My Current Work and a Berry Pickin Good Tme

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day all around. I have been riding my bike to work lately, over the Biloxi Bay Bridge, and that is how yesterday started. The view from the bridge, over the bay and out to the barrier islands is incredible. There are sea birds that fly right over your head or along with you as you cross. There is a strong breeze that smells of the salt. And, weirdly enough there is a community that is beginning to form up there. Since they have opened the pedestrian bridge in April, there are so many people who use it for exercise. And i mean so many people. In the morning it is not so congested, but in the afternoons, I have to keep my brakes on the entire time. So. It is a four mile ride from my office to my house, and that is how i started off my day yesterday, with a breathtaking, breezy and refreshing ride to my office.

At work, I have been wrapping up a lot of stuff lately, which feels amazing. For the first time in a long time, I was actually in need of some extra work. Instead of taking on projects that push me over the limit of capacity, which i actually like the feeling of, i was having to take projects to get me to capacaty. So now, i have 6 projects i am working on.

1) Reynoir Street Improvment Program. The Imperial Palace has given the center some money to fix up Reynoir Street. I have been spear heading the organization of this project, but it is kind of at a stand still at the moment.

2) Hands On Shade Structures Hands On received a grant from Singing For Change (Jimmy Buffet's Charity Organization) to make several shade structures along the coast, each of them showcasing hundreds of ceramic tiles painted by school children on the coast. I am helping them out on the project, and hopefully we are breaking ground on the first one this week. Below is the design for the first one. Each one will be different. I cannot wait to see these come up. So far, they have been really fun to work on.



3) Robert's House. I was assigned to this project yesterday, and I am meeting with Robert today, but I am pretty excited about this house. It will be my first one that is elevated high enough to park under. This project is also special because it will be the third elevated house to come out of our office on that street.


4) Jewel's House. This is also a new project. I met with the family last week. We are working to develop a program at the moment, so, no pictures for this one.

5) Habitat Development Project. This is another project that I was assigned yesterday. Habitat is working on a large scale subdivision, and my first task on this project is to help them look at different housing strategies on the site. So, no pictures for this one either.

6) Bobby and Maria's House. I have had this project for a little while, and i have been steadily working on it, but until recently, I have not had too much time to devote to it. I have a floor plan that is approved by the home owners, but we are still working out the elevations. Below are pictures of their existing house, which is set to be demolished soon, and the front elevation that I have currently for this house.




In another post I will go into all of the projects and things I have been working on lately that have kind of finished up.

That was the fun at work yesterday, oh, that and that I rode around East Biloxi on my bike and took updated pictures of all of my house projects.

After work was super nice yesterday. I joined up with a few of my friends, Sarah, Ian, and Emily, and we went black berry pickin at the golf course behind Hands On. Oh my goodness I got so many black berries. I am so excited about what i am going to do with all of them. I had a handful of the sweet things with yogurt for breakfast this morning. I plan to make a cobbler out of them soon. Maybe Sunday morning before my kayaking adventure. I will post pictures of this as soon as i get them.

Last night and a promise

So, I understand that it has been February since I actually gave you an update on my life, and as you can probably guess, a lot has happened. I am not going to try and fill it in now, I will, however try to fill you in on the important things over the next week or so. Which means I will be blogging more from now on. Sorry for the time lapse, and I will try to record life more often.



The event that brought me back to blogging happened last night. I met my friends at the beach to have a beer and watch them skim board, and when i got there, they were running around in the little puddles hootin and hollerin. I found them chasing crabs in the water, and minnows... just enjoying the water. It was a bit refreshing. I haven't had that kind of a jovial time at the beach in a long time.
So i joined in the search for life in the sand, although really not being very attentive to it, more just enjoying having my feet in the water, and the nice breeze, and my friends. All of the sudden, Sharise yells that she sees eyes in the sand. Oh, she was so good at spotting things in the water. We all ran over to look at it and sure enough, there were eyes in the sand. It was a flounder! I am still not sure how she spotted it. Everyone's spirits elevated from the relaxing wading and searching to the hunt. Armed with a skim board a bottle of vodka and a can of beer, we all discussed the best way to catch our prey. For some reason (probably the vodka) it was decided that flicking it with the skim board would be the best idea. Jeff or Baby Nick did the honors and the thing took off in the puddle. But, all hope was not lost. Where ever it went in the puddle, a ridge of water marked its path. We chased it for a few seconds until it found a stopping place. All huddling around it, we had to come up with another plan, because flicking it with the skim board was obviously not really the answer. I suggested that we gigged the thing.... but we really had no gigging tool, but it was primally fun to yell out orders to gig something. eventually(in about 5 seconds), we found this long flat piece of metal in the shallow water(surely left there by hurricane katrina). This, we decided was a good addition to our collection of useful tools. Baby Nick pinned the flounder in the sand with the skim board and Jeff [gigged?!?!] it with the blunt piece of metal. I was sure he would have gashed it but i think it just hurt it kind of bad.

