Motorcycles

There are two prevelant objects in Quebec that really defy logic. The logic being that the summer and warm weather are in short supply. The first object is swimming pools. If you fly over Montreal you can see that there are swimming pools in about half of the backyards. For me, it doesn't make sense because you can really only use them three months out of the year if that.

The other prevelant object is motorcycles. It seems a natural progression from the massive number of bicycles, but given the cost difference, I'm surprised you would invest in something that can used during less that half of the year. The upside is that it is cool enough for you to dress properly with the helmet, leather jacket, and pants (or chaps). But still it seems odd.

One interesting thing about motorcycles here is that as opposed to the crotch rockets that are popular in Chicago, the more traditional types are what is popular here. Both the laid back Harley type bikes and the more traditional types.

And another thing that really caught my attention is the number of women who ride them. If my observations are correct, the number of female riders almost matches the male riders. And that ratio applys to both traditional bikes and the Harley type. I find my reaction interesting because for some reason seeing a woman on a motorcycle seems to give them an aire of empowerment. I'm not sure if that is (and I hope it is not) a superficial impression, but that empowerment is very attractive and sexy.

Railway Exchange Building

Formerly known as the Santa Fe Building. Also seen at the Daily Dose of Architecture. Taken in Chicago, June 2006.

It's a Pump.

I came across this article on the CNN website.

A man was travelling to Iran with his mother. He was stopped at the security checkpoint after security guards found an object that resembled a grenade. Not wanting his mother to learn of the object he had brought in his carry-on, he whispered to the security guard "It's a pump." The guard mistakenly heard "It's a bomb." He is now facing disorderly conduct.

The object he had brought with him was a penis pump that he desperately did not want his mother to learn about. Despite his reluctance to reveal it to his mother he feels it is not an unusual object to own. "It's normal. Half of America they use it."

One and Three-Quarter Score

That's my age today as of early this morning. For those unfamiliar with the Gettysburg Address (the only place I've seen the word), a score is twenty. For those bad at math, I'm 35. This shot was a handheld self portrait back when I was half my current age.
So what does this mean. Well for me, not much. I guess I'm jumping to the next age demographic like I did five years ago. But aging has not been something I fear, at least not yet.

One reason may be because wisdom is always something I have aspired for. Money and fame have never been goals of mine, though it's not like I would turn them away if they presented themselves. When I say wisdom I don't necessarily mean intelligence or book smarts. But knowledge gained through experience or observation. Since you naturally gain experience over the years, age has been generally tied to wisdom. So that is why age has not frightened me. In essense I like the idea of becoming that eccentric wise old man with the wigged out hair. Imagine the professor from Back to the Future.

Does some of the other aspects of aging scare me? Regarding the prospect of reduced mobility or even reduced athletic, well, I see it as being able to spend more time on other things that interest me. When that day comes, everywhere will likely be accessible by wheelchairs anyhow. Chronic pain would be difficult to take, but would be livable as long as it is not severe. I could say that impaired senses does worry me. Although my eyes are very bad, I can see better than more people with my contacts. Losing that or my hearing would start to give me a sense of helplessness. And of course a dramatic loss of memory would be quite a blow to my psyche since I hold memory in high regard.

So maybe it is because I haven't noticed any change in my senses, any chronic pain, or any major loss of mobility other than wear and tear that I don't yet fear aging. That day may come, but so far not at this milestone.

Rockstar: Supernova

We have been following two shows this summer. The first is Treasure Hunters which concluded Monday night. I wasn't a big surprise that the Genius' won, though Air Force was probably the favorite.

The second show we have been following is Rockstar: Supernova. We had seen the last couple episodes of Rockstar: INXS, but didn't really intend to follow this one since it's the summer. We happened to see the third episode one night and got hooked. We have a thing for reality shows so that kinda makes sense.

So what is it about the show. I guess there are two elements that draw us to the show. One is the competition. Not just to see who comes out on top, but to see if the person you think should be picked is chosen. The other element is the performances. Both seeing and enjoying some great rock songs being played along with critiqueing each singers performance. Again comparing your views with that of the judges.

