hi brett.

This is your second dedicated blog entry.

Bloom App

I have an I-Pod touch, but it does not [yet] have the upgrade necessary to install and play APPS on it. I will be performing said upgrade AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, after seeing this demonstration of an ambient music generator app by the brilliant Brian Eno.

Bloom Demo - YouTube

Twitter

What's up with Twitter? Who out there Tweets? How did we allow this thing to become a common verb? I'm a bit disturbed that this new "language" has become so ubiquitous - although I must admit at times I'm very drawn to the software and want to begin using it.
Although if I did, I would imagine I would probably never write anything, but just follow people. Is that how it works? Can I just pick and choose? I don't even know.
But to hear all these celebrities and (gasp) news presenters using the word "tweets" on nationally-broadcast public television and radio just makes shivers run up and down my spine.

Thoughts?

Bears and Magpies

I have to be honest - I can't remember the last time the Bears lost and the Magpies won in the same day. Usually they both lose - and somehow, the Cubs, Bulls, and Blackhawks also lose on the same day. That's just how my life goes. But today, keeping up their streak of clean sheets (almost 500 minutes now without conceding a goal), Newcastle United, looking very - refreshing? - in their custard and cream striped away kit, struck again to go top of the table in the Championship with a 2-point cushion. Mr. Soul Glow himself, Fabricio Coloccini scored his first goal as a Magpie to win the match 1-0. Today we beat a VERY good Cardiff side at their home ground, which I predicted to be our toughest match of the season. Speaking by the numbers, I was wrong - the toughest match is West Brom away - the only match we haven't taken maximum points from. So, these two matches (Cardiff and West Brom away) being in the books, I have to say that after just 6 matches, the most difficult part of our schedule is behind us, and no one would have expected the position we'd be in at the moment.

Now for the Bears. Unfortunately I'm writing this post at 10:54 CST, minutes after a crushing defeat to a Packers team that was, let's face it, just a lot better than we were. Cutler looked bad at first glance, but in truth it was his receivers that must shoulder most of the blame. We need to do something about that - but honestly, the game was had in every department, by the Packers. We weren't good enough in the secondary, our coaching staff called some howlers, Forte couldn't get going although he showed some good spots, obviously our receivers, even the LONG SNAPPER had an off day. Really the only good aspect of this game was our defensive line - if only Miranelli could do for our O-Line what he is doing for our D-Line, then we might have something going for us. To win this division - which I still think is possible - we need to really put some stuff together and get our minds in position to play at this level. Tonight we looked like a bunch of children on the field.

And we're BACK!

Sorry for the gap in posts, folks. I'm sure my enormous readership still exists after this 4-month hiatus.


So here's what's happening - I've been taking the ARE (Architectural Registration Exam), which includes a ridiculous amount of study/reading time, working a LOT since my office staff size has been cut in half, trying to figure out what the heck to do with our living/real estate situation. Public apologies go out to my good buddy Brett who, because of my confidence's magical disappearing act, was let down yet again by me backing out of a major cabinetry project. The Mrs and I have been indulging in quite a number of downloaded Japanese dramas which has been interesting, and are preparing for another trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. This time, Mrs. Architecture- footballandfood's cousin (more like a sister) is getting married (more specifically, she's having a wedding party after the real wedding - which happened to take place in Maldives. Must be nice!). Her cousin is marrying a fine fellow who I've grown quite close to - he's a businessman working in Tokyo, but has comtemplated going to business school in the US, so he came out for a week earlier this year to visit Northwestern and U of C. This trip culminated in the afore-mentioned most eventful day.


Hmmm lets see what else. I think in general, this is a catch-up post - letting all you loyal readers know that I'll do my best to perk this web-space back up. Onward!

Japan - May 09

We came back from Japan this morning from a very fast and very eventful and memorable trip. The main reason we went was to celebrate Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood's parents' 60th birthday. We went as a complete surprise to them, and only had informed a small handful of family members of our plans prior to coming. Incredibly, nobody spilled the beans and it all worked like a charm. I have never seen such purely surprised and happy faces as those displayed by the parents, and we were lucky enough to get it on three separate video cameras!
We also got to see and take photos of the M-House, our first built single-family house. It turned out incredibly nice, and it was so great to see a design of ours become reality, and even better to see how happy the clients were. Overall and wonderful trip. We are planning on heading back there for another short trip in September to go to our cousin's wedding party, so we are very excited for that.
I'll post some photos either here or to facebook as soon as I get them downloaded.

Sports and Fraternity

Not as in they greek system, but actual "fraternization," as in a quality of being like brothers or of a brotherhood.

This is a hilarious video clip as a follow up to the previous post. Why do we stupid sports fans feel obliged to become a member of whatever team we choose to support? How can we just automatically join the club without any application process? Is it really that easy? See the video - sound required.

Mitchell and Webb

Thanks to Cousin Ray for the link.

Sports and Happiness

Why do men(and some women) take so much enjoyment in sports? I must be in the upper 10% of this category, and when I think about it, I have no idea why. Does it make my life any better, really, if my team wins? (Or in my case, usually, worse when they lose) Do I learn any skills? Yes, I think so - teamwork, perserverance, etc. But I don't think this is why we love it so much. Is it the testosterone-driven version of soap operas?

Anyway, yesterday was a killer day. Newcastle actually won a huge match which will help us immensely in our bid for safety from relegation. The Blackhawks won game 6 to put them into the Semi-Finals. This is HUGE for the Hawks, being a very young team in a league that is still hoping to gain some popularity. The Cubs had the day off - so they did NOT lose!!

But why do I care about any of this? I'm still faced with the same moral, professional, economic issues that I was yesterday. In the long term, the Hawks going to the semis doesn't really stack up against the thousands of retirement dollars I've lost in the past couple years....