More Model Building

It's time to convert the 2-D model to a 3-D model. This part intimidates me, it's also the point at which I get to see my minuscule mistakes that yes, the professor will notice too.



If you're paying attention there is still an exterior wall missing;-) I haven't had the guts to conquer that wall yet. It has a fireplace that isn't your normal box on the exterior portion of the house it's got some funky zig-zag thingy and I am not ready to face this challenge. The interior portion has a few too many book shelves going as well, and my moments are numbered before I have to face this challenge.

I'm drinking an Enviga drink this should keep me charged for another 10 hours and hopefully I will be near completion.

Model Building

Model building is for the birds. I don't think words can convey my dislike of these things. I didn't like them this summer and I sure as heck don't like them now. I swear for every 1 step I take forward there are about 7 back...it makes no sense.

I have no idea what happens with foamcore between the time I measure it, draw a line and then take the knife to it...somewhere in those steps it shrinks??? Guess what if it's too short back to square 1 until it's right...trust me there are several wrongs before you make a right.

Anyhoo that's the boring stuff. I accomplished my goal of the day for my model...it's a small one but the first one to complete on the day I wanted it complete...yay! me!!!

Here's an idea of my private hell. All the pieces on the left are the rejects the tiny pile on the right are going to make the exterior of this house model.


Now for the complete dining room. It will look strange but in my teenie tiny world this is huge...I'm finally moving to the interior part of this model. Once complete this will be more clear, or that's the goal.



Tomorrow I'll work a little more then off to SXSW for the rest of the day/night...this is supposed to be my spring break. Break means build a model, draw/render a kitchen, write 2 papers and start preparing for a test the week after spring break;-)

LAZY

At what point do you say, get off your ass and go run??? Honestly, I've started a few runs a week, slow & ugly runs mind you. Cedar season was NOT kind to me and no I didn't venture outdoors for about 2 months. Now I'm finding it darn near impossible to get out the door for a run. I have gotten back in the weight room and am slowly starting to work on my core but SERIOUSLY, I have to find a way to make myself run. It's hard to qualify for Boston without ever running.

Today I just kept putting it off blaming all the tests I have next week (good 'ole mid-term week). I finally blew it off and did core work with the promise to get up early tomorrow and log some miles. I did get a TON of lighting done today;-)

Anyone interested in swimming at Stacy pool? Maybe I need a change of pace/cardio. I go through this after every marathon.

NYC Marathon

You have been entered into the lottery for the
2008 ING New York City Marathon!

Entry #218561
Please use this number for any correspondence relating to your marathon entry
Entry #218561
Katie Johnson

Processing Fee: $11.00
Total: $11.00
The following fees will be charged to your account ONLY if you are accepted into the race.
Entry Fee: $155.00
Total: $155.00

Well, I've entered the lottery for the NY Marathon. If my entry # is 218561 is that how many people have entered their name as well??? That's a ton of people. I wish I had been entering the lottery for the past 3 years...I think that's guaranteed entry or is it 4 years??? Oh, well I'm starting now;-)

All Done

Finally by 2am Wednesday night my project was complete. I worked 18 straight hours on it that day and let me tell you my back is still hurting from being slumped over my drafting table. I think this design thing is going to put me in the grave a tad sooner than I thought. I'm glad it's over and my meltdown on Tuesday as usual was not necessary. Tuesday was the first time I thought maybe I don't have what it takes to design. After yesterday's presentations I think I'm doing ok, not too mention I will improve as this semester progresses.

Slowly but surely...

I'm going to get to the end of this...it may be in the wee hours of the night BUT it's going to happen.

Another step done.

Another step complete...

Granted I have about 400 more steps to go to completion but another step done!!!

And the fun continues...

Well, I'd like to say my first studio project is going well but that would be a lie. I have no idea how everything will be done by tomorrow's presentation. Yes, blogging about it is a good use of my time...actually my back needs a break from being hunched over my drafting table. Also, I think I will take some advice from a friend's blog and run this afternoon. I think even 20 minutes will help keep my head clear and keep me from going insane.

So here are a few more drawings that I've completed...

Here we go...

And so it begins...my first studio project is due on Thursday and well, I have a long way to go before it's ready for presentation. I did finally finish the perspective part of the project and let's just hope this was the most time consuming part of it. It took 18 hours to draw...I now get to shrink it from 24"X36" to 8"X11".



I realize this is hard to see since it's a pencil drawing right now. This is the den of a house we are remodeling for our project. I've got quite a few sleepless nights ahead of me a test to study for and a paper to write...I heart school;-)

My Holiday

My X-mas holiday consisted of working for the catering company and dog sitting, 5 dogs. I won't bore you with the catering stuff as I don't have any stories from those gigs. What I will tell you about is my 1st night to feed the dogs.

