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Friday, December 14, 2012

Brands, what would the world be without them?


United we stad brand flag
Brands, what would  the world be without them?
What is a brand? Or maybe we should ask ourselves how do we distinguish one company from the other? If you are to buy a car, which one would you buy? And how do you choose from this car from the other one, we have so many options nowadays.
But brands not only entitle one logo and colors, symbols, a good brand makes a company’s experience just pop in your mind when you see the distinctive sings. I am not going to tell you about the history of it or give you a deep definition of it either.
Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand, of a brand from the experiential aspect.
Just imagine, all these huge corporations began as a small idea, then somebody started it,  and with the year they became huge businesses lik we all know them by now.
Since you are well aware that I am more interested on sharing my personal experiences and thoughts about my anything I talk about, I would like to share with you at the closing of this year a few good brands that I got to know well this year. Most of them are my accounting clients and I would like to share with you their success experiences from my point of view.

Don't be so surprised some day maybe in 10 or 20 more years when these people and businesses that I describein the lines below are as big as the ones described at the united we stad brand flag.
Aleili Centeno – Aleili is a wonderful  girl, she is the personification of what I always encourage people to , which is have a full time job and start your own business on the side and keep it this way until your business picks up and just take it from there. Aleili’s brand is Aleili’s design; Aleili is a full time pharmacist that always has the interest of jewelry design. Aleili decided to start designing her own jewelry and some purses as well, I have seen her designs and let me tell you and I am very impressed.
Lauren Amber Serna – I know her for years and her brand is Transformational healing and sitting transmission. Lauren is a life counselor and energy healer in California, and she is based in the city of Granada Hills. I have attended some of her sessions at her home, and let me tell you she is good at what she does; Lauren is also a speaker at multiple public events in the greater Los Angeles area. You can learn more about Lauren at the Interview we did back on August this year. Pay special attention to her thought about what is going to happen on December 2012. Please help to develop the likes on her facebook page.
Jordan Cappella – His name says it all, and his brand is Jordan Cappella, Jordan is an Australian interior designer who is really amazing at what he does, every time I go to his house I can see he is good at what he does. Just picture yourself visiting a major Hollywood celebrity, and certainly Jordan’s house is full of his own work everywhere, and Jordan’s house is just like any other Hollywood celebrity. I have seen the furniture he designs, candles, soap bars, and of course the spaces he designs. Jordan’s work has been portrayed at multiple magazines; Jordan had appearances on multiple TV shows. Please take a time to like Jordan’s fan page.
Lira Luis – Lira is a Architect based in the city of Chicago. Lira is one best example of how to develop a brand. Lira’s brand is ALL Atelier Lira Luis. Lira has architectural licenses in multiple states. Lira is the architect to meet and hire in the states of Arizona, Illinois, also in Asia and Europe. In her spare time Lira has the time to share her experiences with the world giving speeches all over the world, lira also keeps a blog and I am proud to say that the video interviews I have shot with Lira are the ones that have the most traffic ever in my segment “Enrique & friends



Link to lira Facebook page
Luis Pazos – Luis is a multi talented young man, hi is a movie editor, writer, producer  and actor in Hollywood, and his brand is Dasoir Films, I have seen his work which is really good, I also witnessed this year Luis receiving the Toscar Award, that awards the best short films on Hollywood. He won in the categories of the best editing and for the best short film movie in Hollywood. Luis and I went together to the writing boot camp   class earlier this year. Luis was part of this movie Avatar. I am pretty sure you can recognize the guy with him in the picture. This was a great experience. Please give some likes to Luis's Facebook page, we all greatly apreciate it.

