Category Archives: Professional

The Hard At Being Halfway Done Daily Cap(s) (279)

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Some days my favorite part of working this job….

…is when I get to be outside and be a part of making neat things happen.

 

This gateway to the City will soon be in a way-cool roundabout median….

…and should be mostly done in two weeks, weather permitting and traffic patterns learned of course.

Stone has to be the the best to use to make a good project look great, especially when you’ve got talent laying it.

 

Now let there be no worries – the orange water jug is not part of the permanent attractions….

…and this sort-of teaser is of good things yet to come, less the jug of course. Yessiree, why don’t y’all go out and hug your favorite landscape architect this weekend (and mason too)

 

 

 

 

The Professional Choice Daily Cap(s) (270)

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One fun part of my job lets me best-pick material for various projects. This one needed a letter color picked. Which one did I choose? Classy Brass? Coffee Brown? Brilliantly Black?

The tree hugger in me says “let’s reuse this”…..

I have a niece who, for the longest time, thought I (a landscape architect) did nothing more than design sidewalks. I hope she doesn’t see this and think I had anything to do with it!

River rock in a roadway median? Does that make sense? In the flat lands of Texas? But yes, it does have a nice variety of colors….

Sometimes even the best-conceived site plans simply do not work right….

The All In A Day’s Work Daily Cap(s) (207)

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Who remembers that dag-gum baseball complex from a couple months ago? Well looky here….grass is growing!

But grass still isn’t in all places….

In Texas summers, irrigation is a definite must-have for ball fields….

And repairs seem to be never-ending (love this guy’s hat!)

And how I appreciate these guys’ ingenuity when it comes to labor efficiency and just plain ol’ common sense in getting the job done right (I’ve seen one guy do this with 3 wheelbarrows – how many steps did this save the man…in 104° temps?)….

 

 

 

 

The Sketchy Daily Cap(s) (166)

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Sketches for/from work – so badly out of practice….

 

Fun exercise for the brain, hand, and spirit, even if it’s a long way from being good. A definite reprieve from the daily business grind typical for the day….

The Foul Ball Daily Cap(s) (109)

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The field-inspection-before-sodding happened today...we're building it and they are already waiting.

Wait, what? Is that a golf ball on what will soon be a pitching mound? We'll have none of that play here....

So I've got to hand it to the contractor that owns this front-end loader. He has certainly gotten his money's worth out of this set of tires (and even the butterfly likes the tractor tires)

The Peers, Colleagues, and Damn Them Convention Center Carpets Daily Cap(s) (96)

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Leave it to a landscape architect to have such a handsome lime sherbet jacket (the patterned purple shirt up close was even better)...sorry for the lack of focus gang, but I bet you can get the gist.

Meet my first boss out of college, Bill...he's still wonders why he ever hired me

My dear friend and former champion rollerskater Traci (we grew up professionally together don't cha know) enjoying the figure 8 railroad tracks found in the convention center carpet

Who designs this? When does the inspiration hit? What kind of music do they listen to? Are they Facebook likable?

What is it about convention center carpets that fascinate me? (see above pic questions)

The Daily Cap (16)

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Can this be an accidental, on-purpose coincidence? Scotch (along with the occasional Kahlua for merely the aroma most certainly) and books of garden design and photography...all on the same shelf. Can life be any grander?

Just the facts, ma’am

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In reading a work-related on-line article about effective presentations, one forwarded from our marketing department with professional development intent I’m sure, I found myself nodding in agreement and chuckling with one particular exerpt…

“Never Let Facts Speak for Themselves

Facts need interpretation. According to Mark Twain, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” If you don’t believe this, tune in to the next political campaign. People can make facts and numbers mean almost anything. Interpret yours so that your listeners draw the same conclusions you intend.” Continue reading →

Scattershooting the Day

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The day started at at 4am. Showered, shaved, dogs petted and feed, and out the door at 4:45.

Arrived at Terminal D parking and found a spot right away at area J5 (I tell you that mostly so I won’t forget where I parked).

20110723-124937.jpgGot through airport security without have a visual violation by the full body scan polaroid. Dang it…and I wore clean underwear just for those guys today.

Boarded the plane at 5:50. At 6:15 – our scheduled departure time – the captain comes over the PA mumbling something about a cooling fan for the navigation system was not working and the whole unit would need to be replaced…not once, but twice.

We pushed away from the gate at 8:00.

