It has been more than a year since I last wrote anything on here, let alone anything meaningful. That’s not to say that I haven’t been writing during that time, it simply hasn’t been posted here.

Today is my second full day in Athens and while I should be finalizing my essays for applying to Columbia Business School I find myself browsing through the thousands of photographs that I have taken during the first 2 weeks of my 4 week venture across much of Europe. Going through the photos reminds me of how I promised myself to make one drawing for each day–something I have not followed up on– and how there is simply so much to see in each place that I am visiting that to give even 15 minutes to one drawing often prevents me from seeing some amazing view or enjoying a great conversation with one of the many locals I have met along the way.

So far I don’t think it such a bad thing not to have followed up on my promise to myself. Traveling through so many different European cities in such a short time and by quite varied means is an incredible experience. It is incredible for a number of reasons. One of the most important of these is a topic I was discussing with Dave last night during dinner–how so many people often don’t think to answer “What do I want to do?” and “Where do I want to live/work?” To this point I could more or less answer the “what” (architecture, planning, teaching) as I continue to narrow in on just what work excites me. However, the “where” was a much more difficult answer since I often found myself romanticizing places I had never been. No more. Now I know that I am coming closer to know what parts of the western world I would want to live and work in.

And, I’m looking forward to seeing how this changes as I see more of the world in the coming years. Asia? South America? Africa? All those are places I am determined to get to in the next few years.

Here’s to travel as a stimulus for restarting things left behind.

In tonight’s session of “mobilities: cities on the move” Professor Sheller introduced this video of a young scotsman, Danny MacAskill, filmed imaginatively navigating his environment and shaping it to suit his purpose. He clearly tests our understanding of an environment’s affordance while demonstrating that how we move through space alters our perception of a space and the creation of place. Early in the video Danny manipulates his bicycle along the tops of iron fence-posts, what would be a barrier for most of us, and as he jumps, flips and drops across the city he challenges us all to better explore our environment and to not simply accept the tried and true methods for moving within our environment. Throughout the video Danny demonstrates a definite control over the bicycle practically becoming a man-bike cyborg. More than an instrument in the hand of a practiced athlete the man and bicycle become one entity moving through space, adapting to its environment in many ways similar to parkour. The performance is beautiful to watch.

Joe Hodas provides this great piece of advice for anyone new (okay, or used) to an office. “Always be that ray of light in your boss’/co-worker’s day.” And Jessica Stillman is correct, “This one’s simple. Surprise. Delight. Be the kind of individual you’d like to spend 200-plus days each year with. And to be clear — that’s much different than kissing ass.”

These last few months have been a blur for me. I started a new full-time position with a planning department. I wrote an intensive application for a graduate scholarship. I began a number of graduate school applications. I hung out with friends. I chatted up some girls. I ramped up my work on Drexel Smart House. And at no time, until these few moments I am stealing, did I pull back from all the activity in order to assess and to reflect upon what I have been doing, learning, accomplishing. In these few borrowed minutes I think I see a dilemma that I am about to run into head on. Passions, Priorities and Perpetual Motion.

I am incredibly passionate about my own education and research , the development and evolution of Drexel Smart House into a sustainable organization, becoming a professional architect, and creating an excellent design company.

Luckily some of my passions are also able to be my current priorities. Unfortunately Drexel Smart House and the job that adds to my professional training are leaving me little room for anything else. My thesis work is receiving a few hours every two weeks of production time (of course I think about it everyday), my NCARB/IDP process is stagnating (I haven’t touched that stuff in months), my graduate applications and GRE are afterthoughts at the end of the day, and I can’t even find the time to schedule a hair cut, let alone sit down to eat good meals each day (I’ve seriously a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter underneath my desk at work).

