Some days I just need to take a break from the code questions and check out a really cool door. Luckily, George Everding (and his wife Maureen who suggested that he take the photo for me) saw this door...

These beautiful doors are from the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. Construction on the cathedral began in 1883, but due to the Civil War and other delays, the cathedral was not consecrated for worship until 1993. The extremely ornate bronze doors are the work of sculptor Luis Antonio Sanguino, who began work on them in 2000...

Hobbit doors are all the rage right now...you can find hobbit door jewelry, cookies, outlet covers, ice cream sandwiches...I would like a real one.  Not a tiny real one - a 5-footish, round hobbit door with a knob in the middle.  Now I just have to figure out where to put it.  If I made a hobbit hole in the back yard I could hide from the kids in it.

A couple of weeks ago someone commented on one of my posts that he really liked the article but didn't know who the author was.  Many of you have been part of the site's evolution, and some of you know me personally.  When I write these posts I feel like I'm talking to you...either explaining a difficult code-related topic, or chuckling with you over a creative solution.  So unless I state otherwise, the author is me!  Same with the photos.  I try to be very careful about giving proper photo credit, so if you don't see a mention of who sent me the photo, the photographer is usually me.

The most ornate pair of doors that I saw in San Miguel was the entrance to la Casa del Mayorazgo de Canal.  The historic home was once owned by the de la Canal family, one of the richest families in New Spain.  This building is now occupied by a bank, as well as la Casa de Cultura de Banamex (Banamex Cultural Center) which houses a collection of historic paintings and hosts special art exhibitions.

I've had dozens of architects ask me to specify hardware for doors with something "unusual" applied to them...sheetrock, wood, stone...one of our hardware consultants even had an architect propose full-sized brick covering the entire face of the door.  I always try to talk them out of it, but I have to admit it's pretty cool when I see doors where the architect didn't take "no" for an answer.

It's been a busy couple of weeks that didn't leave me a lot of time for blogging - last week I went to LCN to have dinner with some of my favorite customers from Israel, witnessed a fire test at UL, then spent the rest of the week at the AIA conference in Denver where I played Code Jeopardy with the Denver chapter of DHI, played a mini version with LOTS of AIA attendees, and taught a class at the conference with Bill Lawliss.  We're spending this week with our new group of specwriter apprentices, as well as the previous group - they have already learned enough to help us with the instructing!  I have been amazed at how quickly they picked up the product information, code requirements, and specification techniques.  Here's a group photo from our field trip to Harvard yesterday:

Last week I had a whirlwind trip to Kansas City, Missouri for Code Jeopardy at DHI's MoKan Chapter meeting, and another code class which was held at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas.  The venue was amazing and the local SSC did a fabulous job of coordinating everything.  Thank you to everyone who attended!