Life at 8000 ft

It was just called to my attention yesterday that our house is actually located at a whopping 8000 ft. I knew it was high, but that is freaking high. Flagstaff in general is at around 7000, so I guess my office where I actually write this is at 7000.
Anyway I'm trying to get into this writing thing. I've found that I write much better when I am writing for myself and no one else. I've read that in all the books I have on writing, but it never really sinks in until I try and read the crap I'm editing in my head that is destined for others to read. It always turns out too nice, too few %^&$*# in it, and doesn't really seem like me. I am who I am and I don't think I'm intended for all audiences. I have always told it like it is and not held anything back. I know that's why I don't have any really good friends except for the ones who can take and also give it right back to me. I would love to write for women and tell them all the things that they are doing wrong in ruling the world, but they are all so sensitive. Not that I'm not too, it's just the reason why we don't rule the world.

Monkey Where You Been?

Sorry, that's just the song that's currently playing on my ipod and it seemed like agood way to start. I love this song for some reason that I don't understand.
I'm sending out cold letters today to 5 contractors in town to try and get them to refer clients to me. Still no one seems to know that I'm here. Probably because there is no sign out front alerting the world. I've been here for 4 months and still no signage. It's getting old. That's part of what I"m paying for in my $1200/month rent. That's my only advertising. I didn't even make the phonebook this year for some reason. Architects aren't really supposed to advertise. It's mostly word of mouth and there are no words coming out of people's mouths to direct them here currently. So much talent and so few places to show it off.

Mondays, Children and School

Ohhhhh, it is such a Monday. I'm in my office worried about my just turned 4 today 4 year old. I dropped him off at his new big boy preschool this morning. He knows the place, his brother went there, he was mildly excited about going, but still I worry. He's a class 5 clinger. He wouldn't let go of my leg this morning and I had to pry his arms off of me to leave. He didn't cry, but he was the only kid having issues with his parent leaving. It really breaks my heart. I know he's fine after I leave, but I just wish he didn't have to put on such an elaborate show for me.
I am now officially dropping off all 3 kids at 3 separate locations in the morning which takes an hour from leaving the house to me actually getting to sit down at my desk. Then of course I start the whole thing again this afternoon when I must leave my desk at exactly 2:50 Pm to go thru the whole process again. It's no wonder I work for myself. I could never do this working for someone else 5 hours and 50 min each day, and then leaving early on Wednesday when my 2nd grader gets out at 1:15. That is such a short work week. It's a wonder I never get anything done.

Land Rover Architect

I just thought I would try out attaching a photo. This is a picture of my awesome car. Check out the custom Chip Foose star rims. Very appropriate considering the name of my business and the vanity plates that match the rims. I've noticed how most architects drive European cars (I know Land Rover is owned by Ford or some other American company). We are really just that cool. I can't think of one architect I know that drives a Ford or a Dodge. It just doesn't happen. We happen to own this fabulous RockStar Land Rover and also an Audi, the most architect or architect cars. I highly recommend them. They match perfectly with all artsy squared off architect glasses (yes I wear them too). Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can upload a picture of the A6.

Things are starting to get a little desperate around here. It's been 2 months since I've been paid on any project. That seems to be my biggest problem in being an architect. People just don't seem like paying. I think they think that architects have a lot of money and can wait to be paid, so it doesn't matter if they are a couple of months behind. It is the most frustrating thing to have done work and have accounts receivable and not be able to collect. Also architecture is not necessarily steady work. Some months I'm crazy busy and others I just sit in my $1200/month office and try and think of ways to bring in new clients. I'm at my wits end. I wish I could work like a retail business and have the clients pay when they walk out of the office with the plans. I think that's why I'm looking at trying to sell my plans in one of those weird plan books. I hate those plans. They are so ............ick. I want to do something better, but something that will still appeal to the mainstream and then sell them for like $2000 a pop. And then I want to sell at least 1 set every week and make an extra $8000 a month. But with real estate being so questionable lately I'm not sure if that is going to be my real money maker. Basically I'm an architect trying to make bank in a world where people are slowly running out of money.
UGH.

