Sunset Zoo

My dad and half-brother Max came to Manhattan this last weekend to visit, and one of the activities I had planned was a trip to the Sunset Zoo.

The day was absolutely perfect for anything involving the outdoors. And while it's not the fantastic (and free) St. Louis Zoo, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Here are a few pictures from the day:



A Colobus monkey, being all pouty for the camera.



Look at that smile! These little guys were pretty much let loose in one of the pens and visitors were allowed inside. It was weird to be so close to them without a wire fence in between.



While we were looking at the prairie dogs, Dad told me "not to move," which loosely translates to "something evil is three inches from you and is about to attack." I looked down, expecting to see a tarantula, but instead was met by this fuzzy little face.



How awesome is this photograph? This guy was perched on top of a rock in the petting pen, king of the whole place. Bit of an under-bite, but still happy.

The rest of the photos are in my gallery, so check them out. Stacey, you'll be getting my zoo review shortly. Everyone else, please check out Stacey's blog, Designing Zoos. It's an in-depth look at zoo and aquarium design, with a focus on the future of design for animals. As a (semi) architecture student, I am consistently impressed at the insight that designers have into their clients needs. And zoo designers have it doubly difficult because they can't communicate first-hand with their clients.

And speaking of creature habitats, my rat buddies just got a major upgrade to their living situation. They've gone from a 2-cubic foot cage to a 9-cubic foot mansion, also known as the Deluxe Super Pet My First Home Pet Cage. I don't have a good shot of it yet, but here's a good stock shot:



Yep. That's four levels. And they are loving it! At first they were a bit timid, but Oggie soon started exploring, taking only a few minutes to get a hang of the giant wheel. I've put in a few cardboard boxes, and Oden has taken to moving them about as he sees fit. The hammock is a bit of a wild card. It's obviously meant for ferrets, but every now and then, I see one of the boys hesitantly swinging on it, eyes bugging out as they cling for dear life.

The Mystery Box

I forgot my Mac power cord this morning and am forced to use my PC in studio. I got on and opened Firefox to my homepage, this little blog. My good lord, it's ugly on a PC. I don't know what happens in translation, but it's one hideous looking web page. So I apologize to all you PC users. There's not much I can do, however, so you're going to have to live with it.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I've been reading up for my various classes, so I thought I would share a few of my sources with you all, you know, just in case. Most of them, I will pass on, however, because they will be sources for theming, such as my "How Does Earth Work? Physical Geology and the Process of Science" book, which is helping me get around the educational aspects of the ride.

I'm afraid I can't divulge the idea for the project because I am most likely going to enter it into the competition. I'll try and post my most vague renderings and other little tidbits along the way, though. Like this book that is an awesome source of work done by actual imagineers:



"Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance"

There's an amazing photo of the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle in Paris. It must have taken ages to build. This isn't the photo but it's the closest I could find out on the world wide web:



The book also has some interesting sketches and renderings that give me a good idea of the caliber of work that is put out at Disney.

Also as part of my research, I have been listening to short talks given by some very inspiring people at TED. So far, I've been listening to talks that focus on children, learning, creativity, story-telling, and technology. In particular, I'm loving this one given by J.J. Abrams entitled "The Mystery Box." Good stuff.

Most Stressful Cities

Forbes has just released its list of America's Most Stressful Cities.

10. Philadelphia, PA

9. Providence, R.I.

8. Salt Lake City, Utah

7. Cleveland, Ohio

6. San Diego, Calif.

5. San Francisco, Calif.

4. Los Angeles, Calif.

3. Detroit, Mich.

2. New York, N.Y.

1. Chicago, Ill.

Among the factors considered were gas prices, poor air quality, population density, and unemployment rate, to which I said, "San Francisco, really?!" I'm also surprised at Chicago being number one, mainly because I visited there early this Summer, and it was a very clean city. At least compared to St. Louis. I think the only thing keeping St. Louis out of the running is that we have the lowest gas prices in the country.

Nerd Talk

The posters are up for study abroad, putting one giant check mark on my lengthy to-do list.

I've been spending this week doing tons of research for my various projects. I believe I've decided on my Capstone studio project. A pair of students in my studio are doing the DisneyNation competition put on by the Walt Disney Imagineering group. I decided to look it up and it's seems like a very interesting and open-ended competition, allowing students to design everything from attractions to resorts to products to a whole new theme park. I'm still in the "I have no idea what to do" phase, but I'm getting a lot of ideas from the books I've picked up:



(Some of them are for my programming class as well.)