These are 5 hungry dogs. I had already met them and gone through the feeding instructions with Ron. What I didn't do before the Perry's left town is check the key to make sure it worked. I have a long history of copied keys & front doors & nothing working, apparently, this information is buried somewhere in my subconscious...

Friday evening I was meeting a girlfriend of mine in town for the holiday. My plan was HH with Christine then swing by the doghouse on my way home. Everything was fine & dandy until Christine managed to spill my red wine on me. (Why does time stand still when red wine is in mid-air and taking direct aim at a white shirt?) Needless to say we were done catching up.

Now off to feed the herd of hungry dogs. Get to the house and it's pitch dark. Thanks Ron for NOT leaving the porch light on. Fumble for the key start feeling around for the doorknob. Turn key, nothing. Wiggle key, nothing. Curse key, nothing. Finally, some movement...oh, that's the direction to lock the door, not unlock. First F-bomb dropped while being serenaded by hungry dogs. Call Ron (I'm real grumpy at this point), did you check this key? He says, yeah, it should work, but if not walk to the side of the house and the gate door is held by a sandbag you should be able to move it if you push hard enough. Did I mention the outfit I was wearing? Well, my cute fitted jeans with snake skin heels. This is not an outfit meant for 'off-roading.' Just to give you a better picture.

I try to move sandbag...again, nothing. I look at the gate and think I can scale this thing. I climb it heels and all. Get to the top assess the situation and make sure the dogs aren't the protective kind. All's clear in the backyard...start to go down the other side. Wait there's a nail caught in the crotch of my jeans. Another F-bomb is dropped. Do a little maneuvering and jeans are cleared. Now I'm in the backyard. Let's just say they could stand to level the yard a little or post a sign saying- you may not want to wear your cute high heels in yard...just a thought.

Now I've made it to the back door. I opt to stick my hand through the doggie door to triple check these aren't protective dogs. Nothing. Alright, I'm now crawling through the doggie door (this ain't my first rodeo...I have crawled through a doggie door before). Whew! I'm finally in.

Now it's the sprint to feed 5 dogs, keep them separated and I don't know what else. I'm real sure it looked like a 3 ring circus going on. I'm starting to relax a bit and think yippee, Ron showed me how to use the tv...I can enjoy some cable. This I considered an evening of luxury. Right, minus the fact I can't get the tv on. More F-bombs are dropped. Now, I think I will just relax on the comfy looking couch.

Let me explain this comfy looking couch. It's L-shaped and wide with some strange looking plastic runner thing on it. I think this is some nifty thing to keep the dogs from getting on it. OH, and nifty that little plastic thing was. I decide to fall into the couch without moving nifty plastic thing because I'm that lazy. This proves to be a poor decision on my part. I take the Nestea plunge into the couch. Oh, sh$t, f***, damn. This nifty plastic thing is shocking the hell out of my backside. WTF??? I can't even begin to explain the curse words flying out of my mouth and the worst part is the way I fell into the couch did not make for an easy get-off the couch movement. Everywhere I touch to lift myself up gets shocked. OH, DEAR LORD...it was like a butt/pet taser thing. I literally was going into cardiac arrest trying to free myself of this nifty little plastic thing.

When I was finally standing again I announced to the dogs my day sucked!!!

Just Because...

just thought i would revisit this post;-)

Ostrich (NYE '07)

I really don't know what title I should use for this post...Ostrich was so kind to throw a party at his place for NYE but I've got an unfortunate "party favor," no it's not some strange cootie- get your heads out of the gutter.

I stopped by Ostrich's house around 10:30 or so after I had been at a party that was hosted in a parking lot, this totally brings back memories of NYE in high school. The downfall this evening is it was in the 30's a little chilly for my blood. Get to The Shire and there is tasty guacomole dip- yummy, and tons of other little foodie items. As the evening progresses Ostrich keeps pulling things out of the oven. The last thing was a spinach & artichoke dip. I was stoked, grab my little sourdough bread scoop and dig in. Let me preface that I'm standing by some people that don't know me very well, God Bless Them and there are tons of other people I just don't know at all. Bite into my bread thingy this dip is so effin' hot and what happens the dip super glues to the roof of my mouth. The curse words running through my head are frightening. I can't get it unstuck at all. I turn towards the kitchen another wad of people i don't know. I'm now facing the wall as my eyes well up with tear. Dear God It Won't get off the roof. I'm freaking out & if my mouth weren't full of food I would scream bloody murder. Finally I find a way to un-stick this f*n dip from my mouth and a blister immediately forms. GRODY!!! Who gets a blister on the roof of their mouth????

