Well, it's official....

I'm now an Architect member of the American Institue of Architects...an organization that I loathed a few years ago (and still do, kind of). It's not an organization to which an architect needs to belong in order to practice and I never thought the benefits outweighed the cost ($506 membership fee). But I guess it can open up some possibilities with regard to marketing and state required continuing education.

So you may be asking yourself, "Ken, why join the AIA if you don't think the benefits outweigh the cost?" There are three reasons:

1. My boss is paying for the yearly membership. I've always had this option open to me but never wanted to exercise it previously.

2. It gains me free admission to this year's AIA Convention. OK, the reasons are getting better.

3. The Kicker: Due to an Oregon statute requiring at least a five year Bachelor's degree in Architecture or a Master's degree in Architecture, I can't become a licensed architect in Oregon. I ONLY have a four year Bachelor's in Architecture and a Master's in Architectural Engineering. This, apparently does not meet those requirements. Therefore, unless I get another Master's degree or go through a lengthy (and expensive) process with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), I can't legally call myself an Architect or get a reciprocal license in Oregon. But what I can do is join the AIA and have my business card read: Kenneth Roko, AIA. Having those three little letters after my name can IMPLY that I'm an architect (which I am...licensed in New York) without breaking laws. I doesn't get me closer to legally starting my own architectural firm, but I don't think I want that anyway.

In any event, this last one sealed the deal for me.

So now I'll be off to the AIA Convention in Las Vegas for a bunch of seminars and the expo as follows:

Conducting a Historic Structure Assessment
Update on Neuroscience and Architecture
Can High-Rises Create Livable Cities? Vancouver and Miami
Active Glass Walls: A Technical and Historical Account
Potential Exposure in Residential Design: Risks and Solutions
Standing Tall: 19th-Century Skyscrapers in the 21st-Century
Get the Mold Out! Preventing Mold Growth in Your Architecture

The seminar on Neuroscience and Architecture is quite compelling to me since I know several people in the nueroscience field, namely my wife!!!! So we'll see how the seminar is. Actually, this is something I've posted about previously.

Oh yeah....and there's sure to be a bunch of poker playing in there too.

So here's to the AIA!!!!!!!