Friday, May 29, 2009

Eco-Pimping


A friend asked what we used to side the house, and the answer is Tegola Prestige Compact tiles. They are foil-covered asphalt bitumen tiles and allow you to have the beauty of copper tiles at a much more affordable price point, with less worry about people coming in the middle of the night to de-clad your house for some dough, because it would take a dedicated looter to peel the copper foil off these puppies.

My only regret is that we didn't incorporate some of these:


If only I had known!! Then I could have added another $20,000 we can't afford on a technology that no one here knows how to install because everything's in metric (and Italian) to our project! Such a missed opportunity. Next time, though, for sure!

But for all of you who are going to buy one of these:

...then did you notice above how these fabulous Tegola photovoltaic tiles come in GOLD?! And if you're going to eco-pimp your ride, shouldn't you eco-pimp your house? (I feel a new HGTV show coming on). I think these guys are totally in the market for some gold photovoltaic tiles to go with their hybrid Escalade:

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Working Late-é

So last night, I was working late.  Really late.  At 10:15pm I decided it was time for the vending machine dinner of champions:  Baby Ruth, bag of chips, Diet Dr. Pepper.

Go up to deserted and slightly scary 7th floor.  The TV is still on in our vending area (we're setting a great example here at EPA), which sort of adds this eerie asian-horror movie backdrop.  I have no bills, but tons of change I'm dying to get rid of.  I greet the vending machine, only to discover that Obama has indeed ushered in communism:  all of the items are now $1.  Instead of the 3 pack of Zingers costing $1.50, the chips costing $.80 and the Baby Ruth $.85, I'm now looking at the EPA Dollar Menu.  And no Baby Ruth.  $1 for a Snickers?!

Hmm.  Okay, it's fine, I have $2 in change.  I'll skip the pop, which I don't really need with all the sugar I'm about to consume.  

Insert quarter.  Quarter is rejected.  Insert another quarter.  Same thing.  Son of a -!!!  Okay, okay, I've got a bunch of dimes and quarters here that I only have to fish out of the little folds holding my credit cards... Okay.  Try again.  Dime - good.  Dime - good.  Dime- good.  Dime - good.  Dime - good.  Nickel - silence.   Grrrrrrr.  Nickel - silence.  F*&!  I hit the change return button and get - 2 quarters and 2 nickels!  Well, fine, surely it'll take its 2 quarters back. ..
Wrong.
MF!!  (tummy growls)  More fishing.   Dime - good.  Dime - good.  Dime - good.  Dime - good.  Nickel - silence.  Quarter - silence.  CURSED MACHINE!!!  I glare at the happy "We take Dollar Coins!" sticker and think:  who has those flipping things anyway?!  Hit change return:  more quarters.  Well, at least I've converted all my dimes to quarters.

Collect self, exit hallway, take elevator down to 1st floor.  It is now 10:30pm and the neighborhood is tumbleweed city.  But I figure CVS will be open for snacking.  I trudge over and the lights are on...but no one is home.  Starbucks doesn't even have the lights on.  I look around wondering what on earth I will eat, when suddenly I remember that the owner of key real estate up the block is Mickey D's, so I pick up the pace and make around the corner to find that familiar warm golden glow from the arches.

I step inside and think, you know - this is great!  And who thought I'd ever be PSYCHED to go to McDonald's after all my Omnivore's Dilemma/Fast Food Nation proselytizing?  But i'm starting to drool a little as I wait for the 4 brazilian guys straight from the airport (if the suitcases are any indication) to place their orders and step away so I can get a word in.  Which they do about 10 minutes later.  

