Street reconstruction completed... again

Yesterday morning the street crew arrived at 7:01 am to make the final preparations for re-paving the street. They were done by 11:30.

Just to refresh your memory, they started this project by completely removing the pavement on March 12. We had no street for 2 1/2 months, until May 28. In mid-June the neighbors convinced the inspector that the inverted crown had not been implemented correctly, so on June 25 they ripped off the top coat of pavement and left it that way for another 2 1/2 weeks, until yesterday.

So, it took 4 months to reconstruct a street that's probably not even 100 yards long. Obviously there were many, many days when NOTHING was going on here.

I am thrilled that its finally over. I am also thrilled that the guys building our addition do not work for the company responsible for reconstructing the street.

Crush du Jour: Austin Peck

Street reconstruction... AGAIN

You may recall in this post I mentioned the street reconstruction project (which took 3 months to complete) was not done correctly and that part of it would have to be redone. The top coat of asphalt was supposed to have an 'inverted crown' (higher on both sides, lower in the center) that would direct rain water to the center of the street and into the new storm drains. The 'inverted crown' works great on a nearby street, and it was pretty obvious that it had not been implemented correctly on our street. Rain water is puddling in places and running off the street into neighbors' yards in others.

My neighbor told me on Tues that the street crew would be out today to scrape off the top layer of asphalt "in the affected area", which I understood to be where the puddle forms and where the water runs off into people's yards, which is not directly in front of our house. However, today the crew showed up at 7:30 am and proceeded to take off the top layer of asphalt from the entire street.

I guess they decided that they would re-do the top layer on the entire street since the 'inverted crown' had not been implemented correctly. So the street is a mess, again. Hopefully they will lay the top layer and implement the 'inverted crown' tomorrow (Fri) so we don't have to go all weekend with the street being jacked-up.

Sigh.

In related news, in this post I mentioned that our dyed, stamped concrete driveway and sidewalk were both damaged by the pipe crew that installed the storm drains and related drainage pipes. In case you're not familiar with dyed, stamped concrete, this is what ours looks like. It comes in lots of patterns (stone patterns, slate patterns, other brick patterns, etc.) and can be dyed about any color you want. We did not choose this color or pattern; it was selected by the builder and was already here when we bought the house.

The foreman of the street crew promised to 'make it right' and has been trying ever since to find the stamp pattern to match what we have. To assist in this, I contacted the house builder and got the name and phone number of the concrete company that installed the driveway and sidewalk. Turns out the owner of the company retired and sold all his equipment to various people/companies and has no record of who bought the stamp used for our driveway and sidewalk. The foreman said he's tried everything, from calling all the local concrete contractors to Googling concrete stamp patterns on the internet, but could not locate the stamp to match.

Not only was the pattern needed to replace the damaged sections of the existing driveway and sidewalk, but our builder was going to need that stamp for the new driveway in front of the garage addition. Yeeeaaahhhh. That presents a bit of a problem. Plus, the color has faded a little from the sun so the foreman said there would be no possible way to match the color exactly.

So this is what I suggested to Spouse, the street foreman, and our addition builder: the entire driveway and side will be removed (not just the damaged areas) and replaced with regular old non-dyed, non-stamped concrete, at the street foreman's cost. The builder would then create the new driveway in front of the garage using regular old concrete so that it all matches. Everyone agreed this was the best approach.

Although the regular concrete does not have the 'custom' look of the dyed, stamped concrete, it will be much easier to repair or replace in the future if something happens to it. We could have chosen a different pattern and color, but I don't really care so much about it as long as it all matches. Plus, our builder said that going with the regular concrete for the new driveway in front of the garage will save us over $2,000. YES!!! And, if we wind up not liking the plain old concrete, it is very inexpensive to spray on a concrete stain.

So it appears 2009 will be our 'year of construction'; from the street project, to the addition, to the driveway and sidewalk replacement.


