#347 - Evan’s Summer Adventures

Summary

Archispeak Podcast Episode #347 - Evan’s Summer Adventures

Date: September 16, 2024
Hosts: Evan Troxel & Cormac Phalen

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Episode Overview

In this lively post-summer episode, hosts Evan and Cormac catch up after their respective breaks. The episode centers on Evan’s epic road trip adventure across the American West, diving into the pros and cons of family travel, hidden gems of the Midwest, and reflections on work-life balance. The conversation meanders through the culture of classic car shows, vintage cameras, licensure quirks, architecture in unexpected places, and the real-world process of maintaining a career in architecture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Catching up and Summer Escapes

• The hosts reflect on stepping away from work and podcasting routines for a well-deserved break.
• Cormac jokes about being “out of podcast practice” after summer's adventures ([01:15]).
• Evan shares the familial realization: "I'm not doing this again. Like, my wife and I are done camping with kids, that's for sure. And... they're not even kids anymore" ([01:59]).
• Discussion about adult kids who revert to childlike behaviors during family trips ([02:09]).

Evan's Mega Road Trip — Mileage, Discovery, and Family

• Cormac calculates Evan’s total mileage at around 4,150 miles: “How’d you do that? That’s pretty damn good. It was 4,150 miles.” ([03:42])
• Travel covered Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon (learning it’s in two time zones), Southern Idaho, Wyoming, and into South Dakota.
• Highlights random geography trivia, time zones, and joys/annoyances of long-haul road travel.

Unique Regional Observations

• The oddity of Oregon's time zones: “I didn’t know that Oregon was in two time zones.” ([04:45])
• Sharing personal associations with Michigan and Kentucky time zones and cross-state journeys.
• Wyoming characterized as scenic but “very, very boring” except for a few spots ([07:41]).

Hidden Gems: Black Hills and Beyond

• South Dakota’s Black Hills earn high praise:
  “If you ever wondered, is there a spot in the Dakotas to go to? I highly, highly recommend.” ([10:14])
• Activities: badlands exploration, Jewel Caves, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, and more.
• The “grind” and satisfaction of seeing a new place in its entirety, navigating tension between vacation and travel checklist ([11:13]).

Places Worth Revisiting

• Evan’s climbing highlight:
  “I would go back to the Black Hills of South Dakota because there’s so much more rock climbing I could do there. That was just...the highlight of the trip.” ([13:39])
• Wish-list: missed out on Wind Cave National Park due to elevator installation ([12:45]).
• Fortuitously stumbled upon the Studebaker car show, marveling at passion-project restorations ([13:25]).

The Community of Obsessions: Classic Cars & Vintage Cameras

• Longing for restored Studebakers—admiration and the daunting prospect of restoration ([14:12]).
• Story of a car rebuilt from parts of four different trucks—a “four to one truck” ([14:49]).
• Car culture nostalgia, memories of family at car shows, and how these passions get passed down.

Notable Quote:

“He bought another Studebaker truck to learn how to put together the truck that he was planning on putting together. Like, that's just a little... that’s like over the top.” – Cormac ([15:10])

Generational Photography — Film, Digital, and Craft

• Evan’s son gains attention at car shows with a pristine twin-lens film camera. Talk of medium format/film processes and strangers bonding over gear nostalgia ([16:20]).
• Comparison of film’s selectivity with digital abundance:
  “I can just shoot for days... But you have film and it’s 36 frames... you’re so selective in what you’re shooting. It really is the true, like, essence of the craft.” – Unnamed Friend ([19:07])
• Admiration for tactile, intentional process—Polaroids, old negatives, and the hybrid approaches of today ([20:13]).

Technology, Cameras, and Podcast Video

• The shift to using phones over “big cameras” for everyday shots due to convenience, even among photo enthusiasts ([21:33]).
• The paradox of gear atrophy and the craving for hands-on manual controls ([23:09]).

Architecture: Found in Ghost Towns and Roadside Curiosities

• The trip wasn’t filled with traditional architecture, but rather, “natural architecture” in geological formations and national parks ([24:01]).
• Walldrug (Wall, SD) is praised as a fantastically kitschy roadside megastore ([25:17]).

Notable Quote:

“This is the kind of place you can go and still get a 5 cent cup of coffee. Like, wow, that’s absolutely incredible.” – Cormac ([25:18])

• The most compelling “architecture” was in abandoned ghost towns and ruins, sparking discussions on the allure of decay and the Atlas Obscura approach to travel ([26:57]).

Journey Home & Additional Destinations

• Alternate return trip via Lander, Wyoming—mountain vistas, fishing, and a memorable stop in Sinks Canyon ([29:11]).
• Quick exploration of Park City, Utah, for mountain biking before heading home and receiving his Oregon architectural registration ([30:37]).

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Professional Licensure Chat

Oregon Registration & Reciprocity

• Evan describes the process of becoming a registered architect in Oregon via reciprocity ([30:49]):
  "I am now a licensed architect and a registered architect. Which one should I go with?"
• Amusing details about the differences in “fancy” wall certificate versus a wallet-sized card ([31:51]).

Licensure: Fees, Red Tape, and Exams

• The high cost of NCARB record transmittals ("$450 to NCARB to get them to transmit electronic files to the state of Oregon. Wild. That’s just wild." – Cormac, [33:12]).
• Oregon’s approach requires an online, open-book “jurisprudence” exam focused on statutes and practice responsibilities. Evan found this practical and relevant ([37:11-43:14]).
• Open-book licensing is praised as reflecting real-life professional reference habits.

Notable Quote:

“When you’re doing a code review, what do you do? Open the code books… everything we do is open book, so why not?” – Unnamed Friend ([43:14])

• Reflections on licensure maintenance—different states, different requirements (California, Florida, Maryland, Oregon).
• CEU (Continuing Education Unit) trapping: Cormac humorously admits to a CEU “addiction” with an impressive log of 72 CEUs by September ([52:48]).

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Family Camping Reality:
  “I'm not doing this again… my wife and I are done camping with kids…” – Cormac ([01:59])

• On Trip Planning Mental Math:
  “Just one of those, like, ingrained things that, like, it’s just like, hey, we’re going here. Okay. Yeah, that’s… let’s double that.” – Unnamed Friend ([04:29])

• On Base Jumping at Twin Falls:
  “I did, I watched. I got a little video…” (Evan, [06:58])
  …and story of his base-jumping friend missing him by a day.

