Nextime has bought the patent

VIA «New interpretation of wall clocks»

I had my first doctor's appointment this week. It was nothing serious, just a routine checkup. Visiting the doctor here in Ecuador is much different than visiting a doctor at the Kaiser hospital I used to go to in Sacramento. At Kaiser patients are pushed in and out of the examination room as fast as possible. An assistant would ask me all the preliminary questions, take my blood pressure, and enter all the data into a computer. I would usually get about 5 minutes to actually talk to the doctor. They would answer my questions, but there was always a sense of urgency, like they were half way to their next patient.

The doctor I saw here works at one of the "best" clinics in Loja, and is also Lucho's best friend's brother-in-law. Since he is a friend he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek (a very common greeting here in Ecuador). I'm sure that was the first time I've every kissed my doctor on the cheek! Then he ushered me in to his office which was a combination office/examination room. He conducted the entire examination himself, took his time, and asked me lots of questions. I didn't feel rushed at all. I guess it used to be like this in the States in "old days", before skyrocketing health care costs made everyone become more "efficient". The best part of the doctor's appointment was making the payment. The cost of the visit - $25.00.. can't beat that!

We just returned from a somewhat frustrating two weeks in Quito. The reason for our trip was to finalize my paperwork so that I can become a legal permanent resident of Ecuador. Unfortunately we were only able to accomplish a fraction of what we set out to do. The bureaucracy here, as anywhere, is horrible and everything seems to involve long waits, complicated procedures and unhelpful employees. One amusing twist was that many of the government employees (and other official types) were openly rude to us. Lucho says it's because they want money and he refuses to pay them. But I guess it just comes with the territory. We got similar treatment at the U.S. Embassy.

The process of getting my resident visa involves many steps and none of them are quick or simple. Just for example one of the things we need to submit is an official marriage certificate. In order to get an official marriage certificate we had to legalize our marriage in Ecuador. To do this we needed a official copy of our marriage certificate (certified by the State of Indiana). The certificate had to be translated and notarized. The notary wouldn't notarize it unless the person who translated it was there to sign the translation in person. Neither Lucho nor I could sign the translation (even though we both speak English) so we had Lucho's sister, an English teacher, sign it for us. We went to three notaries before we found one who would do it for us (the first one refused to do it and the second one was so rude that Lucho wouldn't to go back). The guy who finally did it was nice enough, but we were stuck waiting in his little office for a long time while he chain-smoked his way through the process. Once we finally had all the paperwork together (which included copies of our passports and other documents) we drove down to the "Registro Civil" (which took about an hour in smoggy Quito traffic) to submit everything. After sitting through a traffic jam outside the building for about 20 minutes we were able to find a parking space. As we were walking to the building someone told us that the office was closed for the next hour or so, but we decided to check it out for ourselves. Fortunately they were still open and we were able to get inside. There were long lines of people everywhere. We thought we were lucky when we were directed to a desk with no one waiting near it. The guy understood what we wanted, took our paperwork and charged us $1. Then he told us to come back in the afternoon. So we went out to lunch at a nearby mall and came back. We went back to the guy and he rudely directed us to another desk with a crowd of people around it. They were vaguely organized in a line, but Lucho positioned himself on one side and I stayed on the other just to make sure. We waited our turn and eventually were able to talk to the guy. He made us sign a document and told us to come back the next day in the afternoon to pick up another piece of paper. The next day we came back, waited in another line, got our piece of paper and then were told that we had to go to another desk and register our marriage. We waited again and finally a woman asked us to come forward and sign our names in a book. We were being officially married in Ecuador! But before that we had to pay them $40. After that we thought we could get our official marriage certificate, but no luck. We had to wait a week and go to another office (this one an hour drive, in another direction, through smoggy Quito traffic). So a week later we drove down to the other office to pick up an official copy of the marriage certificate. Christina was sleeping so I waited in the car with her. Lucho disappeared for a while and then came back with a sad face. He told me that after waiting in one long line to request the copy and another long line to pay for it he was told to come back the next day to pick up the document. The next day, after another hour long drive through smoggy traffic, Lucho waited in another long line (I was shopping a local mall with Lucho's sisters) and finally picked up the official marriage certificate!

That was just one of the 6 or 7 documents that we need to apply for my resident visa. Not all of the documents are this difficult to obtain, but each one has its story. For example, I have to send my police record back to the U.S. be certified by the State of California before the Ecuadorian government will accept it.

Of course we could avoid most of this hassle if we paid a lawyer a lot of money. But, besides being cheap, we want to see how far we can get "on our own". We also have the help of one of Lucho's nephews and his girlfriend, who are both law students. When we went to the immigration office with them they recognized one of the guys who works there. It turns out that he is one of their friends from school. So that's a ray of hope. As I mentioned in a previous post - it's always much easier to get things done around here if you know someone on the "inside".

