bowtie

Last night, I attempted to make a bowtie for Daniel to wear to a black tie party on Saturday. I found a pattern online via an LA Times article. - here - I used left over Crepe Back Satin Black from his wedding vest. Here is my first attempt. The first piece came out too small so I made the second side a little larger. I tied the bowtie and had Daniel try it on.

In my second attempt, I think I overcompensated and made the whole thing entirely too large and when I had Daniel try it on, I was on the floor laughing and could not stop!

julian apple pie

We went to Julian, California on a quick weekend day trip to get some Julian Apple Pie from the Julian Pie Company. Daniel also wanted to try driving some scenic curvy roads. It was sunny near the coast, but on our way to Julian, it got rainy and in the town of Julian, it was hailing and there was snow on the ground. Here are the directions from the coast:

From Coastal Areas of LA

Take I-5 South to SR78 East to Ramona

Turn right (keep on SR78) and continue another 15 miles to Santa Ysabel.

The Julian Pie Company is located at 21976 Hwy 79 (at the junction on SR78 & SR79) in Santa Ysabel.

*** To visit the location in Julian, continue on SR78 for another 7 miles. When you arrive at the stop sign in Julian, turn left. They are located at 2225 Main Street in Julian. ***

Before we got to Julian, we stopped at the Julian Pie Company in Santa Ysabel for some apple pie and ice cream because we read that the shop was larger and less crowded, but still had the same pie. We got a slice of original and a slice of dutch. Both hot slices came with a hand sized slab of vanilla bean ice cream. There were other pie shops in town, but we were unprepared for the cold weather so we took a quick look around and headed home.

death valley in october is cold

Daniel and I drove up towards death valley this weekend and spent most of the weekend driving around the park. We took the up toward the 395. We stopped in the brand new Super Target in Hesperia for some snacks and a whirl around the store in Target's new ergonomic shopping carts and then headed up the 395. It was super cold!

three baby cards

I made my first attempt at making baby greeting cards today. A lot of people we know seem to be having babies and though they may be far away, we want to welcome them into the world while I have a little fun and try my hand at card making. Daniel and I picked up a pack of Jolee's Boutique Baby Stickers-Zoo Animals.I love stickers! I also used some making memories embellishment paper Cosmopolitan Collection that I bought from Target a while ago. The collection is no longer available, but here is a similar collection Making Memories Paper 12
Here are the results:

can

This is one of the most inspiring videos I've ever watched.

actual studying

Where to Study
The most helpful thing for me to do was to go out to study. Studying at home was much less effective. I started studying in the lounge at our apartment complex for the first couple of weeks, but it closed at 10pm and people came in and out. Then I tried to study at borders, but getting a table took up to 20 minutes as I had to compete with students. Also, on Friday night, they had a live band which was nice, but not helpful for concentrating. Around February 23rd, I stopped by Target on my way to Borders to get a snack and discovered the Target food area. It was perfect! I tucked myself away at the far end of the seating area. The tables are big, there are lots of windows for plenty of natural light and food service guests do not usually stay a long time. There is plenty of food and free refills on soda, a restroom nearby, and a Starbucks (for coffee drinkers out there). Once I became a regular, the servers at Starbucks offered me first pick at their sample concoctions. There are no outlets at Target, but I mostly had to read and create flashcards.

What to Study
During the first three weeks, I mostly read. As a break from reading, I copied all of the sample questions that I could get my hands on onto index cards. For the amount of information that needed to be written on the answer side, 5x7 index cards worked better than the 3x5. Since I was at Target, when I ran out of cards, I could just go in the store to buy some more. Each evening after work, I had from 7pm - 10 pm closing to read or make flashcards so I broke down the study material into 2 and a half hour sections, half an hour of flashcard making and 15 minutes for unexpected dilly dallying or caffeine breaks or sections that took extra long to process. On Saturday and Sunday, I tried to keep to three two and a half hour sessions. In between, I would walk around the store or pick up a magazine near the cashiers to give myself a break.

Readings include all the AIA Contract Documents listed in my 2/5/08 blog especially the Owner-Contractor Agreement, Owner Architect Agreement, Architect Consultant Agreement and the corresponding sections when a Construction Manager is involved. There were many questions related to the Contract Documents that required information about which party is responsible for which tasks during specific phases of the project. In at least two questions, I was asked to list specific tasks that came directly from the Contract Documents. Unfortunately, memorization of the Contract Documents was really helpful. I did not memorize everything, but I would have come out of my exam a lot more confident had I known the material better. I came up with acronyms or phrases to help me remember points such as the responsibilities of the architect during Construction Administration. I picked a word from each section of the Contract and just tried to remember those words to trigger my memory of the details of each task.

