Author: vargocity

Latest College of Architecture temporary installation

This past weekend I headed north with some friends for the beginning of the 2009 Triple Crown Bouldering competition, with some climbing at Hound Ears near Boone, NC. Ben and I were climbing but we were joined by Katy, Ajay and Christa who explored the cultural and natural beauty of Boone while we were wrestlin’ pebbles. We arrived late on Friday night with some rain freshly fallen, but things cleared up on Saturday and provided PERFECT weather all day.

The competition went pretty well for me. My only goal for the event was show some improvement over last year when I tallied 1893 points and
finished 10th in the novice/recreational category. Most people assume that there are specific problems that are attempted and then you are judged and given scores on your climbs. In actuality, all the problems in the crag are given a point value and you do what you can and total your ten highest problems. Each successful climb is verified by two witnesses with signatures. All the climbers are given a guide with a map and lists of all the problems. The recreational category is for competitors completing problems rated V0-V2, with scores ranging up to around 230 points.

This year I finished 14 problems including a V3, a V4 and a V5. This meant that I had to bump up a category into the intermediate. Consequently, I did not finish so well within my group but I was proud to improve over last year (and by a whole category). My score this year was 2497. The V3 I sent was a classic problem called the Heretic (shown in the picture). It is a great problem because it has good holds that are far apart (so big moves), and it’s high (so you have an intense mental component to it). It was incredibly fun and the rock looks really cool. Ironically, the ‘hardest’ problem I sent, the V5, was one that I did on the first attempt.

After the comp, we met up with the rest of our friends, had some great food, great drink and a great time. You can read more about it here. We took the Blueridge Parkway from Boone to Mount Mitchel, the highest point in the US east of the Mississippi. Then we went to Asheville. Everytime I go to North Carolina I leave with a little more appreciation for the place.

I am completely caught up in the new Ken Burns’ series about The National Parks. The weather is cooling and all I needed was another reason to want to get out of town and spend some time in the woods. A 12-hour documentary featuring some of awesome footage of the country’s best landscapes is more than just another reason. The documentary actually proclaims that theses places belong to us, that be visiting them we’re going home and that they are ‘America’s best idea.’ The statement is worthy of debate but the park’s role as a symbol on democracy is indisputable.

Watching all these amazing places and learning the stories of their pasts and the people who have played a part in their preservation has activated my latent urges for adventure and wilderness, but also led me to revisit my past journeys. Allow me to share a bit of them with you.

Yosemite December, 1997

Redwood July, 2002 (find the person)

Acadia August, 2006

Yellowstone (Lauren) June, 2008

Canyonlands June, 2009

Arches June, 2009

This weekend is the Miller Lite Chili Cookoff at Stone Mountain. Hundreds of booths are set up in Stone Mountain Park, teams camp there on Friday night and wake up early on Saturday to being cooking their chili. The chili must be cooked on-site and you must prepare at least 5 gallons. Ticket-wielding patrons of the event are entitled to all the samples they can stomach. We attended last year and Lauren and her friend Liz have been planning on entering ever since. Now it is upon us.

In order to enter, a team name had to be created and Slammer Chili was selected as our entry. Depending on your motivation, you can get way into themes and presentation, in addition to chili. Have the battle is branding yourself and creating a memorable experience for tasters who are meandering among hundreds of similar teams. So we have put significant effort into creating an identity. Black and white stripe shirts were created by Lauren using tape and spray paint on new undershirts. Also, a wooden span of prison bars were constructed for us to serve chili behind. This is not to say that we’ve forgotten about the chili. A couple weeks ago a team meeting was held to sample various recipes and choose the competition chili. What does it taste like? You’ll have to stop by and find out.

How do you get a Crown Vic on 22″s (even though the wheel wells aren’t big enough)?

Answer:

Recently Paul McCartney came to Atlanta to perform a charity concert for our flagship park, Piedmont Park. While he is a Beatle I just could not pay all the money for the ticket, but still I headed down to the park and volunteered parking bicycles right behind the stage. I could hear pretty well.