And then there’s the perpetual motion. On a good day I’m getting 6 hours of sleep. In general I’m floating around 4-5 for most working days of the week. Why? Because I find myself insisting on celebrating what could well be my final year in Philadelphia for some time. Requests to grab a drink at a bar or to come over for dinner certainly are not falling on deaf ears. Of course such celebration is also a cause for my concern. I have to be careful that I don’t over do it all. I feel I’m a hockey puck gliding swiftly across the ice. If I don’t stop sometime I think I’m going to come crashing down.

All that said, what is really nagging me is “what comes next” and being ready for it. I absolutely want to continue on to graduate school for urban planning. But, will all the great things I am doing that are strengthening my character and honing my professional and personal skills also beginning to cut too deeply? Will I let them stop me from being ready for moving on?

I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Until then it’s all about balance.

According to the Center for Built Environment Research in the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast:

“Modern built environment research combines innovations in materials, interaction of people with the built environment, meeting social needs of housing, simulation studies for energy efficiency in the built environment, and the use of space, light, energy and acoustics.”

It strikes me that we are now entering a decidedly modern era in the creation of the built environment. In many ways repetitive, yet wholly new, today’s obsession with efficiency has the potential to machine out the very humanity that has traditionally been inherent in the formation of the built environment. Like a ouija board’s planchette, man seems to only see that which is in view, remembering and at time salivating over where we’ve been, obsesses with anticipating where we are going, and always not quite getting it right.

A few of the Center’s 2008 research topics:

• Inclusive design
• People-oriented Interaction
• Innovative materials and their use
• Building performance and evaluation
• Sustainable housing studies
• History and theory of architecture
• Digital media of architecture
• Architecture technology

Tim Brown of IDEO recently wrote that “much of what we are able to do with design is dependent on the context in which we ask our questions.” After all, as he understands it “an innovator is someone who is able to ask a question that no one else has thought to ask.” 

Tonight I had a brief and thoughtful conversation with a mother. This weekend, I watched over her house, her dogs, and her two sons. I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but it might have started with the topic of her children not having any homework for the weekend or her one son doing his homework on the bus ride home. Either way, we began discussing what happens when developing children are under-stimulated. It seems that like me (at that age and now), her youngest son, does not have what one might call the “best” studying habits.

Studying habits, what a great topic. Why should we study? How should we study? What should we study? Where should we study? Hell, should we study?

One of the key points she made was that there were times that her son lost points on exams simply because he would provide the answer without showing his work (perhaps because he just sees the answer … perhaps not). As I told her, I can understand his reasoning. As a youth I would often simply provide the answer to a problem, not understanding the need to demonstrate my methods for reaching the correct conclusion. Only later in life (and still) did I begin to understand the various reasons for keeping a record of the method. It is good to keep track of your work to be able to walk through it should you reach the incorrect answer (find where you misstepped) or to help others to see new ways for solving a problem. Most have seen this in the realm of science and mathematics, but because of my field of study, I have experienced this with my visual/spatial problem sets.

These “processes” tie back in to the idea of homework because homework is intended to stimulate our minds as we are developing. Should the teacher provide the same problem set to all the pupils then there will be a spectrum; some will find it terribly hard (over stimulating); some will find it moderately hard (stimulating); and, some will find it terribly easy (boring). As one of those who more often found myself in the later grouping, the only recommendation I can make for the system is to stop teaching to the middle. Nor can we segregate ourselves, because so doing is just as detrimental to development (as a society) as we tend to provide the best with better resources. If there is one problem in the realm of education that I wish to see resolved in this century … this is most certainly it.

But, are we slipping? In our use of the technology, are we letting it control us as opposed to our controlling it? How often does the technology dictate our actions rather than our actions dictate the technology. Perhaps this is the constant struggle of being human. Some ask if we are becoming more robotic and less human? Are we becoming more secluded and less social?

Just this Monday, during a brainstorming meeting for a new company, a friend of mine (Cody A. Ray) and I were paid one hell of a compliment (as we see it). See, the current team founding this company consists of five college-age guys, so I tend to think others my age are as up to date with the best of the software applications out in the market. Cody and I found out otherwise.