Crush du Jour: Luke Guldan

Friday fragments

This week the street crew came back to add top soil onto the transition areas from our yard to the street, sprinkled grass seed, and laid a mesh of hay over top. It appeared the street reconstruction project was done! But, no. During the inspector's walk-thru (walk-on?), some of my neighbors complained about the uneven road surface that causes a huge puddle to form in the middle of the street. The inspector agreed the street was not graded correctly to force water to run to the drain, and said it would be fixed. So they will come back and remove the top layer of asphalt, regrade, and repave the affected area. It feels like the street reconstruction project that just won't end.

Former Miss CA, Carrie Prejean, lost her crown and title this week. Reports indicate that she was dethroned for breach of contract, since she failed to keep some appearances. Ha ha; serves her right.

A new report by the Williams Institute suggests New England might attract a new, young, “creative class” - thanks to marriage equality in every state but Rhode Island. This article says that Gay couples who are part of the “creative class” (highly educated professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs) were 2.5 times more likely to move to Massachusetts in the three years following MA's approval of same-sex marriage. So New England may become the Berkeley of the East coast.

Some people think that those of us who talk about stopping 'hate' only do so because we are members of a hated group. But every kind of 'hate' is bad for ALL of us, as is made clear by this tragedy on Wed. An 88-year-old gunman with a violent and anti-Semitic past opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, killing a security guard before being shot himself by other officers.

This hilarious video gives proponents of 'traditional marriage' something to think about!

Spouse's 1st week on Weight Watchers gave his confidence a big boost: he lost 10 lbs in 1 week. Now, this is not the 1st time he's had a dramatic, 1st week weight loss. For Spouse its not about starting a diet, its about sticking to it. He's done very well this 2nd week though, which is quite encouraging to both of us. While not exactly 'counting the points' like Spouse, I am also eating less quantity and lower fat/calorie foods.

Today I learned from the builder that the delay in getting the permits was because the regular permit guy was out on vacation and the back-up permit guy was out with pneumonia! However, permits were secured today, and work begins Mon morning!

Crush du Jour: Charlie Schlatter

Friday fragments

Its been a busy week for me and for the world, so I've got lots of fragments to share this Friday. I'll try to be brief so this post doesn't approach novel proportions. I know I can be wordy sometimes.

Street reconstruction
When we returned from our 4-day trip to NYC, the top coat of asphalt had still not been laid on our street. Fortunately on Tues this happened so the paving is now complete. Wed & Thurs they worked on the transitions from the affected yards and driveways to the new street, filling in the gaps and smoothing out the excess earth. Our dyed, stamped concrete driveway and sidewalk were cracked by the pipe crew, and the engineering company is having a difficult time trying to locate the same pattern of stamp so they can replace the damaged sections. I have a not-so-good feeling about this.

Marriage equality in NH
NH has become the 6th state to adopt marriage equality! Savor the details here. Now, I wonder which state will become lucky #7... NY maybe?

The Dallas Principles
Last month in Dallas, TX 24 thinkers, activists, and donors gathered to discuss the immediate need for full equality for GLBT people in the US. They collectively prepared The Dallas Principles. Check out their website to learn what the principles are and how you may want to become involved.

Fun, busy Saturday
We've got a fun, busy Sat planned tomorrow. In the morning I'll prepare a dish to take to a potluck. At 10am we're dropping by a local car show. Big Ella will not be in it since she is in the shop getting some TLC. At noon we're off to the Summer Bash, a benefit for the Food Bank of DE. We'll have gourmet food, drinks, a speech from our Governor, and a concert by Pam Tillis. Yes, that's right - the Pam Tillis. Then at 6pm we're going to a potluck at Deb & Greer's. I believe we'll be tuckered out by Sat night.

GM's commitment to the Chevy Volt
Although GM filed for bankruptcy this week, I was happy to read that the plan to roll out the new Chevy Volt will not be affected. Indeed, the Volt which goes 40 miles without using a drop of gasoline is a significant part of what Obama and others call the "new GM".

