Antidote to Burnout

Hiking

As I plan for the next couple of years in Vietnam, I sometimes worry about opportunities for hiking. In San Francisco where I live now, there are many opportunities for both urban and natural-area hikes. Golden Gate Park is a... Read more →

An objective look at bird flue

The blog No Star Where has posted a link to an Associated Press article that gives the clearest and most objective analysis so far on the potential for a bird flue pandemic. Since we are planning to relocate to Ho... Read more →

Good Design in Ho Chi Minh City

Unlike Hà Nội where most new houses have a very historicist decorative design, such as this building, the new houses in Ho Chi Minh City are more modernist if not just utilitarian. And while the houses in Hà Nội are... Read more →

Housing in Ho Chi Minh City

Most of the housing in Ho Chi Minh City, like all of the other cities in Việt Nam, is four or five stories tall. This is true for new middle-class houses even in the smaller villages. I understand there is... Read more →

No chickens in Hà Nội?

Yikes! Xe Maybe just posted that the VN government has cleared all chickens out of Hà Nội. That is very hard to imagine considering the chickens everywhere that we saw when we were there last month. And like Xe Maybe... Read more →

The Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas

For my architecture friends -- I recently had the opportunity to go to Little Rock, Arkansas to see the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects. This building complex and park has been well publicized in both... Read more →

Hà Nội impressions....

Recently, the Vietnamese God posted several wonderful architectural photographs from Hà Nội that inspired me to finally sort out my own photos from Hà Nội. This posting catches up with our stay in Hà Nội in early October with a... Read more →

Thorncrown Chapel in Arkansas

Click on any of the photos below to see a larger version. While in Branson, Missouri, last week, I took the opportunity to visit two architectural sites while in the neighborhood -- the new William J. Clinton Library in Little... Read more →

Women Construction Workers in Việt Nam

Virtual Doug is publishing a series of articles on his blog chronicling the construction of a typical Vietnamese house. In his latest article, he noted that most of the construction workers were women. I commented back to Doug that the... Read more →

Back in San Francisco for awhile....

We are back in San Francisco after two weeks in southern China, three weeks in Vietnam, and a week in Branson, Missouri. We still intend to relocate to Vietnam soon -- the date is up in the air for awhile,... Read more →