My Fabulous Four-Hour Vacation

in exotic Tacoma! I visited the Museum of Glass.

The day I was there, they were making single-color cake stands. Boring! On the plus side, the Hot Shop is inside a volcano (-shaped part of the building) and it's toasty warm.

Here's a close-up view of the outside of the volcano:

And here's the inside, looking up:

Part of the ceiling of the pedestrian bridge to the museum (all glass) :

The wall of the pedestrian bridge over the interstate:

A fountain in the plaza:

An efficient mode of transportation:

House of Respect

On Saturday I went to the grand opening for the Puyallup Tribe's new elder center, which they call the "House of Respect" rather than the "Old Geezer Hangout." I designed the building's lateral system and foundations, none of which can be seen. You can't see the green roof in these pictures, either, but the flowers haven't really grown in yet anyway. I think it turned out pretty nice. It has classrooms, a banquet facility, arts and crafts, a health clinic with a therapy pool, a hair salon, and a gym, plus offices and a garden.

Fortunately, the congressman didn't show up in time to give his speech, so they just went ahead with the ribbon cutting and we didn't have to stand around in the cold longer listening to him blather.

Seattle is Sporktacular

The pigs, they are everywhere...and I'm not even going to be obvious and include the giant piggy bank by the fish-throwers in the market.

Pig on the roof in the market:




In the butcher case:


Barbeque truck (I like the shades):

Dolphins!!!!!

These are a few of the dolphins I swam with in New Zealand. There are hundreds more underwater! It was way cool.

Obviously I won't be doing any videography work for The Discovery Channel or anything anytime soon.

Desperate To Be Different

Seattle Central Library: It's gotten rave reviews from all sorts of architecture critics. But does that mean it's any good? Here are the points on the plus side:

• It holds a lot of books


• The skin is nearly all window, so the lighting is pretty good in the reading rooms


• It doesn't smell as bad as the old library


• It's interesting


• The "Friends of the Library" shop has cool stuff

On the negative side:

• Being different is expensive, so they had to skimp on the elevators. They are too few and far too slow.
  
• There are escalators serving some levels, but they are freaky. See below.
  
• Not good for anyone with a fear of heights
• Sickening color schemes
  

The walkway outside:

Plaza on the other side:

Hallway on the meeting room/restroom level: (All you see is dim blurry red?

Yes, that's right. It's not just the photo.)

Look! Some books:



Looking way, way down to the reading room:

Freaky escalators with nauseating color schemes:

(The one with the hole in the wall is an "art" installation and it talks to you in a creepy voice.

I couldn't get a clear picture of it, which is just more proof it's possessed by demons)

Floor in the multilingual area:

(It's embossed with words in many languages...so it's grimy)

The putt-putt elevators: