Nella Vita di McMansions

I'm interested to see how this plays out and what the legislations and restrictions look like...


Montgomery Votes to Scale Back Size of New HomesLegislation Is Designed To Fight 'Mansionization'By Ann E. Marimow and Miranda S. SpivackWashington Post Staff WritersWednesday, December 10, 2008; B01The Montgomery County Council signed off on legislation yesterday aimed at shrinking the size of new homes to combat "mansionization" that has pitted neighbor against neighbor in many of the region's older communities.The measure, approved 8 to 1, will apply to about 106,000 properties in neighborhoods that were planned before 1978, primarily inside the Capital Beltway. It will scale back the size of construction that replaces homes that are torn down and tighten height limits in some communities.Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), the chief sponsor, called the legislation a "meaningful but measured response" to the problem of oversized houses that dwarf homes in a neighborhood and affect privacy, sunshine and property values.Berliner said it will "permit the more graceful transformation of our older neighborhoods while preserving the ability of homeowners to build large, beautiful homes."The zoning legislation, which does not require the signature of County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), will not apply to the construction of single-story homes or to small-scale additions and renovations.The guidelines reduce the size of homes by about 14 percent on small lots and by 20 percent on half-acre lots. Owners will still be able to build homes as big as 4,500 square feet on lots as large as 6,000 square feet. In some parts of the county, height limits will drop from 50 feet to 35 or 45 feet, depending on lot size. Heights are already limited to about 35 feet in denser, residential neighborhoods. Not counted in these calculations would be bay windows, open porches, chimneys and detached garages.The measure will take effect in 140 days, applying to building permits filed after April 28.Council member Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty), who cast the dissenting vote yesterday, said he is concerned about the potential effect on constituents in his area, where mansionization is not a pressing issue. He questioned the timing of the legislation in light of the bad economy and the housing market.The average home sale price in Montgomery dropped 11 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, and the value of new homes for the first nine months of the year was the lowest since 1999."Right now, we have builders who are laying people off," Knapp said. "All this does is potentially stymie more building."The measure expands on legislation the council passed three year ago, written by Berliner's predecessor, Howard Denis (R), that limited the height of new single-family homes. It follows similar efforts in Arlington County and in older communities nationwide.Pressure on lawmakers to place limits on construction of larger houses began to intensify about a decade ago. That is when builders began to realize there was substantial money to be made if they tore down older houses in close-in neighborhoods and built larger, luxury residences on land whose value was rising as traffic was worsening. Buyers wanted updated houses closer to jobs, restaurants and shopping. In some parts of Bethesda, entire blocks were cleared out by builders who snapped up houses as they came on the market, tore them down and built bigger homes.Raquel Montenegro, who represents the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association, said the legislation could limit options for property owners.Council member George Leventhal (D-At Large) spoke directly to residents who might be concerned about the effect on property rights, saying, "I assure you, you are still going to be able to build plenty big homes."That is what worries Jim Humphrey, who heads the land use committee for the Montgomery County Civic Federation. After the vote yesterday, he said the legislation has loopholes that might loosen restrictions on home construction.
Humphrey said that county law had always included a detached garage in the calculation of the size of the house but that the new law excludes it, allowing the garage to cover more of the lot. "My primary concern is that we are heading in the opposite direction of where we expected the legislation to be going," he said.
Len Simon, a member of the Montgomery in-fill development task force and president of the Edgemoor community association, said he hopes the legislation "will end up with smaller houses in older neighborhoods that fit in better." The measure, he said, "is a change in the approach that got us to an incrementally better place."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/09/AR2008120902158.html

Nella Vita di Eww

So as I learn the different stages and phases of my job, I've discovered that fall and winter are extremely busy and time consuming.  As such, my limited free time has not been spent blogging....clearly...

