tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556674454316866362011-11-06T12:27:55.944-05:00Space/Beer/ArchitectureCanaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-21555230059749884002011-06-07T23:47:00.001-04:002011-06-07T23:47:27.919-04:00

Just thinking about why it's been a while since my last post. Work has been busy, and not just for me, it's the whole office running around like crazy. It's the good kind of busy though, and everybody seems to be handling the stress well. I'm assisting on a new project which is going to be technically very interesting and should be a Revit project, but isn't. The garage project is going full

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-24865766404585094112011-05-09T20:30:00.000-04:002011-05-09T20:30:02.090-04:00

We stretch the truth in public, or just omit relevant information that might be detrimental if admitted at the time. As I've said before, things in my office are slow enough that people get asked to work at different levels than what we might normally wish to.  In my case it means that on one particular I'm working beneath a project manager that is younger than me, got licensed after me, but

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-2247836779698145992011-04-21T13:25:00.001-04:002011-04-21T13:25:28.506-04:00

Can people ever really change?We all want to think that we can; that ending the bad habits we have is just one decision away. Yet we all know that seeing someone really change is rare. You might notice a change in someone when they've met a new person or started a new job, but like so many New Year's resolutions to make it to the gym, those changes tend to be fleeting and it's not long before

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-76385931103101064372011-04-03T18:24:00.000-04:002011-04-03T18:24:58.365-04:00

I had a meeting on Friday with my client and the General Contractor that we're in the process of hiring to do the project.  We did a walk-though of the house with a salvage expert and identified which items in the house might have some value in salvage and which could be thrown away.  We're basically discussing door panels, door hardware, windows, cabinets and plumbing fixtures.  It was really

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-1132005320630361502011-03-21T18:47:00.001-04:002011-03-21T18:47:28.396-04:00

It's a very distressing feeling when you're telling your boss that you understand what he wants you to do and that you have no problem getting it done in the required timeframe while looking him in the eye and getting the feeling that hes disappointed in you. I had that feeling today and the only thing I can think that he's thinking is that I should've thought to do what he was telling me to do

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-30388282370859915932011-03-03T18:24:00.001-05:002011-03-03T18:24:59.399-05:00

Normally my postings are written hours or days after the event I'm describing, but today, on a very special installment of Deep Beam, I give you a posting mere minutes after the event. I just had a phone conversation with a GC that I thought was simply to arrange a time to have a different phone conversation tomorrow with my boss. Instead it led to her almost walking away from the job. I'm

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-42169213085135146572011-03-01T22:10:00.000-05:002011-03-01T22:10:45.974-05:00

As promised last week, here's the post about Change Orders. So what's a change order? A change order is the instrument by which the construction cost as stipulated in the contract is either increased or decreased. When do you need a change order? When the scope of works is changed, which can happen for any of a number of reasons.  The homeowner can add scope by deciding they want something

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-28002827779199095942011-02-25T22:54:00.000-05:002011-02-25T22:54:13.818-05:00

Yesterday was the final scheduled launch of OV-103 Discovery.  You'll find that many sources will say final "scheduled" launch, but let's not kid ourselves, she's made her last ascent, and no amount of wishing or letter writing is going to get the STS program restarted after this summer. I make it a point to watch every shuttle launch if it's at all feasible, and that has often meant streaming

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-17837979109306991002011-02-15T23:46:00.001-05:002011-02-15T23:46:03.299-05:00

I could spend all day writing about Space or finding and posting about cool images and videos that I find online, but I don't think that the world needs that right now, and I also don't think that's what's going to help me be a better Architect.  However, as with the recent anniversaries that we've endured, I feel that on occasion there are things that are too important to not interrupt our

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-89757792989759198252011-02-13T22:32:00.000-05:002011-02-13T22:32:16.756-05:00

Amongst the things my boss mentioned to me at my review back in December was that some people in the office set goals for what they want to get accomplished in any given day so that when they get there they can get right to work.  This is was not a new idea to me and is something that I had been doing and still do, but apparently he didn't think that I did.  Last Friday I showed up to work with

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-8336420342218069122011-02-01T16:51:00.002-05:002011-02-01T16:55:43.887-05:00

On this date 8 years ago I was awoken by a phone call from my father, who told me that the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry and that all hands were lost over Texas.  It took me a few minutes to understand what he was saying and why there was absolutely no hope of seeing seven parachutes carrying the crew to a safe landing.  I held some hope anyway and it wasn't

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-73612292327330155182011-01-28T15:26:00.000-05:002011-01-28T15:27:37.532-05:00

Twenty-five years ago today Orbital Vehicle 099 Challenger exploded just after lift-off with all hands lost.  Seven souls gone, seven lights extinguished and never to light this world again.  It was a stunning day, and one that is hard to put into context of life in 2011 when politicians are shot at supermarkets, and we here almost daily of suicide bombers and police officers

