It's strawberry season, and currently, our front lawn is a mass of tiny organic strawberries. Who knew berries would grow so well in the middle of a city. They were a grand garnish to my lovely lunch salad of Cosco greens, Treasure Island yellow pepper, avocado, and tomato.Children - Who knew that working in a bakery would be a lesson in child-rearing? Many kids have been coming in with parents because it's hot and we sell ice cream. Brunette girl walks in, probably around 6 or 7. I ask the parent, "can I help you?" He replies, "one moment," as they walk over to see the ice cream flavors. They come back to the counter, and the girl looks at her dad, who nods. She asks, "May I have a scoop of the rainbow sherbert please?" Which made me smile. I gave her an extra big scoop. Later on, a blonde girl, maybe 3 or 4, tucks her chin on the counter, screams, "ICECREAM!!! Ice cream!!! Ice cream!!! I want icecream !!!" I raised an eyebrow, and looked over at her father, who smiled at me and said, "The queen wants icecream." I did not smile back, as I kept flicking my glance between the smiling father and child who was continually screaming about icecream. I didn't even know what to say.
Icebergs - The dry cleaners is mad hot these days. Consider the factors against us:
1) Pressing machines. For several hours a day, the pressing people flatten hundreds of shirts, pants, and suits using scorching hot steam. Try calculating the specs on an HVAC system that could handle that. I bet the unit's size would be comparable to the size of the building we work in.
2) We work in an economically build brick box building with few windows. There are a few overhead fans, but they are definitely not large enough to cool off the entire building.
3) There is an existing cooling system for the non-pressing side of the building, but it's a swamp cooler, and apparently it always leaks moisture when in use. The ducts are right over the racks with newly cleaned and pressed possibly expensive clothing. Compared to angry customers, I guess heat is the lesser of 2 evils.
I've been racking my brains for a solution to this HVAC problem (in classic nerdy form). Combatting the steam-generated heat using electric methods, ie "Active Systems" seems exorbitantly expensive. Unless there were some way to capture the heat for cogeneration ... "Passive Systems," such as installing low and high windows for passive cooling seems to be a more viable option, but I imagine the single story walls are actually load-bearing not structural steel, so windows seem difficult. More massive overhead fans? Groundsource "heat pump" style passive cooling? Radiant cooling? Ah, the options are endless. Anyways, the heat makes me fondly desire some iceberg pets. Norwegian, Arctic, or Canadian. I'll take any.
Rides - Some great rides recently. I finally made it out to Willow Springs through the not so great neighborhoods into rolling suburban hills. I informed everyone that I was carrying 1040 calories for anyone who felt like they were bonking, and I consumed 700 of it before the ride concluded. Bike and Build trained. I stayed behind the fast group with Sarah Bransfield. Looks like she finally might have found a bike that fits her, which is great news. Also, we had Marc's father with us. We let the French men pull us back to Hyde Park. Sadly, I will now represent the only Korean woman rider on the team, as Liz has abandoned us for her cooler friends in New Jersey. She'll be flying out to S. Korea on the English-teaching Fulbright which is super exciting!!! I hope she keeps a blog :D
Court Theatre - Liz invited me to see a production on standby through our Tati connectin (Rory!), and it was a blast. "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson had very minimal set movement, but they managed to tell an intense, layered story all in one house. The best part was when Rory took us backstage! We saw the piano up close, with the microphones all rigged up, the shop where they build walls and furniture, the costumes shop, and lastly what Rory called the boring stuff: initial planning and architectural floor plans (!!!!!). I've seen many Court productions, but this was the first time I got to see backstage.
Graduation - Bernard got hooded with the strange looking PhD hoods this past June. The ceremoney was, to be honest, quite boring. The PhD speaker I liked, because she reminded the PhD's that they should still be able to laugh at themselves every so often. The MD speaker clearly thought that only MD's were real people and I stopped listening to his speech early on. The highlight for me was when one of the Pritzker family children spoke for receiving and honorary fellowship (?) of some sort. Pritzker family, as in, the people who give out the Pritzker Prize in architecture !!! They're real people ?!?!?! Congratulations, Bernard!
"Up" - Bernard and I went to see the new Pixar movie, "Up" in theatres, and I loved it! Aside from the fact that there are houses the fly using helium-filled baloons, talking dogs, and giant rainbow colored birds, I thought it was surprisingly realistic in terms of the ups and downs of life. (Spoiler alert! Entire story synopsis to follow!) In the very beginning of the movie for example, although Carl marries the love of his life, she passes away before they are able to go on their dream voyage to Paradise Falls. The rest of the story is also quite simple: Elderly Carl flies to Paradise Falls in South America. Young Russell accidently accompanies him. Along the way they meet Kevin (a bird), and Dug (a dog), and run into a discredited explorer seething to reestablish his reputation by capturing a bird such as Kevin. Carl, Russell, and Dug all work together to save Kevin, and in the end, have each other as companions for the future. I really admire Pixar's ability to tell stories through very little naration.
