One Of Those Guys Who Runs In The Morning

Before Freddy had been born, I vowed to avoid getting Dad-Fat, the general puffyness associated with being a dad. Lucky for me the stress of work/finding work, school, fixing/selling home, moving of the last year has actually taken about ten pounds off of me and a good amount of the hair on my head. Having a second vehicle has made me complacent about biking everywhere and there just hasn't been the time to go to a gym.

And so I've started waking up at 6:00 and going for a run. I put the clothes by the bed, the iPod by the door and I usually wake up by the time I'm a quarter mile in (I shit you not I yawned while passing City Hall). The new neighborhood I live in, Glendale Missouri is a picturesque and I see as many as a dozen other runners, mostly older, mid-career professionals by the looks of them. This is only my fifth morning running, but I'm already feeling the same silly competition as when I would bike over the Williamsburg Bridge in the morning.

I'm not too sure what I'll do for my 31st birthday. I'd kind of like to crush my 1/2 marathon time again. If I train regularly, I can do it. I feel so damned good the rest of the day that I probably will.

Finally, An American Made Diesel Hybrid THAT I CAN'T DRIVE!

Caterpillar just came out with the pricing for their new hybrid diesel bulldozer. Apparently, the thing costs 20% more ($600K vs. $500K) and has a fuel payback of less than three years. This seems like a kind of a game changer when you think about how many of these enormous vehicles there are out there, their service life and how much diesel exhaust they belch into the air.

I just hope they have a mineraturized toy version of it by the time Freddy is really into earth moving equipment.

Cyborg: In Which I Pull Metal From My Leg

I remember hearing a story on NPR about a young, American raised Afghan who was traveling back to Afghanistan to visit his family. One morning, his uncle asked him for some help removing a piece of soviet era shrapnel that had begun to work its way out of his forehead.

This morning, as my son looked on and at times played with cabinet doors, I removed some sort of surgical wire that had been left in my ankle 11 years ago after I broke the ever-loving hell out of it. It was amazing.

Those who have known me for a while also know that for years I kept the surgical plate that held my tibia together for a summer on my keychain. It's still hanging on a hook in my basement. What came out this morning looked like nothing more than a small curly piece of boar bristle. No souvenir, but a fun reminder that I am still part machine.

Coxsacki, Not Just For Middle School Laughs

So the triple whammy of awfulness that was sicked on Freddy over the weekend was diagnosed as Coxsacki virus, or hand foot and mouth disease. On Sunday night he started breaking out in a rash, so we took him to the ER and he was diagnosed and sent home with some meds. The next day, Laura came down ill as well and while her fever is down, she's still completely wiped. My parents came in and helped us a whole lot. I've been completely free of it/possibly asymtomatic, but it's made me paranoid that I'm about to come down with something.

Through all of this my summer school class has begun, which is Fundamentals of Project Management taught by Dr. Jim Blair. His background is in tech, so he focuses on broader, psychological aspects of project management. Interesting so far.

Freddy Is Sick

Over the last few days, Freddy has gone from having an ear infection to having a virus and wicked diaper rash and teething all at once. He really liked the taste of his grape flavored anti-biotic but since he had a fever, we poisoned the well by feeding him Pedialyte through the same dropper the tasty medicine came in.

I've been working through most of this, so I haven't had anywhere near the responsibility that Laura has, so whatever misery there is, I take my licks. It was only when my brother complained about our cat puking while at his house that I realized that I have been vomited on twice in the past 16 hours (the first one was a real doozey, volume, distance, smelled like formula and grape Pedialyte).

My morning ritual with him this morning had him crying through every activity he usually likes, then crawling back into Laura's arms, the only place he's wanted to be since this started and sleeping for what has now been more than an hour.

Next weekend, Laura will be heading out to California and I will be with him for the weekend. Here's hoping he's well by then.

So Maybe I Don't Have To Leave Town (Again)

Two Things:

1. In accordance with Missouri Senate Bill 1181, every EnergyStar appliance up to $1500 purchased between April 19-25 is free of tax. This week will celebrate Earth Day and weed day; perhaps a coded parting message from former governor Matt Blunt. Either way, I'm saving my pennies for an efficient, small fridge for the basement.

2. Just checked out the new local coffee shopFoundation Grounds. It's locally owned (two of the owner live a block away from me) and they did a green renovation and sourced recycled, reused and renewable materials. Lastly, the vegan muffin tasted good...like an actual muffin. I'm usually a vegan baked goods hater, but these were awesome!

Good stuff coming to town, now if is just wouldn't be so freaking cold out.

Everything In Brief

I'm back in school, which is spectacular, and working on greening up some rental properties, which is also great. It's been only two weeks and I already feel I've learned things that could be used to avoid many past and future $#@$-up's.

I also finally wrote an article that I'm halfway happy with. My god what a piece of work this guy is:



On the parental tip, Freddy is crawling and it's a whole new world. He can also say "ma" and "da" and eats about two jars of baby food on top of his regular formula regimen.