But last week I got the chance to hear it really well, maybe better than it’s sounded before. I came into the new remastered version (stereo) of the complete Beatles catalog that was released in tandem with the new Rock Band video game. (I really want to play it so please call me if you can make this happen)

During the last two weeks of the most recent Beatles blitz, I have found that I really like talking to people about the band and the music. It’s refreshing to talk about a band that everyone knows, everyone has heard, and that composed clearly popular songs. Too often, conversations of music turn to the band you don’t know. Plus I had a whole career staring me in the face. Not to mention, one of the most fabled and influential careers in music. I reset my iPod and loaded it full (1/6 full) of Beatles.

I began by revisiting some favorite tracks in their new remastered form. However, for the first time, I was beginning to associate the tracks with the albums names that I could recite but not fully comprehend. Aside from Sgt. Peppers, I have not given single Beatles albums thorough listenings and relistenings. I thought that to get a better idea of the band’s much-talked-about evolution, I should go through the entirety of their work in chronological order. Sometime in the middle of Tuesday I made an on-the-go playlist of the 13 albums in order of release (only in reading later did I find that Abbey Road was recorded after Let It Be but released before it).

I finished tonight but continue to listen to tracks and read about them. I am constantly humming one tune or another and driving Lauren mad. Having finished their complete catalog, I have a better of idea of what Rubber Soul means as a departure for them (hint: they stopped singing exclusively about girls) and how their Indian experiences fit into the music (for example with Sexy Sadie). I’m only beginning to fully comprehend their studio processes and the innovations they contributed to. Now I’m reading through the maze of Wikipedia entries related to the band and their albums. I also need to revisit my older recordings and see the difference between these new releases and the old ones. I have been listening to them with nice headphones so I am not sure if that is why they sound so good, but the bass is really coming in clear.

This little experiment has made me want to pay more attention to the album as a collective work, and, to a larger degree, the chronology of artists’ complete collections. I would like to go through some of the careers of other artists and try to match up the music with the world around them at the time; catch up on what I originally missed in the music. With the iPod and massive collections of music at our command, it’s easy to neglect the album in totality and even easier to get lost in a single band for a day or a week at a time. Maybe it’s time we rethink the iPod into a monoculture where intense scrutiny of the music becomes possible once again.

I’m accepting suggestions for the next band to run through.

Once i took off the hoodie revealed the face
Cop patrol couldn’t control the place
I got groupies backstage lined up at the gate
The signs up yellin’ “we love your tape!”
I’m sorry i took so long didn’t mean to make y’all wait
But good things take time to create
– Streetlife, Silent Lyrics, (Gza)

School has started, summer has ended and I have not blogged. Using school as an excuse for my absence would be semi-legit, but honestly it doesn’t keep me that busy. Other things have. One project that I recently finished and got off my desk was a proposal to fund PhD students looking at climate change and health. More on that soon, especially if I get it. The most important project that’s been going on around here has been the painting of the exterior of the house (and football beginning).

While planning our Labor Day activities we had to make a choice between accepting an offer from my dad to have him down here and paint the house, going to Cape Cod with some friends from Atlanta, or stealing away for a anniversary trip. Noting the importance of a new and thorough coat of paint on our house, and recognizing the value of the sweat equity in my dad’s offer, we decided to paint the house. We started this project about a month before, renting a power washer to try and remove some f the loose paint. We had it for the weekend, but were surprised when some friends dropped by on a 20-hour Atlanta layover on their way to Brazil for their honeymoon. Thus we scrapped our work plans for that Saturday and had fun with them. Sunday we washed. Turns out the powerwasher wand had a hole in it so, though we used it, we could have had more pressure. We returned it and received a refund. We were successful in cleaning the siding and identifying some problem spots.

