These are the strangest, the glorious, the good ol' days

I do have a tendency to act naive every once in a while. I like to think that there are good and wholesome people scattered about this great big planet we're riding. But the real world is a harsh and ugly place; it takes a temporary naive vision of the world just to be able to smile sometimes. Worse even are the recurrences of bad things happening to good people. It just makes me mad to see that somebody has the nerve to do the mindless evil in this world.

Just relax, lie on your back and stare at the clouds. Read a Sunday morning comic and laugh. Go to the park and enjoy the sounds of playing children's laughter. Watch a dog try to fetch a laser beam. There are numerous things one can do to raise there spirits. Yet greed takes over and the thirst for money leads some people to over step bounds of human civility.

This trip I'm taking soon, I'm scared. Not going to lie to you about that. But a few things were certain: I had a plan, I had supplies, I had the necessary money, I had several firms lined up to go talk to, I had enough music to last me, a camera to record the adventure, and a GPS to guide me through sticky situations.

Funny thing about the last one, I don't actually have a GPS unit. It is definitely something I want for the trip but I wanted to save as much money as I could and just borrow one. Josh, younger brother actually go one from his girlfriend for Christmas. Great right! I could borrow his, once I get to Seattle, ship it back to him. Not only did he say "no," he threw in an explicit interjection!

Nathan, on the other hand, said it would be no problem to borrow his. I swear the man would give out the shirt on his back in a sleeting rain, even if you had an umbrella! Nate is one of my closest college friends. He and I have had several similar experiences, not to mention we just get along so well. That short list of friends who I plan on remaining in close contact with, he's high on the list. He's practically sponsoring my trip up north, doing all he can but financial benefaction.

A recent event in Atlanta has been a speed bump for all the planning. Actually it's the spark that lit the fire of disappointment in mankind. Looking at grad schools in the Atlanta area, Nate returned to his truck to find a broken window. Missing out of the cab was about 700 bucks worth of stuff including his GPS unit. Nathan called me to let me know what happened, and I think he was more upset about not being able to help than that it was gone. Why does something this bad happen to somebody so good?

Without trying to make it about me, but this blog is a travel blog. It is meant for recanting stories about, detailing preparations for, and giving updates about my road trip. This news from Atlanta puts a kink in the plans. A GPS units is now on my radar of things I need to buy, which only means less money for the trip, which means I have a shorter window in which I need to succeed to stay.

On a side note, I think the house in Astoria has been confirmed. That means I'm moving to Astoria. I'll get up there and spend 2-3 days hunting for an architecture job. After 3 days, I'll need to find anything I can to have income. It was suggested that I try to work for a city government department as the pay and benefits are good, and job security is supposed to be relatively high. I think that I have a big enough set of marketable skills that finding a decent job shouldn't be hard. Only issue I'm really worried about is the availability of jobs in my particular market.



Well that's it for tonight. The travel memories menu tonight will consist of photos of one of the more unique museums as far as location, content and design: The Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, or in the local tongue, Museo de Nacional de Antropologia.

Reenactors on a Maypole

Turns out this uploader is taking too long, I'll try again tomorrow.

"We don't need no Stinkin' Badges!"

It has been a constant work session for me the past few days. Just when I thought my college studio all-nighters were done, I cranked out a few more.

Finally finished and ready for the mail are my resumes and work samples. Those should be bound and shipped tomorrow! I've created and printed business cards. I didn't want to do too many because my address and potentially my phone number are going to change here in a bit, but I still want to give potential hires something they can keep that might fit into their way of doing things. I have phone and email listed on them, wanted a webpage, but don't want to put it on there until the webpage is up. I am debating now if it would be appropriate to even put an address on there. I don't think putting something generic is appropriate:

Matthew Smith
Nissan Sentra's Back Seat
Eisenhower's Interstate System, USA

Besides, if they would like to contact me, phone and email are best.

I'm struggling to find apartments and jobs in the Seattle area. While I have a few likely possibilities, it would be alot easier to just be in the area and have a home base closer than a 4 days drive. Nathan and I have discussed it, and I find out tonight if I would be able to rent his families vacation cabin in Astoria, OR for up to 3 months. It would give me a cheap place to live about 3 plus hours from downtown Seattle. On the large chance that I don't get an internship right away, it would give me the opportunity to find a supplemental job in the region, learn the cities of both Seattle and Portland, scout out apartments, and finally give me a home base from which I can do walk-in meetings with firms in both cities.

I'll keep you updated.


Since this is a road trip blog, I'm going to keep with the theme I started in the last one and post some pictures from a previous trip. Once I actually do hit the road, I'll upload pics from this current trip. January 20th, now 6 days away!

