GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Meeting bicycling scholar Prof. John Pucher from Rutgers uni - he lives in Central Jersey and hasn't owned a car for over 35 years. Beats my 15 or so, but who's counting? Read John's academic bio . A cooler article about him in Momentum mag. More about this on the Bike Friday blog. I've just attended the American Institute of Architect's Fit-City 4 , an annual half-day conference Promoting Physical Activity Through Design. It was well attended, and I was one of three people who actually rode a bike, specifically a folding bike to the conference, stashing it under the reception desk. Naturally, bicycling was a central topic in addition to walking and stair climbing. Yes, there was even an expert stair designer on the panel, and the Dept of Mental Health and Hygiene (cleanliness is next to clueyness?) developed a lime green placard you could take away to hang in your stairwells. It reads, " Burn Calories, not Electricity ." Not bad slogonometry, but if

- Cal-Earth UPDATE Jan 2009: It's being lived in! - thanks to Donna Stratman for keeping me in the loop. Email her: donna@island-trust.com +++ I nearly fell off my chair. In Hawaii, I was surfing, er, the internet that is, looking for ideas for my little piece of land on the Big Island. I stumbled upon this man planning to build a 'SuperAdobe' house designed by the famed Cal Earth architect Nader Khalili - in the Nanawale Estates subdivision, right where my land is! The only problem is, on closer investigation it appears the permits were rejected twice back in January 2007 - but the owner is going ahead anyway. I am feverishly hoping there's been an update. It makes sense, especially in Hawaii where the sun and rain are free, sustainability should be the default and yet, 92% of the state's energy consumption is fossil fuel based. If it was volcano-based it would be perfect, but Chevron et al don't seem to be sticking their long snakey hos

The view over the Hudson from the 26th floor of a Trump tower, where I'm not presently staying. Here's another ... SO HERE I am in NYC, holed up for a few fleeting days in a most privileged fashion: I have the complete run of a 489 sq. foot studio apartment in gayboy central Chelsea, courtesy of my NY host, a walking Wikipedia of the built environment, who I shall codename David, to protect the real David .... To my right is a book shelf groaning with every tree ever pulped in the name of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, among other stylemasters of shelter. To my left is wall of superbly framed portraits of these men who've elevated the 3x2 to to the sublime, which quietly state 'you are in the temple of an architectural nut - and those cushions don't go with those pants.' To my rear is a kitchen, which has never seen so much as a cup of Top Ramen in a rested state. When I casually mentioned I was going to cook a meal, my host looked up from his Isamu N

Another 'luxury condo' development in NYC. Note the Frank Gehry 'Bundt Cake/Jello Mold' building to the right. I got the quintessential 'you're taking up airspace, young man' treatment recently. My Chelsea architect friend is always dragging me around to hear the latest Renzo Piano concerto (you can tell I'm not an architect) but we did attempt a sneak peak at a new condo development - correction - at the sales office of the development. We hadn't gotten our Tevas much past the threshold when a 20-something toothy sales rep wafted in our direction to declare, painted nails drawn, "This is NOT a gallery." Shuffling around in our shorts on a muggy summer's day, I guess we DID look like a pair of underfunded galleristas. "I know, this is a sales office. Can we take a look around?" said my friend. She retreated momentarily. We did get to run our fingers across the seamless terazzo countertops and thumb through the thick binder