It may be interesting to know where I come from and how it shapes my work. I grew up in rural Maine. I had friends who lived in houses with no running water, I never knew anyone with more than one bathroom in their house until I went to college, There was usually more than one kid to a bedroom. In the winter I walked the frozen shore line of the nearby lake, peaking into the windows of summer camps owned by the out-of-staters. In the summer, local kids worked 40 hours a week at the camps attended by kids from wealthy Massachusetts families and in the winter many of them worked 20 hours a week after school. I left Maine and attended college with kids who had gone to these summer camps, kids who had never held jobs. Culture Shock. Now I am comfortable in both worlds but I don’t feel that I truly belong to either. I definitely get uncomfortable when a client wants and can afford excess. I chomp at the bit when people “need” more than a one to one ratio of bums to toilets. Isn’t a 10 by 12 bedroom plenty big enough for little Johhny? A special room just to watch tv? On the other hand I love to design large homes that can accommodate several adults and packs of kids of all ages. A 10 by 12 pantry doesn’t seem so excessive to me and even sounds a bit small for a mudroom. Two sinks and two ovens in the kitchen? Why not! A 6 x 6 shower? Yes please and can I put the hot tub partly under the roof for when it snows? Can I heat it with solar panels on that roof? Sigh. These are some of the things that I think about while trying to be a brilliant up and coming young architect.