Link to Luis Facebook page

Enrique Otarola- All you know who I am, and the brand that I represent which is OREM which has the multiple divisions such as Accounting, Marketing, Nonprofit and soon Real Estate. We encourage people to pursue their dreams and start your own business and whichever interest you have in life. Please help us to build our friend base and help us to reach 1,000 likes in our Facebook page

Darius Paiseka – I know Derek for a few years by now, and I was really impressed by his work this year when I had finally the chance to see his work. His brand is Studio Darek LLC, which is a construction design LLC, his LLC designs and builds projects. Derek is multi talented and his background is in interior Architecture, he is based in Phoenix AZ.  I was impressed to see this building he got and  he transformed it and it is a really hip place. Derek is one coolest person I ever met. And I would like to see his progress on another project he mentioned to me. I still have not seen the cool terrace he had built on his second floor and I am pretty sure we all will enjoy seeing it when I have the chance to interview him there in 2013. Please take some time to like Derek’s Facebook page
Sorry no interview yet, available until 2013.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The tax year is almost gone...so, get ready!

OREM Sounthern California
No, my friends and followers, I am not dead yet and I am here to stay, so for the ones that were already celebrating, I tell you I fell great and almost 100% recovered. Thank you for your emails and messages from all over the world. I really appreciate them.
It is November and as we are getting closer and closer to the New Year, I cannot think of a better idea than to start to get ready for Tax season, individuals, companies, individuals with businesses, etc.

OREM Southern California Website
Usually I came across people that have a complicated organization system, mainly because they don’t have any, bookkeeping should not be that difficult, it should only record what is important for your tax preparation nothing else.

OREM Northern California

Some people ask me how to get organize; it is not difficult at all. If you are just starting, you have so many choices nowadays; from the simplest excel spreadsheet to the more elaborated accounting software.

If you are in a small business or thinking to start one, I suggest to record your income and expense with excel every month, and also save your receipts and invoices in order just in case you need to get to it.

OREM Northern California Website
However,  if you want to be a bit more organized than that, I suggest getting any of those accounting software at the local electronics store. I have used QuickBooks, Peachtree, and those are not expensive nor difficult to use at all, I remember paying like $80.00 for my very first accounting software, and the cool part of it is that not only you can record all your transactions on it but also you can scan your invoices and attach them into the software, so you always will have access to your invoices and when you are done in the year, it will give you a nice and well organized Financial Statement that will ease a lot your income tax filing, and will keep all  your expenses in track.


OREM Arizona
What I have discovered as well is the fact that these financial statements also help you to point out the unnecessary expenses so you can avoid them in the future.

So, please do not wait until the last minute to have all your tax forms ready, all your income and expenses ready for the business owners.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Don't push yourself to the limit, or the breaking point, this is not joke




Please, check on your blood pressure, visit your doctor.
Hello Everybody, I want to tell everybody who works hard for your career, business, school, etc.. think how important is this effort that you are doing. You may be one of those people that some times over do it, by postponing  breaks, or by delaying your own personal life. Think on how meaningless all this effort could be if suddenly you get a wakeup call in your life (heart attack, stroke, seizure, etc). 

 Well, let me tell you I was one of those who work ten hours in a row without taking breaks or delayed  breaks for the second part of the day.  I could easily accumulate projects finished one to just jump into the second one finish it and then take my break or relax. I was not aware that I had a high blood pressure for a few months, which is also called the silent killer because there are not warning signs.


What I can recall is having some minor headaches, or felling dizzy at times, which of course I just take some pain killers and keep on working. I thought by just joining the gym or playing some sports it would take care of the problem but I was so wrong. I should have made an appoint with the doctor. 



I was so glad to leave the ICU
and in my way to my own suite

Three weeks ago while at the gym, I was getting ready to play Volleyball with some friends, when all of the sudden  I felt so agitated, then dizzy, then I collapsed, and next thing  I can remember is having my friend Eric next to me telling me the paramedics were on their way.  I remember this worst ever headache. While at the ambulance I remember following some directions, to move my right arm, my left arm, to move my left arm, left leg, I remember I could not move the left side of my body, for some reason I did not worry, I was not fully aware of the situation either. Then I remember being placed into a MRI machine to check my brain.


My next memory jumped to a ICU intensive care unit where I laid down on a bed, then I saw like ten friends around me, then I felt sleep.

