[KevinFromTexas]

I guess you could say art and construction runs in my family. My maternal grandfather was a master carpenter. He built houses in Austin in the 40s and 50s. They would move into one in a neighborhood while he was building there, then move onto the next project. I've been able to find some of his construction company ads through the Austin Public Library and American-Statesman. My maternal great-grandfather was a tool manager for the company that built Mansfield Dam. My uncle on my mom's side is also a carpenter. On my dad's side of the family, my grandfather started painting after they moved to the United States. He did mostly landscapes. Two of my aunts on both sides of the family also paint, as does my uncle on my dad's side of the family. Several of my cousins paint also. My dad could draw just about anything. He hand drew the plans for his "renderings" of improvements he made to the house, which were pretty extensive. I also have an uncle on my dad's side of the family who is a structural engineer.

Otherwise I didn't know anyone who cared at all about architecture, tall buildings or cities.

We did always go downtown as a family. We'd usually go to the Capitol, climb the stairs and wander the grounds. I loved the history of it and the architecture of course. In 1992 when they did the underground Capitol extension, we would go at night and walk around the site. They had pedestrian walkways built all the way around the construction pit so the public could see into it. They had 4 tower cranes and tons of machines. I think that really helped to get me interested in architecture. And then of course when it was done we explored the new section.

We also would park downtown and walk around. We used to walk the alleys at night even. I remember being freaked out once when we were walking the alley south of the One American Center, when my dad's friend looked into a dumpster for some boxes to help with his move. There was a homeless man sleeping in the dumpster. I remember being terrified at the thought that he might actually be dead. We would also go over to the train station and sit and watch trains.

I got into collecting postcards, magazines, calendars books. Anything I could find that had pictures or information about cities and buildings. I remember watching Married with Children and Family Matters and drooling over Chicago's skyline in the beginning of the show. And of course there were certain movies that caught my attention such as Ghostbusters. I was also always a statistics and fact geek, so naturally I started looking for building heights. I started looking up big buildings in the Guinness Book of World Records and in almanacs. I studied city maps and drew skylines. And of course I grew up playing with LEGO and Construx toys, so I built all kinds of buildings and stuff. And I also started taking pictures of buildings and cities, which then got me into photography. I also started riding my bicycle more so I could go downtown and ride around to take photos without having to do it in a car. So it also got me back into riding bicycles again.

Until I found SkyscraperPage, I'd never met anyone else who liked cities and architecture.