Some of you may remember one of my old posts from Sacramento about how we were rushing around, trying to get all of my paperwork together for a visa. Why are we doing this again, you may ask? Well, we are asking ourselves the same question. The visa I have now is a "tourist" visa, not an "immigrant" visa. It expires at the end of August. Why do I have a tourist visa? Because that's what the Ecuadorian consulate in San Francisco told me to get, even though we explained to them that I am married to an Ecuadorian and that I was planning to live in Ecuador; even though the Ecuadorian Embassy's website clearly explains that there is an immigrant visa that can be applied for from outside of Ecuador. We were told that I had to get the tourist visa first and then reapply for the immigrant visa once we were in Ecuador. Now that we are in Ecuador we are told that the fact that I have a tourist visa is a problem and that I will probably have to pay some kind of fine before I can switch to an immigrant visa. Ahhh ... "la experienca cuesta" (experience costs).

But, despite all of this we were able to enjoy ourselves in Quito. We spent a lot of time with family. We ate a lot of good food, we went shopping, and we got to see some of the sights.

The travelling isn't over yet. On Monday I'm going on a quick trip out to the countryside with some members of a local environmental group. This might turn into a job for me. I turns out that some of the small towns in Loja Province have some funding to do some water quality monitoring. It sounds like a very interesting project and I hope that I can help them out. Then on Friday we're planning to drive to Guayaquil - Ecuador's biggest city, located on the coast - to visit family. We'll be there for about a week. This time we won't be doing any work, we'll just be enjoying ourselves and relaxing.

Clouds over London

Clouds by Tomas Saraceno

VIA «Olympic clouds»

VIA «Life on the Moon»

VIA «Fashion Time»

It doesn't matter how big your house is (even if it's the size of this one), how much it costs or even how much you are worth — the same rules for tree felling apply to everyone.

We're not just talking about the mechanics of lining up a cut and making sure it doesn't drop into your 24ft luxury swimming pool either, there is more to removing a tree than meets the eye.

The above will not make pleasant reading for a lot of property owners, who will have been looking for an excuse to fell a cumbersome tree on their land for years. Yes, they can add privacy, but they can also prevent development whether this is in relation to your garden or the house itself.

Therefore, if you are looking to rid your land of a troublesome tree, read on. The following checklist has been put together for any UK homeowner out there, but it's very likely that the same rules apply for most countries.

Rule #1 — Are you even allowed to fell the tree?

First and foremost, it’s all about legalities. You might own the most exclusive plot in town, but that doesn’t mean to say that you can do whatever you please with the tree. The UK has thousands of Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) and this means that permission has to be sought before you do anything that will drastically change the tree. The fact that this even includes pruning will tell you that most of the time, the thought of felling one is absolutely out of the question.

This is an occasion where bending the rules is pretty much unthinkable as well. It’s an offence to fell, or even do any work for that matter, on a tree protected by a TPO. Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you live, it’s generally not worth the aggravation and you’ll have to live with the tree for the foreseeable future (i.e., forever).

Rule #2 — Is it going to cause half your house to fall down?

In felling a tree, you also want to ensure that you don't fell your house. This might sound a bit over the top, but it really isn't. Additionally, we're not talking about the risks of the tree crushing your great big roof lights (although that's an obvious concern, as well).

Instead, we’re referring to the perils of subsidence. It’s an insurer’s worst nightmare and a lot of the time it’s related purely to the actions of the homeowner. Remove a tree anywhere near your home and you’ve just allowed an enormous amount of water, which the tree was previously using, to re-enter the soil and subsequently swell it. This can cause a whole host of problems and in the worst situations, it’s not been uncommon for houses to have to be rebuilt.

Rule #3 — Who will manage the whole process?

Once upon a time the only option would have been to take advantage of a professional tree felling service, as it simply wasn’t possible to source the specialist equipment on a domestic level. However, there are now numerous companies offering arborist clothing and machinery and this means that the DIY approach is entirely doable.

Whether you fancy getting your hands dirty is up to you. It will work out significantly cheaper to take this approach, although you’ll also have to factor in all of the calculations that are necessary when felling trees. On this note we should also remind readers that if you do get a calculation wrong, there’s every chance that one side of your house could be completely flattened. Therefore, make sure you read the appropriate literature before whipping out your chainsaw.

Rule #4 — What happens next?

No, this final rule isn’t like the famous part of ‘A Question of Sport’, but rather what is going to happen to the felled tree now? The answer to the above issue might have already covered it, as some companies will dispose of the tree for you.