At the Intensive Care Unit
 Then hours later, I remember that I was going to have some kind of procedure in my brain. I have  had so many surgeries in the past, I counted the other da and they're close to 10, that I was not really scared nor impressed either, knowing I was in what it is considered one if not the best hospital in the world.
After a few hours I remember having a panel of doctors in front of me, yes I felt just like one of those talent shows, and certainly I did not wanted to be eliminated at this point.
Then I was asked a few basic questions, like my name, here I was at, the day, the time, and to move my arms and legs, this time I remember I was able to move my whole body. The only thing that bothered me was the constant headache, which was minor compared to what I had the night before.
Then hours later, I start on receiving some shocking statistics, like
“Enrique, 95% of people who has what you had died on the spot”.
“Enrique, don’t worry, you are going to live”
“Enrique, you are so lucky, you are recovering so well, and so fast, you are doing great”
“Enrique, you can considered yourself like you have a second chance in your life and you just re-born at this age”
I got most of this information while still at the ICU and when I had access to my personal computer and cell phone. I was so nicely impresed by all the get better messages from all over the world, I was like WOW bad news spread fast. I had some friends visiting me to the hospital as well, Thank you all.
Some friends and doctor family members informed me that “ Enrique, just 3 or 4 people out of 100 survived of what you had, or fully recovered, some people remained paralyzed and have to go under physical therapy to recover fully

Robert, and friends visiting me

I have a friend who  told me that I am so optimistic even at the most scaring times, I do not think of myself as that optimistic, I feel well, except by the fact that I cannot fully move my left feet. Other than that I feel like before except by this minor head aches.
On my last doctor visit I was told I need to forget about those ten hour study or working marathons I used to do. That I need to take more breaks and enjoy more life around me.
I suggests  to everybody to do the same “Enjoy more your life, family members, friends, go out more often, join the gym, take care more of yourself.”
Then I had a friend (client) who told me, probably he was fully aware of what I experienced “Enrique, you have so much to do in this world yet, so you cannot die yet, you need to help me to make so many businesses decisions.”
To be honest with you, this issue surprised me a lot, since I am the kind of person who works out at the gym often, I eat healthy all the time, and rarely felt sick.
I want to express to everybody who works a lot, and who depends on your own or those people that depend on your work, to tell people to Relax and to take life easier, no need to rush or to push themselves to do things or to complete projects, it is much better to take plenty of time to finish your projects and also to take breaks every couple of hours or so.
In my personal case, I am the kind of person that always placed my projects or plans first before anything else, and since I remember from my high school years, I remember working for hours and hours in a row without breaks until I completed my projects or home works and then I finely took my break once I completed the whole projects.
I remember having some headaches or feeling dizzy when working on some projects or home works. I also remember some of my family members   that are doctors telling me to take breaks to be easier with myself or to let my brains relax for a while before resuming to my projects.
I do remember having these issues more often once I was admitted at my Engineering school; I have always just ignore it and just work myself off until finished or completed my projects for school, or studying for any school test.

It is not my intention to give any kind of medical advise, I'm just sharing my own personal experience and hope this could help somebody and who knows avoid this experience to you.
My ideal for breaks or vacations was to complete projects and once everything was finished or under controls then I felt relaxed enough to enjoy a break or a vacation.
Or if you are in a similar situation of where I was or even if you are not, I would suggests  to visit your doctor and have a check up, because you never know what might  be going on.

And yes,  will make some canges in my work and personal life too.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Social Media, Sustainability and Empowerment in San Francisco