Oh, and get ready for some nerdy talk: I am so psyched to be considered a graduate student! I get to keep my library books through January, so I don't have to renew them every two weeks. No hastily scanned pages or late fees. Wonderful!

As far as the project goes, I like the idea of getting away from a capstone centered solely on product design. This is an entire semester-long project, so I want to take advantage of the extra time and delve into architecture, space planning, and theming, as well as product design.

And while I would be doing something destination-related, I'm not too sure I want to actually compete. If I do, I have to make whatever I design be Disney-centric. And I'm not sure I'm ready to Disney-fy myself quite yet.

While at PGAV, I worked mostly on theme parks, roller coasters specifically, and they take a very different stance on destination design, one that strays away from kitsch-y, over-the-top design, and I like that approach. Although, with such an open-ended competition, it may prove well to push Disney in a new direction. Who knows.

To the Highest Bidder

I just finished up a poster for the Study Abroad Exhibit that will be held in the Chang Gallery for the next few weeks. I'm not sure if we get graded on this, but it is a requirement for all IA students who do a program abroad. I've also just finished up another poster on my internship for the exhibit that will be showing in November in the Chang Gallery. I'm really starting to feel like a graphic design student, with all the posters they're making us do. Sadly, I've probably spent more time on internship and study abroad assignments than I have on stuff for this semester.



I wanted to keep the poster simple, as I found out today that it is due tomorrow. And since our chairs are still in transit, I figured that a giant photo would suffice. We're supposed to put up a bunch of pictures of our work and blah, blah, blah, but it seems like a bunch of clutter to me. At least for something that people will only take about 5 seconds to look at. Apparently, these posters are seen by upwards of 1000 people. I put a little blurb about the program and my chair in the bottom left, next to all the "required" information. I felt like putting a price and contact number, because I needs me some moneys, but I resisted.

T-Shirt Design

As is custom for the beginning of the year, I participated in the AIAS T-Shirt Design Contest. I've won the past two years, the first for an awesomely atrocious design done in the days before I owned the Adobe Creative Suite. Man, those were the days. Last year's shirt was fun, but entirely too time consuming to be redone this year. This year, there were a lot of participants.

My design was simply a sentence in large, capped font, stating "Some of my best friends are sustainable" in a light green to dark green gradient. It sort of pokes fun at the desire for every designer to be considered "green friendly" by using the "Some of my best friends are [insert minority here]." It would be printed on an American Apparel Organic Fine Jersey Tee, natural color (meaning white) with a really neat green stitch detail. If you click the photo, you'll see the detail photos at the bottom.



Sadly, I didn't win. Took third, actually. But there's an upside. Both Kelsey and Amy (my roomies) really liked the design, and they are the President and VP of Landscape Architecture's version of AIAS, the ASLA. They're going to put it up for voting when they do their t-shirt contest. If it wins, I get a free shirt. If not, I may consider printing it myself because I am in love with that stitching detail on the AA shirts.

Camera Happy

Okay, so I promise that this isn't going to be one of those pet-obsessed blogs, but it's the only thing that's been happening to me the past few days, so I'm going to write about it.

I think I'm going to go with Oggie and Oden for their names. I tried using a few others, including some suggestions, and I think I've just gotten used to their names already. Although both of my parents suggested Ben and Jerry, which was funny. Other suggestions I liked were Jesus and Jesus (as in Geezus and Hey Zeus) and Gary and Templeton after the old Cardinal's shortstop. I'm actually digging Templeton. Hard to shorten, unless you just go with T. But I do like it. And Gary's good too. Maybe my next two rats will be Gary and Templeton. By the way, that was a joke. My boys take up enough of my time already. I couldn't imagine any more.

Here they are, sharing a drink over intelligent conversation.



This I snapped tonight, hence the horrible flash. When I'm futzing around in their cage–putting in veggies, picking up poo pellets, or rearranging the cage–they'll stop what they're doing, ask me for treats, then get back to their business which usually involves sitting on top of each other or one using the other as a springboard for a gymnastics routine. Occasionally, they'll play fight, but they stayed like this for a good five minutes.



And here they are, smiling for the camera. They get so excited when I put the camera in their cage. They come up to it, sniff it, strike a few poses. And if they're in their igloo, they'll both rearrange themselves so that they're heads are sticking out the entrance.