• On Finding Beauty in the Unexpected:
  “The coolest architecture I saw was literally ghost towns, real ghost towns that were just abandoned…” – Evan ([26:57])

• On Open-Book Exams:
  “Guess what? Like, that’s the world we live in. Come on, you can seriously look anything up.” – Evan ([43:04])

• On CEU Accumulation:
  “Want to guess how many I have at September 12th?...72. Apparently 72. I’ve slowed down. Six a month.” – Cormac ([52:46])

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment / Topic | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Banter, Family Camping, Adult Kids | 00:11–02:47 | | Total Mileage & Roadtrip Geography Trivia | 03:06–06:32 | | Base Jumping, State Time Zones, Road Observations | 06:32–09:11 | | Black Hills, Trip Highlights, Travel Philosophy | 10:14–13:04 | | Studebaker Show & Car Culture | 13:25–16:20 | | Vintage Cameras, Generational Nostalgia | 16:20–23:33 | | (Absence of) Architecture on the Trip, Ghost Towns | 24:01–26:57 | | Architecture in Ruins, Roadside Americana | 26:57–29:11 | | Return Journey, Lander, Park City Adventures | 29:11–30:38 | | Oregon Registration, Licensure Reciprocity, Exam Insights | 30:38–44:13 | | State-by-State CEU Requirements, Ongoing Professional Need | 44:37–50:33 | | CEU Obsession, Practical Learning, Codes | 50:33–54:05 | | Closing, Academic Updates, Next Episodes Teaser | 54:30–56:24 |

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Episode Tone & Final Thoughts

The episode is light-hearted, meandering, and filled with relatable architectural humor and road stories. The hosts embody an easy-going, pragmatic perspective on professional life, celebrating personal obsessions and valuing hands-on, real-world learning over rigid protocol.

Listeners are left with a sense of camaraderie and the reassurance that even seasoned architects wrestle with the same work-life, family, and licensure challenges as the rest of us. The allure of adventure, the reality of professional hoops, and the joy of analog experiences—the episode blends it all with the trademark Archispeak wit and warmth.

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For more or to connect, visit archispeakpodcast.com

Transcript

[Cormac]

What are you contemplating? This is full scale. This is full scale.

[Unnamed Friend]

It's. It's kind of close. I mean, you know, not as big as my head.

[Cormac]

You have an exceptionally large noggin.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, he's funny, isn't he?

[Cormac]

Did you just get the orange one to match your watch band? It's pretty. And funny enough, you're color coordinated.

[Unnamed Friend]

You see, my bracelet's got skulls on it, too.

[Cormac]

Sorry, I shouldn't say orange. You are of the era of tang. You are Tang colored. What?

[Unnamed Friend]

Oh, guess what. Guess what season it is.

[Cormac]

Pumpkin spice. What does that say? It's too small.

[Unnamed Friend]

It's screaming Pumpkin. Pumpkin ale. Wait, hold on. Fresh.

[Cormac]

Is that sound bite? Yeah, that's the sound bite right there. I feel like I'm out of podcast practice here.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, you've been in the wilderness for a little while.

[Cormac]

I went off the radar. Yeah. Like, drove off the ranch. Oh, my goodness.

[Unnamed Friend]

You know what? I'm pretty positive, but I'm pretty positive you needed it.

[Cormac]

Oh, yeah, totally. And at the same time, like, it needed to be over.

[Unnamed Friend]

Oh, not one of those. It's like. Okay, this was fun.

[Cormac]

Well, okay. So my. Yeah, my. No one's going to listen to this in my family. I mean, my.

[Unnamed Friend]

There you go.

[Cormac]

I'm not doing this again. Like, my wife and I are done camping with kids, that's for sure. And, like, they're not even kids anymore. They're just. They're not even kids.

[Unnamed Friend]

They're. They're all grown adults.

[Cormac]

But. And yet they are. And yet they're. And yet they are children.

[Unnamed Friend]

They're all. Yeah. Are they? No, not. Not all of them are legally adults.

[Cormac]

Yeah, they all are.

[Unnamed Friend]

I guess they all are. Yeah. Yeah.

[Cormac]

On my side, they are. You still got one, but.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, I've got one, but.

[Cormac]

So she acts like an adult. That's different.

[Unnamed Friend]

She acts like an adult. Whereas. Where is yours? And even my all legal drinking age, children still don't act like adults.

[Cormac]

You know, when. When the children are ready to come home, like, yeah, it's time to come home, because you can't fight it. It's just like, you don't even understand the. The. The planning, the cost, the value of the experience.

[Unnamed Friend]

Right.

[Cormac]

To have that kind of an attitude. Sir and ma', am, madam. And when you're stuck in a car. Okay, so any. Any guesses on my. On my overall trip mileage, I kept track this time.

[Unnamed Friend]

I know that when we were talking about it, with my trip, you were near the. I think you're looking at 2700 range, but I'm gonna venture to guess to say around 4200. Just because.

[Cormac]

How'd you do that? That's pretty damn good. It was 4,150 miles.

[Unnamed Friend]

Because as a driver who drives all the time, I. I know that. I know what's planned.

[Cormac]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

And I know what happens.

[Cormac]

Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

And it's not quite double, but pretty damn close because, I mean, you were.

[Cormac]

Pretty close on both accounts. Like, like just to get there and to get back, it's about 1350 ish each way. So that's pretty close to. That's. That is 2700. Right. And then there's the 4200 that you came up with. So I'm wondering, like, how you did that, because that, that was.

[Unnamed Friend]

Because I do it all the time.

[Cormac]

You just had a feeling and it's.

[Unnamed Friend]

Just one of those, like, ingrained things that, like, it's just like, hey, we're going here. Okay. Yeah, that's. Let's double that.

[Cormac]

Yeah. And I mean it, basically.

[Unnamed Friend]

But you're a wanderer. You're a wanderer.

[Cormac]

I'm a wanderer at 10 miles per gallon, which isn't great when you're towing. Oh, my goodness. Which is most of the time. So, I mean, there was definite, like, there was a week that we. So back. I'll back up. We drove from Southern Oregon across eastern Oregon. And I learned on this trip Eastern Oregon is in another time zone. Why? I have no idea. I didn't know that Oregon was in two time zones.

[Unnamed Friend]

But it is Pacific and mountain.

[Cormac]

Yeah. So we got into mountain time and we weren't even out of our state yet. Okay, so tell me how often that happens to you. Never.

[Unnamed Friend]

Only if I'm in the Upper peninsula of Michigan.

[Cormac]

Okay, so you.

[Unnamed Friend]

Actually, there is a. There is a small portion of the Upper peninsula of Michigan that is in central time zone, which everybody thinks that Detroit is in central time zone. Anyway. I would exactly like on the far, you know, like.

[Cormac]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

Western edge of the center of eastern time zone. But it makes it great.