Laura is back in the saddle directing a show at Stray Dog Theatre and we're super busy. It's been a juggling act coordinating my work/Laura's work/rehearsal/school and Freddy, but we've managed figure it out so far. Tuesday night is the only vexing conflict and my parents have stepped in to watch Freddy.

I have yet to work exercise into my schedule, that's the next step.

Canine Equestrian Shenanagins

My son, my brother and his dog Milo

Writing For Jetson Green

I got a gig writing about LEED platinum projects for Jetson Green a green building blog created by a guy named Preston Koerner, an attorney and LEED AP in Salt Lake City. I'll link to articles as I write em, here's my first article on the Kerr Foundation building in downtown St. Louis.

Happy Holidays Everyone

Long week of Christmas/Hannukah celebration. Freddy was captivated by the tree, but was also tried hard to touch the live flame on the Hannukah candles. Both traditions offer a lot to a five month old. I got some pretty good gifts all around including some Dogfish Head60 and 90 Minute IPA from my lovely wife. I also ate like a king and my fridge is still stocked with leftovers.

Last year I went to a holiday party and played with a friends' baby who is almost exactly a year older than Freddy. Laura was pregnant at the time and I remarked to myself that I would have a son that age next Christmas.

So, in the most Jimmy Stewart way, I got everything I wanted for Christmas.

The Original Frank Robbins

My aunt Mary just sent me a collection of obituaries of my great-great grandfather, Frank Robbins. Here's the handsome devil right here:

One newspapaer described him as a "bluff, cheerful, hearty, agressive citizen", hopefully those were good qualities for Canadians to have in the early 1930's. Though I knew that he was elected to the head of the school board and reffed many a soccar game, revelations include his membership in the Knights of Pythias, being in the 91st Highlander Regiment and his tenure as the president of the Ontario Baseball Amateur association.

Frank Robbins LEED AP

Over the last few months I've been telling everyone that'll listen that I've been "studying for my LEED exam". About two weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and schedule an exam because:

1. "I'm studying for my LEED exam" was starting to sound like "I'm working on my novel"
2. In 2009, the test will be even harder
3. If I passed it I would have six letters after my name. That's twice as many letters than a CPA and three times an MD!

What the hell is LEED?
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It's a building accredidation program through the US Green Building Counsil (USGBC). Basically, if you want to have a LEED certified building, you have to follow some proscribed steps, design it in a certain way, document the heck out of it and have it all reviewed by the USGBC. Then you get to tell everyone you know that you have a LEED Certified building.

It's a complicated and involved process and so they set up a testing system to identify individuals who know how do to this (LEED APs). There are about 43,000 of them in the world, and now there is one more...me.

Gee, That Sounds Easy:
Well it's not, at least is wasn't for me. You have to be responsible for a heck of a lot of information, terms, calculations, percentages etc. Not being an engineer or an architect, I had to learn a lot of the terms for the first time. No worries, I like learning new things, and now that I know what a chlerestory is, I'm going to use it in my everyday vocabulary.

Here are the flash cards I made:


Who I can thank for this:

-Rachel: Thank you for giving me a copy of the Colorado Reference Guide, your study materials and answers to my assinine questions.
-Lauren G: Thanks for answering spot questions and turning me on to ARE Forums, I woulda been screwed without it!
-Laura: Thanks for watching everything while I studied for hours and hours.

What this means now:
Boy I don't know, I can put it on my cards, I look more serious than someone who just says, "I'm into green building." Oh and when I'm working my next LEED project, I'll be able to add a point to the overall scorsing under ID Credit 2!

LEED Exam on Wednesday

I dropped myself into the deep end of the pool and sceduled my LEED AP exam for this Wednesday at 3:30.

I haven't crammed for something since I was in high school, I've got acronyms and percentages oozing out of my ears. The test is really freaking expensive, so that just adds to the pressure.

And speaking of pressure: Jeremy, you said that you might get your LEED AP, Rachel I don't know if you've taken your test yet, but I challenge both of you to a LEED-OFF!

Joe Felice Was Here

My good buddy from school, politics and former work, Joe Felice stopped by this week. He's moving to California from New York and stopping at many points along the way.

It was a good time, he came bearing gifts (pickled squash) and we did some video-blogging on Blog TV. I also got to show Joe the joys of St. Louis beer culture.

Let The Masters-Off Begin

I am going back to school next semester, that much is clear. My friend Jeremy has been talking a good game about getting his masters in urban planning for quite some time.

And so, in the spirit of competition I have challenged him to A MASTERS-OFF!

BARE KNUCKLE
WINNER-TAKE-ALL
BATTLE...TO...THE...FINISH

Never has there been academic rivalry so intense, so bloody, so completely ridiculous.

Let the games begin.

Officially Admitted To Wash-U

I got the call about an hour ago confirming that I've been accepted to Washington University in St. Louis' masters program in construction management. I was pretty sure I'd get in, but I've told enough people that I was going that getting turned away would have been a big -ahem- embarassing.