Anyway, tomorrow I am heading for Boston for a Community Land Trust Conference...the flight out of Cville will be leaving early in the morning (ie waking up around 4...shudder shudder).  So tonight I had a pleasant evening spent packing and relaxing planned.  Came home and was greeted by Molly, but not the puppy.  Some time later JC decided to grace us with his presence and I was immediately struck by the smell of burnt rubber.  After a few minutes of him in the house I couldn't take it anymore and chased him back outside.  He's been out there giving me the saddest eyes and crying to come back in, but he is too stinky.  I started trying to find out what a dog sprayed by skunk smells like and found out that pure skunk spray smells a lot like burnt rubber...yay!  

So now I'm trying to get the smell out of the house, and waiting for Shane to come home (of course this would be one of the nights he's getting home later than expected) to help me bathe him...I just hope we're able to get the smell off him and out of the house in time for me to get a decent amount of sleep and not heading to Boston smelling horrid.  

Nella Vita di My Nephews

So after the glowing niece raves below I'd hate to leave the boys out...so some recent winter adventures...

The Happy Little Eskimo (it wouldn't be Dominic without the tears)

Anytime is a good time to play football!

Nella Vita di My Niece

Exciting news of the day is that my sister is going to have a baby girl! After years of shoot-em up video games, and football, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and body odor, I'm really happy to know that she will soon have someone in her life whom she can watch Lifetime Movie Network with (though with her luck she'll have a tomboy). This actually won't be their first daughter since they have Kaitlin, but since I've known her she's been too big to wear all those cute little pink onesies! Of course now I won't be the one to give my parents their first granddaughter...but such is life. On the plus side assuming she is an early walker she could just be a flower girl! Anyway for those who aren't squeamish or for those who enjoy aliens feel free to enjoy the pics...

So baby in womb technology has come a long way considering that all my mom got was a cassette tape with our heartbeats and all my nanny got was baby kicks! The 3D pics are just so awesome and compared to traditional ones before so much clearer. It's cool that they can do them so much earlier now. I believe the one of Dominic like this was done around 8 mos.

Watching a human life develop is a little creepy...
that little skeltor arm just freaks me out,
but yay for five fingers!

Cute little profile in 2D...boring...

And lastly, here she is confirming for herself that she is a girl...

Nella Vita di Models: UPDATE

OK, first many of you want to know how all this came about. Some of you may recall that two years ago I actually did model for Rosetta Stone. They are based out of Harrisonburg and were doing shoots around Central VA, including Staunton and Cville. I saw an ad on Craigslist, knew Rosetta Stone was a legit thing, contacted them, and ended up doing about 5 shoots with them. Extremely fun, decent money, great stories, what more could I want. I'm actually thinking of getting a Rosetta Stone for xmas and will just die when I see myself (ie. Missy on a bike = bicicleta), though I'm not sure where exactly my pictures are in the software. Anyway, the have kept my info in their database, the photo. producer saw my pic and thought I was perfect for their upcoming story theme.

So the great news is that I was able to rework my schedule a bit and am now able to do it!! This one sounds really awesome. Usually the stories involve everyday people in everyday situations, but this time they are doing a more creative story line featuring ancient Rome. So I get to be a Roman, dressed up in a Stola and everything! The shoot will take place in and around the Rotunda at UVA since its the closest thing to ancient Rome in America pretty much. I am super excited and will let you all know how it goes. It's next Wednesday morning. Along those lines if you are anyone you know looks Roman (ie pale and burnett) let me know! They are still casting!

Nella Vita di Models

Don't you just hate when a photography/model producer calls to let you know that he wants you for a model shoot and you get all excited but then realize you can't go because your 'real job' has you going to norfolk for a housing conference? Oh what's that, that's never happened to you? Well let me tell you it sucks! Stupid Rosetta Stone, why do you have to do the shoot on Wednesday? Oh how I lament! Stupid Norfolk! At least I can be upbeat enough to realize that I should be very flattered to have been hand chosen once again to be the image of language learning everywhere, but really that just makes it suck more!