[Cormac]

I mean, Lexington, Kentucky is also an eastern time zone. It's pretty much directly south of you guys, so.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Cormac]

But even that I wouldn't have thought eastern time zone.

[Unnamed Friend]

But it's funny as I can drive from Michigan to Florida and stay at eastern time zone.

[Cormac]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

That's in certain. Look it, depending on which way I go. Say if I go the Georgia route, then. Yes. If I go the, you know, like, say, go through Alabama route, they know I'm in central time. So weird. Yeah.

[Cormac]

Yeah, So I learned that. And it is an odd time zone map. It like makes like this hook throughout Oregon. I assume it has to do with all the farming that happens in eastern Oregon. I don't know for sure, but.

[Unnamed Friend]

Weird.

[Cormac]

Yeah. So then we drove through southern Idaho, like through Boise, Twin Falls. Twin Falls is pretty cool. There's a bridge that people are legally allowed to BASE jump off of there. And like, so everybody does and you just go and jump like you just did.

[Unnamed Friend]

You.

[Cormac]

Like, there's no, there's no referee calling too much wind. Like it's all up to you. It's totally illegal.

[Unnamed Friend]

Did you stop and watch?

[Cormac]

I did, I watched. I got a little video of something.

[Unnamed Friend]

You didn't do it though.

[Cormac]

I didn't do it. So I sent a video to my friend who is a base jumper who every time I climb a new rock, he's like, can you jump off of it? And I'm like, I don't know. That's not the kind of thing that I look up. And so I sent the video of the guy who jumped that I took. I said, you know, of course I'm sure you've jumped off this bridge. He sends me back. He's like, I've been here Thursday through Saturday and I jumped nine times. Okay, so there you go. So just missed him, I guess.

[Unnamed Friend]

But so the question that I would ask is why?

[Cormac]

Like, it's a thrill seeking thing. Yeah, yeah. And. And you know, prove how awesome you are. So. So then we drove through a little bit of Utah, but then all the way across Wyoming, basically. And let me tell you something about Wyoming. There are a couple good spots in Wyoming. A couple is mostly very, very boring. So there's a lot of oil production and really bad roads. Really bad roads.

[Unnamed Friend]

So it is the slightly more northern version of Kansas. Nothing against Kansas, but oh my God, it's flat and oh my God, it's boring.

[Cormac]

Yeah, yeah. I've been to a couple spots in Kansas that were not flat nor boring, were actually quite beautiful.

[Unnamed Friend]

You gotta tell me where those are because I miss them.

[Cormac]

I'm struggling to recall the. What is the capital of Kansas? What is it? There's. Somebody can help us out here? Leave a comment. No, I'm not going to look it up right now. That's where it's beautiful. It's like lake country. It's rolling hills, extremely beautiful. So I did a talk there for AIA Kansas.

[Unnamed Friend]

And yeah, that's right.

[Cormac]

I got to do a fun little tour with somebody there. And it was, it was quite Beautiful. So it's not Kansas City, just in case that was your guess.

[Unnamed Friend]

No, no, it was. No, I've been through Kansas City, and the thing that you can see best from the interstate is the Chiefs stadium.

[Cormac]

Right, right. And you're a huge fan. I know. So.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Cormac]

A little bit of dead air there, Cor.

[Unnamed Friend]

I'm a fan. I'm a fan that the past two meetings of the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit won. So.

[Cormac]

Wow.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Swift wasn't there. I guess so. It's Topeka. That's where it was. I. I did look it up.

[Unnamed Friend]

I. Oh, yeah, that's right. You were that. I remember when you went there. Yeah.

[Cormac]

Yeah. Obviously, it left an indelible mark on my head.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, the landscape. The landscape, it was.

[Cormac]

It was amazing. Yeah. Beautiful. So. So anyway, you're on a tangent. I didn't go through Kansas. I went through Wyoming, and then we got into South Dakota. The Black Hills of South Dakota.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

So really far away. Really long to get there. Extremely gorgeous. Just beautiful. I mean, and so if you ever wondered, is there a spot in the Dakotas to go to? I. Highly, highly recommend.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

And there's. There's so much to do there. We spent eight days there, and we filled every day. And, like, my wife and I once again lamented the fact that we don't go on vacations. And I say that. I've said that previously, like, this was a good thing. And this time I think we're just kind of like, we needed to go get away, and what we did is we went on a trip. Right. Which is what we do because we're not likely going back to the same place again. Right. So we did all of the things, and it. It's just kind of a grind at some level. And at the. At another level, you're like. You're kind of glad you saw it all when you were there. So. Not quite sure how. I haven't fully internalized this yet, but.

[Unnamed Friend]

So we've. We both kind of hinted, as we were kind of like, guessing the mileage and all this other stuff, that we're drivers, wanderers and stuff like that. So my summer trip, I can see, you know, I stumble across a few places that I definitely want to see again or explore more.

[Cormac]

Sure.

[Unnamed Friend]

Is there anywhere on your journey that you're like, yeah, we gotta come back here?

[Cormac]

Yeah. I mean, there's. There's two spots. I. I would. I would go back to the Black Hills of South Dakota because there's so much more rock climbing. I could do there. That was just. I did a couple of routes and some boulders and stuff, and it was okay. It was the highlight of the trip. And it's just like, I can't. You can't even believe how many rocks there are to climb. So as a rock climber, it's like, everywhere you look, it's, like, rocks. It's amazing and really wonderful climbing. So. Yeah, for sure. But we did the Badlands. We did Jewel Caves National Park. We did Mount Rushmore. We did the Black Hills. We did tons of, like, little stuff. We did the Crazy Horse National Monument, which is absolutely insane project that they've been working on for, like, 80 years, to do something like Mount Rushmore for crazy Horse, which is a really cool. And even bigger. At an even bigger scale, which is really incredible. Trying to think what else we did. There was a bunch of little stuff. The one place that we didn't get to go that I would love to go would be Wind Caves national park, and that was closed because they're installing an elevator, so you can't go in at all. And so we decided, like. Because we couldn't have the full experience there, we decided to wait until when there might be a next time.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

But, yeah, I mean, there's so much to do there. I mean, and I'm glad that we kind of planned it more than, like, three days, because I think we would really would have felt like we didn't get to experience all that it had to offer if we had a shorter period there. But I feel like we. We did really dang good. And we got to see the 47th annual Studebaker show, which I sent you a couple photos from.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Which was. And that's in Custer, South Dakota, once a year. And I mean, we just happened upon that. It's not like I planned on that. I. We just saw it. I'm like, I need to stop there. Got to go look. And they were incredible. That was super cool. Yeah. So a bunch of fun stuff.