Continue reading →

Oh what a week

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It (the week) ends on a Friday the 13th, the only one in 2011, BTW. Maybe that’s why the commute tonight was “driving” me crazy. Folks were coming to a complete stop to make a turn, people were pulling out of parking lots across 2 lanes and unable to get in line straight…so both lanes are blocked, drivers were leaving 200 car lengths between them and the guy/gal in front (all that does is let people cut-in uninhibited). Everyone was being superstitious…yeah, that’s it, superstitious!

But lets not talk about friggatriskaidekaphobia, no, lets speak of LID! Continue reading →

In conference

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The past three days were spent on the Gulf Coast (Galveston). A wonderful time despite the island losing power several times throughout the day on Wednesday, the wind blowing like nobody’s business, the hotel’s satellite TV was scrambled on occasion, and a 42″ waterline in need of repair kept water restrictions in force until today. We were told the electricity and TV were intermittent because of the sea salt buildup on lines and electronics (normally, rainfall would wash the salt off but the island was in a 4-month drought).  Don’t take it wrong, a grand time was had in the 50°-60° -70° weather with a cool ocean breeze! Oooooo, ahhhhhh.  Continue reading →

Sign Sign, Everywhere a Sign

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It seems like every day of the week I get another of my way-too-many e-newsletters related to my profession, sometimes only ever so remotely related to the things I do (or better said: “want to”…maybe “should do”). So many I get that sometimes a quick click of the “X” in the toolbar without even a quick look-see is done just to keep the ol’ inbox manageable in size.  And here’s the bad thing…unless I skim through them for any thing of interest, I usually feel bad deleting them unread as if some person had really taken the time to compose, then send the email to me personally.

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A Lunch Party

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We did a celebratory lunch party for my good friend and co-worker Jeff’s passing of the P.E. exam today.

A bunch of us knuckleheads in Denton came together with Jeff’s family to enjoy food and fellowship…and cake.

I think most of Jeff’s family ended up shaking their heads at all of us. His four young kids (#5 on the way) are as cute as a bug’s ear and had I remembered to ask his permission to post their photos, I would have shared those with y’all – maybe soon, maybe soon. But it was a good time had!

Congratulations again Jeff. Go seal some engineering plans why don’t ya! Continue reading →

Global Blog Action Day 2010: Water

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Today (October 15th) is Global Blog Action Day 2010…bet ya didn’t know that, now did ya? And today it’s all about WATER.

Just one of the “things” I do in a professional life, and also just one of today’s blog topics is dealing with the issues of stormwater pollution. So don’t think less of my post as being a desperate search for a blog story…otherwise it might make me feel like I need a new profession (you better start talking now if that’s the case).

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Parking it with Purpose

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On this 9/11 anniversary weekend, flags fly, “what you were doing that morning” memories come back to us, and families directly affected by the attacks are still remembered by all with great sadness of loss and senselessness of reason.

An unforgetable day, I first heard a sketchy report on the radio that a plane hit one of the Towers as I arrived at work. My daughter Tiffany was in school in NYC at the time, and I said to myself “she has no reason to be in that part of the city this morning”, and I set out about my morning with an under-the-breath prayer that the “accident” would not be too tragic for the City. Well the events unfolded, as we all know, and my family’s lives became one of the many chapters written that day, although comparatively insignificant with most others…perhaps that is another post if interested, but know Tiff was safe that day.

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This is really pretty way cool

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Those that frequent this blog know of my unquestionable loyalty to Kansas State University, both academically and athletically (let’s not mention the thousands of dollars they got from me here). Because of that, a reluctance to give “press” to the rival college(s) is stubbornly applied, i.e. just about anything to do with the University of Kansas or the rest of the Big 3+7 (another post yet to come). But with this post, I make a proud exception!

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Bettering

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As yet another new page to my Blog is added, please know it’s a public way to journey in trying to be a better and smarter kind of guy.

Some of you know I enjoy the business, management, self-improvement, rah-rah type books, so I’m going to capture some of the advice from those books, here on the blog. I’m also doing other self-improvement experience besides the books (that might be kind of scary if you think too much about it).

If you’re so inclined, over on the left margin (of the Blog page) you will see the page Better to click. In addition to that, please notice several sub-pages of topics/subjects individuated for reading organization and convenience. Check them out…let me know what you think…offer up any suggestions on becoming a better me (but be nice y’all).

If this doesn’t meet with some reader enthusiasm, so be it. I’ll go back to my closet reading of such things and telling only the guys at work about the seminars and luncheons I attend. (Sorry guys at work – HaHa)