Flowers Around Campus

Black Eyed Susan Vine - Thunbergia alata

Fuchsia - Fuchsia sp.

Hibiscus - Hibiscus sp

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hollyhock - Alcea rosea

Rose & Japanese Blood Grass - Imperata cylindrica

Surprise Baby Shower!

Sarah's Awesome Baby Block Cake.

My coworkers at the help desk and the library threw me a surprise baby shower and the "other Sarah" made this amazing cake.

Actually I suspected something was up when Shawna asked me if I was certain I'd be at work on Thursday and what kind of cake did I like...

But I certainly didn't expect anything on this scale. Everyone was there... even my boss Andy who had to come over from the other campus.

Sara opening baby presents.

It was pretty weird feeling like I was on stage and everyone was watching me open presents. We got lots of clothing, several gift cards, a stuffed penguin, and a few other odds and ends.

Thank You to Everyone!

A few more pictures of the shower are here, unfortunately I don't have photos of everyone... I didn't even have my camera since this was a surprise.

I Have Logos

It's official now.

I can put the initials CSBA after my name.

I just received the confirmation email and the CSBA logos in case I want to put them on my business cards, letterhead or website.

They will send me the Certificate in 6-8 weeks and after that can be included in the official registry online.

The Penguins are Extremely Satisfied

I finally got to take the Sustainable Building Advisor exam that I missed last Friday... and I passed! Woo Hoo!

So, now I can be fancy and put the letters CSBA after my name. Not that very many people would know what that means.

Anyway, I know it's been forever since I took any photos. I hope to be back to my regular picture taking self this weekend. In the mean time, enjoy this cute penguin joke Agnes sent for me and Sami.

Missed Exam!

I was scheduled to take my certification exam for the National Sustainable Building Advisor Program but something went wrong with my online registration and I wasn't properly registered. I panicked a bit because the next scheduled exam is not until October. I just knew that if I waited that long, I would forget everything. Fortunately everyone was very helpful and I will most likely be able to take the exam this coming Thursday.

Mushrooms and Magnolias

Unidentified Mushroom outside building 9.

I don't feel like we've had a very rainy spring, but I guess it doesn't take much. Mushrooms are popping up in the strangest places again. I even saw some on the greenroof on the new OHSU building the other day.

Another mushroom

Star Magnolia - Magnolia stellata outside building 5.

The magnolias are in bloom and they're smelling great. It was difficult, but I managed to refrain from picking them.

Another magnolia flower

Beaver on the Back

Back of the Oregon State Flag.

Surprise! There's a Beaver on the back of the flag. I had no idea. It was just a windy afternoon and I happened to look up and see him on the flag in front of the library.

Pink & White

Japanese Spurge - Pachysandra terminalis

It's another beautiful spring day today and I took my usual lunchtime walk around the campus to see what I could see.

I was surprised to find these flowers growing underneath a dark stairwell.

Red Flowering Currant - Ribes sanguineum

This is one of our northwest natives. The berries aren't too tasty, but the flowers are beautiful and the hummingbirds love them.

Evergreen Clematis - Clematis armandii

I found this great smelling vine growing up and under the stairwell outside building 7. I thought it was really interesting that the open blooms were the ones in the shade, not in the sun.

Another Lunchtime Walk

Birdhouse on the Daycare Playground

I saw these cute little birdhouses on my tuesday walk, but there were kids out there playing and I didn't want to be the weirdo with the camera.

Here's another tiny little birdhouse.

Here's the Slideshow for Agnes and anyone who might prefer it.

Straw Bale building with Greenroof.

This is a demonstration straw bale building that was built by some high school students a few years ago in a program called "Framing Student Success"

I did help put a fresh coat of limewash on the building two years ago.

Unfortunately the greenroof on this building is looking pretty sad. Not sure what's wrong with it.

Cute Little Lambs

The're amazingly cute, and they run and jump like little puppies.

Mother & Child

There were maybe a dozen little white sheep and only this one black one. He wasn't as playful as the others and stayed close to his mom.

American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos

This one's for Eric.

Back in January he asked, "Do you take pictures of crows or anything crude looking?"

I said "Of course", but I probably do have far more pictures of mallards and other more colorful birds.

Maple flowers - Acer sp.