Transamerica building & early skycraper
This time I headed to the Bay area in northern California to take area of some business clients (yes, I like to do the extra mile, about 380 miles in this case), and this short trip was full of surprises and nice events. The good thing about having all of my clients spread all over 3 neighboring states is the fact that I happen to visit them quite often when required and that is an advantage when traveling while conducting business.
The weather in Los Angeles (near the ocean) was about 73 degrees, so we expected it to be about the same these days, and a friend of mine told me the weather would be around 50 and 70, much cooler than Los Angeles. So, after we arrived in the Bay area and left all our cargo in the hotel, we drove to St Helena, to the CIA “Culinary Institute of America”. Robert took four years of culinary arts while in high school and he wanted to visit this amazing place. And while driving throughout the Napa County, we noticed how well kept and green is this whole area.
In general the whole Bay Area has its unique personality, that always draws me to it, with all its green areas, their weather, their well kept landscaping, their recycling bins everywhere (like most of California near the ocean cities), and their people.
Santa Rosa town - 1919 building
While driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, I could not resist but to stop in one of the visit areas, the first one was unusually full so I was forced to make the other end, not after paying the $5 toll. The ocean breeze was colt, my car marked 57 degrees outside and I was wearing shorts thinking like any common individual this is California, and California has its weather, well I was wrong this time.
After making a few stops, we drove north to the Napa County, yes where the California wine comes from, I was excited, we passed vineyard after vineyard, this whole area seem like the perfect place to have the wine tasting, olives and cheese, or maybe to take a class on wine and become a wine expert. The wine sampling did not sound too appealing to me since I was driving and I still had a lot to do in this trip.
More stops, then we passed by this Santa Rosa town, it was so green, so well kept, the weather was just perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and the environment was just delicious. I saw houses from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, these buildings were so well kept and somehow they were recycled into residences and commercial buildings. This place reminded me a lot of Palo Alto which I visited last year in 2011, it was just like it to me but much smaller.
While driving we were trying to figure out how the life of a student at this culinary arts school would be, this place is definitely isolated, and we did not see many apartment complexes around but hotels and vineyards, we figure probably they are must have some sort of dorms or living around the site.

