|
EEK!
Apr 4, 2007 18:17:38 GMT -5
Post by joew on Apr 4, 2007 18:17:38 GMT -5
… Seeing eight houses this afternoon. … Any of them any good?
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 4, 2007 19:38:32 GMT -5
Post by booklady on Apr 4, 2007 19:38:32 GMT -5
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 4, 2007 19:51:14 GMT -5
Post by hartlikeawheel on Apr 4, 2007 19:51:14 GMT -5
How did we get from Jane's tribulations to politics?
Maybe it's time to argue the vagaries of lifestyle and political bent in a genial fashion. I personally don't give a rat's behind how anyone votes. It is the quality of character which impells me to make friendships.
I long ago decided that it makes little difference what I believe or how I vote but rather how I live. And that, itself, will have a meager influence on a very few if any. An Eleanor or a Helen I am not.
It is painful to me to see people dividing into separate camps and going to war with each other over issues which may not even find their way into the history books. Primitive instincts?
I'm not talking about global war but rather the divisiveness which exists in our very neighborhoods. And it's not always political.
I am reminded of my old mantra from the original CB. Hold hands, folks. We're all we've got.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 4, 2007 19:58:26 GMT -5
Post by booklady on Apr 4, 2007 19:58:26 GMT -5
My link isn't really political. It addesses the accusations about Al Gore's energy use, and allows his side a rebuttal.
I like snopes.com.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 4, 2007 20:45:35 GMT -5
Post by doctork on Apr 4, 2007 20:45:35 GMT -5
My link isn't really political. It addesses the accusations about Al Gore's energy use, and allows his side a rebuttal. I like snopes.com. The link between jane's tribulations (and the move-related tribulations of others) was the suggestion that we all hop on an RV and travel the country, giving up in disgust on the prospect of finding a suitable new home. I think if enough of us shared the RV and gave up our homes, it would be more than carbon-neutral. As to the energy discussion, I think it's more scientific discussion than politics (aside from the fact that I quoted Steve, who is knowledgeable but no fan of George Bush). That reminds me of the Kurosawa film Rashoman, the story of a crime as seen from four different viewpoints. It was an art film and a crime film. Discussion of energy efficiency is scientific, political, and practical - where will we live, and how? But yeah, we should all stick together despite some (minor) differences of opinion, and hold hands, hold each other dear.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 5, 2007 6:44:16 GMT -5
Post by edsfam on Apr 5, 2007 6:44:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 5, 2007 7:57:23 GMT -5
Post by Jane on Apr 5, 2007 7:57:23 GMT -5
Eight houses; all abysmal. Does it occur to people that perhaps they should tidy up and repair the hole in the front door before they sell their houses? Does it, huh? More today, then back to Lansing for work on a couple of freel lance articles and an amazing amount of work relating to house moving and government appeasing (that blasted audit). This too shall pass.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 5, 2007 8:21:25 GMT -5
Post by gailkate on Apr 5, 2007 8:21:25 GMT -5
We looked at 120+ houses before we found this one. And that's not counting the ones we just drove by, with even the realtor admitting it wasn't worth going inside. One seller actually let his dog poop in the basement and didn't clean up before we got there- which I guess is beter than a last-minute job that would have left us wondering about the peculiar odor. Eewww!
A house has your name on it. Think how grateful you'll be, having suffered and struggled through this disheartening search. Think how every clean or at least not sticky surface will call out to you! Think of the dry basement! Think of the corners - especially in the bathroom - that will be square and visible, not rounded by years of accumulated gunk!
Do not despair, dear Jane. Perhaps slb2 will write you a perky little househunting jingle.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 5, 2007 8:44:05 GMT -5
Post by slb2 on Apr 5, 2007 8:44:05 GMT -5
Do not despair, dear Jane. Perhaps slb2 will write you a perky little househunting jingle. Moi? Write a perky jingle? As spring follows fall, I've never written anything perky at all. Seriously. ;D I don't know why my writing is (almost) always so dour! C'est la vie!
