TheRANT

is a thing that I have been doing for over 20 years now I think. I spend a lot of time from just before thanksgiving thru new years thinking up just what it is that I want to say this year? Remembering of course to keep it positive… and real… Splatting some of my thoughts from the year on a page or two & sending it off in the mail to 40 or so friends and family. Yes, people still like to get things other than bills in their mailbox and appreciate holding something in their hand to read & enjoy. I take credit for being one of the founders of the holiday letter. I prefer sending this over a family photo with a pithy greeting. It seems that the digitalRANT is inevitable. So this year I concede that in lieu of brevity, here are a few additional thoughts and images that did not make the cut. detritusRANT if you will. Words that I have either written or spoken (to my voice recorder) and herein transcribe & share. Photos that are but a small sample of the thousands I take in a year’s time. Enjoy. Know that I am grateful for your friendship. For those of you reading this & not on the top40 mailing list… I am grateful for you too.

TheRANTdetritus

ideas from the cutting room floor
One knight’s writing 2010.11.28 and then some

OUR TINY HOUSE
… shrunk… did I mention this before? Okay somehow it worked fine for the three of us but with four it has become a bit of a pressure cooker. Four is exponential in 600sf. Suddenly it is really hard to keep any horizontal space open. So we are in conversation about what to do… ms.amanda’s garden is really well developed after being here for five years now. I have some great container-addition ideas but the lending market is not on our side at the moment. Most likely scenario is to buy a bigger place… We shall see… who knows, perhaps we’ll move to the country & paint our mailbox blue.

CURRENT READS
Manifesting Change – It couldn’t be easier.
The guy who coined “Thoughts become things/ choose the good ones”… and sends email “notes from the universe”…
ms.A went with me to see mike dooley talk and you can see that in herRANT

The Four-Hour Work Week
Well, I have only gotten about a quarter thru this book but the key lesson so far is “allow no distractions” - guess i should get back to work, eh?

Deep Survival
Just like it says. A lifetime querry into the mind, body & emotions of extreme outdoor sportsmen & how it applies to the rest of us. Really good read.

Manhood for Amateurs
Written by another bacon eating jew. Many lines made me laugh out loud – even to myself. And a favorite is a comment that all of us are just a disruption in each other’s distortion field…

JUDIASM
Okay speaking of judiasm, it’s not working for me. I have been dabbling in it for many years and this year went to the high holy days solo. One day to an orthodox temple. 95% was in hebrew (which I don’t speak) and I really got nothing out of the service (even the parts that were in english) except that the building itself was beautiful. And one day I went to services at ‘our’ temple and had the realization that this form of reverence does not provide fulfillment for my wavelength. King of men. Pah.

BUDDHISM?
May well be my calling. Okay, time to check it out. I recall a class I took @ k-state called varieties of consciousness. The prof was a practicing buddhist and on the day of that topic, he came in with a shiny shaved head (where there was a full head of hair the day before) and bowed until his forehead was touching the ground. I remember feeling the sincerity of his reverence that day, decades ago. Not surprisingly my sister jade and my ever so cool mom are also into buddhism so I’ll be readin’ me some books… but as a slow reader, perhaps I’ll find them on ‘tape’. One of the intents is to find something that works for the whole family and helps us to show our appreciation for the seasons of the earth

NEW MOON ASTROLOGY
Okay, I’ve been dabbling in this for a few years now thanx to my friend pam. Short description of this theory: there are some days that are more powerful for wishing (and manifesting positive results) than others and each new moon has it’s associated power categories based on the star sign that it is in. it’s a good practice for an agnostic jew, and I have experienced some swift & positive results.

ON THE BIZ FRONT

Highlights from 2010 S.A.G.E. Designs NW
-german prefab project is in for permit! And will be built in 2011!
-orcas estate project construction drawings are close to completion
-farmworker housing project* gets awards as best rural affordable housing project in the country! From affordable housing finance maganzine. http://www.housingfinance.com/
(chk the archives-july/august2010)
*sage was project architect on this 50-unit housing project for environmental works community design center in 2008.
-cool little steel & glass light shelf/awning project to spiff up the back of a seattle salt-box house
-I had the opportunity to give my first presentation at a conference this year – housing Washington – and it went quite well I must say. it was on ‘low hanging fruit’/ aka green building strategies. I feel that I’m close to getting an affordable housing project of my own in the next several months!