Vine warehouse into reception room

We passed after some breath taking views at this area, picture this, a hill full of green vineyards and flowers around and a Victorian house on top of the hill, we saw this picture several  times while driving, and these place happened to be wine makers, this place was so beautiful and it was not that far from San Francisco, just  one hour away driving.
So we finely arrived to the CIA Greystone, I was glad that it was not crowded like most of California main attractions, the weather was at 85 degrees by now, just perfect!
The view of the main building from the entrance is just amazing, I had the impression of watching a European castle, and the stone building is impressive with all their landscaping around this place is worth the trip.
We started by visiting the museum and look at the original cornerstone of Greystone, where the founder of this place buried some bottles of wine in the concrete foundation of this place. Now they have this stone on display in a crystal box.
We were told by one of their staff members that our guess was right, the students stay on dorms while attending to this school. What surprised me the most was the fact that they not only teach the culinary arts but they also have their own vineyards and they teach all about wines, they also have their own restaurant, their own gift shop, and they have their old wine warehouse (full of those huge wooden wine containers) that was transformed in to a beautiful  room that can host gatherings like weddings, parties, etc.
Speaking about sustainability, green building, recycling buildings and new uses.
Greystone culinary arts school
This is a place that I will definitely recommend to visit while you’re in northern California, while you can buy some good quality wine for really cheap in this area.
After visiting wine country we came back to the San Francisco area, this time he headed to the Fisherman wharf, which is just a few yards away from Port Mason which is near the ocean (I stayed at this place the first time I ever visited northern California a gazillion years ago). This place has all kind of businesses all over the place, many people and tourist from all over the world too. We walk from the free public parking to the wharf and while walking I noticed the Ghirardelli’s brick building (yes, the famous chocolate factory) which is an icon in this city. This building was constructed in the late 1800’s. I remember back the first time I came to this area I wanted to see this place but I did not have the chance. This place was designed to be walked, they have this beautiful  park right next to the beach, a marina museum, and the shops in the near streets.
From this point you can really see Alcatraz which you can access by ferry.
This place is also walking distance from the original San Francisco Port, where ships from all over the world used to connect this city. Nowadays,  they have one of those old ships at the port that you can visit and walk around too.
I spotted the Ghirardelli building just like half block away so we decided to pay a visit. This place is a perfect example of green design, sustainability and green construction. They fused the old brick building with a modern terrace and metal structures that added to the building use. I’ve noticed this lot in this city.  We walked in to the Ghirardelli’s shop where they staff greets everybody with free chocolate samples, we were in heaven!
Fisherman Wharf - San Francisco
They have the famous Ghirardelli plaza right next to the shop where you can relax and rest when you are walking in this city.
This plaza is full of shops of all kinds, and right next to the plaza they have some of the old machines in display, what impressed me the most is the metal and stone mortar that was used to break in to liquid the cocoa beans.  The plaque read that Chocolate is originally from ancient Mexico and the Aztec king used to offer this drink called “chocolatl” in the ceremonies to their gods.
This day was becoming colder and colder and we headed to the last stop before heading to the hotel.
While walking around this city, I could not but admire the beauty of this city, their green gardens everywhere, their Victorian houses, and the new buildings that resemble Victorian houses, their streets that run up and down the hills, its weather, and its people.
It was cold and breeze when we arrived to the hotel. But that did not stop us from reaching our last destination from the day.
Ghirardelli factory - built on 1898
It happened to be a coincidence that my good friend Lira Luis, an architect from Chicago was in the city working in a summit about Social Media in the AEC industry. The last time I met Lira was in Las Vegas in May, you can read more at our May blog article, and you can see our Las Vegas conversation too.
By the time we both met, we were tired after a long working day, tired but happy to reunite. We held a friendly conversation about Social Media and Sustainability with some vine, olives and cheese, and being in San Francisco, the place of green building then decided to record our conversation like we did in Las Vegas for everybody to enjoy.
Since our accounting company learned the basics on Social Media, and we confirmed that having those statistics services work, we decided to create OREM Domains, which is a company that helps you to create a domain name, to build a website, to host your website and to keep track of your traffic with the website analytics service.
Celebrating the reunion - San Francisco
Could you believe that by just adjusting some words on your website, blog or video description you can reach thousands of viewers? This later can translate in revenue.
Filming this conversation on Social Media and Sustainability was fun and very educative for me. For instance I did not know that one of the countries that is the most green is Costa Rica.
I also did not know that by just doing your part while taking care of yourself you can be green and sustainable too, simple things like separating paper and plastic, using less water, using your bicycle for short commutes, not wasting resources and recycling as much as possible. By doing this you are making a big difference for future generations.
The next day we decided to take a tour together in this fascinating city, so we all went to diverse places in the Bay Area in my SUV.
First stop was the Palace of Fine Arts, this place is an amazing place surrounded by neat gardens, walk ways, and the neighborhood is full of Victorian houses style, and other styles that go from conservative to ultra modern. This place has also an artificial lagoon with water fountains. If you visit the Bay area you definitely have to visit this place.
Ghirardelli's new modern addition
Our next destination was Lombard St, which is the crookedness street in the America, this street has traffic in one direction only (down) and it is located in a hill, funny fact is that after we parked, we had to literally climb out and later climb back in to the car because the car was parked sideways in a hill
There were lots of people at this street (tourist mainly) all looking for the perfect moment to take their pictures.
Next stop was Coit Tower, which is located at the end of Lombard St in a hill, this place was beautiful , historic and has one of the best views in the Bay Area, and it was full of people. Too bad they charge to be able to go on top of the tower, so I didn’t go. Parking was also challenging at this limited parking space.
One of our final destinations was downtown San Francisco, this city is so beautiful and well kept that I would like someday to own property at this place. This city is much pricey than Los Angeles, I can tell.
Driving throughout these streets I saw the Transamerica Pyramid building. I was surprised to learn that this building was one of the pioneers in green building back in the late 1960’s the Transamerica building was commissioned by Transamerica CEO John Beckett, with the claim that he wished to allow natural light and fresh air to filter down to the street below. This building has 850 ft and contains 48 floors of retail and office space. Although the tower no longer serves as the Transamerica Corporation headquarters, it still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the company’s logo. The building was designed by architect William Pereira.