The flounder took off again, but it had been weakened by our mighty tools. They were finally able to flick it onto the sand where it spent its last few minutes alone as we searched, unfruitfully, for another one.

when it got dark, we gave up our search and headed for Jeff's trailer, where we were gonna stuff it with crab and eat it (i think also the vodka talking) when we got to Jeff's house there was no crab or anyway to cook it, but the thing needed to be cleaned. So, Jeff got out his manly reciprocating fish cutter, and began to try to clean it. I became super excited because back in august, a friend of mine taught me how to clean a flounder. I was trying to instruct Jeff (in the controlly way i can get some times) on how to do it, but i don't think he believed that i knew what i was talking about. eventually though, jeff lost interest (probably the vodka) and i got to test my skills. I filleted the Flounder! and played with its head and threw body parts at Baby nick. Oh, it was glorious (the beer probably helped) and so fun!

Alright, i have to go to work now, but i should have pictures to post from the filleting adventure and i promise to be more up to date with this thing!

Um... Yes, this is awesome

So, this is pretty amazing. One of my friends passed this along to me, and i wanted to pass it along to folks i know. I hope it touches your heart as much as it touched mine.

Story by Biloxi's WLOX

Rebuilding Infrastructure & Culture On Biloxi's Oak Street

It was a meeting of the minds for some people who live in East Biloxi.
Wednesday night people came together to give their feedback on plans to revitalize the Oak Street community.

"We lost so much of the face of our community, and that's something we cannot reclaim," said Thao Vu with the Boat People SOS.

Vu says after Hurricane Katrina, very few homes and businesses returned to the area. Instead, many relocated to D'Iberville and Ocean Springs. That's why her organization, as well as several others from the Vietnamese Community are working together to make plans to rebuild Oak Street.

Wednesday night was the first of many workshops aimed at getting a uniform design for the historic community.

"Change can be good, but there's also many things that you want to keep - tradition, cultural heritage. And that's something we keep in mind on Oak Street," Vu said.

Architect David Perkes agrees.

"It's all kinds of various pieces in motion," Perkes said.

He is the director of the Gulf Coast Design Studio, the company that worked with property owners and residents to create five design plans for Oak Street. They include a Vietnamese District, similar to what you would see in larger cities, a residential area, an international street made up of restaurants, bars and shops, a mixed use community and a tourist condo living area.

"Our role here is to help the community visualize their own community," Perkes said.

Right now, Oak Street is lined with several residences and businesses.
It is also the home of a Vietnamese church where hundreds of people attend mass every day.

"We would like the leaders of these churches and temples to really help because they are the leaders of this community," said Vu.

Some residents are still torn on which plans will work best, but they do want more grocery stores that serve both Vietnamese and American food. They also want restaurants that stay open later. All are ideas organizers call key to revitalizing a community where everyone will want to live, work and play.

If you were not able to attend the meeting and you have some ideas, can call Boat People SOS at 228-436-9999.

by Elise Roberts

Biloxi's Quality of Life

This is from the City of Biloxi

City updates online collection of quality-of-life indicators

Biloxi's population is down an estimated 12 percent since Hurricane Katrina, but the number of residents is expected to surge by 20 percent over pre-Katrina levels during the next couple of years.

The population estimates, the first formal post-Katrina ackowledgement by the city, are among the dozens of facts and figures found in the newly updated online version of the city's "General Market Analysis."

The latest U.S. Census population estimate for Biloxi – 44,342 – does not include those areas of Biloxi that were annexed in 1999, months before Census 2000 was unveiled. That census said Biloxi's pre-annexation population was 50,644.

The "General Market Analysis" is a 28-page compendium -- text, and full-color photographs and charts -- that touts trends in such quality-of-life dynamics as affordable housing, home sales, unemployment, education, and the many other factors that impact the local economy.