Even though it has only been a few days, I've learned just how amazingly different they are. Oggie is bolder and more comfortable with me handling him than Oden. He even fell asleep on me yesterday when I had him in my arms and was petting him behind his ears. Oden, on the other hand, absolutely hates being still in my hands. He's fine with exploring, but he'll do anything to get out of my hands and can be easily spooked. Oggie LOVES these yogurt drops I bought them. I have to crush them up into little pieces so he doesn't get fat. Oden is okay with the drops, but he's more fond of candied pineapple (from a trail mix pack I got). This might be the key to socializing and training him. Oggie wouldn't even touch the pineapple I offered him. One thing they have in common, though, is that neither of them has figured out how to use the wheel in their cage. One day, maybe.

Today, during our playtime, I managed to get both of them to walk out of their cages willingly and jump up on my lap to get treats. Oggie figured out the trick quickly, and so he would come up and get treats about every minute or so. Oden is a teensy bit slower, and much more hesitant, not easily bribed by treats. I don't think he got the connection at all. I'm hoping Oggie gives him a few pointers.

I'm okay with being the owner of morbidly obese rats, as long as they're happy.

EDIT: I checked out some pictures of rats at different ages and I believe my rats are somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks. I may just compromise and say that they're 2 months old, which, from the day I got them, means that their birthdays fell on Sunday, July 6, 2008. It's a good reference because then I'll have an idea about when they're full-grown (at 8 months).

The Science of Cute

I've mentioned in a previous post that I think this next year kind of hinges on the first few weeks of class. Welp, that's pretty true. I'm almost certain of my final furniture project scope for Spring semester. We spend this entire semester creating a design brief (or program), doing tons and tons of research, doing case studies, writing design narratives, etc. etc. Then next semester we design and build. Last week, I wrote 3 short papers detailing ideas for my final project. So if you're going to mentally check out, now's the time to do it.

One was on Seasonal Affective Disorder and furniture that utilizes indirect light that could help combat that. It was my least favorite, as it has sort of been done before, but it could prove to be informative.

Another was on arthritis and designing furniture that could ease the pain of those that suffer from the condition. I'm pretty interested in this one. I could do a lot of research on different types of arthritis and their symptoms. And case studies could involve Alvar Aalto's Paimio Chair (for TB patients) and other types of furniture/products made for people with arthritis or other physical incapacities.

But the one that I think could keep me interested for upwards of 8 months involves the science behind "cuteness." This one is a bit more theory and psychology, an aspect of design that I have been in love with since I started at K-State. There has already been a lot of research into the psychology of "beauty," what makes something look beautiful, the attributes, proportion, etc. But cuteness has had very little exposure. Scientists are just now looking into this area of study–what attributes make something look cute (like low-set eyes, round head, baby-like features) and why it affects people the way it does. I want to delve deeper into the evolutionary reasons why cuteness is attractive.

And oh, the case studies! The VW Beetle, Mini Cooper, oodles of children's toys like the Furby or Cabbage Patch doll, Mickey Mouse (over the years), Hello Kitty, any Japanese cartoon, and of course all those adorable animals out there such as pandas, koalas, manatees, or maybe Oggie and Oden.

And the options I would have for a final project next semester are pretty much endless. As long as it involves cuteness, I'm pretty much set. So I would have a nice safety net of opportunity at the beginning of next semester.

I've also made some big strides in my product design studio, but there's a limit to the amount of words I can write in one go. And I've exceeded that already by about 4 million.

Oggie and Oden

I've been hesitant to mention this as I don't want to jinx it, but I've just gotta share the cuteness with everyone. On Saturday, I added two members to my um, one-person family. I adopted two baby rats from Petland (scary name, isn't it?) in Topeka. Without further ado, here they are:



They both have the exact same markings (white body, colored head, stripe down the back) just with different colors. I haven't officially named them yet, although I have a couple names in mind. This one (the gray one) I'm thinking Oggie, and don't ask, I have no idea where I got that name from.



This is the brown one, and I'm kind of torn on the name. I was thinking Oden, because I really like that name (it's the name of a Norse god), but I'm afraid it's too close to Oggie. If not, I'm thinking Pehr. It has roots in Scandinavia (Sweden, I think), and I met a guy named Pehr once, and I really like the name. But he doesn't really seem like a Pehr. It's too harsh for him. He's really skittery and shy. And Oden, for some reason, sounds like a soft name.



Here they are together. They always furiously clean themselves after I hold them, even though I wash my hands right before holding them.



And here they are sleeping, which they do all the time, especially after I hold or feed them. They are always adorable when they sleep because they both fit their little bodies in this igloo. Sometimes one will sleep on top of the other, and I'll sometimes catch one with his little rat arm around the other.