The east and west sides of the house were in the worst shape. They get hammered with the sun and the paint was peeling off. We spent significant amounts of time scraping and sanding in preparation. A concurrent project was repairing some of the window framing and adding some molding to their tops. This involved a lot of miter box sawing, gluing, nailing, and caulking. I realized that I am a big believer in the superficial healing properties of the generous application of caulk. I ruined several shirts in the process.

When my dad finally arrived he seemed a bit shocked by the size of the job. Nonetheless, he dove right in. Without his prodding we might still not have picked out a color. I have no idea why it is so hard, but it is. He finished two coats on the front within the first day (Thurs). On Friday he aimed to take on the worst side (the east face). I was working on the proposal most of the morning and by noon he was feeling down about the solitary painting. In the afternoon I came to assist and we were able to finish the side and the back. Saturday we had the full team assembled with my dad on the trim and Lauren and I on the west side. Lauren was also subjected to Lowe’s duty with several trips a day to pick up who-knows-what-we-would-forget-to-buy-next. Sunday we finished the trim, the brick of the steps and the concrete around the bottom of the house. Several more trips to Lowe’s ensued.

Satisfied with his work but not the totality of his trip my dad set off on the next leg of his journey on Monday morning. He went to spend a few days with his brother in Tennessee. Lauren and I spent our Labor day sealing the deck and painting the chimney.
http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Now we’re done with the house, it looks great and we can focus on the next project. As of now I think it pertains to the house to the west. The owner has been renting it out but is now selling. We share a driveway with this house and we’re wondering the best way to handle the fencing situations. We’re also hoping that our new house-look will help with the sales process.

On a sadder note, we’ve also had to attend a funeral in the last month. Lauren’s Grandmother passed away in Rhode Island. She was a constant beam of optimism, especially to her grandchildren, and we miss her.

To conclude with some brightness I want to pass on my congratulations to Susan for finishing her first triathlon this past weekend in DC. Way to go!

For two weekends in a row we’ve made it up to northeast GA for some relaxation and fun. First we went to Dillard to stay at a friend’s house and enjoy the local Bluegrass and BBQ festival (warning site plays music) on Saturday. It’s actually more a of a competition for the BBQers and some of them let us sample the goods. Just when we thought we were too stuffed to move we all decided to head out on a country bike ride. That got us in the mood for dinner. I should also mention that we attended a lecture on GA snakes at the lovely Hambige Creative Center for Arts and Sciences. On the day we visited they were also beginning a day and half long session of managing a once-a-year wood-fired kiln bake. They get the temperature up to over 2000F to bake their pottery. When they do a ‘charge’ the smoke billows out the chimney at the back of the kiln.

This last weekend we headed up near Clayton for a day trip to two absolutely perfect GA swimming holes. Neither of them made the list in the most recent Blue Ridge Outdoors but should be checked out. The whole day was really planned around making it to Tallulah Gorge. Since we would be able to leave Mali at home we’d finally be able to make a trip to the bottom of the gorge to the famous water slide rock for some fun in the sun. Besides no dogs there are other restrictions you should know about before driving up there. First you have to get there early. They only hand out 100 passes each day to get to the bottom of the Gorge (where the fun is) and we saw a group of people get ticketed for not having passes ($100 each). Second, no flip flops. They consider the hike to the bottom serious effort and thus mandate serious footwear. A member of our party had to return to the car and put on her Chacos before we could get on the list for a pass. Keens and Chacos are approved and good idea since you can hike in them and wear them in the water. Finally if there is a drop of rain they shut it down. It must be completely dry for them to allow people to hike down.

Before I get to far I should tell you about the first spot we hit. Actually first we stopped at The gorge to get our passes but did not hike down. Instead he drove down the road to Panther Creek. We did this to avoid the early crowds at Tallulah. At PAnther Creek we enjoyed a easy/moderate hike in and were rewarded with a waterfall and pool next to which we ate lunch. There were a few people there who had camped nearby the night before. It seems like a good spot to get to and chill out.

