ad[astra]per[aspera]

last thursday i headed out on a spontaneous adventure...well, spontaneous...yes, the adventure part is questionable.

i heard about a little thing called the geminid meteor shower, which was supposedly taking place that night. i quickly clicked over to wikipedia where i read that the geminids reach their peak dec. 12th through the 14th, and with a new moon currently in the skies, this annual event would have perfect viewing weather.

side note: i had no idea meteor showers were annual? anyone else.......hmmmmm, the stuff you don't learn in architecture school.

the best viewing time for this astrological show, would be between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m. not really having anything scheduled during that time, i decided to head out. thinking this would be a great time to try out some night photography, i loaded up a thermos full of coffee, put on my long johns, two coats, gloves, grabbed the tripod and headed north, out of town.

i drove until the lights of wichita disappeared, and then turned onto a dirt road. as i set up the tripod i could see the metors already streaking across the night sky! perfect! i angled my camera 45 degrees away from the star of castor which is in the constellation gemini, internet knowledge gained an hour before my trek, and set a long shutter speed.

i took several pictures, some of which as a metor went by. this would be great! what an event to capture on film!. as it was very dark, and viewing a picture on a tiny screen of the night sky doesn't show very well, i would just have to wait until i got home to view my captures.

getting back home about 2:30 i uploaded the pictures, and double clicked! scrolling through the photos, i realized, not a single one had even the faintest hint of a comet. putting them in the little digital trash can on my desktop, i went to bed, disappointed.

i almost hate to admit, but it took me a couple of days to realize i had still seen an amazing show. i just hadn't captured it on film. i had the memory, and it was still amazing.

what is it about seeing a "shooting star" that remains just as magical as it did when you were a young....

i guess some memories just aren't meant to be on film....


but as i like to say, "when the world gives you lemons, use photoshop".

so to make this blog entry slightly more interesting, i've added some pictures i saved from the trash and photoshoped for your delight.

the constellation orion:


in this one, you can almost see the constellations: click to enlarge.


close up of orion's belt: this one is tightly cropped, and the contrast adjusted heavily, but that's all....a little creepy.

classics[restored][discovered]

last friday i woke up and checked the local paper, for any interesting news. sure enough, right on the front page, i found something worth reading.

the wichita orpheum was unavailing it's newly renovated lobby friday night, along with a free showing of "the philadelphia story".

according to the article, the lobby hadn't seen this level of glamor since it was opened in 1922 as a vaudeville venue for the city. as an architect, i thought it only appropriate that i check out the latest renovation of this great theatre. as a jimmy stewart fan, i thought in only appropriate to check out "the philadelphia story", and being a little bit of a cheap skate, i thought it appropriate to enjoy the free movie and 25 cent popcorn.

i emailed some friends, and before lunch, had a small group ready to partake. i warned them to dress warm as we were going to experience it all as they did in 1922. we all meet at my apartment, and proceeded down to the new restaurant and bakery that just opened up on douglas ave. we ordered ordered "black and white" cookies, and coffee to help keep us warm during the downtown trek.

i was pumped! how exciting! how urban! how nostalgic! this had to be the hottest thing going on in wichita that night!

as i turned the corner at first and broadway, what to my wandering eyes should appear? but the above 65 crowd bundled up, standing near.

i'm telling you...they're hip.

the sidewalk was packed with people, anxiously awaiting to get in. at six thirty they opened the doors and let everyone enjoy the new lobby. the restoration was beautiful. obviously i had no idea what it had once looked like, unlike a some of the others standing near me, but it gave the atmosphere of craft and grandeur, which isn't experienced much in this day of age. as if the lobby wasn't exciting enough, none of my friends, including me, had ever seen "the philadelphia story". we took our seats, the lights dimmed and the movie started. now, i'm not sure it if was just the atmosphere or the crowd, but the movie was incredibly entertaining, providing laughs the whole way through. but with jimmy stewart, cary grant, and katharine hepburn, how could you go wrong? everyone else in the group felt the same way, as we discussed how much we enjoyed it, the whole walk back.