[Unnamed Friend]

Every time I see a Studebaker, my father had a golden honk. And, um, I'm pretty sure that's what it was called. Yeah. And it was. It was pretty amazing. I've got some photographs of it, but I always keep thinking I'm like, I want to get one to kind of restore and honor him. But, my gosh, they're. Every time I talk to somebody who has one, they're like, oh, it's such a. Such a pain.

[Cormac]

There was this truck, and I got the story from the guy, and, like, He's. I'm looking through his photo book of the restoration. It looked like he had had it painted like four different times. And so I'm like, have you really painted it like four different times? Right. It was this color then that color. He's like, no, those were all donor trucks to make this truck. Yeah, it was a four to one truck. It took four trucks to build one truck. He said the only original part on this truck, the parts are the engine and the transfer case and the frame. That was it. Everything else came from other vehicles to put that thing back together. So.

[Unnamed Friend]

So I can't afford five vehicles.

[Cormac]

Right. You gotta have a place to put them.

[Unnamed Friend]

I don't even.

[Cormac]

You gotta have a place to organize all that stuff while you're kind of figuring this out. He had. He said he bought another Studebaker truck to learn how to put together the truck that he was planning on putting together. Like, that's just a little.

[Unnamed Friend]

That's like over the top. Yeah.

[Cormac]

So.

[Unnamed Friend]

But anyway, didn't you send me a picture of that truck?

[Cormac]

It was the white and blue one. It wasn't that really crazy sculpted cab one. I'll put some pictures in the show notes for this. It was, it was pretty fun because, I mean, it's.

[Unnamed Friend]

It's interesting, the community, just the car culture community in general. But I know that the Studebaker, I mean, I remember going to car shows down in Florida with my dad and he would stop at every single Studebaker and they would just sit there and chat the whole time.

[Cormac]

And.

[Unnamed Friend]

And now when I. I guess you.

[Cormac]

Don'T see him that often, but.

[Unnamed Friend]

No, well, I mean, you. You saw a whole entire, like car show dedicated to him.

[Cormac]

Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

But it actually, now that I think about it, that must. What I felt when my dad would stop and sit and chat with all the Studebaker owners and stuff is probably what my kids feel now. They're like, oh, here goes. My dad going to be talking about these cars, family. Especially if I stop and say, oh, there's a Triumph. Let's look.

[Cormac]

So my, my oldest son was with us and he shoots. He has a Yashika double reflex camera. Right. So it looks like a old roller flex or something.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

And this thing is mint. He has this. So it shoots 120 and he shoots like Portra 400 or 100. I think he was shooting 100 in it. So it was kind of perfect for like the normal daylight stuff. And he got this camera like two years ago at a thrift store in the original Packaging had never been opened. Right. So this thing is just perfect. He got more comments about that camera. Cause he was shooting film at the car show and then he shot some of the Badlands. There was a guy working at the counter in Badlands who just saw it around his neck. And it's like, I got to talk to you about your camera because I had one when I was in high school. And they just. He just went. He just went off, you know, down the rabbit hole. Cool old cameras and stuff. And they started talking about medium format and this and that and all this stuff and. And it was really cool to see. But like that. That's another version of like these people who get together for the car shows, right?

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. Well, funny you say that. I just had a conversation with a friend of mine from the army that I haven't spoken to in 30 years and we were kind of messaging each other yesterday. I'm like. I was like, it might be easier if we just save our old fingers and call each other. He's like, you're right. And so he did. And then two hours later we hang up. But. And he was just like, oh, I see all these pictures that you post. And I've been getting into photography and things like that. And so we just like fell down this rabbit hole of talking about cameras and film versus digital. And he was asking me about like, what kind of kit I use and vice versa and stuff. And you're right. It's just like when you see somebody who's got like that. The same kind of like passion or whatever that you have. And it. Yeah, you're gonna. It. You make a new friend for life.

[Cormac]

Brought. He also brought a 35 millimeter Minolta that I think he paid 60 doll right there. You got one too.

[Unnamed Friend]

That's my dad's Minolta.

[Cormac]

My dad had. Had.

[Unnamed Friend]

My dad was a Minolta shooter.

[Cormac]

He bought it at a thrift store as well. And it was. It's in really great condition. I didn't see him take it out to shoot it at all. And last Christmas I bought him like a six pack of expired Kodak Portra 400 film to put. Because it's so cool to shoot. You never know what you're going to get when you run some expired film through there.

[Unnamed Friend]

Exactly.

[Cormac]

But you might as well use it, you know.

[Unnamed Friend]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Cormac]

But he's so careful about what he shoots. And I think that's what's so interesting about shooting film. Right. It's like you're kind of precious about the Shots that you.

[Unnamed Friend]

Because you have the, you know, and I think about this often too, especially because behind my head I've got a Canon A1 and then my Minolta in both film cameras. And then what we're. What's staring at me in the face is my Fuji XT series digital. And even though there's a lot of similarities in the way that you can control it and all that other stuff, I can just shoot for days. I mean we could just shoot for days and have like. How many pictures did you take exactly? How many pictures did you take? I've got 37 of the same exact image. But you have film and it's 36. You know, you've got 36 frames. And I remember back when I was running the, the Dark Room at Auburn and I was shooting all the time and stuff and it was, I was so selective in what I was shooting. You know, you set it up, you take your time. It is, it really is the true like essence of the craft. And you know, I know, you know.

[Cormac]

This I shot all slide and print photography of all my projects for my portfolio. And I actually went to my photographer friend's studio to shoot my stu too at the very end, like when I had it all. And I mean he was shooting medium format Hasselblad shots of my stuff and he was using the Polaroid back, you know, for all the test lighting, make sure it was gonna actually what ends up on film is gonna look like what, you know, properly exposed. I still have the Polaroid tear offs, right. Because even those were cool, right?

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Cormac]

I still have those in a shoebox. And it's like those are worth scanning as well because they. There's really cool quality. The Polaroid back stuff is all black and white. The actual shots are in color and it was just, I mean it's. There's something really cool and magical about that whole process that is kind of lost on. You know, what was funny was my son's using his iPhone as his light meter, right? So he's got a light meter app. It's looking through the camera on the iPhone so that he knows how to set up his camera so that he can shoot and get the right exposure and everything. Yeah, it was really cool.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Pretty funny how they. The. The modern camera is the old light meter.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, you know, I mean, you and I get together often and what's funny is that both of us on more times than not will pack our big cameras and more often than not those big cameras never come out of our you know, out of the back, it's, you know, we reach for, we reach for the iPhone and the one in your pocket. Right, exactly. And we've had so many conversations about. It's like, you know, the ease of just this. And they're getting so much better and so much better. And like, half of the, half of the stuff that I shoot now is on that. You know, just run it through Lightroom.

