my own [fountainhead]

it's coming up on my ten year anniversary of blogging. to honor that digital milestone i thought i'd take a look back at the beginning....the very beginning.

ten years ago i started an eight month internship which was part of my architectural education. in order to validate my time and receive a grade, every week found me keeping track and writing about what i was learning and experiencing, and sending it to my professors. doing this week after week seem to train my brain to keep mental notes and seek out the "interesting" in the everyday, sometimes mundane routine.  without a doubt, this quality was eventually put towards my blog, which i started near the end of this experience

not only is this a look back for me to see where my "blogging" started, it's very entertaining to read what i was doing as a 23 year old intern and relate that to the slightly more i know now as a licensed architect.  below are excerpts from my internship journal ten years ago.  the inspiration for this blog as well as the start of my architectural career.

week 1 - organizing the product library. to this day the reason i know my division numbers.

week 2 - building models, still one of the best ways to communicate with a client.

week 3 - the inevitable start of cad drawings

week 4 - weeks like this is why i went into architecture

legos, architecture and the [martial] arts

last saturday i was thrilled to be a judge for the "national association of women in construction" block kids competition.  about 40 kids ranging from 1st to 6th grade had one hour to build a project with 100 lego blocks, tin foil, string and a rock.  afterwards judges would grade the kids on the use of the objects, why they built what they did, how they explained what they did, who would use it, if they would change anything about it and their enthusiasm for their project. basically a very fun and simple form of critiques in architectural school.

i judged two kids and thoroughly enjoyed both their stories. one built a combination fork lift and driller, the other a 1,000 foot monster built to protect a fictional city and all it's treasures.  one question we were supposed to ask is if they wanted to go into architecture or construction when they grew up. one kid wanted to be a space scientist and the other an mma champion, occupations, which in my mind, are way harder than architecture, mentally and physically. however, once again, i was amazed at the imagination and creativity legos are able to stir up in kids with many different interests.

it was an incredibly rewarding day and i had a wonderful time looking at the projects created in just an hour.  below, a few photos from the event.