by BradEmery
THE NEWS! THE NEWS! The news you've been waiting for! . . . Well maybe not but it's news from (and about) me all the same - drumroll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Are you ready? Really? Ok. I'm switching majors! No more Architecture! . . . You want to know what to Well, that was going to be in my next post but . . . I'm heading over to the College of Education - specifically I'm going for a major in Elementary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You want to know why? That really is for the next post - I want to describe it fully and explain how I came to this decision - it'll be worth the wait, I promise.
Until then . . .
by BradEmery
Last time I checked in we had visited the
Nelson-Atkins Museum (did you notice that I figured out how to make links? Now I'm using them everywhere!) and were in the process of starting Project 4. Well, this time we've finished Project 4 as well as our first semester in the Environmental Design Studios. Project 4 was a difficult project, but I did enjoy it - we spent the first 3 weeks formulating and refining a design for our garden (if you didn't remember or I didn't tell you *gasp!* we were designing a modern garden on a 40'x56' site for Project 4) and once that was approved, we drew a site plan (the bird's eye view plan), two section cut one-point-perspectives (what you would see if you were standing at a certain point in the garden) and 4 diagrams to describe our design process.
The design was created and refined through a series of models and sketches that built upon each other until we reached our accepted design (you should be able to tell that I'm learning because my prose is very designerish sounding right? Except this of course . . . but we're in parenthesis so I can write however I wanna!). Basically we made a LOT of models - I made around 18 to get to my final design, which was approved the Friday before Thanksgiving break. We all had the privilege of working on our projects throughout the break, which added some nice spice of stress to the otherwise relaxing holiday season. Even so I managed to procrastinate and enjoy some time with my family - eating a big meal at Grandma Joanne's and shopping on Black Friday (this is only the second time I've had that opportunity shop early on Black Friday with my family by the way - if I get to it I'll make an exclusive holiday/family-time post later).
When we returned from Thanksgiving Break we had a busy week before us and the final project due the next Sunday. I worked my hind-quarters off and finished a grand 15 minutes before the deadline after pulling an all-nighter Saturday night and catching church Sunday morning (although I'll confess I had a little trouble staying awake during the sermon . . . . . . OK! so maybe I missed (read: slept through) all of the sermon, but I caught the song service! (after I drifted off standing . . . that jolted me awake long enough to make it to the sermon) . . .
anyway . . .). The point is that I finished on time then we all (the 1st year Architecture students) cleaned out the studios and they served us dinner (Mr. Goodcents) - 5 o'clock is way too early for supper so I had a giant chocolate cookie instead. After dinner I came back to the dorm and warmly embraced my old friend, Mr. Pillow. We had a nice reunion (he seemed glad to see me too) and I got up the next morning to finish up with studio - we still had critics of our projects. My critic went well and Monday night Mr. Pillow helped me reconcile with Mr. Sheets and Mrs. Bed (I'm typing this late at night here so give me a break on the names, a'right?) we made up and I slept in nicely on Tuesday and took the day off because I had no classes.
I finished up the last of my normal classes this afternoon and I'm down to two finals next week (Wednesday and Thursday) which I'll finish studying for early next week. I'm going to relax and enjoy myself this weekend and I plan on exploring the town some next week before I head home for the Christmas Break (which is nearly a month with NO HOMEWORK!! Hard to beat that!).
Anyway that brings you up to date on my work in Architecture, stay tuned for more posts and a some news.
by BradEmery
Well I figure I'll start my updates by sharing some fun, interesting and neat things I've come across on the big 'ol net.
First off we've got a story about a couple who decided to live the simple life and constructed a gypsy wagon which they promptly moved into.
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| Home, Sweet Wagon? |
They packed or sold all their belongings and took off on a road trip with the vague destination of New England; after their road trip they settled into a group home and parked the wagon in the backyard. The trip is documented on their blog - whittleddown.com - where they also share tips and tricks for living with a little less. I thought it was a pretty cool story and I'm following their blog now (I'm looking forward to trying some of their projects). You can read a more detailed article and see more pictures at
ReadyMade.com.
On a completely different note - here are some fun gadgets brought to us from the guys over at
ThinkGeek that are sure to amuse and amaze the simple minded (like me!).
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| Buckyballs |
-First off we have the
Buckyballs: 216 spherical rare earth magnets that can be manipulated into a mulitude of shapes and forms. Check out the short video
here.
-Second we have 3 similar but unique devices: the amazing
Annoy-a-tron, the
Annoy-a-tron 2 and the
EvilTron. These little bare-bones devices emit various sounds at random intervals to annoy or scare your victim. The classic
Annoy-a-tron emits a 2 or 12 kHz beep (thats an electronic sounding beep so they won't suspect anything - but it's extremely irritating) on a random interval every 2-8 minutes. The
Annoy-a-tron 2 adds the options of a 15 kHz tone (the "Teen Buzz" tone that middle aged and older adults can't generally hear), cricket chirping, an Instant Message Alert, a grating electronic noise and the typical electronic beep; and the
EvilTron produces some unsettling creaking, unidentifiable scratching sounds, gasping last breath, sinister child laughing, an eerie whispering of "hey, can you hear me?", or a random combination of them. All of the devices come with powerful rare earth magnets to help you hide them anywhere they won't be found and the batteries are estimated to last up to a month.
-And one of my favorites: the
Phantom Keystroker. This devious little device looks like a USB flash drive but, when plugged in, it will type random garbage, toggle the caps lock, make random mouse movements or preform a combination of them.
If you ever need some fun gag gifts or something for the guy who has everything
ThinkGeek is a great place to check out (as you can see from some of their gadgets).
That does it for this post - the next is on the way!
by BradEmery
Well I've finished up with studio and my classes for this semester and I'm taking some time to catch you all up on what I've been doing since my last post. Basically this means that I've got a lot to post in the next few days so be prepared for a lot of posts covering a lot of subjects - we'll have some fun and interesting stuff I found online, some reflection on the past semester, a look ahead, and some news about my college plans. So, with no further ado, here we go!
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