On my trip to Argentina, I visited Rosario, the capital of the province of Santa Fe and a rapidly expanding waterfront city. Many of its agricultural and industrial buildings are being converted to other uses as these uses are pushed to the city’s perimeter. These old buildings are along prime [...]

How long do buildings live and remain useful?  And what’s the cost of building something new rather than retrofitting? I’ve found myself mulling these questions over as I ride around the Stanford campus and bear witness to the spectacular construction boom.  The new Engineering quad and the new Graduate School [...]

I recently returned from a trip to Argentina where I spent my time visiting family and exploring the city. I have been to Buenos Aires many times (7? 8?) and was always conscious of the city’s poor air quality as compared to that of my home state of California. This [...]

This photo is of me sailing in the Columbia River Gorge, a national scenic area in Washington and Oregon. Sailing is a way to feel connected to a place and experience it in a way that you couldn’t otherwise. It has taught me a respect for natural forces, whether it’s the current, the [...]

As those with a vegetable garden know well, it is tomato season. My dad has been growing two heirloom varieties: Caspian Pink, on the right, and San Diego, on the left. Yesterday afternoon he came in with this massive amount weighing in at 27 pounds all together. And that monstrous [...]

Here’s one last picture from my trip to Zion (see the first and second). Looking at a picture like this, one is reminded of the incredible power of nature and the relatively insignificant amount of time that the human species has been on the planet.  Like the unexpected shrubs growing [...]