My Trip to the Whitehouse

So, I know this is like 2 months late, but I figured I would write an entry about my trip to the Washington D.C. for the National Medal of Science Award Ceremony at the Whitehouse on October 7, 2009. Hum-z's dad, Professor James E. Gunn of Princeton University was one of the award winners for outstanding achievement in science. We, aka: Hum-z's parents, got word of this event earlier this year, with enough time for us all to have all of our criminal records checked by the secret service. How sweet it is that Jim won this award after Obama got into office, as I was probably the most excited one out of the entire family to go!

On the night of the 6th, the National Science Foundation hosted a dinner at the Patent and Trademark office in Alexandria, which was only a 5 minute walk from our hotel. I am still dreaming about the delicious butternut squash soup that Hum-z said made him feel like he was about to have a heart attack...the ultimate sign of deliciousness! At the dinner, they announced and gave pins to the award winners as we all sat and watched while our "food comas" set in.

The next day, we set out for the Whitehouse at about 11am, 2 hours before the actual award ceremony. The hotel only being about 15 minutes away from the hotel, there was MUCH time devoted to waiting, checking-in, and going through security. After Jill (Hum-z's mom) gave the secret service our gift of Hoagie Haven t-shirts (from Princeton, Michelle's alma mater) for the Obama girls, we were off to the East Wing. There, we were able to mingle freely and take pictures, of which I took many, before the ceremony started. We were able to snatch up the last few open chairs in the East Room before Obama came in. The award winners were announced and brought on stage and then Hale to the Chief started playing. A sea of flashbulbs went off as Obama proceeded to the podium. He made a joke about how he had an ulterior motive to bringing all these scientists to the White House; Sasha had a science project and needed help. He spoke for about 20 minutes on the importance of education and funding for science, gave the award winners their medals, and then made a quick exit. I was disappointed that I could not get a pic with him; better luck next time. But at least the reception finger food after the ceremony was delicious. Don't worry, I got pics.

White House Food!, Jim Gunn with his medal, Receiving the National Medal of Science from President Obama


Jim Gunn and his kids


Jim Gunn and Barack Obama share a moment


For more pictures (and better quality pics) visit my flickr site!
National Science Foundation Dinner flickr album
Medal Ceremony at the White House flickr album

Zemanta Blog Embellisher: Making blogging more fun and pr

So, I know its been awhile, but I just found this AWESOME add-on for my blog and I'm HOOKED. I just downloaded Zemanta plug-in for my blog, which will make the time spent blogging more productive and fun! The plug-in is able to understand what I am blogging about while I write it, so it can come up with relevant pictures, articles, websites, and easily click-able tags. I especially love that I will not have to spend SO much time thinking of tags and adding them, and finding and citing pictures. (I added the Zemanta logo image below with the plug-in in a matter of .005 seconds. I also added all my tags below with the plug-in, in a matter of .3 seconds. I just couldn't help myself!) I even set it up so that it can link to my own flickr account and suggest my own pictures when relevant! So head over to Zemanta.com and get the plug-in for your own blog. It works for all major blogging sites, so I guess there is no more excuse for me to avoid my blog anymore...

Image via CrunchBase

AltUse

I am a total sucker for personal blogs, do-it-yourself blogs, and any sort of creative/design/architectural blog. I recently stumbled across Altuse.com, a website that takes everyday products and household items, and asks people to respond with alternative uses for seemingly normal items. I never knew that tinfoil could not only sharpen knives and defer insects when applied to outdoor surfaces! The site merges the creative and practical together while throwing in a little sustainability. Who knew a lemon could serve as a hangover cure, bad breath eliminator, foot soaker, and natural stain remover, sore throat reliever, and pore shrinker?

Other household items Altuse includes: olive oil, vinegar, coffee filters, tea tins, vodka, newspaper, ice , and many more (some are not as obvious as you think!)

Highline, Manhattan

I had the chance to visit the Highline Public Garden Project on the lower west side in Manhattan. Unfortunately, after being on the train from New Jersey for 10 minutes, I realized that I had left my battery in its charger at home and would be without my camera for the day. Severe disappointment. But I went with a friend who took pictures for me.

The first section runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 20th Street in Chelsea. It was designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro and stands thirty feet in the air. Having just opened on June 9, 2009, great masses have already flocked to the attraction, and for good reason. Even though it was crowded, and most of the benches were already occupied, the project offers different angles of the city that cannot be seen from anywhere else. Not only a means of connection from the Meatpacking district to 34th Street, the park offers a variety of different plantings ranging from a moss-land, to tall meadow, to wetland, and heavy woodland. My favorite aspect of the project was the amphitheater overlooking 10th Avenue. There, the elevated garden crosses the street and one can see the taxis passing underneath through a large picture window. It is also handicap accessible with a ramp zig-zagging through the area. Elevators are also located on 10th and West 16th, and 10th and West 14th.