[Cormac]

And, And like you, my main camera is being used for this, right?

[Unnamed Friend]

Exactly.

[Cormac]

And it doesn't really leave this desk anymore. It's just one of those things where it's like, it's locked down. I don't want to reset it up. So.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, because then like with us now switching to video and stuff, and actually it's just like I want it to be in the right, the same position for every time, and it's not.

[Cormac]

There's so many settings. Right. Like, exactly that to me, that's what it, it's, I just don't want to find all because every time you go shoot, you mess with everything on a camera.

[Unnamed Friend]

And, and I think, I don't know if it was the last recording or the recording before that where I was having trouble with it focusing on me.

[Cormac]

Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

I had no idea why.

[Cormac]

So, I mean, and your muscles, your photographic muscles do atrophy if you don't use the equipment. Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

I do love, I mean, I'll say that the thing that I love about the XT series is that you have exactly the same settings as that's on the Canon A1 in the Minolta. The top buttons, you can just sit there and take it off of auto and start.

[Cormac]

It's like very much like a manual camera.

[Unnamed Friend]

It is. Yeah, it is.

[Cormac]

Yeah. That's cool. And you got a lot of buttons and knobs to twist things.

[Unnamed Friend]

And a lot of times I will say that I have to, like, refresh my memory on which dial I'm turning.

[Cormac]

Right. Totally.

[Unnamed Friend]

But I want to, so I want to hear more. So you did climbing, you know, you did a lot of miles and stuff. I, I, I, I gotta feel, or I gotta just assume that there's some architecture in there somewhere.

[Cormac]

Very. Okay, very little. But there were some really cool. I mean, you go into, you go into like, the natural architecture of these, these formations and these caves. And like, this is national park. And, and these aren't the kind of national parks like Yellowstone. Like, these are, these are national parks that are more like on the Death Valley side of things where it's like, yeah, you are in your Car driving three or four hundred miles through the badlands. Right. To get there and to get back and tour through. I mean, driving on dirt roads for hours to go see stuff and looking for prairie dogs and buffalo and all of the things that you can find out there. We did stop at Wall Drug. Have you. Are you familiar with the brand? Yeah, the original Wall Drug. The Wall Drug in Wall. I believe the town. The town is named Wall, South Dakota. And it was, it was really cool, like, just totally kitschy. I can't. Like, it's the kind of thing that started small and just got added onto and added onto and added onto. And then eventually I think they, they just like built a warehouse and then they infilled it with shops and made it look and feel like it was the old West.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

This is the kind of place you can go and still get a 5 cent cup of coffee. Like, wow, that's absolutely incredible.

[Unnamed Friend]

I don't know if you've ever been in. It's in South Carolina. It's called south of the Border. So it, for those listeners who know south of the Border is in. I always thought of it as kind of like the east coast version of Wall Drug.

[Cormac]

Okay.

[Unnamed Friend]

Because it is, it is very kitschy and it's grown to like insanity level proportions. It's got, you know, it has the gas station, the restaurant, the, you know, amusement parks, the, you know, and everything is south of the border themed.

[Cormac]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

In the middle of the Carolinas.

[Cormac]

This is the place that has like the moccasin gift shop, the bookstore, the chapel, the parlor, the ice cream, the. Everything. It has everything under the roof. I mean, it was, it was pretty cool actually.

[Unnamed Friend]

Everything, really. Everything that you. Yeah, everything you just rattled off south of the Border has the same. Yeah, yeah.

[Cormac]

Pretty cool. Yeah. Architecturally, I'm, I, I have to say, man, it was not an architectural trip.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, you ran across like the most vacant, like, part of the country. Sparsely populated parts of the country.

[Cormac]

Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

And so if you even if you found architecture per se, it was way out, probably way out of your way or it was just.

[Cormac]

The coolest architecture that I saw was literally ghost towns, real ghost towns that were just abandoned. They used to be a roadside attraction or they used to be a town on a highway. And they were so cool. Like we had to stop and photograph them, you know, and, and that was, to me, kind of. I love that kind of, you know, this is very much the Atlas Obscura kind of, you know, my ruins, you know. Yeah. I mean, and my, my youngest, who was There, you know, he was just like, how can I get into that bill, that very unsafe building? Like, how can I, how can I sneak in there? And it's just. You would love doing an Atlas obscura kind of a road trip for sure.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, I mean where you used to live when we, when my son and I took that, that long trip, that coast to coast trip and we had basically left from la, went through your town and then kind of like out towards Vegas and kind of out that way we hit things. Like there was the ghost towns in, in the mountains of California. Oh yeah, like Calico and Calico, exactly. Thank you for getting. Which I knew it started with a C. And then, and then you get in there and then you're driving along like what seemingly is the more abandoned Parts of Route 66 and Rockahula Water park that's completely abandoned and the ruins there are completely just graffiti doubt. And there's some pretty. Actually what's funny is way back in the day when I, when we did this, this was 2019 and we. I posted some photos. The, the actual like poet that tagged a couple of them had seen them and commented on my photographs and they're like, hey, would you mind if I repost some of your pictures of my poet poetry? I'm like, absolutely, dude.

[Cormac]

They didn't want royalties at least.

[Unnamed Friend]

No, no. They just thought it was, you know.

[Cormac]

Take down notice for your photos of their artwork.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cormac]

So we on our way back we did a little bit of a different route. We were originally going to go through the Tetons in Jackson Hole just south of Yellowstone. But we have been there before and nobody had like a thing. Thing they really wanted to do there. So I successfully lobbied for us to go to Park City, Utah where I could do some mountain biking. But on the way there we stopped in Lander, Wyoming, which is the location where there's this place called Sinks Canyon and it's a state park. And you drive way up in this canyon, all the way up. And we ended up like towing our trailer all the way to the top so the boys could do some fishing. But wow, it was beautiful. Absolutely incredible. So I, that's another place that I would potentially want to go back to and spend more time in. Lander is kind of more on the western side, pretty much south of Jackson Hole. A few, a couple of hours. But that was a, that was a really cool place. Then we spent a few days in Park City and did some trail riding there. And Park City has some of the, the best mountain bike Trails in the US I would say. And then we came home and we. We just. We booked it home and got back into Oregon. And I wanted to show this here. This is what I had in the mail waiting for me.

[Unnamed Friend]

Speeding ticket.

[Cormac]

Yeah, it's a giant speeding ticket. Now a registered architect. Cormac in.

[Unnamed Friend]

Now registered in the state of.

[Cormac]

The state of Oregon. Yes.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

So I am now a. A licensed architect and a registered architect. Which one should I go with? What do you think?

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, it's interesting. I don't know, like, what the designation difference between my licenses are. Yeah.