Now on those rare occasions when I still eat McDonald's, I always get a Happy Meal.  It is, I find, the perfect amount of McDonald's and I don't have to feel guilty about the calorie/fat content, plus I get a toy!  (Which I enjoy for 5 minutes and usually end up throwing away, feeling guilty about the waste and all the effort some poor Chinese soul put into making this totally useless item that must totally make them confused.)  But right now, my stomach is really pissed off and has no interest in some tiny little cheesebun with a teeny patty on it.  So I decide to upgrade.  I can't decide what a McDouble is, and the girl at the register is too interested with flirting with the brazilians to really bother explaining it to me.  I mean, it's only $1, and the Quarter Pounder is $3.29, and conceptually I'm guessing they're the same thing more or less, but then I decide for crying out loud, I can spring for the extra $2.29 to get that Jetson's like quality and consistency that McDonald's is all about.  Press the button, out comes the thing pictured on the board.  So I get the Quarter Pounder with Cheese (is there any other way?), small fries, and the new caramel shake.  
I get the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, small fries, and the caramel shake.
Quarter Pounder, small fry...
I'd Like. The. Quarter. Pounder. With. Cheese. Small. Fries and hey - hey - I know they're cute, but could you PLEASE LISTEN TO ME for just a second so I can get some food and then you can flirt away?!  

$7.39 later, I get my goods and head out the door.  Suddenly, I am surrounded by a mob of people getting out of Rent, playing at the Warner Theater.  I forge ahead through the tide of people and get back to my office.  So weird.  It's gone from a ghost town to a mob scene.  Arrive at the office and tear into the bag.  Fries are less than hot.  Quarter Pounder has, weirdly, WAY too much mustard on it.  That is a new one, and unpleasant.

But the new caramel shake from McCafé?  I have just gone from working late, to working late-é.
Dinner, at 10:55pm.  Only 2.5 hours to go...

Friday, May 22, 2009

Posting Something Cool

Per my husband's request, I am posting something "cool." It's the outside of the house.

This was actually sided last summer and now it's all dark and moody looking , which is probably even "cooler" than the way it looks in the photo - all bright and shiny happy. But I have to say, being an architect, though trying, must be one of the coolest jobs out there. When I complete a project, there's a piece of paper (or thousands) that gets filed in some courtroom or archive somewhere; a check is cut, and someone hires some consultants to start putting in control technology. And that's cool, don't get me wrong. But a lot of the point of what I do is in my head - I imagine the children who don't have asthma attacks anymore, I picture the tadpoles and river otters that thrive - it's lucky, in other words, that I have an overactive imagination since the truth of the matter is that I never get to actually see the result of my endeavors. But as an architect, one day, you walk over, and you get to look at this - this thing that you thought of, that popped into your head out of thin air - brought to reality. I wonder if the god of architecture is Pygmalion.


Memento Moment


Riding home on the metro I unexpectedly encounter my own words and for a moment am struck by a feeling that they are familiar but cannot place them or understand how they got there. Then I read the byline identifying me as the culprit and then deduce that someone not forced to read this blog has and found it worth repeating. So weird.

I show this to my spouse and propose posting the episode.

He: But that's probably really uncool. It's like you're some two-bit blogger who's all excited to show up in the local paper.

Me: But I AM a two-bit blogger who's excited to show up in the local paper! And besides, it's the Post, not the Wahoo Times.

I'll try and think of a "cooler" blog post tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

So true, so true...

So we had this really nice HVAC guy come by and assess the HVAC system this morning. In case I haven't mentioned it, we are also having serious problems with the HVAC system in the existing part of the house. Apparently, in sum, adding a 2.5 ton A/C unit and an 88,000 Btu furnace to 1948 ductwork was a bad idea. I guess the "good news" is that in his view we do not need to rip out all of the old ductwork; adding the new ductwork to the addition will achieve the air flow necessary to stop my asthma attacks and all the condensation leaks. So all we have to do is finish the addition in order to fix this problem! Of course!!! All roads lead to Rome.

His squinted his blue eyes a little bit as he leaned in and said:
"You know, I understand...I'm sitting where you folks are right now."
(D, silently, to herself: Yeah, right. You have NO idea.)
"I'm currently redoing my own house and it is the second time doing this. I'm working as my own general contractor, too. And if you told me that I was going to have to renovate another house or commit suicide, I'd ask for the gun."
(D, to herself: Okay, he does have some idea.)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Why block just one seat...

God, people in this town are so rude.


The best/worst part is how her foot was actually on the seat itself until I asked to sit there, when she slid it back to the spot shown here, and she kept it there (an inch from my skirt) for the ride from Gallery Place to Crystal City. Apparently she is too weak to hold up her own paper.

-- Posted From My iPhone