Learning from Barcelona

I was out of town on Labor Day. Driving on West Gray a few days ago, I noticed something was missing – half of the River Oaks Shopping Center was practically gone. I’d known for a while that this is what was to happen, still it made me sad. Soon there will be yet another […]

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Love at First Site

I went to my first major construction site a few days ago – it was awesome. Cement dust in the air, the smell of mortar and tar, the sounds of jackhammers. Our firm is the Architect of Record for the Comcast Center in Philadelphia – the project on which I have been working for the […]

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Milestone

I have not had time to write for a while. . . It took longer than my 40th birthday, but I am finally able to run around the campus of Rice University once without stopping – it’s almost 3 miles. I have to complete several long-tstanding goals this year – we’ll see if I can […]

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As Seen On (Iranian) T.V.

My mom, who lives about 90 miles from me, recently had the satellite that receives the Iranian channels installed. I visit her on some weekends and channel-surfed through the 1001 Persian language stations a couple of weeks ago. There are the old flicks, the many music videos, the continuous plethora of rug auctions with “unbelievable […]

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Chasing 40

The headline read “50 at 30” – that’s the number of golf tournaments Tiger Woods has won by the time he’s turned 30. Jack Nicklaus had held the record by winning 50 by the age of 33. I am almost a year away from turning 40 and I have not won a single golf tournament […]

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The Promise of World Peace

Almost twenty one years ago, in October of 1985, the Universal House of Justice – the governing body of the Baha’i Faith – published an essay entitled “The Promise of World Peace”. In these dark, dark days, I thought that it might be a source of hope.

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Freedom Tower

The latest design of the Freedom Tower to be built at New York’s “ground zero” was unveiled today. The original plan, created by Daniel Libeskind, called for a series of angular buildings with one rising significantly above the rest, its spire reaching 1776 feet – the height, a gesture to the date of the signing […]

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The Beautiful Game

I grew up playing football, or soccer, as it is referred to in the U.S. We played it mostly with a plastic red and white ball that was smaller than a regular football – I don’t really know why. It may have had to do with the fact that a real leather ball was expensive […]

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