so here's to classics's. be they renovated or newly discovered!

a dose of [kansas] architecture

over the past couple of months, i helped re[vitalize] ar34.

it was originally a publication reviewing kansas architecture. however due to time and lack of budgets, it fell out of circulation a few years ago. wanting to help revive it, a co-worker and i, set out to figure a way put something together, with no money.

the idea we had was to create a user supported, digital magazine. the idea being that anyone with interesting stuff, would submit a project. we'd gather them up, arrange them onto a layout, and have a magazine. it sounded simple enough.

so a call for submissions went out last september asking people to send in any architecture, or art they wanted to contribute. the idea being that anything and everything was up for consideration, as long as it somehow related back to kansas. we had photos from interns, projects from firms and former kansas students, as well as sketches and renderings from students and professors. overall a great variety for the first issue.

attached is a link to the magazine. now it's no "dwell" but i thought this would be a great way for everyone to keep up-dated with the architectural "happenings" and "going-ons" here in the sunflower state.

click on the picture, to open the pdf.

hope you enjoy...

[purple][red][black]and [blue]

i'm not a "football guy".

i'm just not.

the only action i ever saw on a football field, was back in the high school marching band. but there's something about this time of year that just isn't complete without attending at least one college football game, which was just about my average during college.

i traveled up to lincoln, nebraska last weekend to see my alma mater take on the corn huskers. as it was an early game, a friend and i drove up the night before, and stayed with friends, husker fans no less. waking up early and traveling to the game it was a completely different feel then the little apple. the stadium is in the downtown area, much different from the vast parking lots and fields i was use to. decked out in my k-state gear, we walked to the stadium. during our trek the crowds were full of red, i did my best to keep up with the football jargon, throwing out terms like, "touch down", "running back"and "bcs bowl". i believe i eluded any suspicion of my limited knowledge of this sport.

i'm not going to go into the details of the game. one, because we all know the outcome, and two, i'm really not the type of person you want explaining the game. but as the score went up, and the k-state fans slowly left, i stood my ground, cheering on my team with pride until the game ended.

although it was a different city, although i was with different people, although we lost horribly, the whole experience was very nostalgic. i found myself reminiscing about better times, most notably the weeks surrounding our win against nebraska, november 11, 2000. a beautiful, and exciting season, that i'm thrilled took place during my stay in manhattan.

times change, people change, seasons come, seasons go, sometimes you win, sometimes it feels like all you do is lose, but you try you're hardest to look forward to the next season.

thankfully, we'll always have the memories.

GO STATE!!!

pie[canned]

following up our debut last year, my firm once again decided to participate in wichita's [can]struction event.

being the most excited in the office about it, i was elected team captain this year, which basically meant i was voted to receive a lot of e-mails. throughout the past month, i had everyone in the office submit any ideas they had on what object we could sculpt. the list grew and grew, however nothing really stood out as "the one". that was until a suggestion from our secretary. an idea i loved from the moment i heard it. an object i could get excited about sculpting! an object i wanted to see built!

a giant piece of pie!

now what kind of pie to build, led to another week long discussion. a lot of people wanted your traditional apple pie, there was even some discussion about pecan. rhubarb discussed. blueberry was in the top spot for a while. however when the dust cleared, it was decided that the lattice work atop a cherry pie would be the most artistic venture.

a trip to the grocery store and we found our palate. FMV pear slices for the bottom crust, kroger kidney beans for the cherries. (yes it would have been great to use actually cherries, but they were too expensive) and packages of creamy chicken ramen noodles for the the lattice work.

there were five firms competing this year, which made the build a bit more competitive, as no one wanted to reveal what they were building. as the build continued however, the secret was eventually revealed. all the firms had great entries, but for some reason i was partial to ours. maybe is was the most creative, maybe it was the best use of labels, maybe it was the most artistic, or just maybe it was because it was a giant piece of cherry pie!