Nella Vita di Forgotten Corridors

While killing time before a late night work meeting, I stumbled across this article on the NY Times:

http://http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/nyregion/03erie.html?em

After reading the article I realized that I too was one of the many who thought that the Erie Canal had long since dried up. How happy I was to realize that America's former major artery was not only preserved but still functioning as intended! I can't help but hope that more commercial shipments continue to be made as well as other uses such as tour boats and recreation (kayak across New York anyone?)

Perhaps the greatest part of the article is a quote from John Callaghan, first mate on the Margot, "Sure it’s history, but it’s still relevant." Oh how it makes my heart sing. I think it sums up the work of preservationists, planners, developers, artists, historians, and creative thinkers everywhere. At the end of the day, there is nothing better in my mind than taking something old or historic and allowing it to remain relevant, useful, and needed (perhaps a good policy for my generation to consider with all the soon to be geriatric baby boomers).

Nella Vita di Farm Boys

So one weekend some of Shane's cousins from the north (some would call them yankees, I prefer to think of them as a breath of civility) came down for a quick visit. For a brief few hours that weekend, Shane was miraculously off from work. Seeing how he works so much, I always hate asking him to do things around the house when he is home. Sadly though there are just some things that I either don't have the muscle or the slightest idea how to do. Other times, I just won't waste my own precious free time dealing with someone else's messes. Two office desks encapsulate both issues. Purchased for about $2 each at an auction, each desk could have sold for well over $30 or even $50. When buying the desks Shane (and admittedly myself by allowing the purchase) forget one crucial fact...we don't have time to be second hand furniture sellers! Through one misstep after another, including totaling the car that would be able to haul the desks to potential buyers since we live to far in the country to insist on pick up (yet another benefit to city living!)the desks remained where the were the night they came home...sitting on our front lawn.

Oh how it upset me to come home from work and see them there...I'm not a trashy person and to have my home suggest that I am was quite intolerable. Soon it became clear that we would not be able to sell the desks (not to mention they got water damaged even if we wanted to). So I started debating about the best way to dispose of them. I didn't like the idea of taking them to the dump and just sitting there taking up space, but I was concerned about what toxins may possibly be released if I burned them. In the end I decided fire was the best way to go because it would free up space in the landfill and if it ended releasing pollutants into the air and thus the water, well it would have eventually happened as they decomposed in the dump. If anyone has some better ideas, while too late for these desks, I'd love to know what the best thing for the environment would be.

So the decision was made to burn baby burn. The next question was how. The desks were extremely heavy and next to the house. In order to be safe, there would have to be burned in the backyard. We decided the best way to do so was to use Shane's father's tractor to move them. Even still it would be a tedious and time consuming task that I hated to make Shane do during his precious free time.

But then the answer came in the form of his visiting family, or more particularly his twelve year old cousin. Very few little boys would not relish the opportunity to destroy things, especially when heavy machinery and fire are involved. And Shane was happy to have some time to spend with his family doing a 'quality' bonding activity. So at the end of the day, the farm boys prevailed, the desks were gone, my yard looked good, and Shane got to enjoy his time away from work while helping me too!



Dylan carrying the desk to the burn site.



Getting them in place.



Goodbye and good riddance!!

Nella Vita di Craziness

As you can all tell from the complete lack of blogging over the last, well, month, October had been a complete whirlwind! Between visiting family and family visiting, and one late night meeting after another, the next thing I know November is here. So hopefully over the next few days I can get caught back up and relay some of the fun adventures of the fall.

Nella Vita di PoPos on the MoMo (Update)

Happily, we can no longer terrorize the streets of Virginia in our former cop car as we have sold it for sweet succulent profit!!  My love's deal finding and making abilities would put even Monty Hall to shame.

Nella Vita di Changes

I've added a couple new features for your enjoyment.  You'll notice there is a links page for other great blogs.  (Congrats for Ms. Kate O'Shea for being the only great blog at the moment!).  Think you know another one, let me know and if it passes a rigorous screening process I will happily add it.  

Also, there is a section where you can let the world know how cool you are for reading this blog.  I'm just curious to know who reads this on a fairly regular basis, if for nothing else to perhaps cater postings.  

