First Semester Project

site plan, originally uploaded by pmauro2001.

I've gotten around to uploading the photos of my first ever architecture model. There are some of the specific buildings and several of the site plan model (like this one here).

The idea was a community garden, with greenhouses, classrooms, etc.

Overall, I was fairly happy with it, but there already things I wish I had done differently.

Annoyed

Things I hate right now:
1) temperatures in the negatives, with wind chills in the negative 20's;
2) research papers.

That's all, really.

My First Architecture Final Review

In architecture studio, you spend a whole semester developing a project, researching, drawings, writing, building models, etc. Then at the end of the semester, you stand in front of a jury (usually professors, but sometimes professional architects) and defend/discuss your project.

My first review was yesterday.

Here I am discussing my project, which was a community garden/greenhouse/neighborhood center.


In front on me is the model I built, of the community center, greenhouses, and garden spaces. Here's a closer look.


And here I am pointing something out on my small scale model (I did two models, one of the whole sit, one of just the buildings). The review panel is sitting there in front of me.

Overall, I thought my review went fairly well. There were some things brought up by the reviewers which I should have thought of/done, but overall I am pretty happy. I need to take some better pictures of my semester's worth of work, so I'll eventually get around to posting that stuff.

Congratulations

Just a quick note to congratulate Kimberly on passing her first major test for her program: she passed her portfolio!!!!!!!!

I think she'll take a few weeks off, then start working on that dissertation thing.

Congrats wifey.

Heartbroken

We got some very sad news today. Miles has some tumors that are likely cancer. They seem to be growing quickly (we noticed the lumps right before leaving for Thanksgiving) and the test results suggest that they are affecting his liver.

We'll try to be the best pet parents we can be; which for us means to make sure he's comfortable and happy for as long as possible. The vet thinks that some diet changes might reduce the strain on his liver and give him a little more time. It's likely that we won't be entering him in the best housecat competition at the state fair next year. We're both pretty shaken up and sad that we're losing our little furry friend. I don't know how I'll finish all my classes without his help.

Miles at his most content - sleeping

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update 12/4: Turns out that the tumors are definitely impacting his liver. His blood test results show that he has liver damage and maybe some kidney problems (although that could also be due to dehydration). The vet recommends that we try a prescription cat food and a medication that reduces the stress on a damaged liver. None of this will cure him, but it could keep him going a little bit longer before we have to deal with organ failure.