Jun 2008
The Plaza Hotel Residences
28/06/08 07:00 Filed in: Play
So, back to the plan. The bi-coastal
lifestyle To be honest, I’m not entirely sure Manhattan would be my
first choice for east coast haunts, but man, unless I could find an
opening in the Dakota building, my dream choice of an NYC address
would have to be The Plaza. On Frasier, Niles’ dream was always to
have a one word address which he finally obtained when he moved
into... The Dakota (hmm...that was a convenient bookend, but wrong
coast. His Dakota was in Seattle). Anyway, just imagin being able
to tell your guests, “Mike Attebery. The Plaza.” That has got one
sweeeet ring to it!
Now, you too can own a residence at The Plaza, either by purchasing your own condominium, or buying one of the ever trendy new condominium hotel suites. Entry prices start at $2.5 and $1.5 Million respectively, which frankly, doesn’t seem half bad! Be curious to see how many units at these price points are actually available, and where in the building they’re actually located (!) but thats another story.
Of course, if you just want to stay there for a weekend (a special weekend), there are still rooms available as of March 1, 2008, now that renovations are completed and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts (one of my faves) has taken over management of the property.
The Plaza Hotel Residences
Now, you too can own a residence at The Plaza, either by purchasing your own condominium, or buying one of the ever trendy new condominium hotel suites. Entry prices start at $2.5 and $1.5 Million respectively, which frankly, doesn’t seem half bad! Be curious to see how many units at these price points are actually available, and where in the building they’re actually located (!) but thats another story.
Of course, if you just want to stay there for a weekend (a special weekend), there are still rooms available as of March 1, 2008, now that renovations are completed and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts (one of my faves) has taken over management of the property.
The Plaza Hotel Residences
RapidWeaver
10/06/08 07:00 Filed in: Work
I have never been savvy when it comes
to web design. I like to think I have visual and design sense, but
I’m an idiot when it comes to the nitty gritty of web software and
html and who knows what else! Java? Flash?! ACK! Every website I’ve
ever been involved in (including this one) was designed by my
college roommate Jay. Until now!
My day job requires the tiniest bit of html know-how -- meaning, I can stumble through the trial and error involved in making a link work in a block of text. If you really hold my feet to the fire, I can try to figure our why a paragraph is coming out looking wonky onscreen, but aside from that, I’ve always been helpless when it comes to anything web related. I recently asked Jay to help me find a program that would let me put up a simple, but professional looking website for my publishing company, Cryptic Bindings. The software he settled on was easier than I could have hoped for. Aside from a couple of snags resulting from my own inability to keep track of my administrative webhosting passwords, I was able to get the hang of laying out a simple website in just an hour or so. After a couple of months of playing around, and after testing out a few different updates to the site, I’ve worked out a few simple, round about shortcuts that have let me make the site seem more complicated that it actually is.
So what’s the software? RapidWeaver (Which is currently only available for Mac OS X)
For $59 (less if you look online for some specials) you get the software, and an assortment of around three dozen professionally designed templates, which you can further customize through predesigned options, working in the html, or (as I did it) by designing the pieces of your page in another program (I used Apple’s Pages and Preview programs) and dropping the “pictures” of text and images into the RapidWeaver window. The software has two options “edit” and “preview.” It’s basically drag and drop. You bring all the text and pictures into the program under the edit option. Center it. Format it. Choose what word is a link. Which is ones lead to what pages on the site. Choose you output template. Then select preview and ta-da there it is! If you like what you see, enter your webhosting information in the appropriate boxes, click “publish,” and in a few seconds, your site is up and running. It really is that simple. You may encounter one or two bumps along the way (in my case it was a mixup in passwords) but if I can get it all figured out, I’m sure you can too.
Here’s my site if you want to check it out.
Try it for yourself and send in the links.
My day job requires the tiniest bit of html know-how -- meaning, I can stumble through the trial and error involved in making a link work in a block of text. If you really hold my feet to the fire, I can try to figure our why a paragraph is coming out looking wonky onscreen, but aside from that, I’ve always been helpless when it comes to anything web related. I recently asked Jay to help me find a program that would let me put up a simple, but professional looking website for my publishing company, Cryptic Bindings. The software he settled on was easier than I could have hoped for. Aside from a couple of snags resulting from my own inability to keep track of my administrative webhosting passwords, I was able to get the hang of laying out a simple website in just an hour or so. After a couple of months of playing around, and after testing out a few different updates to the site, I’ve worked out a few simple, round about shortcuts that have let me make the site seem more complicated that it actually is.
So what’s the software? RapidWeaver (Which is currently only available for Mac OS X)
For $59 (less if you look online for some specials) you get the software, and an assortment of around three dozen professionally designed templates, which you can further customize through predesigned options, working in the html, or (as I did it) by designing the pieces of your page in another program (I used Apple’s Pages and Preview programs) and dropping the “pictures” of text and images into the RapidWeaver window. The software has two options “edit” and “preview.” It’s basically drag and drop. You bring all the text and pictures into the program under the edit option. Center it. Format it. Choose what word is a link. Which is ones lead to what pages on the site. Choose you output template. Then select preview and ta-da there it is! If you like what you see, enter your webhosting information in the appropriate boxes, click “publish,” and in a few seconds, your site is up and running. It really is that simple. You may encounter one or two bumps along the way (in my case it was a mixup in passwords) but if I can get it all figured out, I’m sure you can too.
