Brad Pitt is at it again

INCIDENT:
Brad Pitt fancies himself an architect and you know what... that is fine by me. But this is ONLY because he is a strong advocate of sustainable architecture. Plus his involvement brings architectural issues to the forefront of the social conscious when normally it is not even on the radar. So kudos to Brad for making it cool to care about the environment and for using architecture as the catalyst for change.

So if you didn't catch it last year, Brad Pitt narrated a really good PBS television series about environmentally-friendly architecture called Design: E2. You can watch all of the episodes online. [UPDATE: I just checked again and it is only excerpts of the shows... boo. Check your local listings.] (As an aside... currently there is a new E2 series called Energy: E2 narrated by Morgan Freeman. Check it out!).

And now Brad has taken on the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. He has assembled a team of world-renowned architects, including Morphosis, Shigeru Ban Architects, and Kieran Timberlake, to design green affordable housing at a large scale (150 houses total and 13 house designs). The project is called Make It Right (http://makeitrightnola.org/).

MORAL:
Most people know that my biggest interest in architecture is in how architecture can improve the quality of life of others. So to see Brad Pitt using his money, his celebrity, and his interest in architecture to promote good design (not only a high aesthetic but also environmental responsibility) makes me very happy. Celebrities take note... this is how it should be done.

I Want to Be Natascha Badmann

INCIDENT:
Natasha Badmann is amazing. She is a six time Ironman World Champion. She has a great passion for the sport and she has the most positive attitude... not to mention her incredible sportsmanship.

At talk given by Desiree Ficker, another Ironman triathlete, Desiree talked about the 2006 Ironman World Championships. It was her first World Championship and somehow she found herself passing Natasha Badmann. This is a moment dreams are made of... and what do you think was Natasha's reaction? She encouraged Desiree. She kept telling her "Good job." Now that's the reaction of a real champion.

So you can imagine that this year's Ironman World Championship would be no different. For some reason the 2007 World Championships were extra crazy with a couple of the former champions coming down with stomach viruses... and then there was this strange circumstance with Natasha. So a couple of miles into the bike Natasha was in an accident. She was pretty badly hurt and bleeding. Her bike was totaled. Natasha shook it off after about 30 minutes of trying to recover. With her arm in a sling, they helped her onto a new bike and she was off. After about 30 miles, the pain was so excruciating that her coach and partner advised her to quit. She put up a fight but in the end decided that her coach knew what he was talking about... and it turns out he did, because Natasha had a broken rib and a broken collar bone as well as tendon damage in her shoulders and severe skin injuries. She has undergone two surgeries since the race to repair the damage from the accident especially the heavy damage to the tendons in her shoulders.

MORAL:
I want to be her. When you see the determination and courage of certain individuals in times of great adversity, you have to be inspired. Just to know that people like this exist in the world gives me hope. Whenever I feel like I cannot give any more, I think of people like Natasha... people who dig deep and find great strength. Because the moment that you give up is also the moment that you never realize how strong you really are.