There is another aspect that makes it different. This is a show to determine who fronts this new band. It more of an audition and an interview than an American Idol or Star Academy popularity contest. I find that very intriguing since the last show was finding a suitable replacement for Michael Hutchence.

As far as the cast of the show. Dave Navarro I could take or leave. I'm a fan of Jane's Addiction and like his work. But he's a bit on the obnoxious side. It's not enough for me to add him to an "On Notice" list, but he has potential. Gilby Clarke seems like a very cool guy. I like his commentary even though I'm not a GNR fan. Tommy Lee even seems pretty cool. I always thought of him as a obnoxious jerk, but here he seems very personable. Jason Newsted is the one that has really surprised me. You see, all the people I grew up with who listened to Metallica were stoners and headbangers who were never the articulate types. That stereotype has lasted with me to this day. So to see the bassist of the band being so professional and so articulate really catches me off guard. Lastly, Brooke Burke does a good job as presenter and eye candy.

As for the contestants. The only surprise that I have seen so far is that Zarya lasted so long. It may have been her lisp, but it never seemed to me she was a good singer. I figured they kept her on since she put on quite a show. Of the departed, I would say that Josh is most likely to have some success. His sound is flavor of the month, but he does a good job with it. I don't think it would be a surprise if Patrice is voted of next. She's good, but something seems off. And she has a funny smile for the camera. Toby and Ryan will probably be the next two sent off. Both are good singers but don't seem entirely comfortable on stage. Ryan may stick around more because of his singing. Storm is good both vocally and on stage, but she seems just a bit over the top on stage. Although Lucas seems to be a favorite, his voice lacks something for me and his stage presence is lacking a bit. I really like Magni, but my question is whether this is the look the band would be comfortable with. Dahlila has a classic rock voice, but could they be successful with a woman fronting the band.

I find it fun to watch since nobody has jumped out as THE person. Not that the makers of the show would let that happen. I really think it will be between Lucas, Magni, and Dahlila. It will be interesting to see which image and voice they choose.

Great Flood of 1993

In August 1993, I attended my first class of Architectural Design Studio in grad school. It was the class where we would determine which professor we would have for the semester. It was also a chance to see our friends if we had not seen them already and to meet people entering the program. It was there that I met my wife who was there on an exchange from France. But I digress.

It was announced that all of the design studios would be going to help do damage assessment for the cities (Hardin, Kampsville, Grafton, and Alton, IL) hit by what is know as the Great Flood of 1993 along the Illinois, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. The assessment would be followed by a design project to rebuild the damaged areas of the cities.

Our studio worked at Hardin, IL. Although the waters had receded considerable, the waters were still high and trapped in places where the levees broke. The pictures show two such areas. The other side of the flood plain is three miles away. There were still places where roads were blocked and debris was still prevelent. It had been less than a month since the height of the flooding and the watermark was evident thoughout the city on homes and signs. There was also a network of sandbag walls between the houses showing the lines of defense against the rising waters. I believe the townspeople continued to build the walls, but were forced to progressively retreated from wall to wall as the barriers were toppled. The levee break on the other side of the river is what saved the remainder of the town.
Our job was fairly simple. We were to enter the house and determine at what height the water levels had reached. In some homes this was fairly simple with a light or dark brown line on the walls. In others the line had to be taken from lines on the windows since the walls were covered in black and green mold. We were not there to determine the livability of the house or whether it could remain standing. From my understanding, the watermark elevation would tell the government how much aid each house would receive.