Here’s my site if you want to check it out.
Try it for yourself and send in the links.
Tom Kundig - Seattle Architect
09/06/08 07:00 Filed in: Play
At one time, everyone at Electron
Toast has felt torn between different locations and, frequently,
alternate coasts. Then we settled on a simple solution. Instead of
choosing just one locale, why not aim for a bicoastal lifestyle and
enjoy the best of everything? Since we all have roots back east,
but work frequently brings us out west, this made perfect
sense.
Personally, while I l find New York exciting, there’s something about the Pacific Northwest, Seattle in particular, that just feels right. The first time I visited the area I was struck by the way nature and the elements seem so intwined with the character of the city itself. Driving through Seattle down I-5, you frequently pass under concrete overpasses that are literally draped with cascading vines that themselves grow out of planters from which evergreens shoot up towards the (frequently gray) skies.
Pretty cool.
In comparison, when you touch down at JFK and catch a cab into the city, New York can seem pretty damn dingy.
Then there’s the vibe of Seattle. Well, I’ll cut to the chase, the whole place in unique unto itself, and for me, it just seems right. Now that I’ve set down roots in Seattle, it’s been interesting to get a feel for the architecture and homes that seem to embody the feel of the area. I would never have thought modern home design could appeal to me as much as it does, but there’s something about basic, clean construction elements, when combined with a sense of place (think trees shooting up from concrete planters) that finds a natural balance, and the work of one architect in particular seems to grab my attention again and again.
Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects has his fingers on the pulse of something truly unique and inherently Northwest. As apparent in his project highlights on the firm’s website, Kundig has a masterful touch when it comes to blending simple wood, concrete, and steel craftmanship into natural settings. If I didn’t already have a place in the area, Kundig's first mixed use development would certainly stand out as something I’d be interested in. Ultimately, I’d love to have the guy design a stand alone residence for myself and my family. Looking through Kundig’s body of work can be mind boggling at times. I’ve just finished going through his book and found any number of ideas I’d like to incorporate into renovations of my own Seattle residence.
If you’re in the market for a more laid back lifestyle in an incredible city, and you’d like to explore some options for staking a claim on your own piece of the Emerald City, I’d certainly recommend exploring the 1111 Pike Street project. It looks like a way to enjoy the one of a kind, much sought after architectural style of a man whose work usually comes at a significantly higher price.
For a look at some of Kundig’s single family residential projects, I highly recommend his book: Tom Kundig: Houses.
I’m currently working my way through a retrospective of the collective works of the partners at Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. In particular, it seems Jim Olson might have his own unique style, one which, at first glance, seems to lend his projects a warmer, more personal appeal that I also find quite appealing. I’ll report back to you once I’ve finished the second book: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen.
Architecture like this is enough to make a person start collecting houses!
Personally, while I l find New York exciting, there’s something about the Pacific Northwest, Seattle in particular, that just feels right. The first time I visited the area I was struck by the way nature and the elements seem so intwined with the character of the city itself. Driving through Seattle down I-5, you frequently pass under concrete overpasses that are literally draped with cascading vines that themselves grow out of planters from which evergreens shoot up towards the (frequently gray) skies.
Pretty cool.
In comparison, when you touch down at JFK and catch a cab into the city, New York can seem pretty damn dingy.
Then there’s the vibe of Seattle. Well, I’ll cut to the chase, the whole place in unique unto itself, and for me, it just seems right. Now that I’ve set down roots in Seattle, it’s been interesting to get a feel for the architecture and homes that seem to embody the feel of the area. I would never have thought modern home design could appeal to me as much as it does, but there’s something about basic, clean construction elements, when combined with a sense of place (think trees shooting up from concrete planters) that finds a natural balance, and the work of one architect in particular seems to grab my attention again and again.
Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects has his fingers on the pulse of something truly unique and inherently Northwest. As apparent in his project highlights on the firm’s website, Kundig has a masterful touch when it comes to blending simple wood, concrete, and steel craftmanship into natural settings. If I didn’t already have a place in the area, Kundig's first mixed use development would certainly stand out as something I’d be interested in. Ultimately, I’d love to have the guy design a stand alone residence for myself and my family. Looking through Kundig’s body of work can be mind boggling at times. I’ve just finished going through his book and found any number of ideas I’d like to incorporate into renovations of my own Seattle residence.
If you’re in the market for a more laid back lifestyle in an incredible city, and you’d like to explore some options for staking a claim on your own piece of the Emerald City, I’d certainly recommend exploring the 1111 Pike Street project. It looks like a way to enjoy the one of a kind, much sought after architectural style of a man whose work usually comes at a significantly higher price.
For a look at some of Kundig’s single family residential projects, I highly recommend his book: Tom Kundig: Houses.