Instead of an envelope, I got a phone call from the woman in charge of academic advisement, which was pretty darned civilized. I remember when I was in high school pulling up to my house after school and looking at my mailbox and coming close to vomiting with anticipation. When I got in, I danced around the kitchen with my mother and she gave me an NYU t-shirt she had picked up when she was working in New York that past summer. She told me that if I didn't get in, she would have just chucked it without letting me know she'd bought it.

A friend of mine told me that I should go out and get a Wash-U hoodie now to celebrate. I came up with a better idea:

For my son Freddy: Wash-U Onesie

For Me: Wash-U wrestling singlet

We'd match, and the ensuing photos would be memories that would last a lifetime.

Open (Thank You) Letter To Tom Schlafly

This is a copy of a thank you letter I've sent to Tom Schlafly, owner of the ol' local microbrewery and brewpub.

Dear Mr. Schlafly,

I just wanted to sit down and write you an official thank you letter for your work here in St. Louis. I’m sure you get a lot of praise for your work, but add this one to the pile as well. Oh yes, and a belated 60th birthday.

I live in Maplewood Missouri, about a half mile from the Bottleworks and this summer marked the birth of my first child. I can’t tell you how incredibly great it has been to be in stroller-walking distance to a baby-friendly restaurant with smoke-free outdoor seating, good food and great beer. I’m originally from St. Louis and moved back about two years ago after a nine-year stint of living in New York. I’m a huge proponent of Greenpoint and Willaimsburg Brooklyn, but I gotta say you’ve got Brooklyn Brewery beat by a mile!

Thank you also for staying a St. Louis/American brewery. I’m sure you’re approached several times a week by men with Flemish and Wallonian accents making multi-billion dollar offers on your business. Thank you for politely turning them down. That said, a Schlafly-made Belgian style tripel would be a very welcome addition to your roster.

Lastly, thanks for your commitment to the environment, local farmers and green building.


Keep Up The Good Work,

Regards,

Frank Robbins

Warum Kenst Du Deutsch?

Just confirmed that everything that I need to get in to school is in to school, and now I just have to wait. In the end the last thing was my transcript from Middlebury college where I took a summer intensive German program. In the course of doing that I realized that it's been ten years since I went there.

Unlike my BFA, which I can tangentally point to (speaking, reading and conveying emotion, being able to walk on my hands), my flash-fry immersian in the German language is even harder to put my finger on. With the exception of some very surprised German tourists looking for directions, I haven't used it a whole bunch.

I guess I learned how to learn a language and how to be completely comfortable listening to people talk when I catch only 1 out of ten words that they say. Most Americans get edgy after about a minute of this. The other thing I learned was that you need only know a certain number of words in any language to shock the hell out of people and get some love.

Knowing a few words a phrases in Spanish got me through my days in the food industry, and got me a lot of free food. Knowing the smallest bit of Arabic got a huge laugh out of my old local deli owners and I was able to hop the line a few times and the bit of Polish I sat down and learned kept me in good stead my five years of living in America's second largest Polish community.

When I lived in Chinatown, I bought a tape and diligently tried to get a few phrases, numbers etc. down. Blank stares every time, but hey, my pronunciation probably sucked.

Herding Cats To Go To School

As many might know, I've been going through the process of applying to school. When I graduated in 2001 I was relieved because there was NO WAY I would ever be going to grad school. Then again, grad school would have been for theatre. As the proud owner of a BFA in theatre, the change to green building and construction management neccessitates a little bit of extra schooling.

I've taken some comfort looking at other peopel who have made drastic career changes:

Kandinsky: Started painting at 42

Peter Falk: Started acting at 28 (with one eye at that!)

Sonny Bono: Elected to congress age 59 (who the hell saw that one coming?)

To say nothing of two friends of mine who have gone from acting to law school, another who is an off-brand software developer with an obvious obsession with the qaddafi regime and many many more.

Now what's left to do:

Get accepted
Finding a summer internship
Fun with financial aide
Finding a construction related job to do during school

Week On The Road

Back now from a six day whistle-stop tour around New York and DC for a friend's wedding and to show off Freddy to friends and relatives. The lil' man was extremely good on the plane (except for descent) and loved the NYC subway


Our friends Laura and Alex had a beautiful wedding in lower Manhattan. The ceremony had a beautiful bit of intergenerational multi-lingual poetry reading. Alex's grandmother read a poem in Hungarian and his sister translated and likewise with Laura only in Italian. Moving and classy, I dug it.

We had our friends Shannon and Tim who hava a baby girl of their own watch Freddy. While this left us free to frolic at the wedding, I was up the next morning at 6:00 with the bottle. I went for a three mile run with John through Brooklyn at 8:30 and even though the first half mile was awful, I felt like a new man by the end.

With basically just two full days in NYC, we weren't able to fit in all of our friends to see Freddy, which was a bummer, but it's just more reason to come back again soon.

What I might look like with twins. Good grief.