Nella Vita di Supreme Debator

So this is make its way around the blog and email circle so why leave nellavita out?   A little dose of humor never hurts...

A normal evening in the Celii-Thackston household...

It all started with Mr. Puppy aka JC enjoying his third mid-afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, Pollux was busy hunting flies (both real and imaginary).

Growing tired, Pollux decided to snuggle up with JC where they remained for the next hour. Then Molly the Terrible came in from outside...

and layed the smack down on Pollux. And by smack down I mean she pinned him and proceeded to like every inch of him.


Satisfied that Pollux is now clean, she turned her attentions to JC.

Not one to turn the other cheek, the big JC retaliates. This continued for quite sometime until finally Molly and JC decided to make up...

twice.

Nella Vita di Taffeta

The past couple weeks have been filled with lots of great projects, one of which is making curtains for Shane's sister Jonelle. She picked out this really pretty iridescent blue crushed taffeta that hangs amazingly. Curtains and I have a love hate relationship and these of course proved no different, but every challenge presents an opportunity to learn something new. In this case if the devil was a shape he would be a rectangle. It's like my Zoolanderish weakness but where I can turn left I can't cut a square. But in the end and I was happy with the results, and hopefully Jonelle is too.

Here you can see one of the small panels and how dramatic they will be.


Here you can see when the flash is one the iridecense of hte curtains. They have blackout backing so the light won't pass through them. At first I was hesitant about how the fabric would look as curatins, but once they were done I was tempted to keep them for myself.

Nella Vita di an underground preservation revolution

As a lover of preservation, the earth, doing the right thing, and not condemning us all to hell, I must admit that I have committed certain sins. It has been two months since last visiting a historic site and I have had impure thoughts about a cul-de-sac. Joking aside, I have, and will continue to, shopped at chain stores including the death star of chain stores, he-who-must-not-be-named, the rose-bud of Satan's childhood: Wal-Mart. Yes, I just can't resist their cheap prices, plethora of supplies, and the golden opportunities to build my self esteem by simply be observing the so-called 'people' who shop there (myself excluded of course). I would much rather shop local independent stores, but pricing and availability makes it difficult sometimes. But I've found there are some things I can do to make an impact, albeit small. First, I always pay with my debit card (not credit, debt is evil…a topic for another day perhaps). Every time I swipe, Wal-Mart pays for that transaction. While normally I eschew plastic bags, I like to bag each item individually at Wal-Mart because they have to pay for those bags. Plus I get the added satisfaction of reusing Wal-Mart bags as litterbox liners and pooper-scoopers. Transversely, when I'm shopping at a local store or my favorite third place near work, Blue Ridge Café, I always try to pay cash so there is more profit for mom and pop. Plus I never use a bag and try to limit using plastic ware because they have to pay for those. Now in no ways am I naïve enough to think that my actions will really make a difference, but at the very least they assuage some of my chain store shopping guilt.

Nella Vita di Secret Gardens

Last week was the United Way’s Day of Caring where thousands of volunteers from area organizations and companies go out into the community for various service projects. The City of Charlottesville was sent to a community education facility for landscaping/yard maintenance. I was looking forward to a morning outdoors away from the office and getting some exercise so I could later rationalize my decision not to go to the gym. The day ended up being more than that, it turned out to be a ‘secret garden, this is why I love preservation’ type of day. It turns out where the school now stands was once a large manor estate. All that remains of this parcel of land’s former identity are a series of terraced gardens separated by field stone walls dating to about the nineteen teens. When we arrived that day all we saw was vast overgrowth and the promise that we may find some cool things. By the end of the day, Charlottesville workers and also workers from State Farm had cleared out level upon level of gardens. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of what the gardens look like (I may have to ‘visit’ the grounds to get some). Roughly, they start at the top of a large hill and then descend down the hill towards what is now the Schenks Branch creek. A rock wall wraps around the entire property with a foot trial running along the wall. The manor house is now completely gone along with this large pond that was once on the property (I can understand tearing down a house, but how does a pond just disappear!). The coolest part of the whole day was getting to see all the other volunteers begin to critically examine the history of a place and realize that things may not always be what they seem, but that with a little sweat (literally in this case) the past is just waiting for its secrets to be uncovered.

