Master Brewer Tim Sheehan brings us his latest IPA, The Girl from Ipanema

D. Millner Approves

Tim shows off the new label

Our in house master brewer Tim Sheehan is at it again.  His latest batch, The Girl from Ipanema, does not disappoint. Each beer gets a little better than the previous beer and it's safe to say, he hasn't made a bad batch yet.  The rich chocolately oval---- I mean, It's a pleasant balance of hops with a rich chocolately finish. 

Tired of CANstruction yet?

Tim concentrating on his old fashioned oats

Blast off

You can't be tired of CANstruction yet! We are just beginning! Last night we did a little practice build in our conference room.  Lots of success, and no CANtastrophes.  Tim lead the show with his amazing grace (not the song, but I am sure he could sing it well in his booming low voice) in stacking the cans on the upper levels.  It helps being over six foot tall.

I'm on TV, and I have no idea what I'm talking about

Tim here - A few days ago, while visiting a couple of my buddies at State College, a reporter for the local ABC station stopped to ask our opinions about Bill O'Brien's departure from Penn State.  Despite the fact that I didn't even know who Bill O'Brien was, I made it on the news that night (I'm on at around 2:20):

My name is not Chris Turley, nor am I a resident of State College.

http://www.abc27.com/video?clipId=9687516&autostart=true

Moral of the story: If you have strong opinions about topics you know nothing about, you'll probably end up on television.

Passing Tests!

Friday was a huge success for JKR's aspiring architects. We were four for four in ARE exams taken and passed!  Blake and Greg passed Schematic Design. Tim passed Construction Documents, and Zach passed Programming & Practice. These tests aren't easy, but we've got a smart young staff, and we're knockin' tests down left and right. 

Annual Phillies Outing

You need a drink before you see the Phils these days.

After a minor rain delay, the Phils got back to beatin on the Cubbies.

Butch hooking up the specials.

Serious Sergi and a photobombing Jose.

the Boss getting his birthday on.

If it seems like our office is a lot of fun, that's because it is.  In keeping with our yearly tradition, which started way back when the Phillies were actually good; last Thursday we had our annual JKR day at the Phillies.  This year was special in that it was also the Boss Man's 65th birthday.  He took full advantage of his newly granted senior citizen status and wisely got his subway ride to the ballpark for free. With age comes wisdom I guess. And like we always do, we all went back to our second favorite watering hole where we got our celebratory drinks.  The drinks taste much sweeter when the Phils win big. 

JKR Family Fun Day MMXIII

Tim here - This past Wednesday (6/19) marked the first Annual JKR Family fun day.  Tram Fun did an excellent job organizing and hosting this fun day of games, activities and barbecuing in Philly's Fairmount Park West.  There was a great turnout of both staff and their families, and we hope this will be the first of many great Family Fun Days.

The office grill performed admirably on its first day of work.

The bubbles entertained Sean for hours. 

2nd Floor once again proves its superiority.

Burgers are always better when battered in beer.

Chris and David Urffer, u-r-f-f-e-r.

The Broad Street Run

Tim here - JKR Partners had quite a showing at the Broad Street Run last Sunday (May 5th).  Five of us from the office ran in the race (Laura, Lauren, Izzo, Tim, and Sean Sean Sean Sean).  Everyone did a fantastic job in this 10-mile race through the heart of Philadelphia, and did JKR Proud.

 I had to take a very important call immediately after the race. 

Laura thought that the crosswalk was the finish line.

Lauren smoked us all with a race time of 1:12:18

Not pictured: Sean Sullivan (Sean lost his numbers while rocking out to "Sweet Caroline" at the start line.)

Mike Izzo (Izzo ran into some technical difficulties.) 

we do homes, and home brews

Believe it or not, Tim concocted some delicious booze in his basement over the last few weeks and he was gracious enough to share some with the good folks up in the holler.  The holler being his lunch crew. It was a rich full bodied Irish Red Ale.  For some reason he didn't tell anyone on the third floor. Either way, we're looking forward to the next batch out next week. And don't let that six pack label confuse you, this was legit.

JKR's Second Annual Drink and Draw

Sean showing off his skills.

