Old shoes

I have issues with shoes. My feet are short wide and have a high instep. My mother claims that it is due to my dad's genes and there may be something to that. I used to always have kind of ratty shoes as it was hard to find a pair that fit right and I didn't treat them too well.

A few years ago, perhaps 8 years or so ago, I found a pair of Merrel suede slip on's that I really liked at REI in Bloomington. These shoes were really comfortable for me. I liked them so much I went back and bought two more pair so I was up to three pairs. The following year I tried to find similar pairs, but since either they caused chaffing because I don't wear socks much of the year or they wouldn't go over my instep I had poor luck except for a pair of Timberland's.

Well, long story short, I wore these shoes everywhere. In the snow and cold, out walking, to work, out to get the paper. the soles are still in good condition, but the leather is stained and falling apart and the trim is wearing away. They have stretched beyond comfort and the foam lining has crumbled away.

Today they are in the trash heap and I have new shoes.

Rats, no pictures

I just couldn't find anything photographic that pertained to goings on so I've been slacking. Short work week for me - worked on some mechanical specification things and prior approvals with Ryan. We are trying the new solvent welded CPVC chemical resistant drainage piping that is marketed by Spears Manufacturing on a high school project in Wisconsin. While in the past we have used CPVC alone, the solvent welded joints and piping is the past did not have specific chemical resistance approvals. Now there is a NSF rating for the system along with IAMPO approvals. The solvent is a bit different, but is a yellow color so that inspectors know it's been used. I expect the joints will be more fool proof that the commonly used retained gland/olive assemblies without the cost of the electrofusion systems (which still make sense on some projects).

I also had a meeting with one of the local mechanical firms regarding a LEED-NC certified project they are working on as a design builder. Cost is a big issue as they have already budgeted this project out, so we are splitting the work out so that I have major involvement only on the Energy Performance Credits EAp2 and EAc1 and will advise them on other issues as needed. Of course there is that conflict between the "Green" phlosophy of sharing knowledge and the business interests of using that knowledge based edge in the market place to either get more work or otherwise economically benefit from it. Especially hard is the issue of the project being delivered architecturally by a competitor and not necessarily wishing to make that any easier for them while still wanting to assure that my (now) client and the final user of the building (also a client of me, just not on this project) achieve the performance goals needed to get to LEED certified. (The building owner/developer is not a current client of mine although I have worked for him in the past(an not likely to be one in the future!)).

Aliceon and I had Thanksgiving dinner at Ledge Rock yesterday with my folks, and now are getting ready for another turkey dinner at the Compound with my daughter, her husband, and our friend Jeff. I made the stuffing yesterday, the gravy is half done along with the turkey. Aliceon cooked up three pumpkin (actually butternut squash) pies this morning.

We all have a lot to be thankful for, our friends and those dear to us are healthy and seem to be doing well. We are able to enjoy our life, the outdoors, travel our pets and the like to an extent that many others are not able to due to any number of reasons - we consider ourselves some of the luckiest people around.

P.S. shopped online and not in the store wow is that nice away from the stinky masses.

No Knead Bread

For those of you that haven't seen this, about a year ago Mark Bittman in the NYT food section wrote an article about a "new" bread making technique he called No-knead bread. http://http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/ Just Google bittman no-knead bread and you will find it in referenced in all sorts of food articles. It turns out homemade bread like you can not believe. Crispy crust, nice holey interior perfect for toast with butter. As most simple breads it doesn't keep for long periods, so I slice it and freeze what I can't eat on the day I make it right away.
The concept is simple, start with flour water salt and a little bit of yeast, mix and let sit overnight (or longer), then put it inside a preheated hot oven and cast iron or ceramic pot to hold in the steam and bake. Anyway, that was one of the weekend projects.
I wish I had some photos of the waves coming into Stoney Point Saturday evening - big splashing waves from the NE. There were some surfers out too and I saw at least one take a nice long ride (for Lake Superior anyway). It was just great to stand our among the wind and the spray and watch the power of the lake for a while. A shout out to Mattman who celebrated a birthday on Sunday - I don't actually know how old he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was getting up to 40 or so.

Quality Fans?

Here are a few shots of the fume exhaust fans for a life science building we are just completing (high silver LEED award anticipated). Quite a bit of leakage was found during smoke "bomb" testing of the systems and a closer look at the way the fans were constructed sure showed us why. Take a look at the gaps in the bolted face of the fan scroll and the squeezed out gasketing where it was used. Unfortunately, the campus/system standards call for these fans to be installed in a mechanical space, so now the issue is whether there is an unsafe condition in that space for the maintenance workers.

The future of shop drawings

Well here it is, the electrical shop drawings for a 11 story office tower. The day James Brew has been predicting for many years is here in our market, but driven by the contractors not by the architects and design profession. The project is 8200 Normandale, developed by United Properties in Bloomington, MN and a Pre-certified Gold LEED-CS project . Adophson & Peterson are the Construction Managers and we (LHB) are the LEED consultants. This sort of project is not one that we usually work on so it's been interesting to watch the process and interaction between players. LEED is important as a differentiator in a tight market and will make this project more profitable due to the quicker leasing and completion of the project.

I was able to have noodles for breakfast, something I usually do about 4 times a week at home.


The public art in Chicago is really cool - the LED powered images on the glass block was really something - but the Jelly bean was my highlight, I'll try and post the video I took of this later.

Chicago sights

Harold's Chicken on south Wabash - best fried chicken I've ever had - light and crispy (and with hot sauce)


Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Performing the Poulouc Gloria and the Ravel Daphne and Cloe - I sat in the Terrance Seating right about the orchestra and nest to the Chorus. Wow was that fun.