March 2009

  • Tuesday 31 | LEED AP

    Now that I’ve finished my Licensing exams, its time to move onto the next step – LEED AP. LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles and the LEED [...]

  • Tuesday 31 | César Chávez Day

    Today is César Chávez was a Mexican American labor activist and leader of the United Farm Workers. During the 20th century he was a leading voice for migrant farm workers (people who move from place to place in order to find work). His tireless leadership focused national attention on these laborers’ terrible working conditions, which [...]

  • Monday 23 | Skywalk on National Geographic Channel

    Grand Canyon Skywalk Documentary To Premiere April 2, 2009 At 8 PM ET/PT On The National Geographic Channel. In-Depth Documentary to Feature Exclusive Interviews as well as Never Before Seen Footage of the Construction and Competed Structure Grand Canyon West, owned by the Hualapai Tribe, in partnership with National Geographic Channel announces the premiere of [...]

  • Monday 23 | Fun with Javascript

    Over at CatsWhoCode.com, there’s an article with 8 Javascript solutions to common CSS problems. This might be a little advanced for some users but these techniques are showing up on more and more web pages and you may want to take the time to try a couple just so you understand how they work. Transparent [...]

  • Sunday 22 | Bezalel

    In Exodus 31:1-6, Bezalel (Hebrew: ???????????, also transcribed as Betzalel and most accurately as B’tzalel), is the chief architect of the Tabernacle. Bezalel (or Bezaleel) means “in the shadow [protection] of El.” Bezalel is described in the genealogical lists as the son of Uri (Exodus 31:1), the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah [...]

  • Sunday 22 | Past projects

    When I told some friends about passing the CSE (architectural license), one of them suggested I post pictures of what I get built. But the truth is, I’ve already gotten some things built. Take a look… Building for Success Program The Building for Success Program, authorized under the passage of Proposition U & C, includes [...]

  • Friday 20 | Dear mister postman

    I just got the letter and went to call my family to share the good news, only…none of them are home/answering the phone. So I’ll share with you guys. I PASSED! I just need to send in the application and my fee and then I will be a licensed architect (in California) You may start [...]

  • Thursday 19 | Cleaning house

    You may have noticed the site has been undergoing some slight changes. Nothing drastic, just a little house cleaning. When you’ve been blogging for as long as I have (and I’m no great blog founder), you tend to acquire things. Plugins, links, clutter. You know – stuff. Stuff that makes you lose sight of what [...]

  • Thursday 19 | Where the web was born

    Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1990. The Web, as it is affectionately called, was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic information sharing between scientists working in different universities and institutes all over the world. CERN is not an isolated laboratory, but rather a [...]

  • Monday 16 | How the Irish Saved Civilization

    On the last, cold day of December in the dying year we count as 406, the river Rhine froze solid, providing the natural bridge that hundreds of thousands of hungry men, women, and children had been waiting for. Thus begins the Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization In this delightful and illuminating look into [...]

  • Friday 13 | The New Calvinism

    Didn’t expect to see this… Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation’s other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don’t have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — [...]

  • Thursday 12 | Single greatest quote of all year

    … and his ministers a flame of fire: Stop asking me The problem is not that there’s too much conservatism: it’s that there’s a lot of unfounded, flabby conservatism running around with plastic fishes attached to it rather than a robust, young, and dangerous conservatism riding around on the fat, noisy Harley which is the [...]

  • Thursday 12 | Pi Day

    I’m not obsessed with pie, I just find certain “holidays” interesting. So do the folks over at woot.com. 9 Ways We’ll Be Celebrating Pi Day 1. Trying to arrange a 3.1415926535897932385some 2. Dressing up like Archimedes to hand out protractors to local children 3. Proving that ?r2 by ordering a Sicilian pizza 4. Finalizing our [...]

  • Thursday 12 | Small World by Days of Wonder

    Board game makers, Days of Wonder, are introducing a fun, light-hearted civilization game in which players vie for conquest and control of a board that is simply too small to accommodate them all! This newest Days of Wonder game features a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants orcs and even humans! [...]

  • Monday 9 | Anaheim Rocks!

    I can’t believe I forgot to post this so it’s a little late… Well, my exam went well. I don’t have the results (obviously) but the process went very well. Even though I live in San Diego and the exam was in Anaheim (less than 2-hour drive), I booked a hotel room in nearby Buena [...]

  • Monday 9 | Size matters

    Is my site too hard to read? I’ve noticed some alarming differences between various browsers and I can only guess what you all see. So, do you find my site font too small? Do you have any advice as to what makes for good font sizing? Keep in mind that I am using em sizing [...]

  • Saturday 7 | WpVote and premium themes!

    Jean-Baptiste Jung of CatsWhoCode created WpVote on August 2008 to be the “Digg site for WordPress fanatics”. After resolving some issues and relaunching/rebuilding the site, he now has what he dreamed of – a social bookmarking site for everything related to WordPress, from hacks to news and more. And right now, he’s offering a premium [...]

  • Thursday 5 | Daylight Saving Time

    When do we change our clocks? Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time. A writer in 1947 noted, “I don’t really care [...]

  • Thursday 5 | Mob Rule or Sage Counsel?

    I admire Google’s efforts to gather information and share it with the world in an organized, relevant manner. That’s what makes them such a good search engine. They are always looking for ways to separate the wheat from the chaff. Unfortunately, they don’t always get it right. Official Google Blog: Tipping points Tip Jar (www.google.com/tipjar), [...]

  • Wednesday 4 | Mortgage Options

    “We must stem the spread of foreclosures and falling home values for all Americans, and do everything we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes,” the President said February 18th as he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Below is some resources and basic information about what options are available [...]

  • Tuesday 3 | The Brick Testament

    The Brick Testament is the largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world with over 3,600 illustrations that retell more than 300 stories from The Bible. Launched first as a website in 2001, then as a published book series in 2003, The Brick Testament project is an ongoing one-man labor of love, constructed and photographed [...]

  • Tuesday 3 | Ranger

    You Are A: Lawful Good Half-Elf Fighter Alignment: Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs. Race: Half-Elves are a cross between a human and [...]

  • Tuesday 3 | Meet Mavis

    Every now and then I come across a blog author that really captures my attention. Sometimes its the subject matter they, sometimes its simply the way they write, and sometimes, its both. “Mavis” – real name unknown (to me) – is one of those people. First off, she’s quirky. She reminds me of my friend [...]

  • Monday 2 | Know your aquatic creatures

    This is a shark Sharks have a variety of body shapes. Most sharks have streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies that glide easily through the water. Some bottom-dwelling sharks (e.g. the angelshark) have flattened bodies that allow them to hide in the sand of the ocean bed. Some sharks have an elongated body shape (e.g., cookiecutter sharks and [...]

  • Monday 2 | My Facebook Friends

    Got this email at work…. Personal Message To You From your friends at facebook video server: Subject: ” Review – My family invite you out for lunch, don’t hesitate!” Read Description for a link to part 1 Original Video added by group member. You will see a link to Open Your Personal Message Manager. Selecting [...]

  • Sunday 1 | Full disclosure

    One of the reasons I keep at this whole blogging thing is to keep people informed. Well, I’ve done that, I just haven’t kept them informed about me/us. For instance, not many of you know that my mother has been in the hospital twice in the past month regarding a blood clot in her leg. [...]