How you doin'?

Beaubien Camp at Philmont Scout Ranch, NM

Its been a long time since I've blogged. Some of you have told me so. Its been over two years in fact - January 2018 was my last post though I have 3 posts in draft form! I felt like I had to take a sabbatical when I was elected CSI Board Chair-elect. Before that, I barely had time to keep up with family, work and CSI and knew I wouldn't have time moving forward, so I decided to moth ball the blog. I'm no less busy now, I just have some things that I want to put out there - not about CSI, but about leadership, world view and the changing landscape of society. 

So, how are you doing? What are the major changes you've made or been forced to make? Are you still working? Though many states have deemed construction essential which allows AEC professionals to keep working, I know one manufacturer rep who was put on 1/2 time with a commiserate pay reduction. I follow an architect on twitter who is struggling to keep her staff paid and busy so they are making masks. She, like so many others including my best friend who is a dentist, are frustrated by an inability to get answers related to applications for the Payroll Protection Program and other small business loans. 

Crooked Lake, Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

I'll give some of the answers to those questions for me. I'm doing well. My notebook tells me yesterday was work from home day 22. My sons and wife are also at home in our three bedroom row home. We are all physically and mentally healthy. We are cooking a lot more which means eating healthier. I try to get out of the house to walk the neighborhood at least once per day. What started as 1 to 1-1/2 miles has turned into 2-1/2 to 3 miles at lunch lately. If you're interested, give me a follow on Instagram - I usually post a photo from my walks. I also listen to Marketplace and Make Me Smart podcasts while I walk and both are very good!

We're trying to support local businesses where we can. We knew that my favorite local brewery has a pizza kitchen in their tap room. We have discovered that our oldest son can take their make-your-own pizza kits and do some really tasty things with them. That's been a treat. We try to order take out from our favorite places when we can, though several of them have closed, we hope temporarily. 

Both our sons, sophomore in college and freshman in high school, are adjusting well to their on-line learning environments. Our freshman has to meet virtually with two classes each day and my wife has enjoyed listening in to them. Our adult daughter is still employed in the non-profit sector and living in her apartment downtown. We text, talk or FaceTime with her frequently. 

Our office instituted its business continuity plan on March 13, 2020. We provided work from home opportunities to all staff, restricted non-essential business travel, instituted liberal leave policies and other items to allow our staff to make the best decisions, work safely and maintain our business. That was a Friday, I continued to work in the office the following Monday through Wednesday but by then realized it wasn't a good idea to continue to drive downtown every day. 

I set up shop in the dining room, taking an old TV out of the basement and using it for a large monitor, which my wife thinks is excessive. She set up shop in our daughter's old bedroom so we stay apart most days while each of us attend back to back Zoom meetings. I had 4 on Thursday and 2 more on Friday. Our FiOS internet is screaming fast and we've had only a small handful of issues. We're lucky and we know it. 

Another way life has changed is I'm reaching out to my parents and some friends more. I used to try to call my folks every Sunday. Many weeks, I did not. My sister lives up the street from them and I was relying a bit too much on that. Recognizing the unfairness in that and at the same time struggling that I cannot see my own daughter as often as I'd like, I have made a conscious effort to call more. We set up Zooms with them the last several Sunday evenings and I usually call mid-week or FaceTime sometime.  

Downtown Baltimore, MD

I do miss going downtown. I've spent 20 years in three offices and two firms all along Pratt St in downtown Baltimore. Even the three years I was on-site architect for the construction of the new Dental School, University of Maryland Baltimore's campus is downtown, just north of Pratt St. For those that don't know, our office is in the old power plant - its the red brick building in the foreground of the photo above. The 4 smoke stacks you see travel up through our office. 

As design professionals, we work closely with each other, collaboratively designing and detailing buildings for our clients. Our teams are communicating more regularly now, but its remotely - email, phone and Zoom. I miss the energy, intelligence and talent of our staff. I miss hearing about their trips out of town, their children and what else they are doing around the coffee pot in the morning or walking out to the garage with them in the evenings. 

I'm getting pretty good editing and marking up drawings in BlueBeam, but I miss being able to do a large hand drawing, have it scanned and emailed out. Most of the lab planning I do is initially drawn by hand. I did a large hand drawing for a client, shot a pic with my phone and emailed the pic to the client. It worked okay, but not the same. I could really use a scanner larger than the 8-1/2" by 11" all-in-one we have at home but it works fine so I don't see a need to upgrade to a larger model.  

We are lucky. Our workload remains strong and we have had only three projects go on hold and one delay a start. That's in a firm of 85 people. I attended a virtual pre-proposal meeting for a series of 10 enabling projects at a university client of ours. The drawing I mentioned above was for a kick-off meeting for a lab project. We are monitoring our revenue projections and cash flow. I'm doing more collections calls than I ever have. I have mostly public sector clients and you can guarantee they will pay in 30-45 days. I'm now calling to make sure invoices are received, approved and moved down the line towards payment. 

Sunset of Sarah Lake, Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

In all, 5 weeks into our isolation, quarantine, work from home, whatever you call it, my family is healthy and doing well. How about you? Feel free to comment on the blog or hit me up on Twitter. My handle is @mpkemp