Stop the Madness
Speaking of commitments, in the past when Spouse & I have decided to actively pursue loosing weight, we would begin the new resolve by saying "we've got to stop the madness". We liken uncontrolled eating to 'madness'. So this week we are once again determined to 'stop the madness' by utilizing the Weight Watchers point system. It worked very well for us several years ago, but of course, after returning to our old, 'mad' eating patterns we gained the weight back. This time will be different, or so we say. He's done very well so far, 5 days into it. Let's hope the 'madness' doesn't return at tomorrow's Summer Bash and potluck. Send us positive, encouraging energy, won't you?

Big Ella, the Covergirl
Spouse & I belong to Lambda Car Club International, the national GLBT car collectors club and to Straight Eights, a regional GLBT car collectors club. Last month I submitted photos and a filled-out questionnaire about Big Ella to the regional club, and Big Ella was selected 'car of the month'! Unfortunately the newsletter is online and password protected so I can't link to it, but I'm proud that our Covergirl is getting some press.

Have a terrific weekend, Everyone.

Crush du Jour: Dror Okavi

Busy Monday

Sorry for the very brief post, but I've been really busy at work today. In addition to wading through 2 days of work emails, I had 2 conference calls. This evening I have my personal trainer appointment, but I promise I will share more photos and stories from our fabulous NYC trip as soon as possible. Here's a photo that turned out well.

The engineers returned today and laid the top/final layer of asphalt. Our street is finally finished! Just in time for the work on the addition to start next Mon.

Crush du Jour: Billy Snow

LATE BREAKING NEWS!!

Oh...

My...

God.

Today at 4:00 I heard a knock on the door. It was one of the engineers from the street reconstruction, letting me know I should move my car out of the driveway if I needed to go anywhere in the next 2 hours, since they would be laying the base coat for the street in about a 1/2 hour.

Sure enough, around 4:30 the asphalt truck and roller arrived, and this is the beautiful site they left behind:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a street!!! Can you tell I'm a little excited?

I guess they will be back tomorrow to lay the top coat, but we will be leaving around 10:30 am so we may not see the finished product until Sunday.

Who knows, if all goes well, by Monday you will likely not have to tolerate my whining about the lack of a paved street.

Crush du Jour: Scott Jenkins

An important day

Today is an important day for three reasons:

1. According to the engineering firm hired by the city, our street is scheduled to be paved today! After nearly 3 months of having no street - only dirt, sand, dust, gravel, and mud - we should get our street back today. However, it rained last night and this morning, and so far there are no paving vehicles or people on site.

2. The CA Supreme Court will announce its decision on Prop 8 appeal today.

We'll find out if those same-sex couples in CA will have their marriages reinstated or not. I have a very bad feeling about this one. I have a feeling today will be a day of great disappointment and anger. But here's a site to give you ideas for how to react constructively.

Update: The court decided to uphold Prop 8.

3. Today is mine & Spouse's 13th anniversary.

Crush du Jour: Jae Garcia

Friday fragments

Retro drag
Recently I ran into one of my "mature" (read: retired) friends who appeared to be attempting to bring back a 'club look' from the 90s: denim shorts, yellow construction worker boots, and white socks. Remember this retro drag?
The site of him in this get-up made me involuntarily snicker, so to avoid hurting my friend's feelings, I covered my smiling face with my hand and pretended to cough. It really was amusing!

American Idol

I was rather surprised that Adam didn't win American Idol. I mean, come on! Whether you liked his guyliner and black polished nails or not, you have to admit that he was notably a better singer than Kris. With every genre of music they performed each week, Adam changed his appearance, singing style, and character to match. Kris just seemed to struggle with a few of the musical genres and never changed his appearance. Kris just doesn't have the 'star quality' that Adam has. But the people voted, supposedly. I was the least invested in this season of AI than any other.

Street update
There was more street work on Tues & Wed. Several dump trucks of gravel were delivered, spread, and smoothed. Wed afternoon my neighbor told us he had it on good authority that our street would be paved on Thurs! But Thurs came and no one showed up. Apparently there was some sort of 'paving emergency' and the crew was reassigned. (WTF?) This morning we received word that the paving of our street has been scheduled for next Tues, the 26th. I am keeping all appendages crossed for luck!