Homes for Kids

I try to keep things a s stable as possible for my kids. I moved around so much as a kid and there are certain things I think I missed out on. True my oldest son has lived in 8 different houses in his 7 years, but we have supposedly setteled down now for good in a house that can grow with us through the years. We started out 8 years ago in a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment that everyone thought we were crazy for starting a family in. Eventually we moved downstairs in that same complex to a deluxe 2 bedroom apartment. Then after several rentals and some time spent living with my mother in law we bought our first home and have been trading up ever since. Finally we have a huge stately house on 2 acres at the base of a mountain that we absolutely love. It's the kind of house you can visualize seeing old yellowed photos of 100 years from now with a family with beautiful small children sitting out on the vast front porch. My primary concerns when finding this house weren't how amazing is the master bath, or how many cars can I fit into the garage. They were... are the rooms big enough for the kids to be teenagers in? Can we have college or older age kids return to the house between going out on their own into the real world? Do the kids have enough bathrooms? Is there a play room space? Is there amazing outdoor play space? Where is everyone going to do their homework? I take a much more family orientated view when looking at houses. It absolutely has to work for a family, or I just plain don’t like the house. I've been thru so many builder homes that claim to have family friendly floor plans and it just drives me crazy. If they put the toilet any closer to the bathtub I think they'll be actually bathing in the toilet bowl. Maybe it comes down to a differencwe between the sexes. We all know men just don't notice the obvious details, and men are the primary developers for residentail subdivisions, I'm not sure, but they sure are getting a lot of things wrong when it comes to designing a home. They have so many surveys and market research, but I still don't think most fo the people they are asking really know what it is they want, or have the ability to describe what that is. Architecture and spacial design are fairly complex as are the vocabulary to describe the way a space feels and functions. Most people buying a $250,000 house don't possess the know how to actually know what they want in a house. They see all the pretty design magazines and watch HGTV, so they are kind of told what they should want. Most are not the least bit familiar with Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. They would probably know that they liked the spaces that are described in that book, but they couldn't tell you why. True a lot of these mass produced housing subdivisions have floor plans designed by a licensed architect, but you can't tell me for 1 minute that they actaully had any design input into how the floor plan turned out. Any good architect knows that the typical builder layout for a bathroom is horrible. The standard 5x8 bath is anything but functional. We all know that great rooms are not the best solution for everyone, and that sometimes we just don't need to be able to see the TV while we're making dinner. Show me a builder house that has enough storage space for a giant pack of papertowels, toilet paper, kleenex and diapers, and I don't mean the garage. I mean storage space somewhere near where you might possibly need and use these products. Storage space for out of season clothing, children's toys and games. And just to clarify a giant "game" room with blank walls and no character does not qualify. I call most houses I see "vanilla boxes". Everyone possesses a little creative talent, but when you put them in a plain "vanilla box" they are at a loss as to what to do with the space. If you really want to see a great house with creative owners look at someone who has bought a beautiful old fixer up from the turn of the century or a great 1950's ranch. Is it the people who are naturally creative or is it the spaces that inspire the creativity? UGHhh.

I just moved into my first real office. I've always wondered what the true legitimacy is of home-based businesses. We all know of the kind where you are supposed to stuff envelopes and make like 50 cents per envelope, but I'm talking about people running real businesses out of their homes. I've been in meetings and meantioned other consultants that I use and gotten snide remarks like, "I wouldn't use him. He works out of his house." Sometimes I understand that rationalle, and other times it's total bull crap. We all have to start somewhere and not all of us want to get a $20,000 loan just to set up shop and pay $1200 a month for "legitimate" office space. Now for me it was a finaicial issue to start with but also a baby issue. When you're pregnant the last thing you want to do is commit to being somewhere everyday at a certain time and wearing clothes that look somewhat presentable. Most of the time while I have been pregnant I've had 1 maybe 2 pairs of pants that fit at any given time and those are usually ugly maternity jeans, or cargo pants. Not exactly the thing to wear when meeting new clients. So the at-home office was great for me. I appeared to be working at all times of the day, when usually I was just sitting on the couch watching a baby story and trying not to think about what I was going to have to make for dinner. But if the phone rang I was "in my office". Meetings were usually held at the job site or at the closest coffee shop if the weather was bad. Clients don't usually seem to mind this because they think you are coming to them and they see it as a concession that you are making for them and not usually an inconvenience. After the baby was born and I was attached to the house it worked really well too, but only when she was napping. It's really hard when you are desperate for some new projects and you have to just let the phone ring and not answer it because you just know that as soon as you do the baby will launch into the loudest most obnoxious cry and scare any potential client away.
But now that she is a year old and it's summer and no one has been sick with the flu in months, it seemed like the perfect time to make the move into a real office. I've always wanted one, if not just for the opportunity to say, " Come meet me at my office and we'll talk" and not meaning my little cramped home office that doubles as our photomat and library, but a real office with a conference table and multiple phone lines. Plus this is my first built project in the City of Flagstaff and I was kind of proud of it and it makes really great advertising when people come by and ask what projects I've done and I can point to the floor and say This One.
Now the big problem with not having a home office anymore and having three kids is that now I’m never home to clean the house. It used to be such a great distraction to be able to say I' can't draw this now, I've got to vacuum the stairs. That is so way more important than doing that roof detail. My house used to be so clean and now it's a mess of goldfish crumbs and fluffly white cat hair.
I've yet to notice if people take me more seriously than they used too. My signage isn't out front yet and that was supposed to be the thing that's really supposed to draw in some new high profile clients and projects