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 5, 2007 20:48:22 GMT -5
Post by booklady on Apr 5, 2007 20:48:22 GMT -5
I did see that, _E_, but hadn't read it and didn't have time to. The other one I'd read, so that's the one I linked. Care to give a synopsis?
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 6, 2007 6:34:03 GMT -5
Post by edsfam on Apr 6, 2007 6:34:03 GMT -5
synopsis?
Bush house in Texas = good
Gore house in Tennesse = bad
"People that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
_E_
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 6, 2007 6:54:17 GMT -5
Post by booklady on Apr 6, 2007 6:54:17 GMT -5
OK, I won't.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 6, 2007 9:35:15 GMT -5
Post by doctork on Apr 6, 2007 9:35:15 GMT -5
I still think both Bush and Gore have made admirable efforts to make both their homes responsible environmentally.
I don't have enough information to make further judgement. I think a home built recently can be relatively easily designed with green goals in mind, while the retrofitting of an older home (which is most homes in the US) creates more challenges. Then I wonder if it is "apples to apples" to compare the (retrofitted) home of a national figure (who runs a substantial home business, hosts numerous social and political events and must accommodate Secret Service details) to the home of "an average American."
I cannot tell if this situation represents hypocrisy or comparison of unlike entities. However, both homeowners have made some significant efforts to use energy wisely, which we could all emulate.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 6, 2007 9:58:16 GMT -5
Post by booklady on Apr 6, 2007 9:58:16 GMT -5
When I was a small-town reporter for a regional weekly newspaper about ten years ago, I did my job in a sort of dogged but very polite (and slightly intimidated by greatness) manner. For example, I called the principal of the high school "Mr. Norton" instead of by his first name like all the other reporters did. One of the reporters covering the next town over for the same paper was an ex-Marine, much tougher and more aggessive but not necessarily any more effective a reporter than I. Just different.
One day, an African-American family in the town I covered (a mostly white, non-ethic-variety town) had some hate graffiti spray painted on the street in front of their home. The public works department was quickly called and cleaned it up, but the story came out that some of their neighbors had been extremely rude and mean to them. The family had just moved out of the house to the neighboring town, the town covered by the ex-Marine.
I was assigned the story, and went and interviewed the woman, and wrote my story. The aggressive ex-Marine then used some less-than honorable methods to find out her phone number and try to 'steal' the story out from under me. His unethical tactics were discovered.
In a way that I still find humorous, this tough guy ex-Marine wrote me a note to apologize. He walked over to me in the newsroom as I was working and handed it to me. He didn't even have the guts to say it to my face.
Flash forward the ten years or so since that event. The local daily paper -- not the one we both worked for -- is running a series of stories on people who volunteer, devoting hours sacrificially to benefit others in our community. And I read about this man, the conniving, cowardly ex-Marine who volunteers his time to help kids, and has for years and years.
Every person is made up of both good and bad impulses and has acted on them. I really can't stand to see a person painted as BAD or GOOD. We lie and cheat, we serve and help. Bush and Gore are no different.
|
|
|
EEK!
Apr 6, 2007 11:16:15 GMT -5
Post by Jane on Apr 6, 2007 11:16:15 GMT -5
UPDATE: ok, I used to be an enfj, but I think I've turned into an infj.
Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
Still no house. Going back Monday to begin again. We saw one we liked but it only had one bathroom (unacceptable to my husband) and we got an estimate to add one for $15,000. Too much.
So far today I have interviewed one person for an article, called another to set up a time, done two loads of laundry, been to the grocery store, started dinner, taken a rug to the drycleaners, talked to three people at my former work to sort out a magazine that I edit and write at my old job that I'm trying to get out as a "volunteer" because it has my name all over it and I don't want to let it founder, had several short and harried discussions with my husband, talked to my sister about who might take my bad, peeing cat because my husband says "no way" is he moving to GR with us. Now it's noon.
I've been retired for a week, and the latest I've slept in so far is 7:00 am.
|
|