Golden Gate Bridge on windy day
Driving down the street I spotted the early skyscrapers in town. I saw some of the historic buildings but not that many. Later I recall that most of the historic buildings were destroyed by the fire of early 1900’s. At 5:12 Am. of April 18, 1906 an earthquake estimated between 7.8 and 8.3 that lasted for about 45 seconds on the Ritcher scale, which wasn’t invented until 1935. The earthquake broke gas pipelines, water supply and waste lines which later ignited several fires in the city. The early fire fighters even used ocean water pumped to several locations, but the efforts were not enough to contain the fire that lasted for 72 hours. In the aftermath most of the buildings were severely damaged and they were required to be demolished and replaced.
Then we went for a late lunch or early dinner (lunner?) and we headed to Chinatown San Francisco. What surprises me is the fact that all the major old cities (that I’ve visited) with Chinese migration have these common early Chinese settlements. For instance, the ones in Lima-Peru, Los Angeles-California, or San Francisco-California have distinctive common characteristics. The one in South America in Lima city has a blend of the local culture and food, and the ones in California (north and south) have a more authentic characteristic.
Palace of Fine Arts - San Francisco
Our final destination was the Castro Area, this is the place where all the Gay right movement started. I’ve been a few times in this city but I never found the place where Harvey Milk started it all. I believe things happen for a reason, we were just driving around Castro street looking for a place to park, (parking was a bit challenging here too) when all of the sudden I found a space who somebody seemed to be holding for me (he left just until I approached) immediately after getting out of the car, I recognized the front store where we just parked (yes, I watched the movie Milk, the story of Harvey B. Milk), this was the place that Harvey Milk rented back in the early 1970’s as his Camera shop and where people always seemed to gather to discuss the latest new, problems and concerns. Its front windows turned into a community bulletin board, covered with announcements of upcoming civil rights demonstrations, protests, meetings, and events. Harvey became “the major of Castro Street”. Nowadays it serves as the Human Rights Campaign, an Action Center & Store. If you don’t know his story, I recommend the movie.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 (after 3 failed attempts). This is the spirit that I always embrace when I encourage people to pursue their dreams and push them to go in to their own business, no matter how many times you fail, all you need is to make some adjustments and try again.
Lombard St. Crookedest St in America
We walked around Castro Street, interacting with this place, looking into the shops, the stores, the bars, I’m based in Los Angeles so I was pretty curious about the possible similarities with West Hollywood (the Los Angeles Gay center), and I found that they’re none, its place has its own unique character. Then we walked to the wine-cheese-coffee shop store where we sampled some wine, cheese and crackers, I would be happy living nears this place!
The sunset just start, and it was getting dark, and after dropping my friend at the San Francisco airport we headed to Los Angeles. It was cold and dark outside, its time to go home and I can just wonder when I will be back to this wonderful city.
Chinese lamp at Chinatown San Francisco
Transamerica building in downtown San Francisco

Castro Street
Castro area

Castro area
Human Rights Campain Store










Special thanks to Lira Luis, Merwin Videña, Robert Ziemlak for making this article blog possible.
***

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Pursuing careers architecture vs engineering


At the A & D Museum

I recently received the visit of a good friend of mine Jisun who is an architecture student in San Diego. We both went to visit many places and discovering some amazing places in Los Angeles that I was not even aware they exist.
Like the first time we met last year, she made me appreciate the beauty of a good building design in the inside and out. Video architectural tour.

The multi layer design of the future

We started our tour in the Miracle Mile district in Los Angeles, first stop the Architectural and Design Museum of Los Angeles, this is a place that I’ve always seen when driving by but never visited. So this time we headed to this place and I was  very much nicely surprised to see all the good designs from students from all over Southern California, so much talent around us. Funny fact is that I know more Architects and Designers outside California than inside.
Drinks in West Hollywood
Dinner in Marina del Rey
Anyway, since I have completed my Civil Engineering training almost 20 years ago (yes, many of you have not even born yet…. as architects) so I can read blue prints, building plans, elevations, cuts, layers, etc. This is when I created OREM Engineering & Architecure design for my early engineering individual jobs. http://www.oremead.com/
Caltrans
My friend Jisun helped me differentiate the good design from a bad one, or in other words the simple single layer ones from the intricate multi level great designs. This was a great lesson to learn. I remember back in the day (when still at the school) when my many architect student buddies came to me for help with the structural design for their buildings, I was so pleased and happy to be part of something that will last for  their buildings. This place reminded me of that.
Caltrans main entrance
LAPD head quarters
The same day we went to the Marina to have the dinner for Robert’s birthday, the restaurant is right next to the Pacific Ocean and the set up is just amazing. Later the same eve we went for some drinks in West Hollywood, at this place we noticed there are many places that have a bed as part of the decoration. I remember another bar in Hollywood a few months ago with a bed setting around the main room where people can just lay down while having drinks and appetizers.
Cathedral altar