However, if they don’t, you have a giant piece of lumbar in your back garden. Unless you need wood for your stove, it’s a nuisance to say the least. Moving it in one go is probably out of the question, while even sawing it up into tiny pieces will be too much for some. Unfortunately, it’s something else that has to be covered and this is exactly why, no matter what type of house you reside in, tree felling is never a simple topic and there is a boatload of planning required before even considering it.

VIA «Tree Felling 101 for the Lavish Property Owner»

There's one thing that's pretty consistent across all of the examples featured on this site — they're all as contemporary as it gets. There are no awkward features, everything is smooth, seamless and damn right modern.

Over the years the construction industry has seen technologies come and go, arguably at a faster rate than in other fields. It would be fair to say that one technology which has grabbed building experts by the scruff of the neck is solar. It's something which is being applied in practically every imaginable use and when it comes to contemporary homes it's no surprise why.

Solar is something that removes any aesthetic fears from architects. Once upon a time those famous panels may have been classed as intrusive, but nowadays they can be blended into any modern building. Similarly, smaller solar products (which we'll get into later), just don't hinder a home's appearance in the slightest and this is the reason it's here to say.

Of course, a lot of these products also happen to save a considerable amount of money - something which is surely required when you see some of the extravagant featured properties! Nevertheless, the point we're trying to make is that solar energy is here to stay and this is something that a lot of rival technologies haven't been able to say over the past few years. Here, we highlight how solar is growing, how you can use it on your home - and why it suits the contemporary, dream homes down to a tee.

The old favourite: solar panels

We may as well start with the thing that everyone associates solar technology with; those panels which seem to be affixed to a growing proportion of UK estates. Initially, they were targeted at local authority housing, but private homeowners have now caught on and they are especially popular with modern properties.

The nature of solar panels means that they are never going to be suited to a rustic dwelling. Shiny panels just don’t work on a converted barn, but when they are integrated to a potential Dwell award candidate, things start to change. They can actually look like a positive addition to such properties, while it’s now possible to purchase the panels in varying styles which make them highly compatible with different types of roofs.

Security lighting: no longer a tangle of wires

This is one use of the technology which doesn’t necessarily have to be implemented in a luxury home. The reason it’s been included in this article is because of the simplicity and it doesn’t matter where you live, gone are the days when you have to source an electrician to fit a complicated set of security lights.

Naturally, these lights arrive in various solar contemporary styles, but the big selling point is that they’re plug and play. Some security lights which are solar powered can be installed in a matter of minutes and this means that they’re certainly here to stay, and possibly overtake the standard security fittings that we have come so accustomed to over the last few years.

Water features: same as above

Take a look at the latest featured house on this blog and it will almost certainly be exquisitely landscaped, with a water feature to boot. The introduction of solar technology to these features has transformed the way in which gardens can be put together and again there’s no need to source a qualified electrician – a lot of these features are powered entirely by the sun.

Considering the fact that it’s also possible to obtain solar fairy lights to compliment the landscape, it goes without saying that water features are evolving and have become even more exuberant because of solar.

And finally… for the ultimate solar/contemporary enthusiast

We should probably have added another component to the title of this subheading, “for the ultimate property owner”. We’ll again refer to the houses that are featured across Art Architect and the vast majority have a pool in their back garden.

For a lot of years, the main problem with swimming pools hasn’t been the upfront cost (although these will still set you back tens of thousands of pounds, or more depending on your requirements), but the running costs. Again, solar has come to the rescue and through the use of solar thermal technology, it’s now possible to heat the water through the sun’s rays. Additionally, excess energy can be used for outside towel rails or even the water for showers – again elements that will accompany the contemporary plot down to a tee.

VIA «Solar: the Perfect Technology for the Contemporary Dwelling»

Emergency Cash Loans for Small Businesses

Traditional cash loan for serious projects!

VIA «Fast loans it's real!»

New Fine Arts Center

New Fine Arts Center becomes the first public building constructed in a small Texas city for last thirty years. Local artists and active workers, parents and teachers, historians and collectors of national creativity participated in center building. All of them thought over what should be their place for public meetings

Hi-tech Audience

Project by Kell Muñoz Architects is almost 2000 sq.m., a hall 975 places and an audience completed with the hi-tech audio-visual equipment.
The project budget has been limited enough, $5.7 million dollars. This building of time declaring a multicultural modernism, traditional for district (Rio Grande Valley), mixed with the international modernism associating with Mexico.

Art Center in Texas

To allocate a new public place, the construction facade has been raised. The front composition from the bright vertical strips organized according to a color spectrum, very brightly allocates a building in a silent and harmonious landscape.

VIA «The Architecture of the National Traditions»