Susan Boyle
A friend sent me this which resulted in an involuntary eruption of laughter. One of these is Susan Boyle and the other is Matt Lucas (of Little Britain) imitating Susan Boyle. Can you figure out which is which?

Peekaboo
This week as I glanced out the window at the street reconstruction I saw a construction worker unbuckle his belt, unzip his pants, slip them down an inch or two, reach in and rearrange his 'junk', then pull his pants back up, zip up, and rebuckle his belt, on a public street. Unfortunately he was NOT hot. He looked like a retired member of ZZ Top.

Our neighbor on Oprah

I do not watch TV during the day because I'm working, but last Wed I made an exception. At 4:00 I turned on the Oprah show because I knew my neighbor was going to be on Oprah's "Heroes in Hard Times" episode. My friend and neighbor, Dale Dunning, is known as 'The Soup Lady' because she started Jusst Sooup Ministries 4 years ago, which serves delicious, homemade soup to those in need. From homeless people to those in transition, to those who just don't have anything to feed their families until payday, Dale serves them all. She is truly a beautiful person who works hard yet receives no pay. Her ministry is supported strictly by donations. Check out her site here and consider making a donation which you can feel confident 100% will be spent to help others.

Eruption
A friend sent me this, which also resulted in an eruption of laughter! (Click to enlarge.)

Looks like that elephant may be having an 'eruption' of his own!

Memorial Day weekend
This weekend will be our 1st Memorial Day weekend in years where we will not have company. But we aren't too broken up about it, as this will allow us to attend several local events that we would normally miss if we had company. Fri evening we have dinner with 'the usual suspects' and will celebrate Scott's birthday, Sat evening we're going to a potluck, Sun afternoon we're going to a barbecue, and Sun evening we're going to a cocktail party. These are all things we'd miss if we had company this weekend. We're expecting fairly decent weather so Spouse & I are planning to go to the beach on Sat & Mon.

Hair do
My company has announced early dismissal today in honor of the impending holiday weekend, so I scheduled myself a hair cut appointment at 4:00. Gotta get my hair did before our trip to NYC next week!

Here's wishing everyone a FUN and SAFE Memorial Day weekend!

Crush du Jour: Geronimo Frias

Street progress!

This morning at 7:00 am I was awakened by the sound of a buzz saw. No, it wasn't Spouse's snoring, although he often sounds like a buzz saw. It was an actual buzz saw, slicing off about 15 inches of our stamped concrete driveway.
From having attended the street planning meeting I knew this would be the result of the city's decision to 'straighten the street'. They had to remove the 15 inches of driveway that will become the edge of the new street.

Once that was done the grinder showed up. This machine basically slices several inches of hard or soft surface, grinds it up, and places it onto a long conveyor belt that dumps into a trunk to be hauled away.

Here's a close-up so you can better see what it does.

Although the 'straightening' of the street resulted in loosing some of our driveway, it will also result in regaining some of our yard. When the street was initially paved the contractor must not have measured it correctly because they rounded the corner too sharply and paved over a portion of our yard. This is being corrected and we will get that part of our yard back.

The photo above shows the area we will get back. See that area of dirt/sand/gravel where the man in the blue jeans is standing on the far right? That is the approximate location of where our yard will extend to once the street is finished.

Here's a wider view of the grinder shooting into the bed of the dump truck.

It was kind of exciting to have all those guys working here yesterday. After so many weeks (which felt like months) of no progress, yesterday's noise, dirt, and flurry of activity was a welcome change.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up for a quick completion, despite all the progress made today. We're supposed to have rain tonight which will make the street a muddy mess (again) and the workers won't return until it dries up.

It is definitely encouraging to finally see some progress, which feels like a small light has been found at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

Crush du Jour: Craig Robert Young

Oh the irony

As I mentioned here, my neighbor was told that the entire city-wide street improvement project(which includes our street) was supposed to be done by May 8, or June 27. The correct date depends on who you talk to.