After Panther Creek he hiked out and headed to Tallulah. I had heard so much about the place, I was pretty excited to experience it first hand. Plus the 90+ degree heat made the water at the bottom all the more rewarding. Leaving the visitor center you descend more than 500 stairs and reach the permit only section. Here you begin the scrambling over rocks and across creeks to the final destination. It’s a long rock slide that you can ride down in several places into the final pool. As was stated, the only thing missing from this place is a high platform from which to dive in. We all swam for a bit and then relaxed on the rocks as we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. Some of us dozed off for a bit, the last thing on our minds were those 500+ steps that awaited. Finally we headed back to the cars. From there we hit up Manriques in Clayton for the second week in a row (a must try little Mexican joint).

This week end Lauren heads to New England and I’m trying to figure out ways to make it three in a row.

If you’ve been to my house you know we have neighbors two doors down who chain up their dogs and leave them outside. They never let the dogs off the chains or inside the house, or outside of the yard. The code for Atlanta says that you can’t tether your dog with less than 30feet and the yard is must be closed off, but our neighbor’s yard is open and the tether does not look that long. Dogs from the neighborhood can get into the backyard if they want to. Every year one of the dogs gets pregnant and has a litter. Sometimes it happens more than once a year and sometimes the puppies don’t make it. They, too, live outside all the time but are not on chains.

In the latest litter there were five puppies that made it. The kids who live on the other side of us found out about the puppies and went over to have a look at them. A day later, the puppy owner brought a puppy over to them and then left one of them under the kid’s house in the crawlspace without their permission or their knowledge. They’ve decided that they will keep the puppy and they got it shots and dewormed. A second puppy also went somewhere else so now there are three left. They’re about 3 months old and they’re mutts. They need some attention but I’m sure they’d be free to a good (or any) home. I assume the owners would give them away since they’ve taken to leaving them under other people’s homes. Anyone interested can get in touch with me.

Atlanta finished third in Outside Magazine’s most recent listing of the best city’s in America. The article in Outside says they kept coming back to the notion of healthy cities with regard to, not only fitness, but economic stability and quality of life. They started with the 100 largest cities in the US and whittled it down from there. There are also listings for best small towns, Ely, MN is one of note. Not sure how I feel about this ranking but glad to see Atlanta up near the top. Here’s the list:

1. Colorado Springs, Colorado
2. Seattle, Washington
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Austin, Texas
5. Boston, Massachusetts
6. Albuquerque, New Mexico
7. Portland, Oregon
8. Minneapolis, Minnesota
9. Cincinnati, Ohio
10. Charlotte, North Carolina

I looked at a few quick stats on some of these cities that I thought I would report here. Atlanta, Cinci, Boston and Charlotte all have air quality problems in the form of ground level ozone, which make it hard to be outside some times. Charlotte and Cincinnati are in the American Lung Association’s 20 Most Polluted Cities for Ozone (Cinci and Atlanta in top 20 for particulates). Cincinnati was the highest ranked on Forbe’s 2007 list of the most Obese Cities at 11. Also on the list were Atlanta (16) and Austin (18). The Portland (11.7), Charlotte (12.4), Cincinnati (10.1) and Atlanta (10.7) areas all have unemployment above the national level (9.7). Median home prices were used to assess affordability.

I think Atlanta and the southeast have great access to tons of interesting spots, including mountains and coast, but Atlanta certainly lacks its own body of water to enjoy. However, one of the first things mentioned in the Outside article is the presence of the Chattahoochee River in the city, though most people couldn’t tell you where it is. Proximity to skiing, which Atlanta definitely lacks, was also in the magazine’s multisport rating.

My recent fascination with the West and disenchantment with the Midwest may explain some of my surprise at the relatively even distribution of the top ten throughout the US. (and my shock of seeing a city from Ohio in there) The more I think about this ranking and all the info going into the final scores, the more I think Atlanta is going to be near the top of a lot of lists of cities in America; good and bad. Any publicity is good publicity?