(These are actually from two separate trips to Washington D.C., but I won't tell if you won't!)

The National Building Museum
D.C.


Library of Congress, Jefferson Building
D.C.



World War II Memorial
D.C.


Smithsonian Castle
D.C.

Photo Memories, Fort Worth

Trying to pick photos for the photography section of my work samples packet, and it sparked a bit of nostalgia. Here are some photos that have great memories that go with them. These all come from my Summer trip through Fort Worth, TX.

Lena Pope Chapel
Designed by Faye Jones.

Fort Worth Water Gardens
Designed in part by Phillip Johnson



Botanical Gardens

Kimbell Art Museum
Designed by Louis Kahn


Modern Art Museum
Designed by Tadao Ando

The Kimbell Museum is the first project that was not a let down. What I mean by this is that it was the first project that had a sense of wonderment built up about it the classroom; upon visiting it was able to keep me captivated with an equal sense of magnificence. The Modern's chances of reaching the same pinnacle wafted away when the museum staff wouldn't let us experience the building: we were not allowed on the grass to get the signature view from across the pond, nor were we allowed to experience the lower galleries on the water level. It meant I wasn't able to fully experience the exhibit I wanted to see... the building. While I thoroughly enjoyed the museum's contents, I feel shortchanged. I'll just have to go back someday.

Update on travel Preparations: Los Angeles and San Francisco are a go! While I'm not too familiar with LA other than a couple or Tom Mayne projects I want to see, I can promise you that I am stoked about being able to see Piano's California Academy of Sciences and Herzog and de Meuron's new de Young Museum!

The road awaits, and I'm almost ready to launch my craft!

Texas, Here I come again

Last time I was in Texas, I was there on an Architecture School field trip. We were looking at buildings and museums in Dallas and Ft. Worth. It was like walking through any modern architecture history book. We visited the Piano's Nasher Sculpture Museum, Kahn's Kimbell, Ando's Modern, and we were studying Legorreta's new design for the Science and History Museum.

But Texas isn't all museums! When you think Texas you think cowboys and live stock. Closest thing to a cowboy we saw was the images on the side of Texas Stadium! Closest thing to live stock was that sculpture to the right.

Not only will the drive through West Texas offer chances to see authentic Texas, but it also has the chance to not be so lonely.

My architecture school classmate, Jason, has decided to do a similar cross country trip. Only he has two wheels! He leaves early in the morning from Muscle Shoals, AL on his bicycle, with nothing but the gear on his back! He hopes to be closing in on San Antonio by late January. (You can keep track of his journey here.... http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/jblankissuper/2/tpod.html ).

If he ends up in San Antonio on schedule, there is a chance that I would pick him up, and we'd travel the desert of west Texas together. It should save each of us some money, and I think it should prevent him from repetitive nights of camping in the desert. His eagerness to cycle across the country he feels like he's cheating himself, so he wouldn't ride with me much past El Paso. That would mean my longest drive, the 15 or so hours from Houston to Tucson, would be broken up and at least 7-9 hours there would somebody else in the car with me, depending on where he wants to get out.

Happy Trails!
(Auburn, AL)

Preparations [ mental statement ]

Here's the lowdown!

I'm a recent college grad from Auburn University's School of Architecture. In the last two years of school, as I began to hone my skills, interests, and design preferences, I also began researching several firms. Call them "dream firms" if you want, but these are the guys whose work was similar to my school work in plan parti, material selection/demands, and general composition. They were also all located in a surprisingly high density around the Pacific Northwest, mainly Portland and Seattle.

So then I beg of you, what is a boy to do, but follow his heart.

I've mapped out a road trip that includes several stops to see family and friends, while also offering the chance to go architectural sightseeing (visiting/ studying/ sketching/ touching/ smelling/ observing user interaction/and finally photographing various buildings, boring unless you have an architecture mind). I am looking to use this as a chance for my "Find myself/ lose myself" roadtrip. It'll be me, my car, and the open road. I've got my sketchbook and camera, so stay tuned for more updates as I plan then travel.

Another offering this road trip has is the chance to visit the premises of various grad school programs. While not right away, I would love the chance to further my architectural maturity and understanding in an academia setting. While I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Auburn's Dudley Hall, 5 years or education have made me more critical of the education I'm receiving, therefore I want to select the grad school that is right for me.

I've got a to-do list that ranges from putting finishing touches on portfolios and cover letters, to finding appropriate snow dig-out gear for my car. It feels like alot to do, with out the proper amount of time to dedicate to each task. Wish me luck and stay tuned!