Nella Vita di Puppers

Nothing makes me happier than seeing my two favorite doggies snuggled up and sharing the sunny spot in the kitchen together. Oh how I love my puppies! If you look closely you can see JC's "baby" fox. He carries it around with him everywhere and since the day we brought him home he always makes sure he has toys surrounding him at all times. Whereas in a classic display of older sisterhood, Molly loves waiting til JC falls asleep to begin to remove all of his precious "babies."

Nella Vita di Future Historic Districts

Recently I was at a lecture with a couple different design professionals and one of them (bless his little heart) stated something that I believe should be tattooed on more than one designer/developer’s head: “We are designing America’s future historic districts.” How powerful is that. Too often those who are in charge of designing and building our new spaces and places can’t see past the potential profit they stand to make. A quick look at materials and construction methods will clearly show that they clearly are not concerned with the longevity of the project. But let’s just say these cookie cutter cracker jack boxes survive into the next 100, 200, or even 300 years, what will they say about life in America in the 2000s? What cultural and social clues will future generations learn from these buildings? I can’t even begin to fathom or comprehend the fact that one day school children may visit Ye Olde Wallyworld where re-enactors in blue vests greet them at the door and show them all the crazy things their ancestors used to buy (“and these q-tips came all the way from China kids on boats and planes but the cotton came from India. Of course this is what they used before ionic ear cleaners…)

Now of course to have an accurate view of history you need to preserve both the good and the bad, brutally and honestly; otherwise you get a false sense of what the past really was. Sure those historic buildings and gardens at Monticello are much more elaborate than what people have today, because hell, I’d have the nicest house on the block if I had a couple hundred people who willing took care and maintained it for free, and sure Germany, Poland, and other European countries have pretty fields full of flowers and soft soft grass at places like Auschwitz…almost as if there is a lot of rich organic matter beneath the ground fertilizing them. I think you can see my point. So it is important to save the good along with the bad (in this case the poorly designed and executed). But when the bulk majority of what our society is creating just makes you want to shake you head and sigh disappointedly, its hard not to write a letter to the future apologizing and explaining that we were not all commercially shallow people who lived in identical houses on identical streets in identical sprawling towns. If nothing else, perhaps we can start designating well-thought out and sensitive developments as historic at their ribbon cuttings, thus ensuring we have some good representation in the future.

Nella Vita di PoPos on the MoMo

Ever wonder what happens to old cop cars? Well like keyboards they wind up at our house. Yesterday was the City’s annual auction and the bargain hunter got the deal of the day: a 2001 Chevy Impala with 100,000 miles for $600. In its prior life it had been a cop car, and it still has some of its lights (or the fun we will have…) Its body is reinforced with steel I guess in case it was involved in a high speed chase, so the dear of North Garden better watch out. It’s at our mechanics for the moment being checked out while we try and determine what to do with it. It will either be sold for profit, kept and used as Shane’s main car, kept as a spare or sold with Shane’s other car to perhaps replace his dearly departed Jetta. So we shall see…

Nella Vita di a Preservationist's Inner Struggle

one of cville's new cranes. photo from the hook.

Today while driving into work, for some reasons all the cranes in downtown Charlottesville seemed particularly noticeable to me and I found myself caught in the age old preservation/planner power struggle. I started trying to imagine what the skyline of Cville will look like when the new towers (dear god at nine stories you can almost touch the heavens!) are built and couldn’t help but get excited to thick about being able to see a place I love from far away. I remember being a child and getting giddy when I saw the New York skyline in the distance and knowing that I would soon be there and the awesome feeling of watching the buildings ‘grow’ as we drove closer. Yet at the same time, I can’t help but wonder how different the downtown will be. Our BAR is very level headed and makes some really good decisions, so I know any new building will be scrutinized and adapted to be the best possible design possible, but still how will the sense of place, time, and scale change when all the new buildings are finally erected?