There are still many friends & colleagues out of work, perhaps as many as 30-50% of architects nationally… which means there is a lot of talent in the pool

Plenty more stuff about S.A.G.E. Designs NW @ http://sageomatic.posterous.com/

ms.A

GRATITUDE

Okay There are a lot of things I have Gratitude for in my life. The short list: amanda galaxy cosmo lucas our little house my architecture practice john morefield my blood family seattle the earth sun moon stars sky rain wind clouds & birds that fly-iiii friends family tribe kid sitters [so ms.a and me can have date nights]. Thank You Thank You Thank YOU.

FRIENDS
Okay Jbo is back! One phone call almost one year later… and it aint nothin’ but water under the bridge. Thanks for reaching out & reconnecting my friend. Friends of 20 years can ride out some heavy shit.

Okay we had some visitors this past year. Blossom, eryn, laurie, mocean, marni [hope I didn’t leave anyone out]. Thanks for coming and sharing your love. When we grow some more space, we’d love more visits & more visitors & also some communal meals on a regular basis @ our place

MARRIAGE & FAMILY
Okay we had a tough time in 2010. Truth.
Amanda and me are working hard on keeping our love and marriage together. We ended the year on a positive note by spending the holidays in Chico California together with her family. She and Cosmo flew and Galaxy and me took the train [what a gas]. We had a relaxing family vacation in cali and grew our love a little stronger. We took one day-trek to see calatrava’s bridge in Redding with grannyL. Totally worth the trip! Amazing graceful structure. A few images @ http://sageomatic.posterous.com/

Okay I took ms.A to the naughty nutcracker (burlesque) at the triple door. A fabulous show & a bit of a stretch to call it the nutcracker… and she took me (& the kids) to the nice nutcracker. Both were excellent. Ms.A says it’s family derby time this year. We shall see. Me thinks it’s loud, and adult. Update: went to Bout1 w/ ms.A & we had a ball.

Fred got married. Lucky ZalDog. Lucky Juniper.

THE KIDZ

MY TWO LITTLE FINGER PULLERS

THE KIDS
Still, the best thing I’ve ever done.

GALAXY princess cutie pie
Wow! What a wonderful girl. So kind and smart and loving, especially to the little guy. She started kindergarden this year/ Spanish emersion/ and seems to be doing quite well and making new friends. She reminds me of my sister jade – who knew everyone in her 2000-kid high school. When G walks across the playground, everyone says “hi galaxy”. Really makes me smile. We went to the country fair this year without her momma or the little guy & had a great time. She did just fine down there. & we had our palz mylinda/ aka auntie lala & her teen son beckett with us. both were a true blessing.

G is an amazing little being. I often tear-up when people tell me how wonderful [and adorable] she is. We’re often simply shocked at how beautiful she is & it occurred to me just the other day that she is as beautiful as Barbara Streisand. Her art teacher just told me that she’s one of his favorites in the whole school. She is really a delightful person.

COSMO – the little guy
is the comedian of the family. Funny. Loving. Sweet & is a “go with the flow” guy. Joe Cool. Climbs anything. Cosmo is a blast. They are both brave in so many ways.
grannyB says I enjoyed making people laugh as a little guy too. Cosmo loves books & making piles of books & has a growing vocabulary.

& it’s handy to have two finger-pullers now!

MORE pix @ my dropbox

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/1032715/1/RantDigitalDetritus?h=20b4dd

1454 MILES - NO TICKETS - REALLY

destination = wallowa lake

classic tent i've had for 30yrs

travelin' in style

berry picker delux

"please don't give me a ticket today sir" (try this line, it works)

indeed!

wai wai county park

ted = prolific potter

oregon sky

MY SOLO BIKE TREK

was fabulous & also was a little tough on ms.A so hopefully we can figure out how to get a little more support on the home front for her on my next trek so I can re-charge and she can keep her balance. I headed for the wallowas in the fall. One of my favorite places on the planet. I Really like walla walla… but ms.A ain’t ready to move to the east side of the cascades just yet. Too white for one. But hey, there’s a winery outside of Yakima for sale…. Anyone want to buy it and form a coop?