Nicole, still early in the night with her right hand.

Glenn imparting his wisdom.

Jose and his off hand.

Laura's feeble attempt at drawing "chalk" "you know, it's a driveway, and an infant!"

Tim justifying his horrific attempt at drawing "Long Island"

Kathleen drawing something.  Musta been a gem based on Mike's reaction. 

Farinella's terrible terrible terrible attempt at drawing a cave. 

We've got a great relationship with the Irish Pub across the street from our office; On the good days, we celebrate there, on the bad days, we wallow there.  Last night, we upheld what will surely become a JKR tradition,  the annual Drink and Draw.  Pictionary with food and booze.  Now let's be clear, Pictionary isn't much fun between smart architects like us, so to make it more interesting we handicap ourselves with shots and beers and then we draw with our non-dominant hand.  It makes for a much more fun, and funny evening. 

A Cheerful Dental Hour

Nichole here!  Yesterday evening, we were invited to a happy hour hosted by our upstairs neighbors, NCDC.  Nicholas Cosmetic Dental Center, or the Dentists as we affectionately call them, invited the whole building to snack, drink and tour their 4th floor suite.  I must say, I appreciated their use of JKOrange throughout their suite.

The dentists were nice enough to get fancy snacks for the party.  We had fruits and breads and cheese, as well as catered sushi.  Even though this was a dry party (no alcohol allowed in the dental office), we managed to have have a few laughs and make a few friends.  It was unanimously decided that there will be future building happy hours (complete with adult beverages) :-)

"Sacrifice the body for the team"

Jen here.  For the first annual JKR Scavenger Hunt, Team Paul did not skip a beat.  You want us to pose like mannequins?  You got it.  You want us to jump into the fountain at Love Park?  Done.  Our entire team (Paul, Terra, Tim, Blake and I) jumped enthusiastically into 'team mode' without a second of hesitation.  We may not have been so great with the pigeons, but we definitely made the day more exciting for several very lucky statues.  Thank you so much to Team Fun for organizing one of the most enjoyable office outings imaginable!

La Vita e Bella

Fresh off the boat from Italy, Glenn Werner brought back some delicious ice cold limoncello for us all to enjoy...well, at least the few lucky ones that happened to be enjoying lunch on the deck with him.  I can't wait to see what Dave brings us when he comes back from his European vacation in a few weeks.  The standard has been set.

Mustache Day 2012

JKR Partners is growing....growing mustaches. We've come a long way since last year.
And yes, I am wearing the same shirt as last year. It's my mustache shirt.

HOLY! A NEW DECK!

Izzo Here:  Good things happen to those who wait. It's been a long time coming, but we can finally say that we have a bangin' new deck! Not many people can say they have a deck in the city! I mean we sorta had a deck before, if you could call that sorry excuse of a pile of rotted out boards laying across some planks as a deck.  It was more like a rickety old dock.  Now it's a bona fide brand spankin' new deck! A deck to be envious of.  The usual crew christened it this afternoon with its ceremonial first lunch. 

DISASTER AT JKR PARTNERS

Tim Here: At approximately 11:37 this morning, JKR Partners was crippled by a devastating power outage.  Within minutes, chaos had spread throughout the office.  

David Urffer, Principal at JKR partners, is being lauded as a hero after his daring call to PECO, shortly after which all power was restored.  Thanks to Urffer, no casualties have been reported.

Many suspect that the power outage was the result of unannounced maintenance conducted by PECO. However, PECO could not be reached to either confirm or deny these allegations at the time of writing. 

New Summer Interns!

Izzo Here: You know that "first day at a new office feeling" when you get that pit in your stomach? It's like that feeling you get on your first day of high school when you start to stress out about who you are going to sit with at lunch.  Am I going to get stuck sitting with the dorks? Am I going to be sitting with the too cool people who will avoid sitting with me tomorrow? Is my desk going to be next to the cool people? Are there even cool people at this place? I hope there are cool people there. Luckily there are lots of cool people at our office that they don't need to worry about that.  We've got not one, but two cool interns joining us this summer and they're already fitting right in. Laura hails from Penn State, Tim from Temple University.  They are pumped to do some architecture!