LA Cathedral
 
Cool design next to cathedral
My friend told me we will do an architectural tour in downtown Los Angeles as part of her training. That reminded me back in the day when I was in Engineering school, I used to have these field trips to concrete plants, steel factories, construction sites, etc. but the main purpose of our student field trips was to familiarize us with the construction process and everything that goes along it, we had to wear hard hats, boots, etc, we went the whole enchilada with it… it was fun!
 


We were just so interested in comparing and analyzing the differences among Architecture and Engineering learning processes, it was just fascinating, while architecture focus on the design and visual aspect of the educational process, Engineering focuses in the dynamic of the construction process itself and the final result of it, and it has to be construction in motion because if the building is done then students cannot really learn it. We discussed all this while we walked to the Caltrans building, and while we contemplated its intricate design, she made me aware of the design details that normally would go unnoticed by the untrained eye. While she was more interested in the shape and open spaces my brain went on to the structural aspect the concrete walls, beams, pillars, and the massive steel structures that supported all the fancy metal skin and how they were attached to the building.


Architec & Engineering students 1991
Me at center and architect friends

Very first engineering design 1991


The metal skin made sense to me because it created a shade that diffuses the heat. I recall many times working for different accounting departments where these offices just had huge windows facing the sun and while one side of the office is burning under the sun, the other side of the same office is freezing with the air conditioning constant blasting.


Very first paid structural design 1992

While walking to the Los Angeles Cathedral, we passed by the Los Angeles City Hall, where I usually file the applications for all of my clients business licenses.
After a few minutes of walk under the California weather we arrived to the Our Lady of Los Angeles Cathedral, I’ve never been here before either. I always heard about the uniqueness of this place and every time since it was built a few years ago I always wanted to visit it but never had the time or the opportunity. This is an amazing place, the inside is huge, huge open spaces, huge windows.


Venice canals

There was a wedding when we arrived and after a few pictures we went to the catacombs (the cemetery beneath the church) we could feel the energy flouting around and my friend was a bit jumpy at times since we were alone down here. I’m Peruvian so no worries in this department, we Peruvians believe that a horde of family spirits follows us around to help and protect us, and if you mess with us, oh boy, you’ll see the consequences, maybe that’s why some friends of mine think I’m a lucky guy.

Walking the Venice canals

Then we walked to the gardens outside, this moment made me realize this church was built right next to the Hollywood freeway (101) in downtown Los Angeles that usually is so crowded and loud. The windows and the design simply kept all the noise outside and from my point of view that is a major achievement. While contemplating the freeway we spot some inscriptions in the concrete wall of the traffic divider, they were these bell, church, palm trees designs that remind us the site we were just visiting. And to the other side of the church it was this structure that until this moment I can’t figure out what it is, my friend told me it is a school disguised as something that reminds me of a massive android working.


Picnic in Griffith park

Walking in Venice beach

And before the nice weather was completely gone for the day we decided to visit “the Venice canals” in Venice beach that is just 3 miles west from where I live. Another friend of mine told me a few years ago these canals were build to mimic the Italian city of Venice, they were build some decades ago but later they were neglected and people were just leaving this area due to the bad condition of the place, but later some people decided to take action and started on to cleaning the canals, taking care of the houses around the canals and little by little the value started going back up and the businesses came back to the area, nowadays this is a such a nice place to visit, with lots and lots of nice landscaping, beautiful houses all over the place, some old designs, some super modern but all share the same Venice canals uniqueness.

Ennis Brown house in Hollywood

Then we headed to the beach for a walk along one of the most famous wonderful California beaches, we walked a few miles to the Venice pier and enjoyed the crowd from all over the world walking around this place. This day was far from over because then we went to have a taste of Cuban food in Venice.