The loss of possessions was amazing. People did not have the time or the means to remove their things. Property is relatively very cheap in the flood plain, but that lower price comes with risk. As with Katrina, people judge that risk by the previous largest event. "We were OK after the last one, so we will be OK for future events." But this was the biggest event in the history of the area. The water had risen 17 feet above flood stage and four feet higher than the previous record in 1973. The water level had reached about five feet above the first floor in most of the places that I remembered. There was not much that could be salvaged from that.
As far as our project, each student concentrated on parts of the cohesive whole. The studio split into two groups. The pie-in-the-sky group and the realistic group. We were part of the pie-in-the-sky group. The bulk of the area that had been flooded would be raised to above flood stage and be redeveloped. My wife created a marina while I created a waterfront recreation/commercial strip with a patchwork of steps down to the water. Each step could mark the river levels at different times. And depending on the river level, a different pattern and waters edge would be visible. Other projects included a community center, a boat launch, an observation tower, and community housing. Although they liked the ideas, the city did not have the means to carry out large projects like this especially after the flood. Even for the realist group.

I returned the following summer to visit a friend who lived nearby. It was a strange scene. Life had returned to normal. The flooded fields had returned bright green with vegetation. But out in those fields were farmhouses you could see straight through. Abandoned. In the city, there were also empty houses and abandoned lots. Right next to homes where people had cleaned up and returned to normal.

It's an experience to see these things firsthand. We saw only the aftermath, but it still gave a sense of place and we met and talked to the people who lived through it. It also has helped me understand what people are going through in events like Katrina.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Only ten more years until retirement.

Here's a picture taken by him.

FYI, both pictures were taken over thirty years ago.

Oh Crap!

Ile Bonaventure, Quebec, July 2004.

The smell was almost too much to take. Plus there were more biting flies than I had ever seen in one place. Given that, the sight was amazing. Birds stretching out in every direction with a constant chorus of squawking.

Pay It Forward

One weekend earlier this summer I needed to mow our fairly small lawn. I went out to the shed and didn't see the lawn mower. I did a cursory poking around, then asked my wife if she had done something with it. She had not, so I looked more in depth figuring it got buried under all the stuff we have been throwing in there since last summer. The shed is not big, but was in need of some organizing. I still couldn't find it, so I asked our neighbor with whom we share the mower. He had not seen it either.

In disbelief I slowly came to the realization that it must have been stolen. I really could not believe it. We're in the burbs and I have slowly relaxed my urban high-security ways. Plus this mower was a year or two younger than myself and on average took three pulls to get started with a puff of blue smoke. We inherited it from the previous owner and we shared it with the neighbor since we both have fairly small lawns. It served it's purpose and had only cost sixty bucks when it was bought refurbished a couple years back. Not really something high on a thief's 'must have' list.

I poked around some more in the shed worried something more valuable had been taken, but nothing else was missing. All could figure was that some teenager took it to make a go-cart or some other small motorized vehicle. After thinking about it some more, I did remember that the door of the shed had been left wide-open earlier in the week. Well, that's one way to learn a lesson. Thankfully it was not something more expensive.

While we were trying to determine what had happened we had also talked to the retired couple across the street from us. They were also surprised at the theft and generously offered use of their electric and push-mowers. I had remembered they had the push mower, but I hadn't seen them use it in a while. Their next-door neighbor is in her eighties and now has a service take care of the yardwork. She saw that they were using the push-mower and 'took pity' on them by giving them her old electric mower. I think at one point I mentioned how it would be fun to try their push mower since I had never had one before. I grew up on gas and electric mowers. They said they had no use for it anymore so we could have it.

I was/am ecstatic. Over the years I have gotten more and more interested in reducing how much I/we tax the environment. When we moved it, I saw how small the lawn was and really wanted get a push mower. I didn't mind the old gas mower, but I did look forward to having a push mower one day. That day has come.

It's an older model as you can see from this picture. (Blogger won't let me attach it to the post. I'll try again later.) I find it funny that it has "American" blazen across the front of it considering I'm the only one that I know of in the neighborhood. As far as mode of operation, I make twice as many passes as with the gas mower. And you can't let it go more than a week without a trim whereas you could go a week and a half or two weeks without cutting the grass with the gas mower. It also doesn't get the edges so you have to come back with a hand trimmer. It can also get bound up on twigs. But I still really enjoy it. I like the extra exercise and the fact that I can cut the lawn any time of day and any day of the week.