Pondering this all day, I think for me preservation is more big picture. Some would argue that it’s the buildings that make the downtown mall (well really the bricks make the mall, but you know what I mean), but that is not what makes downtown (or any downtown for that matter) special. It’s the way the buildings are arranged and the way they create the feeling of knowing you are ‘somewhere’ worth being. There is a there there. Will this really be changed by making the buildings taller? I don’t think so. I’m as saddened to see an old building torn down or facaded as the next preservationist, but sometimes I don’t think it is such a tragedy assuming they are replaced with another building that respects the balance of public/private space, complementing design, and the relationship to the street that the previous building had. But even as I write this, can such things ever truly be replaced? New York and Chicago for example, have some truly stunning skyscrapers today, but what about the ones from before. It makes me sick to think of all the Sullivans, McKims, Meads, and Whites, etc that were torn down to make room for today’s skyscrapers. And what of those said lost treasures, what architectural gems did they destroy in their construction? Similarly, what new technology and design will one day lead us to tear down the Empire State Building or Sears Tower?

I think I should also note, that while the preservationist inside of me is sad to see the loss of any building or material artifact of our past, the environmentalist wants to do a back flip. Keep development where it belongs, which is on top of where it already exists. As the old saying goes, ‘farmland lost is farmland lost forever.’ These new residential, office, and commercial units need to go somewhere, so doesn’t it make sense to put them where development has already happened instead of greenfields on the edge of town? And taking a step back to put things in context, what is more important, some old buildings or our children’s future resources? Makes it hard to argue for the buildings. The bottom line is that development needs to happen within the already established footprint of cities in order to ensure the long term sustainability of us all. As preservationists, it is our job to now figure out how to keep development within these existing bounds while protecting our limited historical resources. Not an easy thing to do, but I have faith that our passions and dedications will make it happen.

Nella Vita di Census

The Census is amazing for many reasons. For a planner or anyone interested in better understanding a place, it provides invaluable information on the people and trends of an area. The literally are the federal authority on demographic facts and surprisingly, they actually produce tangible and useful things (true it takes them 10 years, well five thanks to ACS). I recently found another reason to love the Census, this map. As you can see, America is broken into four main areas whose borders confirm what I have always known and said: The South starts the minute you leave New Jersey. Sorry Delaware, you are not Northern! Furthermore, if you look closely you will notice that no part of Virginia touches the North, meaning it is 100% completely in the South. So Virginia, please stop trying to be part of the North like some awkward kid in middle school inviting yourself to the cool kids parties, they are excluding you for a reason: you are not one of them. Now I love Virginia and can’t blame it for not wanting to be associated with Texas or Mississippi, so all I can say is buck up VA, you are a God among mortals and yokels. The one thing that seems wrong with the map is that it is missing Pennsyltucky as a subregion of the North. You know, that area that starts around exit 130 on the Garden State Parkway and contains all of South Jersey and the majority of Pennsy. There is a clear cultural and geographic difference as you cross into this region (usually accompanied by goosebumps and a shudder).

And speaking of maps, take a look at this beauty. In a segment of life I like to cool ‘wow, I’m actually using things I learned and school and making money for it,’ I was hired by Papa John’s to make a map of their different delivery sectors. And after countless frustrating hours and a near nervous breakdown (if Satan spawned a child and it happened to be a computer program, its name would be GIS), my masterpiece was completed, laminated, and promptly splattered with tomato sauce (oh how I lament).

UPDATE: The boys remained undefeated through the DC compition and have officially won that free trip to Atlantic City. Now I have to go buy Shane a fanny pack, roll of quarters, and a jumpsuit that makes swishing sounds when he walks. After all, when in Rome...