All of the other streets are getting much simpler improvements. As I've walked the dog I noticed in some cases they ripped out broken/crumbling curbs and replaced them with new ones. In some cases they removed sections of cracked asphalt (leaving them with loose gravel and dirt) and will replace the street surface. Our street had the most involved work: a complete reconstruction. That is because they completely removed our street, planted drainage pipes, and plan to correct the curvature of the street ("straighten" the street) when they pave it. Someday. Maybe by June 27.

With all the rain we've had, my neighbor got frustrated with the swamp-like condition of our street and called and emailed the city manager. He suggested that if the street was not going to be paved very soon, a temporary fix should be implemented, such as a layer of fine gravel distributed over the street, to mitigate the mud and pooling of rain water. One day last week the construction company delivered the equivalent to a wheel barrow full of gravel and smoothed it over the puddle in front of my neighbor's house. That's it. That's what they felt they could do to mitigate the mud and pooling of rain water.

Despite all the calls and emails from my neighbor and other frustrated residents to finish our street, yesterday the road stripper began working on the street that runs parallel to ours. It stripped off the top layer of asphalt, in preparation to resurface the street.

It is unthinkable to me why the city would allow what used to be our street to remain in this condition while they continue to do construction work on other streets.

Just pave the damn street already!

You may have noticed this has become a real source of frustration to me. This is the 10th week of street reconstruction, and the 6th week since any progress was made on our street. Every time we walk the dog, get the mail, take out the trash, or get into our cars our shoes get muddy/dirty/sandy. Despite wiping our feet thoroughly on the door mats we've still managed to track a beach worth of sand into our house. We now have to leave our shoes on the front porch to keep from ruining our wood floors. I'm really getting sick of it.

Crush du Jour: Brandon Beemer

Rainy days and Mondays...

For the last 6 days we've had rain, scattered showers, or drizzle. Looking at the forecast I see that for the next 6 days we have the exact same thing in store. How exciting! Its like living in Seattle or Portland, only without the progressive people.

This wet weather has put a 'damper' on the street reconstruction, or so says the engineering firm. There has been no work on our street in over a month, and they claim its because they're waiting for a "significant drying". I hate to be the one to inform them, but its Spring and that is when we get a fair amount of rain. Waiting for a "significant drying" in April/May is like waiting for roses to bloom in November. In other words, it ain't too likely.

This has been the condition of our street for the last 6 days, and will likely continue to be for at least the next 6 days:
This photo actually makes the street look much smoother than it really is. It is very uneven, with pot holes and lumps.

My neighbor is getting mixed messages from the city regarding the completion of the entire street project, which includes but is not exclusive to our street. Earlier was told the end date was this coming Fri. Now he's being told the project end date is June 27, but that the engineering firm feels confident they will finish much sooner than that, despite the rainy weather and the lack of work done on our street over the last month.

As you can tell by the tone of this, I am getting pretty frustrated. Every time I walk the dog, go to the mail box, put the trash out for pick up, or chat with my neighbors I must walk on the street, which is wet and muddy. And when its not wet and muddy, its dry and dirty and sandy. Either way, its made a mess of our shoes and cars.

I'm ready for it to be done.

Crush du Jour: Jared Leto

Friday fragments

Swine flu
In an attempt to keep the hysteria down to a minimum, I'd like to remind everyone that more people die from the regular flu than from swine flu. The most helpful thing you can do to protect yourself is to wash your hands frequently, especially when in public. Don't give into the fear mongering; just be informed.

Keith Olbermann on Virginia Foxx
How much do I love Keith Olbermann?? First he did that fantastic 6 1/2 minute piece on marriage equality last Nov. Now Keith has done another terrific piece where he calls Congresswoman Virginia Foxx "callous, insensitive, criminally misinformed", and "not worthy to represent this country nor any of its parties nor peoples" due to her insensitive and inaccurate statements about Matthew Shepard's death. Oh yeah, he went there! Watch this short video here. Thanks to Powell at Amen Praise Jesus for sharing this.

