I was thinking about the day I knew I wanted to be an Architect. I really didn’t know what it meant, but there was something stirring inside me that brought me down this path. As a ‘little’ kid, I had the same dreams as anyone else. By little kid, I’m talking 6 or 7 years old. My earliest memory is wanted to be an astronaut or scientist. I loved looking up at the stars and was fascinated with space travel. I was 5 when man landed on the moon and I watch every moon landing with my family.

I don’t know if it is my age or environment. But I use to rarely get sick, now in the span of 6 months, I got hit with this crude going around not once, but twice. Both times have been right after I flew back from Dallas. Maybe I’m just allergic to Dallas and it becomes a cold. Actually, I remember the first time. I was sitting on the plane and the person behind me cough on the back of my head. I was thinking to myself as my hair moved…. ‘Dude, cover your mouth’.

I'm starting the fourth week of this blog. The next couple of weeks are going to be real busy, with work and some personal stuff. I'm going to skip a couple of days and plan to get back on schedule by April. You will still see these twice a week, no need to worry. I ended last week while I was in Dallas, finding some extra time to share what was going on. The trip was fun, great to see old friends, but it is good to be back home in Tucson. While I was in Dallas, I presented to the Dallas CSI chapter my accessibility program. Seems appropriate since I just wrote about my experience in a wheel chair.

I'm a day behind, but it will make some sense in a moment. It has been great spending a couple of days in Dallas. I just got back from visiting my son and his girlfriend. She is really sweet and hopefully my son is smart enough to keep her around. But I didn't want to focus on the people I have seen, but on an observation. While I was driving back on the Bush Turnpike, I notice a truck next me. It was just a regular Ford F150, simple and white with one of the magnets on the side.

I'm on my way to Dallas, to give a presentation on the Accessible Restroom. It got me thinking about an odd request or unique experience from a client several years ago. We were doing the substantial completion on a short term living quarters (government term for apartment building). At some point it dawned on the client that I'm a Registered Accessibility Specialist (RAS). It's a Texas thing, I'm not sure why other states have not jumped on a similar band wagon. The client wanted me to put the ADA to the test. 

A picture is worth a 1,000 words. We all have heard this saying, it goes back to 1918 in a newspaper advertisement in the San Antonio Light. An older version dating back to 1911 "On picture. It's worth a thousand words" by a newspaper editor Tess Flanders. Not quite as eloquent, but you get the picture. No pun intended… Fast forward 100 years and I'm in the business of pictures.

I remember when I started in this business, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (yes, I'm stealing the intro from Star Wars). I got to work in a bubble. I did my drafting, ran the blue line print machine or delivered drawings. Life was simple, but I would look up and all of the managers were gone. Being the only drafter, sometimes the entire office was gone. Where were they? They went to a meeting, but if I had a question and no one was to be found what would I do?

No, my keyboard did not have melt down. It is old English meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Fríge. But we state it today as "It's Friday!" Well, not really. But we get excited about the "Friday" if you work a typical job. I'm taking a little diversion from my blog and focusing on a random thought (get use to it, it won't be the last time). The days of the week have an interesting history. At one point the Roman calendar had 8 days a week. Which, I would be OK with if we had a 3-day weekend. But in the US, we would probably have a 6-day work week, not so good.

Most of my work in architecture is new projects, ground up construction. In my previous life, I did a fair amount of remodel work. With government work, typically I have to pull together a cost estimate during the design. There are several types of cost estimates I do. Even when contracts under way, the government wants a general idea if a change from the contractor is fair and reasonable. Last week I was working on a change order presented by the contractor which was caused by an unforeseen condition.

I have worked with a lot of really good contractors. I can't finish the clients vision without the contractor. I recognize that while I design project, that the contractor is a critical part of the project team. Typically, I always start every project with the approach of partnering. The first partner in any project is the client. While you may think the last partner in a successful project is the contractor, it is still the client. It is never about how you start a project, but how it finishes.

I really enjoy looking at Architecture. That is probably a good thing since I spent most of my life knee deep in it. Actually, it more like neck deep. When I get my new Architecture magazines, I look at the pictures (unlike other magazines where I read the articles). There is always something inspiring about them. I've done some projects, that I feel is really good about, I'm just not egotistical and work in creating the clients vision.

I started off on the drafting board during my first job in 1983. About 4 years later our office received its first CAD system called RUCAPS. It was a hybrid of CAD and todays BIM. The system was so complicated, that the office had to hire one of the programmers from Seattle just to make the $100,000 investment worthwhile. I've been working on the computer since 1984 and started on some early systems, including RUCAPS. But my real move to CAD happened in 1988 with AutoCAD.

Shortly after I received my Architectural license, my daughter made a joke and called me an Artichoke. I know where she picked it up, but it was funny, and I still refer to it today. While being an Architect is a serious business, I always try to interject some humor throughout the day. I've been a passionate member of CSI for almost 20 years now and dedicated to CSINext since its founding in 2009. I've invited every member of the CSINext chapter to write a Blog for the website and it occurred to me that I should being the same.