I spent at least 5 hours on the Architects Practice Act. The Act had more things to memorize, but also had concepts for protecting the public to understand. I tried to get my hands on every sample question out there about the Act and derived answers to those questions from the Act. My goal with these straightforward questions was to be able to repeat the answers word for word from the Act which left more room in my mind for the more complicated questions that required more thought.

I also studied all possible consultants an architect and an owner could have and their impact on a project, their responsibilities and relationships with all parties involved. The Boardway workshop was very helpful in understanding how to construct an answer when questions involve consultants.

There were several other documets to study such as CEQA, the Historical Building Code, Essential Services Act, Energy Code, Building Code, etc. I ran out of time to study these well, so I focused on remembering the purposes of the documents and what part of the project was affected and how. When asked to list specifics, I relied on my experience and common sense.

How to Study
Three methods I used to study were: read, create flashcards and practice (with people, with a camera). I skimmed all of the material first, organized it and started to read. About two weeks into reading, I realized that I was going to run out of time, so I started integrating reading and flashcards. As I read, if the content answered a question that I wrote on a flashcard, I would find the flashcard and write down the answer immediately. How did I find the flashcard? I broke down the flashcards into one of the four categories in the exam booklet and wrote a little A-1 or A-2 or A-3 and so on in the corner if it belonged to category A. The Boardway workshops offer questions that go with a sample project which was very helpful to practice drawing a relationship between the answer and the project.

After reading enough to answer all of my flashcard questions, I stopped reading and focused on practicing with my flashcards. First reading them to myself at Target, then saying the answers outloud, then filming myself answer and replaying it, and finally having my coworkers and husband read me the questions and answering while being filmed. After the read and answer sessions, I asked them for critiques. My coworkers suggested that I relax more because it seemed like knew the answer, but was nervous to answer confidently. My husband noticed that I was taking a long time to speak after hearing the question. I told him that I wanted to organize my answer before starting to speak. He suggested that I let my panelists know that I will probably be silent for a few minutes before I answer first question is asked. His reasoning was that the panelists are people too and I should react to them as I would to anyone with whom I have a conversation. "If you were talking to someone, you wouldn't sit there quiet for five minutes and not say anything and then all of a sudden start talking, would you?" he asked. The panelists are there to help the profession and to help me. The panelists and I have to be in the hotel room together for anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours. The worst thing that can happen is that I fail and have a bad time during the exam. The best thing that can happen is that I pass and have fun doing it. That was probably the best critque. During the rest of my time studying and during the exam, I tried to think of the exam as something that I have worked hard for and have finally arrived at the final stage. I will pass eventually whether or not it was this time. During the exam, I was lively and showed my enthusiasm for the profession and most importantly, remembered that I wanted to be there and hopefully made my panelists want to be there too.

how i began studying for the oral

It's been several months since I got my license and I want to share my experience in hope that it will help someone with their oral exam adventures.

I began thinking about starting the studying process when one of the former director's in the office told me about a workshop she attended that she couldn't have passed the exam without taught by Michael Boardway. I looked up his website here: www.mba-architectural.com. The best way to get information about the seminars is to call the number on the website and leave a message. Professor Boardway is prompt to answer voice mail. It's probably a good idea to print out the schedule before he calls back.

I signed up for the overview seminar held on 01.26.08, which was in Irvine, and my employer was kind enough to let me take time off for the four week workshop in San Bernardino. The workshop was held from 1pm - 5pm on Wednesday afternoons. Driving from Newport Beach, it took from 45 minutes to well over an hour. There is a Fastrak lane on the 91 that helps. My classmate drove from Frank Geary's office in Los Angeles and the traffic for him was about the same.

Looking back, I probably could have skipped the overview seminar as it was an abbreviated version of the four week workshop, but it was a good jump start for me to get back in the mode of studying and allowed me to pick up the study guide before the workshop began on 01.30.08. During the overview session (9am-12pm), Professor Boardway went over codes, acts, sections of the AIA contract documents and topics listed in the Examination Test Plan. In addition to content, he also discussed strategies for recognizing the type of question being asked and how to format answers in a way that covers all of the content for which the panelists are looking.

In my next blog, I'll write about how I studied.

utah 2008 - the drive home

I drove back from my annual trip to Utah and arrived home last Friday to attend a wedding last night. The drive on I-70 was amazing. I wish I had brought a better camera to capture the scenery. Here are some photos taken with my HP Photosmart M22. It is a great little camera for these trips because it is durable, weather resistant, small and inexpensive in case something should ever happen to it on these trips. Here is a video of the landscape just west of the San Rafeal Reef.

utah flood

On the last day of our trip, it rained. We hid in the back of the car to try to wait it out, but when the rain kept going, we decided to pack up and leave.

