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Probably the most ambitious at least since the last ‘global’ landscape project….How come most of us never got the RFP for this one? (wink)………no seriously, it would really help my bottom line.

Roland, as someone who has taken a few Chinese classes, I would try to master the phonetics, the 4 tones, and pinyin of Mandarin first before learning any words. If you can’t afford any classes, pick up a book with an audio cd, or go on iTunes and download some pinyin apps. Some apps even have audio clips for you to get your sound right. In…[Read more]

Roland: If it is any more help to you, I was able to find a torrent site and download the complete Rosetta Stone modules for both Spanish and Chinese. I can burn them to a CD and send it to you. Might take a couple of weeks to get to you. You can email me your mailing address here on Land8Lounge if you would like to get a copy.
Landplanner

It’s helpful to get your point of view on this. I can already see this will not be easy just based on the first few lessons on the Berlitz program. As you can probably tell from my answer to Bob, this is something I’m doing partly to improve my chances of getting a job (either at a large firm here that works internationally or at a firm in China…[Read more]

Bob,
I just need something to do when I’m not applying for jobs (almost all of them stateside).  I have so much time on my hands its ridiculous. I’ve done all the things you mentioned to the point that I can’t stand it anymore. I’m also in the process of redoing my portfolio for the fourth time. So, don’t worry, learning Chinese is one thing among many.

My apologies first, I thought the top posting here was yours, then I looked again and it was reigning master of rapier wit here, Dr. McDonald.  I thought for certain it was you Bob. Here is what I first put down.
I read your posting and had to read it twice to make sure that it was the same MauiBob. This sposting of yours might, just might have…[Read more]

Roland:

I think we have communicated here enough for you to know that I am in China. Two things have changed in the last couple of years since my first and now second tour of duty. The first is that most employment posting for landscape architects specify either that you have to speak Mandarin or that it is highly desired. Despite my appealing…[Read more]

Don’t take this the wrong way, former Vandal Roland but my advice: you are spending too much time at things which won’t further your L.A. career. Do you want to be a landscape architect or a Chinese/English interpreter for some American shoe company in Beijing? You’re barely out of school and I’m guessing…need lots of landscape training.…[Read more]

Hey Andrew. I’ve been checking out the new mobile site and I think it’s great. Very sleek, simple, and easy to use. Nice work!

You’re probably right. I wonder if my former classmates from China would help. If they’re still here in town.

I’m using Rosetta Stone right now and it’s not bad but the only way you’ll learn a language is if you’re immersed in it. I’m trying to learn Mandarin but being in Hong Kong, the locals prefer to speak English to me rather than Mandarin so I never really get to use it. I would suggest you get friends who are fluent if you are truly interested in…[Read more]

Don’t forget Osage Orange trees.  What a truly odd plant.  I love the early fall when the fruit falls like civil war cannonballs.

Jason:
 
I just read the NYT article that summed up the passage of the transportation bill. Looks like roadside (whatever kind of road) beautification and more bike lanes and pedestrian pathways lost out to the automobile, again. I read your reply and am not sure how to really interpret it. Do you mean that “fixing failing bridges and other…[Read more]

i’m told that’s where all the multiflora roses come from… hardy, easy to establish hedgerow planting…

I just sent in my $150 (cheap!) to renew my Nevada license yesterday.  Maybe it will be useful in 2015 or so!  Its such an absurd place…don’t know if I’d want to work there again, but I did get to do some things that I’m proud of.  I wonder who those companies are renting to in LV when so many people have up and left the valley, as I did last year.

I applaud the two planting initiatives in principle, however, both the planting of a monoculture and the removal of native species for exotics is dumbfounded. As for the argument against the mass expenditures on such an undertaking in favour of spending the funds on necessities such as healthcare, I feel that if more healthy cities were planned in…[Read more]

Thank you for posting this. I’m thinking the same way.
I read several econ and one very good housing blog from time to time. What they all seem to point to is the huge “shadow” inventory of homes that are still in the foreclosure pipeline that have to be worked through first before there is any real sustained recovery in housing. They all agree on…[Read more]

I’m interested nonetheless in your process since I end up doing a lot of “from scratch” trees with random brushes, etc.

The OP has an uncompensated work issue, not a copyright issue.  It really doesn’t matter if the railing is ever constructed. 

Jason, are you sure about the first paragraph you wrote ?  
If I buy a book, I can copy the pages for making my notes on.  What I cannot do is copy the book and sell/handout the copies for others to avoid the purchase of…[Read more]

The choice of a monoculture of Gingko reminds me of the over-use of the American Elm in this country and how that fostered the spread of Dutch Elm Disease.  Apparently that lesson has been lost, or just not understood and heeded by mayors with delusions of grandeur.
The US has done such large-scale plantings in the past.  Remember the Dust B…[Read more]