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-37828660946842717392011-01-27T07:31:00.001-05:002011-01-27T07:33:07.860-05:00

This is the Spaceflight Memorial Patch that NASA has created as a way to memorialize the lost crews of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia.  Brave heroes all, all lives lost in pursuit of Space Exploration.  We enter an odd time on the calendar, the Apollo 1 crew was lost on the launchpad on January 27, Challenger on January 28, and Columbia was lost February 1. Three grim anniversaries spread

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-72650430653133295722011-01-26T21:34:00.000-05:002011-01-26T21:34:49.327-05:00

Despite what you may believe, designing buildings is not what Architects spend most of their time doing.  It's hard to put really accurate figures to it, but I'd say that only about 30% of our time is spent designing, and the remaining 70% is spent communicating that design to others.  Initially we have to communicate one persons early design to others within our office so that it can be refined

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-66290624214264787132011-01-24T20:20:00.000-05:002011-01-24T20:20:45.909-05:00

For some reason while I was driving to Consultants office the other day I had an imaginary conversation with someone about my job.  I have no idea why, it was one of those mental exercises that happen when your mind is particularly idle.  I don't really know who the person was, but it seems like she was waitress, and she asked me what I did for a living. I told her that I was an Architect. She

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-15291958800895116222011-01-12T21:57:00.002-05:002011-01-12T22:08:00.487-05:00

I'm not supposed to be doing space stuff here anymore (or at least I should be doing architecture a lot more...) but this video is really something. It is the perfect type of thing for NASA to be doing, it is simple, short, to the point and above all, inspiring. Most of the videos NASA puts out make me feel like I chose the wrong career and that opportunities are passing us by due to lack of

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-8530250600233896492011-01-11T21:39:00.004-05:002011-01-11T22:35:48.643-05:00

The bane of my existence. I know that like a lot of people I put off things that I don't like/can't handle/am uncomfortable with, and the biggest thing that I put off are phone calls. Especially when someone tells me I have to do it. Last Thursday I made a phone call that I was supposed to make back in December - and by "supposed to" I mean that my boss had told me to back around the 7th. He

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-88530701924423148512010-12-21T20:14:00.000-05:002010-12-21T20:16:09.998-05:00

I've been pushing myself to be more of a leader in my day-to-day career life, which has put me up against some questions that have tough answers (for me anyway). One is that it seems to me that leaders always have the answer, and the problem is that feel like I usually don't. This would be fine except that I'm in a position where I get asked a lot of questions. Questions from clients or

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-25488231255071552382010-12-06T22:03:00.004-05:002010-12-06T22:41:53.662-05:00

At my review last week my employers told me that they want me to be more of a leader. They feel strongly that Architects are important to the building process and are the natural entity to lead a building project through it's many stages. Therefore in any situation, be it good or bad, we should be leading the group to the next step. The group could be the client, the builder, the interior

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-33981475086269372012010-12-03T14:27:00.000-05:002010-12-03T14:28:08.534-05:00

I use it to hide my mediocrity.

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-40535850817709091692010-12-01T20:56:00.004-05:002010-12-01T22:00:32.819-05:00

So, I've done what everyone with a blog inevitably does (no matter what they swear to) and gone a full year without a post. It doesn't matter too much though as I've had barely any readers since I never really told too many people about this little outlet for my pent up intellect. I claim that this blog is about Space, Beer and Architecture, and so far it's been long (relatively speaking) on

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-47784560827864085712009-11-25T12:44:00.001-05:002009-11-25T12:47:57.252-05:00

Thanksgiving comes a day early this year with this highlight reel from Space Shuttle Systems Engineering & Integration. It's all the best shots from the launch of STS-129, and I don't mean just the stuff straight from the NASA TV feed, this footage is pooled from all the cameras and is artfully edited together.

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-25376993352076206602009-11-17T12:39:00.002-05:002009-11-17T12:53:57.081-05:00

Here's something from New Zealand; a private company there is getting ready to launch it's first rocket. What's interesting about this is that, as far as I can tell, this is something that the government of that country has never tried, or at least isn't pursuing at the moment. Private industry is giving it a shot, and even though it's only a sounding rocket it's an approach that I think few

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-74043667405222505912009-10-28T14:12:00.003-04:002009-10-29T10:04:08.046-04:00

I have a lot of mixed emotions about today’s launch of the ARES-1X. I’m surely excited to see a new, and one of a kind, vehicle fly, but I’m also apprehensive. It’s not clear to me that the current Constellation Program is going to be robust enough to support a broad exploration regime, not to mention that currently it won’t be able to lift humans until we’ve retired the only place that they’d