It didn't rain so much where we were shooting, but enough in the mountains so that the road was flooded out. The videos show the jagged curve in the road caused by the water. On the other side of the road, the water was pooling and as the water receded, the ravine on the right side of the video revealed itself. We ended up digging trenches and packing the tracks down for the wheels of the car. Where the road rises at the far end of the video, we dug out the mud and added rocks to create a more solid ramp on which the car could drive. The photo below is what happened to my shoes after we dug the tracks.

Beginning of the Flood (yes, the noise is the water)

Receding of the Flood

vivian's bag

This was one of the first bags I made after I moved to Southern California. It is made of sample upholstry fabric from my friend Vivian for my friend Vivian. I liked the butterflies.

the pan that did!

I did it! I passed the California Supplemental Exam!!! I totally ignored this blog and studied and studied and studied and passed! It was so worth it. So for anyone who is curious as to what, how much and when I studied for this exam, leave me a comment and I will answer. But for now, I would like to end my blogging of that exam and move on to future can dos.

my first mock

Today, I had my first mock oral. I was given nine questions from two categories: organization of architectural practice and professional responsibilities and conduct.

Feedback for both me and my classmate included:
Make more eye contact
Speak with more conviction
Speak more slowly
Pay attention to the phase in which the question is asked
Work the panel (?)
Stay away from personal experience
Try to give textbook answers
Focus on what is being asked
Try to give concise answers

We were audio taped. I will have to allocate time to review the tape and how I sounded.

test date here!!!

I just looked at CAB's website and the 2008 oral exam dates have been posted. My exam date is either March 17th or March 18th. http://www.cab.ca.gov/oral_dates.htm

I have just under 6 weeks to study. If I study at least 16 hours per weekend and 10 hours on the weekdays, that gives me almost 96 hours to study for this exam. I want to go over the AIA contract documents: A101, A111, A201, A201/CMa, A201 SC, A305, A310, A312, A501, A701, B141, B163, B352, B431, C141, D101, D200, G612, G701, G701/CMa, G702, G704, G704/CMa, G706, G706A, G707, G707A, G709, G710, G711, G712, G714, G714/CMa and M107. (40 hours)

I also want to make flashcards as I review the codes (CBC, California Energy Code, Coastal Act, etc.), their purposes and what agencies enforce them. (20 hours)

I have to also read the list of material provided in the package from CAB which includes the Architects Practice Act, Essential Services Building Act, etc. (20 hours)

This leaves 16 hours for review of how to structure my answers.

I think I may have to increase the weekday and weekend hours. But that is my rough estimate.

getting started

Last last Saturday, while I was in an overview class for the California Supplemental Exam (oral exam), my best friend had her first baby. Yay!

The agenda of the class was to go over the topics on the four subject categories of the oral exam: Professional Organization; Professional Responsibilities and Conduct; Research, Programming and Analysis; and Project Scope and Implementation. Each subject lasted about 45 minutes. Areas that I need to review further are: responsibilities of the architect during the design phases, the AIA contract documents and codes, their purposes and what agency enforces each.

Last Wednesday, I had my second class. There are only two of us in the class so we received more personal attention from the instructor. We were able to give examples of our exam questions and to get possible answers from the instructor. Our homework assignment was to write down the problem and questions we can remember from our last exam, dig up our scores to identify our areas of weakness and prepare for our mock orals this Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I will layout my plan for the areas I need to study more.

Chick-fil-a!

Daniel and I had free chick-fil-a breakfast sandwiches this morning. The Chick-fil-a in Tustin is having their free Friday breakfasts thru the end of February. Yum!!

full rainbow

This weekend on the way to Eric's 30th birthday in Las Vegas, Daniel and I saw a full halo rainbow. At first it was only visible through my sunglasses, but a couple of hours into the drive, the full rainbow came out to the naked eye. I made Daniel pull over so that he could see it. At first, he only saw part of the rainbow so he didn't want to pull over, but then he looked out the passenger side window and saw the bottom of the halo as an inverted rainbow. We pulled over and enjoyed the scene for a moment.

lush

Daniel got some lush products this Christmas from the white elephant gift exchange at his office. We've been using the Seanik Solid Shampoo by LUSHsince and it's been great. The lush products seem to be pretty green with less than average synthetic products. I love the way this solid shampoo smells AND it's a greener product because there's no packaging. When we finish all of our other bottles of shampoo, this solid shampoo is the way we're going. We even bought a new soap holder today for our bar of shampoo.

Also in his gift was Ocean Salt Cleanser by LUSH which is a face scrub that makes your skin tight and smell clean and fresh. The soap, Sandstone Soap by LUSH was ok. It dissolved pretty quickly, but did it's job. It had a lemony scent. I couldn't get used to the Buffy Body Butter by LUSH, but it does scrub and moisturize. The body butter also dissolved quickly.