I’m currently working my way through a retrospective of the collective works of the partners at Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. In particular, it seems Jim Olson might have his own unique style, one which, at first glance, seems to lend his projects a warmer, more personal appeal that I also find quite appealing. I’ll report back to you once I’ve finished the second book: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen.
Architecture like this is enough to make a person start collecting houses!
You'll Never Get Rich Working For Your Boss
I've run across two books this summer
that have instantly become my "go to gifts" for friends and family.
The first was more of a lighthearted, but in my opinion, incredibly
insightful work of fiction called
The Art Of Racing In The Rain. The second book is a title I'm
determined to give to everyone I know who shows signs of possessing
an entrepreneurial spark. That book is Felix Dennis'
How To Get Rich, which features one of the cheesiest titles
imaginable, but which also provides some of the most insightful and
reassuring advice I have run across in regards to starting one's
own business. Since Dennis really has walked the walk when it comes
to making billions in the publishing world, and since my own
personal business interests lie in writing and publishing, the
insights in his book often apply DIRECTLY to questions and concerns
I have had in relation to my own business endeavors. Dennis' main
point throughout is that to be rich, truly rich (not "comfortably
poor" as he puts it) you have to take the risks and pursue your own
endeavors. In the process, he eliminates many of the old (and
ongoing) excuses I've heard coming from my own mouth and the mouths
of my friends for year. Sure, there's a laundry list of reasons why
EVERYTHING can fail, but if you think of things in terms of fun,
like a game, whats the worst, the absolute worst that can happen,
particularly if you have nothing to lose from the get go? Like I
said, the title makes this sound like the work of a shifty flim
flam man, but the advice, the stories, and the thinking, from cover
to cover, struck so many chords with my own work philosphy, that I
was completely won over, and encouraged in the personal projects I
have been working on for the last yar. Do yourself a favor, pick up
this book. Unless you're still looking for excuses for taking a
risk and going for the glory, you'll be glad you did.
A Toast To Richard Branson: Aim For The Top
FORTUNE Magazine published a
profile of Sir Richard Branson in October 2003 that has no
doubt inspired countless entrepreneurs and businessmen ever since.
The folks here at Electron Toast were no different. We’ve held on
to our battered copy of that article (pilfered from the Starbucks
Corporate gym) and revisited it frequently over last half
decade.
So what is it about Branson that captures our imaginations? Well, just about everything. With an estimated net worth of $4 billion, a business empire encompassing more than 360 companies (including airlines, record labels, and space tourism) numerous world record setting adventure exploits, and most famously, his own ISLAND the man is living the life we all dreamed of as kids, and apparently having more fun than any billionaire alive. Compare a photo of Branson to one of similarly wealthy individuals, from Donald Trump to George Lucas, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who seems to be having anywhere near as much fun.
Yes, Branson is a businessman, but more than anything, he’s the ultimate example of a risk taker living life on his own terms. As he’s so frequently quoted as saying, he doesn’t think of work as work and play as play “it’s all living.” We’d argue that when you’re hopscotching around the world, traveling on your own planes, and spending time on your very own island, you’re not just living, you’re thriving. And while our personal aspirations might lie in differing fields, there’s a creative energy in all of Branson’s ventures and self-promotion that strikes a similar creative chord deep within our toasty hearts. Sure, there are richer folks out there, but Branson is the one we want to emulate. If you aim high, you’re bound to hit something good. For a high school dropout who clearly eschews research and market studies (going instead with gut feelings and personal interests), Branson is the perfect example of following your passions and letting wealth and success catch up to you along the way.
In addition to the FORTUNE piece, other must read titles, dictated from Branson’s mouth to your ears include:
Bathroom reading: Screw It, Let's Do It
Poolside / plane reading: Losing My Virginity
So what is it about Branson that captures our imaginations? Well, just about everything. With an estimated net worth of $4 billion, a business empire encompassing more than 360 companies (including airlines, record labels, and space tourism) numerous world record setting adventure exploits, and most famously, his own ISLAND the man is living the life we all dreamed of as kids, and apparently having more fun than any billionaire alive. Compare a photo of Branson to one of similarly wealthy individuals, from Donald Trump to George Lucas, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who seems to be having anywhere near as much fun.
Yes, Branson is a businessman, but more than anything, he’s the ultimate example of a risk taker living life on his own terms. As he’s so frequently quoted as saying, he doesn’t think of work as work and play as play “it’s all living.” We’d argue that when you’re hopscotching around the world, traveling on your own planes, and spending time on your very own island, you’re not just living, you’re thriving. And while our personal aspirations might lie in differing fields, there’s a creative energy in all of Branson’s ventures and self-promotion that strikes a similar creative chord deep within our toasty hearts. Sure, there are richer folks out there, but Branson is the one we want to emulate. If you aim high, you’re bound to hit something good. For a high school dropout who clearly eschews research and market studies (going instead with gut feelings and personal interests), Branson is the perfect example of following your passions and letting wealth and success catch up to you along the way.
In addition to the FORTUNE piece, other must read titles, dictated from Branson’s mouth to your ears include:
Bathroom reading: Screw It, Let's Do It
Poolside / plane reading: Losing My Virginity