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-51646141913183640932009-09-30T10:04:00.003-04:002009-09-30T23:15:36.454-04:00

I know that this video is making the rounds on the web, and so readers may have seen it before, but I still think it’s worthwhile to post here. My research has led to several potential authors for the video and song, but I think the real artist behind it is someone named Colorpulse who used something called autotune to turn Carl Sagan’s spoken word into an only slightly robotic sounding singing

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-20964159211820542102009-09-10T21:01:00.003-04:002009-09-10T21:23:26.427-04:00

There's a lot going on right now, Discovery waved off two landings today, the Augustine Report Summary came our yesterday, and there was a (potentially) important rocket test, and a (definitely) important rocket launch in Japan today. First, to Japan where the first launch of an H-IIB rocket took place. The launch was a great success, and sort of cavalier because the payload is the H-II Transfer

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-58067736101569647432009-09-10T17:07:00.000-04:002009-09-10T17:08:40.425-04:00

Greetings Senator/Congressman/Mr. President,   I was very moved by the President's speech yesterday to the children of this nation; I found his message of hard work, self-reliance, and education as part of national pride to be welcome and inspiring.    I also believe in the value of education and feel that there was an opportunity missed in yesterday's speech that could still be

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-81930465946527577202009-03-20T14:22:00.001-04:002009-03-20T14:24:01.772-04:00

I just can't seem to get enough of the space-related posts. I swear I'll get back to architecture at some point. And maybe beer too, I have a nice ale in the carboy now.

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-9913238078873223932009-01-26T22:12:00.004-05:002009-01-26T22:28:12.333-05:00

This actually happened before the Draco thruster firing that I posted about earlier, but is in some ways cooler.  It's full mission duration firing of the cluster of 9 Merlin engines that are soon going to lift the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from the shores of Florida to low earth orbit.  It's exciting for a lot of the same reasons as the Draco firing; it's a fully private endeavor that will be able

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-53107699220821824702008-12-16T15:45:00.005-05:002008-12-16T15:55:40.151-05:00

This is something that we don't do that much anymore in our built environment, that is to make a permanent mark for something that may only have temporary value.  Here we have a north arrow set into the concrete sidewalk in downtown Boston.  Why would someone do this?  It is not a part of a larger mural or other work of art, it is simply an arrow and the letter "N".  But somehow the person

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-33497305383264442822008-12-10T12:25:00.004-05:002008-12-10T12:43:33.905-05:00

SpaceX is one of the few things that I’m really excited about at the moment in relation to crewed spaceflight. I love the ISS and Shuttle, but due to the upcoming retirement of the STS that love is bittersweet. Ares/Orion/Altair is in development, but its unclear how soon that will become a reality since they are at the mercy of a political and budgetary system that are in transition at the

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-21002489296670000012008-11-25T08:47:00.003-05:002008-11-25T09:01:35.636-05:00

I heard about this on the radio over the weekend.  The idea is basically that you are saying to yourself "Man, I want to get in shape, but I'm so tired of being cooped up inside on this treadmill!  If only there was some movable surface outside that I could run on!"  Well, if you've ever asked yourself that and not realized that entire surface of the earth is a good surface for running on (

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-23591852990010954042008-11-23T22:07:00.005-05:002008-11-23T22:30:26.103-05:00

This is something I've always been a a little leery of.  I like the idea of integrating solar power into every day life, as well as the idea that individual should devices create their own power and reduce the stress and demand on the larger power grid.  Solar powered traffic signs on the highway are a good example of this, especially because they are portable.  A solar powered sign replaces a

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-30105890709268084662008-11-21T08:52:00.003-05:002008-11-22T00:16:38.061-05:00

Don't blink...you might miss him.For more on this check out out www.lle.rochester.edu.  It's great stuff.

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-62485554053965143702008-11-20T18:10:00.003-05:002008-11-20T18:17:56.260-05:00

A friend of mine sent me a link today to an article about how science may be putting an end to science fiction (see the article here). The basic premise of the article is that we’re at a time now, and have been for decades, where the pace of scientific discovery is going faster than science fiction authors can keep up. It’s great to think about Mars being full of wild aliens, that is right

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-255667445431686636.post-17533193705541011702008-11-18T12:42:00.000-05:002008-11-18T09:45:39.641-05:00

This is the first picture taken of Earth from the Moon (or at least the area of the Moon); was taken in 1966 by the creatively named satellite Lunar Orbiter 1 and was one of the most ground breaking photos ever taken. Such was the pace of discovery in those days that it was practically erased from public memory only 2 years later when the men of Apollo 8 took their own color version which may be

Canaveralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00565098939395491350noreply@blogger.com0