Monday, December 29, 2008

Golfing at the TPC

For the holidays we have some family visiting from the Great White North (Canada), and the other day I was lucky enough to be invited to go golfing with them and my dad, at the freakin’ TPC! I was not feeling too hot, but am I going to say no to playing at the TPC? Are you kidding? I did not care if I puked right on the green at hole #16, I am playin! Not to mention the fact that they paid about $250 for me to play… I still cannot believe them.

So we get up to Scottsdale and we drive up and three guys take our stuff out and set us up. We have about 15 minutes till our tee time and they tell us that if we would like to warm-up we can go hit a few. So he introduces us to our CADDY Sergio, (that’s right, we get a caddy), and we hit a few. So I am warming up with my dad, my Uncle Joe, and my cousin Brandon. After a few minutes I realize that I am in way over my head… Now, I have never claimed to be a very good golfer. I sometimes do ok, but I often slice the ball enough to swing back around and hit me on the back of the head. I have actually thrown clubs farther than my ball went! Ah… the memories! My dad is a pretty decent golfer, Uncle Joe is actually pretty good, and Brandon… well he is a freak. I have found out the kid typically hits 300 yard + drives! HOLY CRAP! I realized that I was there for one reason only, the comic relief. Who cares, I was playing a round at TPC.

Another cool thing about the course that day was the fact that they were in the process of setting up for the FBR Open for the PGA. So while we played they were constructing bleachers and prepping the course for the big boys. It made the day even more memorable. Throughout the round Sergio (our Caddy), helps us out on where to hit, the yardage, reading the greens, as well as cleaning our clubs and balls (it was a little embarrassing since everyone had nice Callaway’s and TaylorMade’s while my stuff was not quite as nice). I don’t understand why he kept giving me information that I really could not use all day. Our typical exchange went like this;

“Hey Ben, you got 185 yards to the center of green”. To which I reply,

“Uh ok”. Then I proceed to aim about 45 degrees to the left of the green because I hope that my slice will bring the ball right back on target, then the ball goes about 20 yards, and I throw my club!

Brandon was the winner of the day. On a professional course, which he was playing for the first time, he shot an 84. Not to mention the fact that on hole #9, a 350 yard par 4 he got the ball on the green off the tee! Crazy! I had a lot of fun, despite the golf. I have no idea what my score was, and I do not want to know since it will only humiliate me more, but hey… it was the TPC.
This is my cousin Brandon from Canada at the 16th green

Me on the tee at #16... sorry about the quality, the pics are from my phone

Hiking in the Superstitions

The day after Thanksgiving is typically known as Black Friday. It is called this because stores typically are able to go from being in the red to black that day… but for me this year, it was about trying to make myself black and blue!

We went to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was a great dinner with food and family a-aplenty. I of course engorged myself on turkey, potatoes, and pie. After dinner my dad invited me to go on a hike in the Superstition Mountains the next day, to which I reply, “heck yeah”, (I have been wanted to go hiking for a few weeks). He says it will be about 8 miles, to which I reply with a little less enthusiasm, “uh, ok”. There will be about 4-5 people in the group, and he says he will pick me up about 730 tomorrow morning.

The next morning, I woke up late because that is what I do. I have come to accept my inability to get out of bed on time, so leave me alone. So I of course rushed to get ready, layers of clothes, fill the camelpack, put in my contacts, slurp down some cereal, put on my boots, pack some energy/carb packed food…. Wait I FORGOT that one! I was a freaking boy scout for years with the motto “be prepared” engrained into my brain forever more, and yet I fail to remember FOOD! What a moron!

So we drive to the trailhead, and it is a bit chilly, and it looks like rain might make things a little more interesting, but alas it did not and we had great weather all day, (hey I could not screw that up). The trail we were to navigate was an 8 mile loop on the eastern side of the Superstitions. We had about 12 people with us, 3 GPS/radio devices, and a lot of turkey calories to burn! Off we went, with the guys with the GPS at the back!

To make a very long story shorter, our 8 mile, 4-5 hour hike became a 12-15 mile, 6-7 hour hike. We went off our trail twice, until the guy with the GPS started leading the group. Luckily, my water held out the whole day, but I mooched as much food as I could off of my dad and brother. I did all right on the flat portions of the hike, but if there was an incline, well forget about me keeping up. I got back to the car in front of only three people, a dad and his two children under the age of 6 (one he carried most of the day).