Overall, the garden gives one a sense of "disconnection" from the city, while still being completely connected to the city. The custom paved areas and exposed train tracks pay tribute to the purpose that the structure held previously. Even if the tracks were moved to create the affect, it gives one the sense that this place is just an overgrown railroad. I highly suggest a visit to the Highline.

For more information, checkout
The Highline: http://www.thehighline.org/
Map of the Highline: http://www.thehighline.org/about/maps
Diller Scofidio & Renfro: http://www.dsrny.com/

Big Dig House

The Big Dig House, by Single Speed Design in Cambridge, MA takes advantage of over 600,000lbs of reused materials, such as structural steel and road panels from the Big Dig Project. Because of the load-bearing capability of these materials, a rooftop garden was implemented into the design as well as a rainwater harvesting system. In true prefab style, the construction time was reduced immensely with the entire structural frame being built in under 2 days. The open 3,400 square foot house features an exposed structure and an abundance of natural light. For more information, check out http://www.ssdarchitecture.com/works/residential/big-dig-house/. (image from Single Speed Design website)

Studio Withdrawals

It has been 15 days since graduation, and 15 days of glory it has been. Being sucked into the 5-year "jail sentence" that architecture school is makes me appreciate every relaxing moment, every day of sleep, every minute just doing nothing that I have. I feel like I am finally about to start my life and get around to the things that I have been putting off for five years.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Colorado for a friend's wedding, which was basically the first time for relaxation that I had after school, finishing thesis, and moving to New Jersey. Even though I am embarking upon a scary new chapter in my life in becoming a "true" adult and finding a career, I feel like a tremendous burden has been lifted. That is an amazing feeling, to live life without that constant retractable "leash" of architecture school, in which would let me wander during the summers, but always "yank" me back around August 27th of the last five years.

I can't wait to design! Today I think I started to have my first "studio withdrawal". We were driving around the residential area in Princeton looking at all the houses. I began my architectural career when I was about eight years old, designing houses. I had no training in architecture, just my ideas and the floor plan books of houses that my parents had bought for me. With all the larger scale projects that I have designed in school, I have not had a chance to remember how I started. My favorite project was the prefabricated residential house design in which I was able to focus on materials and customize every aspect of the design. The larger projects that I have designed have not allowed for this level of design and I wish to get into this once again. After my 15 days of freedom (which has also included getting my resume and portfolio ready for the treacherous job search), I think I might be ready to get back into it, even after all those late nights in the studio, with little sleep in which I was about to give up and quit to become a business major. I could never do anything else. As much as I have said I wanted to get out, I could never actually do it. The architectural "leash" will always lure me back, and I'm okay with that.

Spring is here! I have never seen so much rain!

So, today is like day 10 of rain. Yesterday was actually beautiful and sunny and I made sure to celebrate the break from the rain by being outside, ALL day. Yesterday was our first bbq of the season at Colt State Park, thanks to Steve and Damara's planning efforts. There was a huge turnout including mostly archies + friends, stage crew, with a dabbling of marine bio and hp majors. We played some bocce and kicked the soccer ball around as well as breaking out the kite because it was very windy out. It was nice to spend an entire day outside, since being an architecture major pretty much means that I will be sitting in front of a computer screen all day, especially for the the next month. Steve and I both noticed that we got minimally sun burnt, lol!

Working on the thesis

It is spring break, here at Roger Williams University, and I hardly know it. I have been working on my thesis for a majority of the time because our mid-review is next Friday. I am a little stressed out about it because I want to have a lot done for it, but its just taking forever. I have finished my cad plans enough to start 3d modeling on Revit, but since I just got a new laptop, my Revit wasn't fully functioning, so I had to waste a work day to reinstall it. It takes forever to install! Fortunately, my parents came to visit yesterday and I didn't really waste time because I was going to spend time with them anyway while my computer was reinstalling. Anyway, it's Saturday which means I have 2 days to work before my (not)fun-filled week and classes start again:(

On a high note, I found some new sites for some good cad blocks in addition to cben.net...
http://www.cadcorner.ca/index.php
http://www.cadforum.cz/catalog_en/?cat=11&page=6 (Thanks to Sari for this one)

Also, just a note for myself to have somewhere so I don't forget...
Optimal laser settings for 1/32" chipboard: PPI: 980, Speed: 20, PWR: 90

My First Post

I don't really know what to say, so I'll just post some pics from my latest design project. The assignment was part of my DSGN:100 Intro to Graphic Design class. The assignment was to create compositions based on the six design elements: color, line, texture, value, size, and shape that would be turned into cards with the original image on one side, and the manipulated image on the other side. Then we had to make an origami box to house the cards. My group's topic was nature, so we had to use images that we took from nature to create our composition.