I have always thought of carving a turkey as sort of a rite of passage to head of the household. A ceremonious and sacred tradition that every man must take responsibility for. This past weekend i felt like i stepped into that honored role. Friday night we had not one, but two, thirty pound turkeys cooking simultaneously in our oven. Once the correct temperature was reached and the turkeys removed from the oven, I then proceeded to carve these birds without any formal training. But using the knowledge I had gleaned from past Thanksgivings watching my father or my friends father carve, I cut as much meat off the bones as I could. I have to be honest, I am quite proud of the way things turned out, and I feel as though i've been clothed in a new layer of confidence.

sam elliot called me sir...

today this tall, lanky cowboy walks up to my register and with a low, gravely voice orders a cappacino. he hands me a five and i hand him back his change. "thank you, sir." he says. i ask him if i can i get his name for the order. he says, "sam".

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Every year Portland puts on a little 18 mile bike ride in the thick of the winter season called "The Worst Day of the Year Ride". There are stops around town hot cocoa, beer, and tasty treats. Yesterday just happened to be the day of the ride, and ironically could have been one of the best days of the winter season. I wasn't able to participate due to my work schedule, however i had the opportunity to ride to class today in what I would consider to be the ABSOLUTE WORST DAY OF THE YEAR!!! Yesterday = pleasant, overcast, cool. Today = stinging rain, cold, wind that could blow you into the next lane, water gushing up from the earth. I could barely keep my eyes open to see where i was going. And I decided to ride the 10 miles to school.

i'm drawing inspiration from a couple architecture groups right now. the first is the bjarke ingels group based in denmark.




they have a very unique way of incorporating and blending the landscape into the built form. right now they are working on building a power plant that will also provide downhill skiing or snowboarding.

i also really like herzog and de meuron. i actually had a chance to see one of their buildings while i was in madrid spain last spring. I didn't know who they were or anything about the building, but while walking the streets of madrid with my family we passed by this first building.



What I liked about it was how well i felt it blended old and new architecture styles. maybe blended isn't the right would since there are obvious lines separating material and styles, but somehow they are able to compliment each other.



it wasn't unitl i saw this image that i was able to find out more about the first building and the architects behind it.