Street status
I've spared you all much of my frustration over the stalled street reconstruction project. Its now been a month since the pipe burying was completed, and absolutely nothing else has been done. For an entire month. When the wind blows hard, as it often does here at the beach, it blows dirt and sand everywhere. When it rains the street turns into a swamp. However, our neighbor got word from the city manager last Fri that the entire project (which includes our street) is scheduled to be completed by Fri of next week, which won't be a moment too soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Camel toe
I can always count on Kevin at The Lisp for something to make me laugh. This week he shared this hilarious camel toe video which had me snorting with laughter. Go ahead, TRY not to laugh!

National Equality Rally
A National Equality Rally will be held this Sun in Philly.What's it all about? It's one way to send a powerful message to Congress and our new president to stand by their commitment to our civil rights. Why rally?

• For the repeal of DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) and DOMA (Defense of Marrage Act)
• For the passage of trans-inclusive hate crimes protection
• For the passage of ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act)
• Support for GLBT health issues
• For equality benefits for same-sex families
• For same-sex marriage equality

For more info go to their website. Feel free to share this, and attend if you can!

Logic and Equality
Whether or not you like Howard Stern, you have to respect and appreciate people who use logic to form their opinions, right? Thanks to Mikey at The Gospel According to Mikey for sharing this video of Howard Stern's radio discussion of marriage and legal equality for gays. Right on, Howard!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Crush du Jour: Cadi Cunha

Friday fragments

Its been a full week now with no street work. That doesn't mean its done; it just means there's been no work done in a week. There have been several 'visits' by engineers and construction people, with many short conversations and pointing and arm waving, but no actual work. The street is a mixture of sand and soil we are trying desperately not to track into the house.

After more than a bit of coordination, we've confirmed the dates of our next NYC trip: May 28-31. We had such a great time last Oct that we're going back for more. We had such a positive experience last time taking Boltbus we're taking it again. I purchased the tickets yesterday, online of course. Since we didn't have time to see Central Park last time, we're scheduling an entire day for that on this trip. It should be blooming to beat the band by late May. We're also hoping to meet up with some NYC bloggers and friends while we're in town. If any of you are planning to be in NYC during May 28-31, let me know! The famous (or infamous?) DavidDust will be coordinating a night of carousing and debauchery on Sat night. No doubt this will include all the places where the hot Papis hang out! (I wonder if that new Arby's in Brooklyn will be open by then?)

My recent foray into Facebook reminded me of many school-related memories. One such memory was a 'picture day' in 3rd grade. I have a vivid memory of seeing all my classmates dressed up in their photographic finest, and commenting to my teacher how good Jim Brown looked in a suit. I expected my teacher to respond with appropriate agreement, but she didn't. I remember my confusion at my teacher's non-reaction.

We're going to VA today to spend the Easter weekend. Spouse's brother Louis hosts Easter at his house on Sun, but we'll be at Spouse's mom's today and Sat. I'm hoping to work in some visits with some friends while we're in town, too. Please send positive energy to me so I don't over-indulge in all the chocolatey, Easter goodness.

Happy Easter!

Crush du Jour: Haaz Sleiman

Street progress

No doubt you're grateful that I've kept my whining and complaining about the street reconstruction to a minimum here on my blog. We are now in week #4 and progress continues. The pipe laying crew is almost finished burying the concrete drainage cylinders under where the street will once again be. They should complete that this week. Then will come the regrading, followed by the paving.

I spoke to one of the engineers last week regarding the large crack in our driveway. In addition, we now have several cracks in our sidewalk, too, thanks to the operators of those huge construction vehicles who accidentally drove on the driveway and sidewalk. The engineer gave me his business card and promised to 'make it right'.

Since I've tried not to let this ongoing construction dominate my blog, I've neglected to mention the hottie foreman I've been watching. He looks to be around 30 and always wears a fleece cap in that sexy kind of way, sorta like the guy in this photo:

I know, hot - right? I've been watching him from my office window for weeks. I've even tried to get a photo of him several times, but have been unsuccessful. He never stays in one place long enough, and the zoom on my camera isn't strong enough to capture his looks. The one photo I got just looked like a man on the street.

