daughter brought home just about everything including a nasty stomach bug, keeping us all on the sick list the months of february and march...explaining the lack of photos the first part of the year. maybe we'll all be better when the weather is nice here...sometime in july.

new[year]new[job]

 the end of 2022 was a bit more stressed than i like my end of years to be.

the firm i worked at for the last seven years was making some changes and needed to let me go.  [basically, my boss wanted to go down to being a sole practitioner and needed me gone to do that] it was all on good terms but still stressful.

the month of december found me dusting off my resume and portfolio and making calls.  thankfully i was able to get interviews at four great firms of which three produced an offer.  after taking a week to think about it, by the end of the month i had a job lined up and started in january.

hard to say if this will be a good thing or not, but there is something very [aligned] about starting a new job in january. a few shots from around the office...now located on the [east end]