A couple of ‘funny’ things about that trek: riding thru apple country and not buying more than a couple of apples to munch, and riding on that snazzy raspberry picker and eating narry a berry… and there was one berry in particular I really wanted to munch… but hey, I’ve still got all my fingers.

WHAT DOES THE BRICK WANT TO BE?

OTHER SAGE STUFF

Okay, I don’t have sleep apnea… or at least not enuf to require one of those p.i.a. air thingies that you have to wear at night. Hallelujah!

I’m still into first Thursday and in 2011 invite you to come by studioD for beer:30. That’s 4:30 beers on the 1^st Thursday of each month. I also continue to enjoy various networking events… but a little more sporadically these days. I still dig the derby, even though megmyday quit and the DLF came in last place in 2010. In fact SDNW just became a sponsor! @ the bruise level. Check it. ratcityrollergirls.com/sponsors/ Okay, Socket Wenches are my new favorites & they even sport orange uniforms.

MEN. Group.
Men’s group
There are a lot of things I don’t know and never learned about being a man in these times. Okay, on this planet. I joined a men’s group after an unsuccessful attempt to form one of my own. I began learning ‘the art of being a man’ in a formal group lead by a fine teacher. & I also learned that I don’t enjoy paying (cash. literally) to play… so I bring some new energy and recent knowledge in joining another (free) group of ‘junto’ brothers – men that have been meeting for six or seven years. “Checking in” with other men who have wives and complex lives has helped me to become a better man… which I continue to strive for and I give thanks for having this opportunity and these individuals in my life.

Men. I greatly appreciate the support and understanding they bring to my life.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE DAYS: 2010
teaching Galaxy to ride a bike. Picture me with 16#’s of Cosmo strapped to my chest jogging along washington boulevard as she reaches lift off. What a workout. Really felt like super dad that day… and she’s almost got it.

Another one was my pop day with Galaxy @ Disneyland. Ms.A was out of commission- literally – and we went about having a lovely random day doing just exactly what presented itself in our path. Low-key D. who’d a thunk it. our Disney trip was made possible by having a good tax man! Try it. & also by the generosity of grannyL & grampaJ.

And there was a series of work parties turning the greenhouse space @ G’s preschool into an art room. A lot of good dad-connection time & making a permanent improvement to the operation of kscp. & getting turned on to Vietnamese sandwiches. Cheap tasteeness. Thanks Joseph.

And THE SAULK. I took a day trip – carving a time portal in the Disneyland adventure - to see the masterpiece by louis kahn. Something I have wanted to do since college. One word. Humbled. Here are a few of the almost five hundred photos I took that day.

My un-favorite day was when C/ simultaneous with learning how to walk/ locked my new Droid… to the tune of requiring a complete hard reset/ I tried for two weeks but found no solutions from, google, motorola, verizon or my favorite tech geeks. Ouch, that one stung.

Actually there were a lot of great days along the way.

I had a really superb birthday party. It was a sweet tribute to 50 trips around the sun. Lots of love & friends and kind words & I didn’t even get roasted! life is good. Thank you to all who helped out, brought food, entertained, or just showed up. I am striving to stay positive & ask for what I want. I do believe that thoughts become things and that I need to remember to choose the good ones. I choose love and light, abundance and wealth.

HOUSE OF CARDS “beware the nargles"
Let’s face it… we’re in a depression. Should I really say this out loud? Those “what do you think is going to happen” conversations continue to happen and my general response is that I’m not sure we’re not headed for a total collapse. “it” really seems like a house of cards to me… the whole mortgage finance game and struggle for the legal tender…. I use the double negative intentionally because I certainly hope for the positive… but from a lot of angles it seems like we’ve got to fall a lot farther before we get back to some sort of reality and sense of appropriate consumption… [he said from his laptop in a warm bed].

SPACESHIP EARTH
okay What a mindnumbingly amazing thing is this planet and all that transpires upon it.

PARTING QUOTE
“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind”
Dorothea Lange [posted @ an art show in Proletariat Pizza]

pop day

yesterday was a long and winding day as a solo pop. pop day is a thing i do on sundays & mondays these days. just a couple of questions: 1) is it okay to use the kitchen sponge for the toilet?, 2) how many pieces of chocolate - i mean really good chocolate - is reasonable to eat to battle the fatigue and rationalize the frustration of so many "no's"?