It's now Wednesday and putting anything remotely warm in my mouth still burns like heck...this may be a 2nd degree burn for all I know. I know one thing for sure I'm not standing near the food table at parties anymore. It still hurts to eat, more importantly it really hurts when i try to drink my coffee...

Thanks Ostrich, Really!!!

Kenny + Rendering/Annoying= A+

Who knew it was possible...that I could make an A+ on my rendering. I didn't like them so I really had no expectations. However, the following pic got me an A+ and a compliment from my professor. I'm learning in the design world of teachers nothing is good enough. Trust me I'm well aware of how picky I am but these people make me look like a pleasable (not sure that's a word but you get my drift) person. Goodness gracious. Well, without further ado the A+ is...



PS- Rudolph's kitchen was an A. Not too shabby if I don't say so myself!!!

PPS- IPM it probably is crooked. Depends on how I run the 24X36 page through the plotter (the shrinking part) if it will come out straight.

Kenny- Rendering/Annoying

I've been wondering what takes up all of my time where I don't even have 1 hour to deal with laundry...it's dawned on me that my rendering class controls my entire world. I have been hunched over my drafting table since 9am today...it's now 6:30pm. I did take 1 1/2 hours to run AND shower. The world is a better place since I did both run AND shower. The sad news is I started the rendering part of this project on Thursday and I'm still not done. We have to render 2 of the same drawing. If I wasn't at work between thurs & now I was rendering. I was supposed to do LAB for my run this weekend, yep, you guessed it didn't happen. This is the point of every weekend where I get thororoughly annoyed. How much time is enough??? To top it off this drawing sux ass!!! I'm tired and need to run a few errands. I will post this scary kitchen...it looks like I hurled highlight and shades all over the place but I get into trouble if I don't do it...Personally i think it looks better with less, whatev!



I'm going to get a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I've earned it;-)

Kenny- Project 2

Ok, since the current drawings I'm working on for Monday's class are about to kill me I thought I would torture you 4 kind souls once again;-) BTW- thanks for the kind comments...they were nice!

I am now going to tell you all about my first large project in Design Development (the course I took in a 5 week session of summer school). This is a courtyard designed for a dentist's office. The obstacles given to us are a running path straight down the middle of the building (being a runner I thought piece of cake I get this). Next obstacle is a 16ft of mass (WTF?) that you can only cut a 1/3 into or move. This made NO sense to me whatsoever. Thank goodness we had to draw plans of our ideas before the actual building was to take place. This saved me bookoodles of money and the headache of having to restart the damn thing. I couldn't wrap my head around this dumb ass blob thing Nance kept referring to. I would like to say I was NEVER operating on all 4 cylinders during this 5 week period. Sleep- well 4 hours a night seemed like a luxury. Ok, this explanation is going to be super long so as always skip to the pic;-) Next hurdle is there has to be 2 walking paths through the courtyard, excluding the running path, needs to be this column ass thing you can't cut into, 2 separate rooms or cornered off and one of the rooms needs to be a meditation area...this is one weird courtyard.

without further ado I will introduce my final courtyard piece. The blue piece of paper on one of the walls is a water wall...ew and ah if you must;-p

PS- before I load the pix...the crap around the courtyard is the dentist's office.
PPS- it's cut in 2 because we had to do a section view which means building the 2 pieces separately, hence the reason they don't fit perfectly together.

Ok Kenny...

You asked for it;-)

Kenny seems to think it would be a great idea to show the 4 people who check my blog what I do while in school. I will post these things that I've taken pictures of...they will probably be hard to see and the lighting on them well, not so great;-p

I'll start from the beginning, way back in Jan of '07. My very first 'concept' board. Apparently we make these to show clients to hopefully woo them into using me as their interior designer. The best news ever for me at least is I LOVE putting together concept boards. Something about it just makes me happy;-)

Before loading these suckers let me preface that they've been sitting up in my loft getting quite a bit of sunlight so they aren't in the stellar condition they once were. No, really at one time the looked fantastic. Ok, just humor me!!!

On to the summer school projects and introduce the very sharp cutting tools which to this day I still have all 10 fingers and toes. I consider this a major success in my life especially since one of the projects I will post was built on NO sleep.





The above project was my introduction to various materials I will use to build models during my adventure in school. Needless to say these are very kindergarden. The first day Nance (professor that taught Design Development) mentioned some very foreign words to me.

Nance: "Class the next project we will be using chipboard, foamcore & bass wood."
My thoughts: chip WHO???
My next thought: bass and I'm back in the 2nd grade down at the pond fishing. Yes, people i couldn't figure out how bass could make wood. I didn't say I knew much about design other than that's what I want to do so quite a few words are foreign to me. Foam core I knew. whew!!!