I also like that fuzzy green feeling I get from it.

A Fitting Introduction

My first trip to Montreal, Quebec City, and the province of Quebec was in December 1993. During the trip I met my future in-laws for the first time and learned how to downhill ski. The most appropriate aspect of the trip was that the temperature was minus 40 during our stay. When we visited Quebec city, we spent much of it running between tourist shops in order not to get too cold.

Any trip to Montreal is incomplete without a visit to the Belvedere overlooking the city. What is normally a short uphill stroll turned into a slippery bone-chilling brisk walk. The fingers of our friend Valerie even froze to her metal camera while taking a picture of the panorama above. The above shot shows how her breath crystalized on her hair during the short walk. Click on the photo for a closer look.

Thank goodness that I now have proper clothing and footwear to endure winters here.

A Tuesday in September

I was running late for work as was par for the course at that time. It was hot and I was sweating with the bright sun blasting through the El train windows. The train was packed. I was forced to stand, basically hovering over this woman wearing a Walkman in a single seat near the window. We were approaching the Armitage station as she talked to someone on her cellphone. She was talking louder than normal and I took it as she was doing it on purpose to get attention. After she was finished, she turned to those of us standing up and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. Still believing she was looking for attention, I completely ignored her. People are always trying to get noticed in the crowded city, so it becomes force of habit to ignore attention-getters.

Where I worked at the time, I was among a group of people who kept up with the latest happenings via the internet. One of us always following the latest news events or sports scores. So when I got in I immediately asked what was this thing about the plane. I figured it was just some errant Cessna. They told me it was two commercial jets and one flew into each tower.

By then someone had dragged out a TV from somewhere and was watching it all live. I went over and saw the replays of what had happened. But there was this odd ambiance in the office. We were an office of close to a hundred at the time, but only about ten people stayed glued to the TV. Only half of the others like myself checked in from time to time to see what was the latest news. The others just kept on working.

My father called up and asked if we thought the buildings would remain standing. You see, the company where I worked designs the structures for skyscrapers. The branch office that I worked at has worked on many tall buildings in Chicago while the head office in New York office works on some of the world's tallests. Only having a few years experience, I asked around. Nobody thought they would come down. They had survived the initial impact. That was quite impressive in itself. We figured the fire would be put out.

So I wandered back to the TV. One guy says to me very emotionlessly, "One of them came down." WHAT!?! You have got to be kidding! Being so early in my career, the thought never entered my mind of a building coming down. I have seen first hand buildings being demolished with explosives, but still. The building didn't come down in Oklahoma City. I even saw the wreckage of Miller Park crane accident up close. Where the strongest and largest steel members around were twisted and deformed like rope. But still, I could not believe this. So I stayed and watched the second one come down, still in disbelief.

But now what. Two other planes had crashed and there were rumors that there were still a couple planes unaccounted for. We were a couple blocks away from the Sears Tower. If the building fell, it would probably not hit us. But what if the plane missed and hit us? Offices downtown were letting out for the day and people were flooding the streets to get home. Again, the aire in our office was odd. There was no official notice that the office was closing. Word of mouth got around that they said you could go if you like. So many just kept on working. Finally it was both that rumor about the unaccounted for plane and that my wife had left work that I decided to go.

I got outside and the masses were gone. The streets were eerily deserted with just a few stragglers like myself. I was even able to get a seat on the El. And of course the sound of planes passing overhead was missing.

At home, my wife and I watched the coverage into the night. We just could not stop watching. I could still not believe the buildings had come down. I wanted to see the footage over and over to figure out what happened. I wanted to hear the stories of those that experienced it. Is this a one time event or the start of something? I wanted to any information they could offer. I guess I was trying to understand it like everyone else.

It has become the "Where were you when you heard Kennedy was shot?" of our time. There are and will be so many other accounts like this. I figured this is my space and there is a different perspective being in the construction industry.

Stockholm

Old Town, October 1991.