Nella Vita di A Pizza Peddler

So after numerous nights of closing and not stumbling into bed until well past 3 am (well one morning it was 6:30 because he asleep in the driveway being too tired to walk into the house…the implications of him driving home this tired make me shudder), Shane was finally home last night and able to go to sleep at a decent time. But instead of enjoying a luxurious eight hours of sleep (or even six) he was up at 5 am my time zone (I say my time zone referring to the fact that he keeps his clock set ridiculously fast, so on my side of the bed it is 5 am while on his it is 5:45ish). Keeping in mind that he is off today, you may wonder what is so important to arise so early and risk incurring my wrath of disturbed slumber. Well it’s ‘Pizza Games 2008! Fastest Pizza Making Championship Qualifier!’ What the hell is that you ask, well Shane and three other franchise managers are competing amongst many other Papa Johners to see who can make a certain amount of pizzas the fastest, with ‘ugly’ pizzas being disqualified. The winning team advances to the finals if fabulous Atlantic City for a chance to win $10,000 and the high honor of being the best pizza makers in the world (or really the northeastern seaboard). Now I’m not one to brag (ha!), but my baby does happen to be the fastest pizza slapper this side of the Mississip! I should know the results this afternoon…if nothing else it’s another great story to tell.

UPDATE: Well the team crushed the compitition. There is another tornament in DC tomorrow, if no one is able to beat their score then they have won the coveted all expense paid trip to the finals in Atlantic City. Could I be any more proud!

Nella Vita di Keyboards

Ever wonder what happens to that old keyboard, monitor, or random computer asseccory that you throw out, freecycle, good will, or leave on the curb? Chance are they end up in my library/guest-guest room:

Now if this picture makes you cringe, you should realize that all of these boxes had been exploded all over the family room before Shane and his sister Jonelle (who is such a good sport) stopped me from having a nervous breakdown by packing up the hundreds of keyboards and moving them into the library/second guest room.

Perhaps you find yourself wondering where did the boxes full of keyboards come from? Well Shane and I have found that we can nicely supplement our incomes by selling things on ebay. We've found that we are particularly successful with computer accessories (mice, wires, speakers, etc). So we have been going to many auctions and garage sales looking for good deals. Leave it to my man to find it. Where others would be intimidated by a pallette (in otherwords a stack) of boxes of 'misc. computer things' that are well over the average person's head, my man gets giddy. And don't get me wrong, there is something strangely satisfy of going through each box looking for the true treasures (or things that we can actually sell).

But of course, after picking out the things of worth we're still left with boxes full of keyboards and a bald spot where we've been scratching our heads wondering 'what the hell do we do with all these keyboards?' We have given some to freecycle (schoolteachers love them), but they can't all be worthless (not that the educational enrichment of the young is worthless). There are far too many to ship, but as I am begining to realize, ebay has the answer to everything. They have a new feature 'want it now' in which potential buyers tell sellers what they are looking for. So on the long shot I searched 'keyboards' hoping to find some poor schmuck to unload on or two on. Wonderously, the first post that pops up is some guy from Bethany, Missouri (take a left at bumbleseal and keep going) is literally looking for hundreds of keyboards as well as forming a possible long term relationship with his supplier. So now Shane and I are trying to determine the best way to get the keyboards to MO. If you should hear about us taking an unexpected roadtrip to Misery, realize the real misery would be my library remaining a keyboard wharehouse.

Along those lines...is anyone in need of a keyboard? I'll give you a good price...

Nella Vita di Me

I suppose that any new blog needs an official first post. So here it is. I've been toying around with the idea of blogging for a while, and finally decided to do it while bored at work from stuffing envelops (btw for those in Cville we are currently accepting Letters of Intent for CDBG funding). My main reasons for not involve such thoughts as 'do I have time for this,' 'do I have anything that important to share,' 'does anyone really want to read this,' etc. But I decided that I can find some time, if nothing else I can update people on my life, and for that reason someone somewhere would like to read this. So that being said, I will try to write about the things I am passionate about (besides myself) history and its glorious preservation, the pursuit of arts, social justice, and foxes (random yes, but how I love those furry little guys).