[Cormac]

Really? I. I would assume. I don't know if there. So what's funny is in California, right, that you get the same piece of receipt, this little thing that you could display. It's like a. It's like a third of a eight and a half by 11. Like, if you were to trifold it eight and a half by 11, fold it like a letter, you would. That's the size of the license that you get. You need to renew that every two years. The same one as somebody who, like, is a manicurist. Right? It's like. Exactly.

[Unnamed Friend]

I got a little. Yeah, I have that. But then it also came with, like, a little card.

[Cormac]

Yeah, you get that, too. And I didn't get that in Oregon, so I don't. I don't know if that's coming or not. I mean, this is a. They. They call this piece of paper a decorative wall.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Kind of a poster. And then I did get the little. Like, it's on an 8 and a half by 11. It's a little thing that you have to cut out and keep it in your wallet to show that you're a registered architect. And I'm like, yeah, probably not. Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

Hold on.

[Cormac]

Varying architect.

[Unnamed Friend]

Let me get out my lamination.

[Cormac]

Right, to get out your lamination machine. Yeah, no, that. I don't think that's going to my wallet. I think that would be kind of funny, though. It's like you're going through your credit cards and. Will this work? Can I pay with this? Can I pay with my Oregon registration? You know, that's just a piece of paper.

[Unnamed Friend]

I'm a registered architect, so.

[Cormac]

Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

What does that get me? Yeah, it gets you a. Congratulations, sir. Now, it's still $3.

[Cormac]

Right. So. So that's my architectural tie in for this episode because we did have to bring it back to architecture. So. Yeah, I'm. And I thought it would be kind of interesting to talk about what was different about getting this one. So obviously I Went through the reciprocity process so that I have to start over. That would be crazy. And this is, this is actually the reason I re upped my NCARB certificate. I guess it was a year ago when they had like those took advantage.

[Unnamed Friend]

Of that also deep discount that I told.

[Cormac]

Right. Because they basically waived all the back fees.

[Unnamed Friend]

Right.

[Cormac]

And. And so. And then they raised the fees. They've raised the fees twice now. I don't know if I told you. They've raised the fees two years in a row now since I re upped. I think that's, that's kind of every prices of everything go up even when you do nothing. Literally had to pay $450 to NCARB to get them to transmit electronic files to the state of Oregon. Wild. That's just wild. On top of my, my membership. You know.

[Unnamed Friend]

Is Oregon one of the states? Because I know Maryland is one of the states that you don't. Or, or is it exclusively reciprocity through ncarb? Or is there two different routes?

[Cormac]

Because you have two different routes. You can, you can submit all of the information yourself.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Except like transcripts. You would have to send in official transcripts. Those have to come from, from there.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, that's what I did. That's what I did because my first license was Florida. Then I got my Maryland license and I, I didn't have NCARB at the time and, or did I.

[Cormac]

And the fees were prohibitive, I'm sure.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. But it cost me almost nothing to do it other than time and a bunch of email exchange back and forth.

[Cormac]

Yeah, you have to track it all down. I felt like my time was more valuable than the 450 bucks. So it was a toss up though. It's like that's normally the kind of thing where I'd be like screw it, I'm just doing it myself.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, I'm cheap. I'm cheap. So I get it.

[Cormac]

I get it. You're willing to put in the time. I'm not exactly the time.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, exactly.

[Cormac]

You know, so I had to do that. And then you know, in California to get your license there, you have to take the California supplemental exam which used to be orals. Now it's a digital exam which is a lot like an are examination.

[Unnamed Friend]

Right, right.

[Cormac]

And it's massive. It was a massive exam. You had to go to a testing center. The only difference really was. Well, so, so first of all, because California is so large, there's a lot of different climate zones, ecosystems and they want you to know all of Them. Right. So basically, if you're going to get licensed in the state of California, you have to learn all of this stuff that you. No matter where you practice. Um, and so. And then you find out if you passed or failed on the spot, which was different than the N carb test. I don't know if they've changed that since then, but you had.

[Unnamed Friend]

You.

[Cormac]

We used to have to wait when I started the N carb test. How long did you have to wait to get results for a test when you started taking those exams, like an a or a 3 or 4?

[Unnamed Friend]

Land 3. It was like two weeks.

[Cormac]

I think for me. The first one I took, it was like six weeks.

[Unnamed Friend]

Oh, me. It could have been like.

[Cormac]

It was so long.

[Unnamed Friend]

Honestly, it's been so long since I took.

[Cormac]

It came in the mail and you didn't want to open it, and then.

[Unnamed Friend]

You just like, I don't want to open it. And then you tear it open and you just kind of slowly peel it back. You're like, pass or fail.

[Cormac]

Right, right, right. And so that was how it was. And then by the time. By the time I was like, actually doing it and finishing up, it was. It was still a couple of weeks, I think. By the. I don't remember it. What Definitely wasn't like, you learned right then. You had to wait. You had a waiting period because they had to. Even though it was done on the computer and they already knew the answer.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

You still. You still got to suffer.

[Unnamed Friend]

I remember my first. The first go round, I was doing so well on my success rate, my pass fail success rate, and I took everything. And then the one that I dreaded the most was the structures one. And my buddy had just taken. He's like, man, it was cake. He's like, they didn't even have. They hardly asked me any questions with formulas and calculations and stuff. And I'm like, oh, well, then maybe I'll just. He's like, you need to know all of the concepts and all this other stuff. Okay, all right. And he was just like. It's like. I. I think it was like maybe like three or four questions or whatever. Like, really on that whole test. That was it. He's like, yeah, I'm pretty. Yeah, for. For calculations. And I take his advice and assume that. Focus on other things. Right? Yeah. Mine was 70% formulas and calculations, and I bombed it so miserably.

[Cormac]

At least. At least. Yeah. I mean, at least you've. You knew it when you were taking it, though.

[Unnamed Friend]

You're like, oh, yeah, I'm Sitting there, it's just like there's no chance. No, wait, this. I. I know.

[Cormac]

It wasn't like, it wasn't like it was going to even be close and you were going to have to worry. Like you just knew.

[Unnamed Friend]

It was still a little demoralizing though, you know. Of course.

[Cormac]

Because he just like wasted your money, you've wasted your time. Yeah, right. Well, shame on you for, for listening to somebody. Yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

So. So moral of the story is don't trust your friends.

[Cormac]

Right? There you go.

[Unnamed Friend]

Ever, ever, ever.