That's all the torture I have for today...stay tuned as I will slowly but surely reveal some of my projects. Next semester there will be more house models...so exciting I know!!!

I Don't Wanna

I honestly can't do anymore homework today...nevermind that my drawings won't be complete for tomorrow's class, I just can't do it. The sad thing is I know my professor is going to give me a 'B' whether I bust my butt or half-ass the project so I've decided not to kill myself over this and now I'm just procrastinating.

December 11th this semester will end then I get 4 free weeks and I have no intentions of using my brain.
DISCLAIMER- I can NOT be held accountable for anything I say or do from Dec 11th- Jan 13th. Consider yourselves ( all 4 of you) warned!!!

One of Those Days...

Today has been absolutely fantastic. I'm guessing it has a little somethin' to do with the cooler weather. This morning started with the PP workout consisting of the Warhurst. The Warhurst and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate it everytime I see it pop-up on my schedule but fall madly in love with it once it's over. Today would prove to be no different. I won't bore you with the details all I know is the demons are getting quieter each time I run this route and I actually think I'm getting faster. I am amazed I didn't topple over when running the Deep Eddy mile. I don't know what happened to my form but I will say I looked more like a 2 year old just learning how to run, flailing all my limbs everywhere, not so great when there's no light. I'm so thankful noone was able to witness my attractive running style and even more thankful that I didn't turn/break an ankle. Somehow my legs managed to get under me for every wacky step back there.

My other fantastic news for today is I got to register for spring semester and I only have classes on Tues/Thurs for spring. I realize I'm the only one that gets/cares about this but this is THE perfect schedule. 9:30am- 6:15pm are you kidding me!!! I only have to drive to SM 2 days a week. YIPPEE!!! Last bit of good news I got into Studio 1...this is crucial in order for me to graduate on time. Usually there is a waiting list for this class but no sir I'm in like flinn (no idea how to spell that last part...you get my drift)

Now if only I would sit down and work on the 2 big ass drawings i have due. Hmmm, I guess it's one step at a time and the procrastination will have to wait it's turn;)

Boo

Unfortunately, today's race wasn't meant to be. The poopie doop feeling I had yesterday was a nice strong sinus headache that kept getting worse. Around mid-night I told myself if I woke up with the headache still pulsating in my left eye extending to the back of my head I would NOT be getting up for the race. You guessed it around 4:45 I woke up with headache still intact and had to make an executive decision not to race. The last thing I need right now is a full on sinus infection;( A quick text to my partner in crime, Jon, letting him know I wouldn't be there.

I'm sure I donated to a worthy cause!

Pre-Race

For some odd known reason I feel like racing this weekend. The majority of my running friends will not be doing the IBM 10k and still I wish to run it. No idea why I wanna race, these things stress me out and it's a 10k a distance I don't like to race. Moving along to the e-mail I received from Coach Ruth this week. Friday is an important night for rest. Go to bed early or if have to stay up late sleep in. Ok, I'm already off to a wrong pre-race start. I worked late Friday night, read on my feet the entire time, and met a friend at 7:30am for our pre-race run. I might have gotten 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Oops. Top that with the fact I feel like poopie-doops today. I'm hoping it's just allergies and can be gone by tomorrow morning. I really wanna give this race everything I've got. I'm not looking for a huge PR I'm well aware of the racing condition I'm not in at this moment, but seriously I wanna run hard. At the moment my legs feel like jello.

Let's go back a bit for the 2 people that read my blog. Remember when I had to get a new hard drive and somethings didn't get backed up. Well, I had forgotten about the tunes dear, precious Wiley had given me. Yay!!! new tunes that I haven't heard in awhile. I'm totally stoked I've been reloading them for my race play list (seems more important than my current school project, wouldn't you agree?) So tomorrow's race is all about enjoying my new found tunes at full blast while enjoying a new course. If I PR it will be icing on the cake. At this moment I'm just looking to run and hopefully not serenade any runners running near me;) I've been known to randomly start singing out loud with the shuffle. Hell, I can't hear me how am I supposed to know I'm out of key???

E-mail Response

My response to C's e-mail today.

Do you dare ask how I am???

It's safe to say this has been a meltdown week for me and it's only Tuesday;)

1 flunked test in AutoCAD- he said it would be easy but funny I think my test was written in Chinese.

Rendering (perspective drawing class)- we always have a sh*tload to do in here, but i enjoy the class so I usually don't mind. this is the class i broke down in...lucky male teacher. thank goodness he likes me.

thursday- test in building codes. i'm skipping 1 class for sure tomorrow in order to study. there has to be something wrong with that statement???

aren't you glad you asked;)

I believe it's safe to say school is kickin' my arse!!! I honestly don't know how people pull this off. I'm going to make this happen!!!