Summer Break

As many of you already know, since we have returned from Italy, Lindsey and I have moved to Clemson for my last year of graduate school. I'm on track to graduate in May 2010 with a Master's Degree of Architecture. Why do I need a Master's Degree? In order to become a licensed architect (which is ultimately the goal of all of this), you must hold an accredited professional degree. Yes, my Bachelor's Degree was in Architecture but, being a "4+2" program, it was not an accredited professional degree (it would have had to have been a five year program for that...also, Clemson doesn't offer that option). So as the "+2" part of my education, here I am, halfway through graduate school, on summer break.

I started back at Neal Prince Architects (the firm I have been with between bouts of school since my summer internship of my Junior year of undergrad - 2005) for the summer. Before I left to get married on July 19th of last year (remember, I left a little early to go on that road trip with Brad Dalton and Travis Selman. See the pictures here: 1, 2, 3, 4), we discussed me coming back for the summer after my first year of grad school. That was before the economy bottomed out. After initially thinking they would only be able to provide me with a part-time position (due to industry-wide lack of work), they landed a commission with Converse College for a new dormitory. It was slated to start up as soon as I got back from Europe; perfect timing. So this summer, I have been working in downtown Greenville on a fun project (which is thankfully in Revit and NOT AutoCAD) and spending some quality time with Lindsey at our first version of a home-home (aka- something longer than a 4 month lease).

We are having a blast and feel continually blessed, even with the country (and world) in this current economic state. 

Hopefully, after I get some of my side projects finished (I'm designing a web page for a friend, and painting some canvases for decoration in our apartment), I can get back around to processing the rest of my pictures from Europe (I still have 5 more countries to go!). Until, then, consider yourselves updated.

I'm back in business!

Finally, finally, finally.....I have a computer again. I had already set up my desktop on one of our old kitchen carts in the "office" of our apartment. It was, however, almost impossible to do any work at it because there was no place for the mouse or my legs. The solution? Obvious....get a desk. The problem with this solution is that we haven't exactly had any money to spare this summer and all the desks (at least the ones that were large enough) I found were in the "few hundreds of dollars" range. Last week my mother informed me that her old office (they recently moved into a new building) would be auctioning off all the furniture left behind during the move. It would be a "silent auction" closed to the public: employees only. The actual bidding was held this Tuesday and she invited me to tag along to see if I could find anything useful.

Because the auction was closed to the public, only about 10 people showed up to bid on anything. With such little competition, it became apparent that almost everything could be "had" for very little money. I had a few items that I knew we needed for the apartment. I bid on several items and, in the end, won four of them for a total of about $25.

I needed a desk and won a very large one with plenty of storage for $10!!! The other items I got were: a metal 2-drawer file cabinet for $4, a black leather chair for $9, and a gray cushioned stool with rollers for $2!!!

(notice the filing cabinet)

(pretty good for $10)

(this thing has lots of storage)

(this chair is awesome, although I think I may change the frame...I don't like the wood color)

My parents got a good bit of stuff too and they let me load it all in my grandfather's truck (which they had borrowed for the evening) and I took it to our apartment, unloaded what I could, and they came over later that night to help me wrestle the desk up the steps.