People think Maple trees don't have flowers. But they do, and they're quite pretty. Just a bit small.

Walk Around Campus

The "Bloodmobile"

The Red Cross was on campus today. I tried to stop by and donate some blood, but the wait was over an hour.

I'm not sure why they don't just use the conference hall or some larger area. This isn't the first time I've been turned away because they were too busy.

Rhododendron

These are very popular plants in Oregon. They are everywhere.

Sami and I have a game. I say "Sami, what's that plant?" He says, "Rhododendron" and he's right, 70% of the time.

Another Rhododendron

I also put these pictures into a slideshow on Photobucket. Hopefully Agnes can see them there since Flickr is banned in the UAE.

Pear Tree and North Fields

Interesting Grass

Last Year's Flowers

Witch-Hazel - Hamamelis sp.

What an appropriate name for such a freaky flowering tree.

Cool Bark

Not sure what the tree was - it didn't have any leaves on it.

At first I thought it was a weeping willow (Salix × sepulcralis). Then I thought the catkins looked more like a weeping birch (Betula pendula) but the bark doesn't seem right for that either.

I guess I'll have to wait until it gets some leaves to figure it out.

Winter Jasmine - Jasmin nudiflorum

Irises for Aaron

Irises in front of hangar 2

Aaron loves irises. He tells me this every time I post pictures of flowers on my blog.

It's so beautiful and sunny today that I couldn't resist going outside and walking around on my lunch break. I started to take the trail though the woods on the northwest side of campus, but it was closed.

So I walked over towards the woods on the east side of campus... before I got there I saw these stunning irises. They looked so nice next to the rocks and little spruce cones on the ground.

There is a native Oregon Iris (Iris tenax), although I have no idea if any of these are that particular species.

Click to see purple, white and blue ones.

Loop-de-loop

Someone from the Aviation department was having fun this morning.

I didn't do my usual walk today, but I did manage to find this fun photo-op on my way from the parking lot to the library.

Frozen Fountain

Fountain at Rock Creek Campus

On my way to Spanish class I noticed that the fountain had frozen. Those poor fish must be cold!

I wonder if Multnomah Falls is frozen yet. I have zero interest in trying to ice climb myself, but I would like to drive up and watch the next time it does freeze.

Fancy Spanish Food

This week my assignment for Spanish class was to find a recipe for a latin dish, to translate it and to bring it to class. Here are the results.

A sort of tapas:

Honeyed Figs and Serrano Ham on Nut Toast

And this lemon and almond tart. It was excellent!

Tarta de Santiago

Field Trip

This past Tuesday evening my Sustainable Construction Practices class went on a field trip to visit the Gerding Theater in downtown Portland. I'd seen the building from the outside - it's in the old Oregon National Guard Armory - but I had no idea that there was a fancy theater inside. My pictures don't do the place justice. If you'd like to see more, Portland Center Stage has a great slideshow.

Anyway, our class went on a tour of the theater to learn more about LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) standards and how good design could make a building better for the environment and its occupants. The renovated Armory became the first LEED Platinum building in Portland and the first LEED building on the National Register of Historic Places.

Because the theater generally has lots of people and lighting warming the place up it has more cooling than heating needs. A system of chilled beams is used for overhead heating and cooling. Where do they get all that cold water from? Well, it turns out that NE Portland has a chiller plant providing chilled water to several buildings in the Brewery Blocks. The building also uses rainwater and a 10,000 gallon underground cistern for flushing toilets. I could go on with the details, but everything I could say is either on the previous links or here on the case study.

I think in this case, the big picture is even more interesting than the details. The theater decided to save an old building when they could have built a new one. They used the old space carefully to serve their needs; even tucking offices underneath the amazing laminated trusses. There is just something really cool about having a breakroom in a turret.

My First 3D Drawing

While I was re-reading that last post, it occurred to me that y'all might be interested in some of the stuff that's been keeping me so busy this past week. One of the classes I'm taking is Vectorworks. It's a software that can be used to draw everything from landscape plans to electrical diagrams. Anyway, this is the first 3-dimensional drawing I've done. Ignore the landscaping... that was not part of the assignment, I was just playing around with that.

Garden Bench

PS. In case you're wondering what Agnes is talking about in the comments section: she took a class in 3D drawing a couple years ago. Here is her "Gold Duck".