[Cormac]

Yeah. So we had to, for, for Oregon, I had to take a. An online open book exam, which I thought, okay, that didn't sound bad. And then it's like, okay, here's what you need to review. Here's what you should review. And it was that they called it the jurisprudence exam. And it was basically all of Oregon's statutes pertaining to practicing architecture, but then other things too. And I thought, you know, this is. I actually liked this one a lot better. I mean it wasn't just. I didn't just like it because it was open book. Like obviously I actually learned like the are. I learned a lot through the studying of it about it, but also I felt like it actually applied. Whereas the California one, for where I was working on projects in California, it. It was pretty regionally specific. It's an arid dry climate that, you know, long overhangs, like passive design was pretty straightforward. I wasn't working in wetlands. I didn't need to know all the FEMA certifications and all, you know, there was. And my, my role was pretty specific with design. It wasn't like having to do all of the sustainability checklists and all that, but they still tested you on all that stuff. I felt like this was actually really appropriate and I'm trying to remember. It was like 25 questions. It was 90 minutes and it went in like 5 sec. 5 question chunks. And you could go back and like just like an are kind of exam. You can mark questions, you can go back, you have 90 minutes to do, do it however you want. And you can obviously have the website up and you can use the find feature. But I think what was interesting about it was they would ask you a question you would mentally just try to figure out kind of categorically. So if it had to do with like, they would even ask you about naming your firm or general registration questions because there's rules around how you can name your firm and there's rules about all kinds of things when it comes to practicing architecture. And again, it just Kind of forces you to know that stuff so that they can enforce it. Right. Because how many of us have actually read the architects practice act like who practice architect? Even if you're not a licensed architect, you work in a firm, you're working on projects as an architect. Basically, nobody knows that stuff. Like, sorry, that's the truth. You fallen the liability of the firm, not yourself. Right.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, that's a, That's a long conversation that we have. It is because.

[Cormac]

Yeah, but you have a risk management team in a large firm. Like, you have lawyers, like it. They have all this. And, and you're, I mean, that. That's how, that's how it actually operates. But they. In, in, in Oregon, they're actually asking you questions about that to obtain your registration, which I thought was.

[Unnamed Friend]

That's good.

[Cormac]

It was nice. It was, it was not, not bad at all.

[Unnamed Friend]

I mean, at the very least, because we were having a conversation about licensure upon graduation and things like that, and how there are some things that you can prepare yourself for when you're legally able to practice. Right. Although you're just graduating school and you don't have some of the practical experience in, in things like that, though, forcing somebody to study. If you're sitting for the Michigan exam and studying the statutes to practice for your Michigan licensure as well, you're getting your licensure. But then, you know, everybody puts their, their record into a state. Mine was the state of Florida. And so when I passed the exams, I would be a practicing architect in the state of Florida. And to honestly, to have a supplemental that said, okay, you're now legal to practice architecture in the state of Florida. What does that mean? You know, and what are your responsibilities for practicing in the state of Florida? I. I love that. Honestly, the, that right there is probably the most applicable. Like.

[Cormac]

Yeah, I was gonna say appropriate. It was appropriate.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. It's just like, it's that you've got a license now. What.

[Cormac]

And I also really actually appreciated. And nobody I don't think would go against this, that it was open book, because guess what? Like, that's the world we live in. Come on, you can seriously look anything up.

[Unnamed Friend]

What would we. When you're doing a code review, what do you do? Open the code books. When you're doing structural, you open the books. I mean, everything that we do is open book, so why not?

[Cormac]

Yeah, and, and the thing about it to me is like, these things get updated, right? And so you're looking, you're always looking at the most current version you can't expect like the thing that you learned to be the law of the land forever. Like these things do get updated, new statutes get put in, things get struck out, new sections get added as well as edits that happen. And so you're, you're looking at the most latest version which is, you know, again, we're just going to look it up. And I again, I thought that was pretty appropriate. So not bad at all. So 90 minutes, 25 questions. I think you had to get like an 84%. I don't know where they came up with that number. It must be based on the number of questions you could get wrong. Leads to an 84%. But that was the passing. Minimum passing rate, but no problem there. So it was.

[Unnamed Friend]

She had to get a B.

[Cormac]

You had to get a B. Almost B plus. Right. And so higher than what's required on AR, I think. What, that wasn't that like 70?

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, I thought it was like around 70. Yeah, just like.

[Cormac]

Yeah. So anyway, that was my experience. I passed. And then it took, it literally took a couple weeks for it to show up as like that that final step had actually happened.

[Unnamed Friend]

Don't. In this is how it happened in the state of Florida is that it had to go in front of the architectural licensing board for the state and they only met once a month.

[Cormac]

And so that could be what happened. I don't know. You know, it seems like it's all digital. I don't, I don't know why. But why it would take that long or why it would have.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, I think, I think it just has to like physically. Mine had to physically go in front of the board and be reviewed and approved. So like, like human eyes had to be on it.

[Cormac]

Even I think human eyes had to be on it. But I don't think it was like a board review for me. But anyway, that's cool. There's a little bit of a black box there.

[Unnamed Friend]

And I know you're keeping your, your California license because.

[Cormac]

Yes. Because if you have that, you never give it up.

[Unnamed Friend]

Exactly. Eight people are asking this, okay, well, now that you move to, to Michigan, are you going to get a Michigan license? I'm like, yeah, you know, probably going to get a Michigan license. I haven't yet. And then they were like, well, what are you going to do with your Florida and your Maryland? I'm like, honestly, the same hours that I would need to be applying for CEUs for Michigan are the same that are going to go for Maryland, the same that are going to go for Florida and It would. It honestly would probably be more likely that I would do a project in Florida than I would in Michigan or Maryland. And so I'm always going to keep Florida because it was my first. It was my baby.

[Cormac]

Couldn't you just get it again if you needed it again? Like, can you let it lapse? Was there any extra test or anything that you had to do there?

[Unnamed Friend]

No, you'd be. Which is weird because in Florida, especially with needing to know that things need to go through the Miami Dade certification and all of the Florida product approval things and stuff like that, that they would have a supplemental, which they don't, which is really odd. But who. I mean, could I.

[Cormac]

You just have to comply when you do. Right? I mean, if. Yeah, it's another way to handle it.

[Unnamed Friend]

So what. The only thing that I have to do to maintain my Florida license is every year as I'm getting all of my CEUs is I need to do two additional hours of advanced code CEU. And. And honestly, I mean, I. I know it sounds weird, but me and my currently CEU addiction. My CEU addiction that I'm like, cool. I want to know what is kind of going on with the.

[Cormac]

Bring it on.