Yesterday morning as I had Jordan out in the yard, the hottie foreman emerged from his car, parked in our neighbor's driveway directly across the street. We made eye contact and then he walked toward me. For the first time I was close enough to see his pretty hazel eyes and the small gold hoop earring that peeked out from under that sexy fleece cap.

"Good morning" he said cheerfully.

"Morning" I replied, trying to sound even 1/2 as butch as he looked.

"We should be finished layin' the pipe this week" he offered.

"Why don't you step inside and lay some pipe with me" I wanted to suggest, but decided against it. Instead I said "Oh, really? What about the paving?"

"I don't know about the paving; I'm just the pipe guy" he replied.

"You certainly are..." I wanted to agree, but again, decided against it.

"I'm gonna see the lead engineer later this week so I'll ask him about the paving" he promised. "Hey, I'm sorry about those pipes in your yard over the weekend" he apologized, referring to this:

"No sweat" I replied, again trying to notch up my butch factor. "Its not like we have a pristine yard. I knew from the public works meeting that the grass would be affected by the construction and regrading."

"Well, we usually don't leave stuff in people's yard over the weekend, but we just didn't have any other place to put them. You probably saw how many pipes we had over there" he said, pointing across the street.

"I've got a place for your pipe" I wanted to assure him. But again, I decided against it. "Yeah, hard to believe it would take that many for such a short street" I said.

"We have to pay those people for using their land" he informed me.

"No kidding" I said, genuinely surprised. "What would you have done if that land weren't vacant?" I asked.

"We would have had to stage somewhere else and bring the equipment here each time we needed a piece. It would have made this take a lot longer, so its worth it to pay the owners to use the land, but we try to get in, get it done, and get out as fast as we can."

I was practically salivating by this time, with all that "get in, get it done, and get out" talk! I almost forgot he was talking about the street construction. But Jordan was tugging at her leash, letting me know she was ready to walk, so I thanked the hottie foreman for the info and wished him a good day.

A very good day.

Crush du Jour: David Williams

Friday fragments

Well, its Friday: the 'appetizer' to the coming weekend.

This weekend we don't have any social plans, other than meeting up at some point with our friend Tim who will be in town for the weekend. We do have one priority for the weekend though: clean this disgustingly filthy house!
Now, I'm no Mommie Dearest by any stretch of the imagination. But we haven't done a good, thorough housecleaning in several weeks, and it shows! I can't stand it any longer.

Street reconstruction continued Mon-Wed of this week, from 7:30 am - 7:30 pm. For some reason, there has been no street work done yesterday or today, but I don't mind, as it is nice to have some quiet again. Here is the 'view' from our porch:

This is our yard, looking from the driveway:

You can't see it in the photo above, but one of the heavy pieces of construction equipment cracked our driveway. I spoke to one of the engineers yesterday who gave me his business card and promised they would 'make it right'. Here's what we see across the street:

Thanks to Smallville gay activist Bob over at I Should be Laughing for posting this fantastic video of SF Mayor Gavin Newsom speaking out on how separate is not equal. This ties in nicely with this post. Any idea how we can encourage more straight politicians to become our advocates?

I have been having terrible luck with electronics lately. I booted up an old laptop and was prompted to perform a windows update, which I did. Now the laptop won't boot up anymore. I bought an inexpensive mp3 player and loaded some fast-tempo music that will be good when I'm on the treadmill. I know the music loaded, but for some reason I couldn't get it to play. Somehow Spouse (the only person less tech savvy than me) got it to play. Our new camera keeps giving me a "battery exhausted" message, despite putting fresh batteries in it several times. My friend Nick explained that the camera's battery setting was set for a higher voltage battery, so all the lower voltage batteries tricked the camera into thinking they were dead. I bought the higher voltage batteries, but still get the message intermittently.

My friend Kevin sent me this funny website called F my life that has provided me with countless chuckles so far today. Check it out! I dare you to not find something funny.

Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend!

Crush du Jour: Alex Loynaz

Friday fragments

Tonight we'll have dinner with 'the usual suspects' and then come home and watch a movie. Tomorrow morning we're heading back to VA for the weekend. Some friends from NH will be in town so we will enjoy seeing them after quite a while.