My body hated me for a few days, and I came away from this experience with a respect for the beautiful scenery here in Arizona, a few small blisters and some hefty chaffing, and a strong desire to get my lazy fat self in shape. Now, if I can only get out of bed in the morning…

SEC Championship Game!!

So not too long ago, (in December at least), I watched the Florida vs. Alabama SEC Championship game with my dad at his place. Now, I have to say that I am a huge college football fan, especially when it comes to the Gators! Pretty much everyone that knows me knows that I am a Gator, probably annoyingly so..

Now, this was a great game. It was a back and forth, no mistake, slugfest until Florida took over the game in the fourth quarter. So why am I writing about this game here. Well, this is mostly about how I act in general watching these games. I have complained to my dad, and I really do not know why, but these games are going to kill me! I do not understand why I get so worked up, but I can literally get sick to my stomach, angry, ecstatic, depressed, and every other emotion in a span of about 15 minutes! If they lose, forget about it! As Lani can attest, I am in a horrible mood for typically the rest of the weekend.

What was funny during this last game was how I walked outside during this one crucial third down play because I just could not watch, and of course Florida sacked the QB! So later in the game a similar situation occurred, and my dad yelled to go outside, (I guess I am bad luck), and of course while I stood on the back patio my dad screams because Florida sacked the QB again…Well at least we won that game, which means I will be happy for a while anyway!


Some Work Stuff

I thought I might put some posts showing some of the work that I am doing since I have several people that ask me what I am working on. This way you can all look at this, and leave me alone. JK. I have been working at SmithGroup now for 3 years, the first year-and-a-half as an intern while I completed grad school, and as a professional, (?!?), since then. I have mostly worked on civic, and office projects thus far. Although I have worked on many projects, there are just a few that I would consider myself a real part of the project team. This is typically because as a “design” guy, I generally work on only the early part of projects and don’t really follow through all the way, (I just get to do the fun stuff).

So here are a few that I feel I had a significant role in so far.

Two Waters (The Salt-River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Administration Facility) (You can see why they wanted a shorter name)

This is a large complex of four buildings that houses the governing body for the tribe. Obviously the design draws on much of the history, traditions, and culture of the two tribes, as well as the context of the surroundings. It is being constructed now and should be done in late 2009. I was able to work on the early design and I even won a competition to come up with the name and logo for the project!

Central Park East

If you live near downtown Phoenix you can see this project under construction right now. This project has changed a lot over time. I was more involved during its initial phase when the project had two towers and it covered a whole city block. Due to complications, it was cut down to a single freestanding office tower. Although I really liked the original idea, this project is very cool, and it should be a very unique, forward-thinking, and add a lot to the downtown Phoenix skyline. It uses several “green” principals and tools and incorporates state-of-the art technologies.

This is the old version of the project

Here is the version under construction right now.


Avondale Old Town Library

This is the first project that I did from beginning to end. I worked on the initial design, drew the construction documents with one other guy, and saw the construction. It is a small branch library, but it was a lot of fun to work on. We had a small team work on it in the office and I really enjoyed the experience. I also learned a ton from this project due to being involved all the way from inception to construction.


Chandler City Hall

For a while now, this project has basically been my life at work. We have been working on it for several months and we are currently in the design development stage, where we are fine-tuning the overall design. Like the Avondale project I am going to follow this project all the way through, with a few big differences. First, the scale is much larger, with a much more complicated process. Secondly, I am working for the first time in Revit, which is a new program that we use to draw projects. It is supposed to make doing our jobs much easier, but until you get very good at it, it just makes your life horrible and makes you feel like a moron. Construction should be done in 2010, and it will be a LEED Gold building.


So here we go...

So my first blog. Now when I say that I am a reluctant blogger it is just a joke... Lani really wanted me to do it, and I finally relented. Still, I kind of see this as a diary or journal for my posterity, so I will try to get into it a bit. So, over the next bit I am going to create posts that might be back in time a little, but it is all in good fun. Hopefully it is at least readable and you all will not think I am too slow or unentertaining. I am just trying to get into this whole blogging thing since it is what everyone else is doing!