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Settling in for the wait
House stuff is moving along. I've been making calls, checking my list and moving folks from the nice to naughty list. Namely our soon to be neighbors in the rear. It turns out that the guy did move the fence, but that was only one of their complaints. They actually would prefer that we rip the whole ugly thing down so that they can put up a cute little picket fence. That would be fine by me...were it not for the dog, who could clear something like that in no time. So I'm afraid that they're just going to have to get used to the ugly side of our six foot privacy fence and feel lucky that they don't have to deal with Crowley and misguided sense of territory.  Could it be any cuter :) So we're still waiting to resolve that little issue, but besides that, things are rolling along. They still had a few things left to do, like finish out the bath in the basement, repair a faulty wall outlet and reroute a gas line which is dangerously located behind a door in their do it yourself basement redo. I just hope that we don't find any other suprises. The radon test came back at 2.9 which is below the 4 which would require mitigation, but I'm still thinking that is a little high for a 9 month old house. Plan to look into permanent monitoring devices and do it yourself mitigation since that will be Blaine's lair and he will no doubt spend many a weekend holed up playing with his toys. Let me know if you have any experience with this. We don't have basements where I grew up, too close to sea level, so sump pits and dehumidifiers and radon are all new to me. We went to the movies last night and saw Elf which was even funnier than it looked in the previews but we didn't want to go home afterwards. So we made a run through the Starbucks drive through and armed with Gingerbread and Eggnog lattes we took a late night drive to prowl our new neighborhood, driving very slowly past the naughty neighbors like we could glean some clue as to why they choose to stand in the way of us and our new house?!? Somehow even their house looked angry, if a house can look angry, or maybe we were seeing what we wanted to see. But the neighborhood is tiny and oh, so peaceful sitting out there in the dark quiet prairie. We hated to leave, but I know we'll be back.
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A Rush of Blood to the Head Coldplay  I know, I'm probably the last person on earth to hear this album. But there's only so much time and a helluva lot of music. I usually don't buy stuff like this, but it came up on a lot of downbeat lists and I really liked the clips I heard. The disc hasn't disappointed. It's good rock and roll with a lot of interesting synthy bits and of course Chris Martin's heartbreakingly forlorn way with a lyric.
Look at earth from outer space
Everyone must find a place
Give me time and give me space
Give me real, don't give me fake
Give me strength, reserve, control
Give me heart and give me soul
Give me time, give us a kiss
Tell me your own politik
Andup your eyesup your eyes...
Give me one, 'cause one is best
In confusion, confidence
Give me peace of mind and trust
Don't forget the rest of us
Give me strength, reserve, control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds that heal and cracks that fix
Tell me your own politik
Andup your eyesup your eyes...
But give me love over, love over, love over this, ah ...
And give me love over, love over, love over this, ah ...
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Brunelleschi's Dome Ross King  In creating the dome for the Santa Maria del Fiore, Phillipo Brunelleschi pushed the art and science of architecture to a level that has never been met since. In the 15th century, architects were considered lowly, manual laborers, in fact little is known of architects prior to Brunelleschi. The name of the master mason who constructed the abbey of St. Denis-the first building ever raised in the Gothic style--remains unrecorded and the the three masons responsible for the ill-fated cathedral at Beauvais are known in the documents simply as the First Master, the Second Master, and the Third Master. And yet at his death, the wardens of the cathedral saw fit to see Brunelleschi entombed there. An incredibly high honor only shared by one other, St. Zenobius.
The book is the story of the building of the dome and the man responsible for seeing it to it's completion. It is remarkable not only because of the history and intrigue surrounding it, but because of the dome itself. Which remains the world's largest dome created without the aid of modern materials such as steel, plastic, etc. To give you an idea, it's 3 times the size of the Capitol building in D.C. and rests atop a building about 42 stories high. It's an interesting look back into a time where the Black Plague continually asserts it's evil, wiping out 90 percent of a population at a time, the church is a leading superpower, and the various nation-states of Italy go to war for power and wealth.
It's a quick read. Only taking about weekend. And fairly easy to grasp, despite some of the rambling descriptions of the mechanical innovations, which I never did get anyway. |
Punch Drunk Love P.T. Anderson  How can I say how much I love this movie? It's all of the best, sweetest, most sincere things about being human and unexpectedly finding love all rolled up into one. The story is about a guy, one guy with eight (I think) sisters, that drive him nuts. The fact that the character is even interested in women is remarkable. These women have made a sport of tormenting him his entire life and incredibly, blame him for being shy, withdrawn, kinda weird and prone to violent outbursts (think hammer through a patio door). He's ended up spending his whole life learning how to take abuse and still live with the abusers, so when a phone sex operator decides to send her redneck brothers to take him for everything he's worth, he just rolls over and plays dead. And then a remarkable thing happens, a connection, amidst all of his insanity and the insanity of his family, someone who likes him despite his complications or perhaps because of them.
Like all of PT Anderson's movies, in the beginning it seems to meander without purpose, but don't give up. It's in the small, quiet moments that you're revealed the pain or joy or revelation. It's like watching a few days in the life of pretty much any old guy, but PT frames those significant moments in such a way that you can feel your heart swell when you realize what's happening. The music is amazing, as always. Beautiful little odes to the tiki paradise, warbly harmonium interludes and Shelly Duvall's soulful, "He Needs Me", which I can't get out of my head.
Adam Sandler, as I read in another review, plays the same guy he always does, kinda sad, awkward, occasionally obnoxious, so it's not a real stretch for him. But he has a way of addressing someone without looking in their eye that makes him seem like a puppy that's been kicked for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Someone who's nerves and heart are so raw that they forgo any connection for fear that it would be painful and end up living a solitary existence while being surrounded with familiar people every day.
Emily Watson is as amazing as ever, as are the small characters played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman.
I wish that I'd seen it in the theater but the DVD has a few good extras that are worth watching. Including more of the artwork, which you can also download from the website.
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Tuesday
8:37 AM Greeks liked rivalry and competition, ancient Chinese looked for collaboration and agreement. Chinese contemplated, Greeks reasoned... more»
Saturday
1:42 PMAdded an album of our new house shots under the 'Pictures' menu
Thursday
Tuesday
2:33 PMYeah, we leave and it gets interesting...it's been raining frogs in CT
2:18 PMRSS feed is fixed
8:53 AMIt's the case that doesn't exist. Even though two different federal courts have conducted hearings and issued rulings, there has been no public record of any action. No documents are available. No files. No lawyer is allowed to speak about it. Period.
Monday
1:28 PMI fixed the pictures in the menu, but haven't posted any new ones. All I need is a sunny day. It's thundering now.
Friday
3:04 PMMine, mine, all mine :) He said yes!! The house is ours!
8:41 AMWhere do you stand
on today's foreign policy debates? learn more about what these debates mean through American Choices, an interactive guide to today's most important issues. American Choices puts you in the driver's seat by asking you to set American policy priorities, starting with a 12-question survey of what you believe.
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