Spouse & I decided to go ahead and get bids for our garage/bath/closet addition. At this point we only have a vague idea what it may cost, so we've given 4 sets of plans out to 4 builders and explained what we want. In a week or so we should have an idea of what this project will cost and we'll have a better idea when we can start it, and what may have to be sacrificed if the estimates are higher than our budget. This should be quite informative and interesting!

This morning at 7:30 the street crew arrived with a very loud piece of machinery that turned the street into gravel. So much for "construction starting on Monday the 16th". Fortunately Spouse was on his way out the door for work when they started, so he was able to get his car out. We thought we had until Mon to park in our driveway.

We had light snow flurries this morning for about 30 minutes. Now at just after 5:00 the flurries are back. Man, I am SOOO ready for spring!

Have a great weekend!

Crush du Jour: Scott Adkins

Street

As I've mentioned before, we live in a very small historic town, which later changed its status to become a city. It still looks and functions like a small town.

Our street is only about a 1/2 block long, and there are just 4 houses on either side, all with small yards. It is a one-way street due to it being so narrow, and there is no on-street parking. It used to be a gravel alley, which was eventually paved.

Our little street has no curbs, sidewalks, or storm water drainage so when it rains the water runs off into our yards, which is fine, and it puddles in the low areas of the street, which is not fine. The latter has become troublesome. When the water forms large, shallow ponds in the street it requires dog walkers to walk in neighbors' yards' to bypass the ponds. When vehicles drive through the ponds it splashes water everywhere. And in the winter the ponds have frozen, creating a dangerous environment for drivers and pedestrians.

So last summer several neighbors and I attended a city meeting where street improvements were discussed. I learned that the city had planned to repair and resurface several streets with too many patches or potholes, and planned to completely replace our street after storm water drains had been installed. Hurray! We'll be able to see our tax dollars at work. We were told the project would start in the spring, but we'd be notified prior to the start of construction.

On Tues several construction guys walked up and down the street locating all the utilities and spray painting the street, driveways, and yards with neon yellow, orange, blue, and pink.

On Wed more construction guys arrived with blue prints, surveying equipment, and short wooden stakes with colored flags on them.

Today several pieces of heavy-duty construction equipment were delivered, along with some huge steel platforms. They were delivered to the vacant lot across the street from our house. The lot is owned by someone, but I guess the city has decided they will use it as a staging area.

So much for being notified prior to the start of construction. Or, maybe they don't consider this "construction". Maybe this is simply construction foreplay.

The start of this street re-construction project stirs mixed feelings in me. On the positive side it will be great to have storm water drainage and a new street surface that won't turn into a giant pond when it rains.

But on the negative side they are going to straighten out the direction of the street, which will shorten our driveway by about 10". Also, I am NOT looking forward to all the noise, dirt in the air, and inconvenience.

They will be completely ripping up and removing the existing street, so jack hammers will surely provide an annoying soundtrack to their work for a few days. Then there's the beeping sound from the bulldozer and front-end loaders when in reverse gear. Then there's the clanging and clanking of steel and concrete as the drainage basins are installed. For most people who leave the house to go to work, this isn't a big deal. But to people like me who work at home, it is a much bigger consideration.

Let's not forget about all the dirt that will be stirred up and blown around, either. Our house, porch, porch furniture, and cars will be covered in dirt daily, just as they were when a nearby construction project took place.

Oh wait - not our cars - they won't be covered in dirt because we won't be able to park them in our driveway! That's right. Since construction will begin at 7am and go til 5 or 6pm each day, we will not be able to park in our driveway during those hours, unless we want to risk being blocked in the entire day. So we will have to park our cars on alternate streets and walk to and from our house.

They estimate this will take 4-6 weeks, but I am betting it will take at least 8 weeks. Project are rarely completed by the estimated date, due to weather/rain and other conditions.

Reading back over this I sound like a crotchety old man! I suppose I should look at the bright side and think about how nice it will be when its all over.

Crush du Jour: Brian Carr