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Yes, they feel more confident now than before. They’re seeing a profit at the end of this year. Don’t take my word for it, go out and look around. do you see business closing, do you see more freight on the highways? Talk to business people, if you really want to find out, get involved(talk) with people who run small businesses.

Boilerplater,
I think too many of us(LA’s) are waiting by our computers waiting for an interview and the like, For many of us it’s going to be a long wait and perhaps a defining one in our careers. Especially, if were waiting for home construction to pick-up and it will, don’t know when though. In the meantime, Everyone else has to make do with…[Read more]

I’ve been corresponding with an old friend of mine who has been in real estate finance for many years and has a business degree from Wharton (UPENN).  He does development finance, not a mortgage broker.  I mentioned that Cramer of CNBC’s “Mad Money” was recommending home builder stocks as he thinks a turn around in housing will be in 2013, and h…[Read more]

Look for ways to network with them. Located networking events and attend, find ways to make yourself useful by volunteering, etc… Also, if you hadn’t notice the world keeps turning, that means businesses are making money and are busy. Those numbers I posted are real numbers, business owners pay attention to economic indicators and their bottom…[Read more]

Unbiased? Wow, that is going to be a tall order there. Any article you read is going to have bias. Nobody has a crystal ball either unfortunately, so we are all just going to have to find out at the same time, whenever that is.
 
Chad, I think what you said really goes without saying.  The point was to set the tone for this thread, to enco…[Read more]

Hi,
I just read NY Times predict the economy is going to grow in the first quarter to 3.9% an uptick from 2.8% predicted earlier. Also, for the past 5 straight months this past year the economic indicators are positive. That’s the reason for the increase in economic growth(Dah). I’ve been going out and talking to individual business…[Read more]

My forecast: Grim with a chance of crappy.
 
http://www.census.gov/const/www/quarterly_starts_completions.pdf
http://www.photius.com/rankings/soundness_of_banks_2009_weforum.html

Could you seal them?
It’s necessary to seal hand-seeded aggregate paving in Northern climates… maybe the same application would work on travertine pavers.

Hi Steve,
I am looking at the pavers, and am not concerned with issues surrounding the paver system per se.   I’m mostly concerned about the travertine material itself breaking down in freeze/thaw cycles–especially given how pitted and porous they appear. 
Have you tried them before, and how are they performing? 

The combined programs are advertised as post-professional degrees with both a research and studio component. I did indeed to a fair amount of research into the programs, and this particular university had offered the courses in what I wanted to study, only to find out that two out of the three classes in that subject were either no longer offered,…[Read more]

It’s happening with Architecture already. I’ve heard NAAB will no longer accredit BArch degrees offering only to accredit the masters. Plus, the educational standards LAAB are implementing make it exceedingly difficult to cram the requirements into 4 years, or even three for a masters. They are looking at a 3+2 program. Three yr. BS/BA, 2yr…[Read more]

There aren’t any in my region, they are all planning degrees. Don’t want to do that for the same reasons you mentioned.

Hi Mark,
 
Are you using travertine pavers or tile?  Is your concern frost heaving?  Travertine pavers are on par with concrete pavers:
Travertine pavers have a PSI of over 8000 and a coefficient of friction of 0.77.   (Concrete pavers have a PSI of between 7500 to 8500) They are using them more and more in Florida.  They won’t be any safer to…[Read more]

Now who is going to do the research to see which MLA programs are designed to strengthen job security for university professors? Are there departments dropping BLA accreditation in order to force continuation in Master’s programs? Watch for it. I know it is coming (…. and I use the word “know”  rather than “think”)
 
Has anyone seen or heard of this?

I was just wondering if you had looked into and of the urban design masters programs.  Going by your posts on other Land8 threads, seems like it (might) be a thing you’d be into.  I know some are 1 year programs.  I thought one of those might be a better resume booster for someone licensed with a BLA.  I was also considering a planning mas…[Read more]

F3
Oh, snap!

I read your original article in LAM and while I understand how you have viewed your experience as an MLA student, I my opinion, had you researched MLA programs as thoroughly prior to enrolling as you did after becoming disenchanted with your experience, you could have avoided this experience altogether.  I do not think many MLA programs market…[Read more]

Jason,
You will find it interesting to note that L.A. Profession is no longer listed in the top 50 most desirable careers. It’s been replaced by Urban Planning. It’s a viable option to an MLA II.
 
Jim

Thanks for the warning! It has just reinforced what my husband and I believe. I think it is very tempting for recent graduates to believe that if they can’t grow professionally through employment to stay in the stability that school has to offer with a masters program. I haven’t been doing much with my BLA…concentrating on our adorable…[Read more]

I can’t argue with any of that, but I personally found that I was willing to go the Acad Lt route and drop the extra cash not to deal with the differences. I also had no need of the full Autocad  (or full Bricscad), so it made sense to me to bite the bullet when I did at the beginning of 2008. I demoed three or four Intellicad programs and each…[Read more]