[Unnamed Friend]

You know, it's just like, oh, yeah, they adopted a new A. No coot. Now, I will say that some of the, you know, advanced code, big old air quotes there. Some of the advanced code stuff is sort of ridiculous since like, what are. There was one where it's just like, you know, how do you document ADA on your, you know, like, you know, or, you know, accessibility on your drawings. It's just like something kind of like randomly weird that you're just like, these are the things that are just kind of like code. Yeah, I was just like, how is this advanced? I mean, I want just normal. Give me. Yeah, exactly. Give me some meat.

[Cormac]

Like when you work in public work, I guess, maybe.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. But. But the thing is, is that like, you know, we have, you know, like at our firm and in fact this has been the same for like a couple of different firms that I've worked for that we have kind of a boilerplate that here is the template for code and accessibility that you're going to put in the front of your documents, that you're going to tailor it for the. The project that you're working on. But at the very minimum, this is the level of information that you need. And so accessibility and how you do your fire and life safety documentation and all of that other stuff, those are the things that you need to sit down and just pass like that's the first thing that the AHJs are going to look for. Right?

[Cormac]

Table stakes.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. So like it was, it was so weird that like, that was like, that was like, how is this advanced? This is like, this is the requirement. This is the. Have to have.

[Cormac]

Yeah. The requirements in California are different than they are in Oregon. Or maybe I should say that the other way around. But you know, we have to do zero net energy credits now to get our renewals in California and accessibility. But In Oregon it's 24 HSU's. Is that what it is? HSU Health Safety can remember the right letters. So just 24 HSWs. I thought that was interesting that it was different.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, so how many did you, what do you need in so, but I.

[Cormac]

Want to say it's five hours of each of accessibility and five of net zero energy.

[Unnamed Friend]

And that's, I think all you needed in California?

[Cormac]

I think so, yeah.

[Unnamed Friend]

Oh yeah.

[Cormac]

So like I could be wrong.

[Unnamed Friend]

People correct me.

[Cormac]

I just look it up every time I need to do it.

[Unnamed Friend]

Both Maryland and Florida require 22 and Florida requires the additional four. I'm sorry, two of the advanced code.

[Cormac]

I guess I should look it up just real time. Real time. You probably should because I think it's. This is an even year, so I don't need to worry about it for one more year. But you're, you're doing your see CES all the time and I, I like bundle them all together and ceus all the time.

[Unnamed Friend]

Every time. In fact, I just did some today.

[Cormac]

All right, let's see. What, what does Google says on its vanity access? Oh yeah, it says five hours of coursework on disability access requirements. Five hours on zero net carbon design.

[Unnamed Friend]

That's California.

[Cormac]

That's California. Yeah, that's what I thought it was. Okay. Yeah. So all those other hsw like they, it's actually, it has been historically difficult to find these courses and so people offer them for money. Right. Because they're difficult to find. And you can get all of your hours done in one shot by taking these, these courses for hundreds of dollars. It's like, no.

[Unnamed Friend]

Why is the first thing that pops up when I go to, to the aia.org website is, would you recommend this website to other people?

[Cormac]

No, I don't know. I haven't been there in a while.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, that's true. You, you have not.

[Cormac]

I'm not a member.

[Unnamed Friend]

I am looking to see.

[Cormac]

Oh my gosh. Yeah. First thing you get. You haven't even used the website yet. Would you Is how likely is it that you would recommend this website to a friend or colleague?

[Unnamed Friend]

Did you go, did you go to it?

[Cormac]

I just went to it. Yeah. Looks like a new website.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, okay, so here's the thing. So it's a new website until you go to your profile. Then it reverts back to the old website.

[Cormac]

All right.

[Unnamed Friend]

And all I'm trying to do. Okay, so it's a more dead air here.

[Cormac]

Cormac, what are you doing?

[Unnamed Friend]

I was just looking up the. So sorry. Maryland requires 24. Florida only requires 22 HSW.

[Cormac]

So that's similar.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cormac]

I mean, are the 24 HSWs.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yes. Okay, so Maryland's is 24 HSWs, Florida's is. Is 22. And then it does. It needs to reflect the Florida building code or the advanced Florida building code. You want to guess how many I have at September 12th?

[Cormac]

Well, I think the last time we talked, you had 68.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah.

[Cormac]

Is that right?

[Unnamed Friend]

72.

[Cormac]

Apparently 72. I've slowed down six a month.

[Unnamed Friend]

Why? Why? Why? Actually, a lot of times it's just like I'll go to like, you know, lunch and learns and things like that. And granted, I'm doing them all remotely, so, you know, there is no lunch. It's just learn, but provide your own lunch. But it is kind of interesting because like today was talking about advanced waterproofing, you know, like blindside waterproofing and all of that other stuff. And, you know, it's good, especially since it's, you know, done by one of like the leading manufacturers that we, you know, typically use their details. And so it's always good to kind of like just see if they've updated all of their stuff, you know, because then we then have to turn around and update all of our stuff that if we're, you know, like have standard details that were built off of like their previous go round and stuff. And so that's why I do it, you know, for more of just like, I guess, technical prowess for. For projects and stuff, I guess. I don't know, like, you know, your questioning it. Know your stuff.

[Cormac]

You do it, you're doing it, but you don't question it. And now you're kind of questioning it. Why do I do this?

[Unnamed Friend]

And then here comes feel like an auto body experience. For those who want to see what's going on right now. Just go to the video.

[Cormac]

Yeah. For those who are listening, Cormac is holding up an orange Tang skull. All right, well, that. That's all I wanted to talk about. Cormac, we're done here.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, I'm glad you're back. And it, it sort of feels like, you know, we're back now because I think both of us have gotten our summer trips, you know, behind us and school's back in session and maybe next time we'll talk a little bit more. Now that I'm a. I, I think the last time we talked about school, I was. Hadn't actually started with the students.

[Cormac]

You had just done like faculty meetings and stuff.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah. And so, and so now I've, I'm at week three, so the next time we'll talk will be week four and I'll do my. We can talk about how people reacted the mid, mid, mid semester whatchamac reviews.

[Cormac]

Yeah, those reviews already.

[Unnamed Friend]

Well, it's just, it's, it's more of just a, you know, the studio instructors progress review of like the, you know, where they're at with the assignments that we've, you know, given them, which, you know, is kind of interesting. And you know, I, I will give them, you know, some kudos that, you know, at this stage of where they are in school, you know, they're, they are seniors for what would be their, you know, Bachelor's of science and architecture, so their fourth year. And they, everyone, all of them are sharp and all of them are with it. You know, there's not like anybody like, you know, I've met with 40 plus students in this, in this class and all of them are, are pretty sharp.

[Cormac]

Nice. That's great.

[Unnamed Friend]

Yeah, we'll talk.

[Cormac]

Very cool. All right. Save it. All right, man.

[Unnamed Friend]

Saving it. Putting a pen.