Ennis house entrance

After renewing some energy at home we headed to the Griffith observatory. This place was packed with people as usual, we parked a couple of miles down the hill because the main parking lot was full, but the experience was just amazing, walking with all these people that we never met before and enjoying the view of the city of Angels at night from the Hollywood hills is not something that you can enjoy every day unless you live in this place. This city is so big that your eye just sees never ending street lights going in all directions. This place and its energy captivated so much our interest that we decided to come back the next day for a picnic, so we prepared by going to Santa Monica and enjoy the Promenade.

Ennis house

Santa Monica is just 3 miles north from where I live, so “The Promenade” is a great option because it is so nice at night, you can see all the stores and artist from all over the world performing in the open space here. Sometimes I come here to go to the movies with friends and it always catches my interest with the new displays, the new artists, the book store at the end of it, I can just spend hours and hours just at this place, and just half block of here there is another bookstore that specializes in architecture and design, so this is heaven. So much intense excitement.

Santa Monica Promenade


I am so happy to meet some of my tax accounting clients at all these places in southern California, is nice to see they are having their share of fun too. OREM Southern California

The next day, the 3 of us headed to Griffith Park to enjoy our picnic, and it is as magical and nice during the day time as it is at night. While we relax for a few moments after our lunch my friend Jisun entertained us by playing the Ukulele while Robert singed something that didn’t have anything to do with the song she was playing, that alone made us all laugh a lot.
While inside we enjoyed this place. They have the planetarium show that last for about 40 minutes and it is so interesting to see, if you ever come to visit Los Angeles you cannot miss this place.

Old town Culver City night walk

Or educational tour was not over yet. At night we headed to old town Culver City which is just 1 mile east from where I live. I heard over the years that there are so many haunted houses in Culver City, and here we found the historic “Culver Hotel” back in the time when they filmed the wizard of oz the majority of the crew and actors stayed at this hotel, you can see the memorabilia at the main entrance of the hotel. We arrived late at night and we walked in to the second floor that was completely dark and before we were stopped (that area was closed at that time) it was nice and well kept area the antique furniture gives it a unique atmosphere, so cool, but both of my friends felt jumpy at this dark place, so we walked to another area.
For the last day of our tour we went to visit the Ennis-Brown House at the Hollywood hills, I have an architect friend who worked at this historical renovation a few years ago, from the outside seems like a work in progress still, some of the walls look so deteriorated and the concrete blocks were just disintegrating at times with the soil coming throughout, there are pieces of history all over the street, so I couldn’t helped but grabbed a few pieces from the ground as souvenirs.


Edison bar


We did a lot this day and after having Peruvian food, we headed to a farewell party for my friend in downtown Los Angeles roof top bar, the view was breath taking, you can see the skyscrapers around this place, it was windy and cold. Usually I don’t like going to downtown Los Angeles because I personally found it so inconvenient, parking is hard to find, and is usually is expensive too but this place was well worth the effort.
Then we headed to our final destination for the night, the Edison bar just a few yards away from the Caltrans building that visited a week ago. We were told by other of the crew members that this place used to be a carbon generated power plant back in the early 1900’s we toured this place and for our amusement it was decorated with furniture and the remaining artifact that they had when this place was still working.

I was just infatuated with the historic light bulb chandeliers and lamps all over this place, there were projections of early black and white movies in huge screens, the furniture was just delicious, leather seats and couched everywhere, the main power generator was turned into a private vip party room, etc, this is a place that you definitely need to go and experience by yourself and is the place to see. And the drinks are amazing too.


Historical light bulb chadelier

This reminds me that I will be in northern California in a few weks and yes I will blog about it, wait for the next article it'll be fun as the other ones too, feel free to email us. OREM Northern California website

And before she left, for last my friend Jisun was so nice to help us redecorate my place and make my living room bigger and more functional that before, I’m surprised how much you can change a place with just little money. I ended up having a natural private inside garden too (my friend is into natural organic stuff) while me (Engineering mind) are in to more “toxic” stuff.