To see the online version of the report, including a user-friendly alphabetized index, click here.

"This is an excellent tool for someone – whether a local or interested out-of-towner – who wants to learn about Biloxi and what makes our community such a vibrant place," said Community Development Director Jerry Creel, whose department is responsible for producing the report. "This is 'the book on Biloxi.'"

The city had updated the information annually before Hurricane Katrina, but the 2008 version is the first since the Aug. 29, 2005 storm. As a result, many comparisons of pre- and post-Katrina Biloxi are included in the various sections of the report.

Among the matter-of-fact statements in the new GMA:

--- The median age in Biloxi is 34.6, the city has 20,094 households, and an average household size of 2.38.

--- The city's unemployment rate today is 6.3 percent, and was 24.9 percent a month after Katrina.

--- In FY 2005, the city issued 1,196 commercial-construction permits valued at $116.4 million. In FY 2007, the city issued 972 commercial permits valued at $411.7 million.

--- Gross sales from the food and beverage group dropped from $328 million in FY '04 to $167.6 million in FY '06. Sales of lumber and building materials, meanwhile, went from $30.5 million to $80 million for the same time period.

--- The average market time for homes, condos and townhomes in Biloxi was 119 days in 2002, with an average sales price of $126,921. In 2007 (through the end of July) the average time on the market was 105 days and the average sales price was $183,498.

--- The Beau Rivage Resort & Casino is the city's largest taxpayer, with a taxable assessed value of $69.2 million. The mega-resort represents 12.79 percent of the city's total assessed valuation, and the city's Top 10 taxpayers account for 35 percent of the city's total valuation.

--- Biloxi has 219 sunny days a year, with an average January temperature of 52 degrees, and 92 in July.

More than Half of February is gone

This month has been flying by, and i have been really letting my blog slip.

So far, this month has been exhausting, good over all, but exhausting.

Work is going really well. I feel like i am getting so much done, and i have a lot on my plate, and i am enjoying it.
First, i have two new houses under construction, both are being built by BFS and managed by Dan, their construction manager. Dan and i have become quick buddies, and i am learning a whole lot from him. He is really demanding of me, which is good, and is always sure to ask me my opinion. I am super lucky to be working with him. I am getting invaluable experience that i dont think most of my peers (outside of my office) are getting.

Second, the shrimp house is really getting built. It is one of the houses that i mentioned above, but it is amazing that it is actually in existence. I am not sure how it actually passed through all of the hoops to get funding and all, but it did, and it is getting built.

Third, my client victor had a victory this week. The city of Gulfport (where victor lives) gave me a bit of a scare over the last month. I was under the belief that we were going to have to fight tooth and nail to get permission to build his house, but it worked out. We have permission from the city to submit it for permit.

Fourth, the Reynoir Street Improvement program is really moving. I am glad to see this amount of momentum behind the program, and i will try to write more about this later.


That is all i am going to say about work for now, because i feel like i can go on forever.

Life outside of work is going really well too, and i have been constantly busy. I could go into deep heartfelt writings right now, but i am not going to. Things are just good, not perfect, not the way i would wish, but they are good none the less, and i am oh so thankful for that.

Good Job Obama... Now what?

Ok, so, i like Obama, a whole lot! I also like Hillary a whole lot... I have really been hating these debates.. they are so jerry springer like. That was just to put it on the record. I would also like to put it on the record that i hope John Edwards becomes the democratic running mate. Enough of my political opinions!!!

Now for some social opinions: what i am writing this about is the $19 Million that Obama raised in January. So Congrats! I think it would be awesome if you became president... but, $19 million in one month! that is crazy! that is a lot of money! I understand you have like...8 more months of campaigning, if you get the nomination, and that is expensive... real expensive. But how much money do you need to win? ok, say you get $10 Million a month from here on out, and maybe a little more that last month before elections. Do you really need all of that money to tell the world how great you are? I am pretty sure everyone is getting the picture. I am not asking in any way, shape or form that you stop campaigning. I am just thinking that it would be a freaking awesome move in your campaign to donate some of that money, to something that really really needs it, not that this country doesn't really really need you... but that is a lot of money. do you know what $19 million could do here in Biloxi?

alright, well, i hope you win, and i hope you funnel some money down to the coast if you have any left over! That is all i am asking.