I've spent the last three days trying my best to socialize them, by holding them and talking to them and practically tearing them out of their cages. I know it's going to be a big task over the next month. They came from a store where they weren't handled as babies, and that is a big setback. I'm really really hoping they'll settle and get used to me. I have big hopes for Oggie–he actually fell asleep on my arm today. And when I pet him behind his ears, he does this little clicking thing (bruxing, I think it's called) with his teeth. I'm hoping that's a good thing. But Oden is extremely high strung when I hold him. He won't stop trying to get away from me, and I've been patient, holding him for a good 30-45 minutes before finally letting him go back in his cage. But it really bothers me that he's not improving as fast as Oggie. Time will tell, I guess.

Anyways, these are my babies! They say hi. You know, in their own little way.

Go by Bike

While I was at The Pathfinder, Manhattan's local outdoor living shop, this week, I picked up a neat little flier about a movement going on to promote bicycling in America. It was full of a bunch of interesting figures:

Just 3 hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
In 2003, cars stalled in traffic wasted 5 billion gallons of fuel.
25% of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40% of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50% of the working population commutes 5 miles or less to work.
60% of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.

And on the back, they have a website where you can check out some how-to videos on starting to bike, keep updated on important issues and events, and pledge miles of your own.

Since I've been in Manhattan, I've been really very good about biking when I can, even going so far as to ride in the rain (with my fancy rain jacket on of course so as not to catch cold). So far, I've ridden to every class, ridden to Planet Sub to steal food (shh, don't tell), and ridden to the UPS store on the opposite side of town to send my Europe phone back. I haven't been to the grocery store yet, but I'm planning on going tomorrow to stock up on things.

By the way, if you're wondering what to get me for my birthday, a giant Chrome or Timbuk2 bag for carrying books/groceries/Target goodies is very high on my list right now.

So anyway, since I've been so good, I thought I'd make it official and pledge my own miles. I figured out that if I rode to campus 7 times a week (figuring in multiple trips a day or going in on the weekends), made 1 trip to the grocery and 1 miscellaneous trip a week, then I'd travel a total of 121 miles a month. I was amazed to find out that I would save about $26 a month in gas. That's about $230 over the course of my last year at K-State. That's pretty significant.



I've attached a widget to my blog (to the right) that will follow Manhattan's "Go by Bike" contribution.

Even if you don't plan on biking, I suggest checking out the Go by Bike website. It's refreshing to see so many people pledging so many miles. And to see a response to the energy crisis that isn't a hybrid SUV.

Swishy Pants

Yesterday was K-State's second football game of the season. I did not go, sadly, but did happen to be in Aggieville at the exact start of the K-State marching band (and various other bands) parade. Luckily, I had my trusty camera with me.



The best thing is that the weather wasn't all that great and it was a bit nippy, so they were wearing their "warm up" outfits, i.e. SWISHY PANTS!

It was utterly hilarious! I could hear their pants over their instruments. It was like an old-couples-in-matching-outfits parade.

The Mandate Press

I finally have internets! I am complete again. Here's something I found while catching up on missed blog updates:





They're customizable letterpress calling cards from The Mandate Press. It's got me thinking about redesigning my business card. Perhaps a pop-up chair card? That would be unique, no?

Eureka!

I think I've found my idea for shop. I've been kicking it around since Denmark. It's not completely finished, but here's the "chair" portion of the project:







What I propose is a "hybrid"–a classic Danish lounge chair merged with a striking, modern feature. I want to put two rather large (about 14" diameter) wheels on the back legs of the chair. Then, it becomes easily movable furniture, and you can carry items in the seat portion of the chair, like a wheel barrow. It would be very handy when moving, something I've been doing several times a year for the last 5 years. I know outdoor sun chairs have been designed like this before, so that people can easily move the chair to a sunny spot or to group them together. This would make living room furniture rearranging much easier. It'd actually be very neat to do a couch version of this too, but that's probably longer than a semester project.

I'm still working on the wheels. They won't be the prettiest or most accurately made for this model, but they'll give me an idea of what the final look of the chair will be.

I'm not sure whether I want to do a weave, as it is shown in the model, or if I want to stretch leather or do wood planks with padded cushions. If I get the chance to do two, I may experiment with a couple different options. But that's a question I'll have to bring up with Steve (my shop teacher) on Wednesday.

And now that I've spent the entire weekend doing shop stuff, I think I'm going to take tonight off and see if I can convince the guys to go bowling...