Richmond, Virginia

I left Chesapeake later on in the afternoon than I'd have liked. By the evening I'd entered Richmond via Nine Mile Road, which is apparently the wrong side of town to enter from. After passing through from the east and finding myself locking my doors at a stoplight, I simply followed the skyline into downtown and meandered the roads near VCU until I got hold of Pat Gregory on the phone. An associate of my father's from the United Dominion Reality Trust, he retired from his position as CIO on a fat pile of pensions and stock options. I would too, considering the job description and the reality market, even if UDRT deals mostly in apartment property holdings.

Near South Pine Street VUC is constructing a new building for the School of Engineering. So far it looks structurally sound, albeit still covered in Georgia-Pacific logo'd Tyvek. The CAD rendering of the completed building is proudly displayed on a sign near the contractor's fenceline, and bears all the hallmarks of a contemporary university building - that is, a not quite modernist brick/brushed aluminium/right angled layout with at least one convex glass facade. Guess thats what you get from a combination of a university's scant budget plus the need for an IT laden facility thats utilitarian yet still welcoming to its visitors. They did the same thing in the 60's/70's I suppose, except for some reason they figured it a good idea to use a horrid blocky window/steel pipe railing/drab green panels/stucko on cinderblock combination of something from the dark recesses of Andy Worhol's worst nightmares. Though come to think of it, that may have been the point.

After digesting a lagre cheesesteak from a hole in the wall collage bar called Mojo's just down the block, I'm off to meet up with and possibly stay the night with Pat for a day or two, in a place off the southwest side where the opposite of Nine mile Road exists. Now to navigate the crosstown evening traffic.