Happy Holidays!
Yup... I am going to use the generic, much maligned, Happy Holidays because it is not yet Chanukah (12/15), Kwanzaa (12/26), Christmas (12/25), Winter Solstice (12/22) or any other holiday yet. I don't wish anyone "Happy Independence Day" the week prior to the 4th of July. I don't call friends and family to wish them Happy Birthday during the weeks leading up to their date of birth. I don't hide eggs starting in February so they will be ready to hunt by Easter. I do those things on dates that correspond to the events being acknowledged. So why would I say "Merry Christmas" to anyone when it ISN'T YET! I will wish you a Merry Christmas when the calendar says it is, MAYBE the day before.
That's one of the nuggets that have been running through my brain this week... I think that its the pressure to keep things organized this time of year. There are lots of dates to remember: parties, end of the year deadlines, a surprising number of meetings at work for some reason, the holidays themselves, three family birthdays. I can't think of any other reason that I have been keeping a list of the random worries and non sequiturs in my noggin. Mostly I am freaking out about gifts... I suck at picking out gifts and I hate to give gift cards. Luckily my list of recipients is fairly low and there is still lots of time, but it's definitely starting to press on me a little that I have only bought ONE gift, and it's a secondary thing, a stocking stuffer. I still have to come up with the "under the tree" gift.
So while that nagging issue is playing the loudest electric guitar version of Deck the Halls on the mainstage in my brian, there are several other acts that are also trying to draw a crowd to hear their acoustic carols on the smaller stages. The variety of stuff is pretty interesting:
- I want to go back to school and study architecture, or creative writing, or marketing.
- My laundry and closet doors are ugly.
- What will I make my guy for his present?
- "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" by Rufus Wainwright - on headphones: slightly slurred, melancholy, off key, layered, lush, awesome, awesome... why don't I like more of his stuff?
- Why can't I have two key cards to my building?
- Do subway designers have to take into account the wind pushed out of the tunnel ahead of a train coming into an underground station?
- Getting Christmas cards from friends and family makes me feel guilty that I don't send them.
It also dawned on me today that I have not turned on my TV in over 48 hours. Since Monday night I think. Not like me at all. I have been discovering and reading a lot of blogs though... a couple of them are blogs written by guys who are moving, or have recently moved or are just dealing with condo living and got me to thinking that the reason for this blog is to chronicle the experience of my first home ownership. Write about all the little stuff no one warned me about. Thing is I missed a lot of that good stuff by waiting till AFTER I moved in to start blogging... so starting tomorrow I'm going to take a look back at the process (trust me, it's WELL documented, you've never seen so much paperwork) before it gets too foggy.
Tomorrow: Flashback Friday - A tragic lot
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Community Pride
-or- My Condo is Better Than Your Condo!
This past weekend was the Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes in my neighborhood. I'm certain these events are as popular in your community as they seem to be in the Greater Atlanta area. Every little part of town has some kind of "tour of homes" once or twice a year. Ten or fifteen very proud, brave souls open their homes for the public to traipse through and comment on, usually as part of some larger event, like a community festival or something. Inman Park, Candler Park, Virginia Highlands, The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, etc... all these little niches of Atlanta take great pride in the amenities they have to offer and one way of luring potential residents to their communities is to let them see how people actually live there.
I always justify my attendance at a tour of homes by saying, "I'm getting ideas for my own place," when in reality I am just looking forward to making fun of other peoples stuff. Luckily my boyfriend is similarly inclined. Don't get me wrong, when someone has done it right, I am the first to offer up the praise, In fact we saw three really amazing homes this time around. But who cares about the good ones? When Trading Spaces comes on don't you just HOPE it's HILDI about to do some horrible thing to someone's room? Of course you are! No one says, "Yay! Doug did another tasteful master bedroom makeover." But people DO say, "Did you SEE what Hildi did to that living room? How will they ever get the peanut shells and shredded wet suits of the walls?" I freaking love it when a homeowner cries on that show. Anyway, THAT is why I shelled out the 40 bucks for two tickets to the Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes. We were not disappointed.
Before you go on... if at any point in the next three paragraphs I offer a critical view of something you have done in your dwelling, please know that these are just the rantings of some dude who has almost no furniture or design elements in his own home. I'm sure that if any of the quirks listed below are elements of the decor in YOUR house they are done tastefully and look fantastic.
Here are a couple of our favorites from the tour:
The fan: Now, I am all for having a favorite team. I think that's great. Sports isn't MY thing, but to each his own I say. I DO however think there is a limit to which one should limit his or her appreciation of any one particular sports team. A token here or there, or even a room with a theme (within limits) is appropriate. I don't think that one should have a photo, figurine, statue, lithograph, portrait or any other visage of his or her Alma mater's team mascot in EVERY ROOM, in ADDITION to the themed room. Sports fans are not the only perpetrators of this particular crime. Fans of a soft drink, or a tropical island or even a color should not festoon his or her entire home in all things relating to said drink, locale or hue. Mix it up folks!
The build it yourselfer: Again, I am all for this. Make the changes you CAN make by yourself, BY yourself! Absolutely. Paint, swap out electrical sockets, maybe even replace some tile, but unless you are an architect, do NOT add a room on to your house on your own! Yes, you can do it, and Lowes can help but it is going to look like crap. The problem with most of these additions is that people buy older houses, and then tack on a modern addition... which CAN be cool, it really can, but you have to do the WHOLE house, you can't leave your living room looking like grandma's parlor, with it's yellowed, plaster walls, crown molding and lace curtains when you are going to lead your visitors through a 1920's arched doorway into your drywalled, laminate floored, stainless applianced, skylighted kitchen of tomorrow! The addition looks obvious and separate, because you were thinking about a great kitchen, not a great house.
The designer: I'd like to hire one... I really would. I think having a set of different eyes, a set of educated, trained, HONEST eyes offer an opinion or advice would be awesome! I mean, what do I know about decorating? Yes, there is the gay thing, but I didn't get the dancing, dressing or decorating part of the gene... just the attraction to men, and typically men who also didn't get the dancing, decorating or dressing gene... so the gayness is useless to me in this regard. Touring a designers home may have turned me off to the whole "hiring a decorator" idea all together though. Nothing looked comfortable, or livable. Who has a WHITE FLOOR? Who says, "I think, the best place to put the color that is the most easily made dirty is on the surface that comes into the most contact with my black soled shoes and sweaty feet." As for art, I will never question someone's taste in art... far too subjective a thing to question. I DO think that one should own art because of the meaning a piece has to it's owner or a feeling it evokes, not because it matches the pillows.
After all was said and done though, I have to say that the representative homes from my building were by far and away the nicest on the tour. But what do I know?
This New Condo was not on display this year, and probably not next year but who knows... might be fun to be a fly on the wall as hundreds of people mill about in my modest space and pick apart all of my design choices and furnishings. I've had my fun mocking the taste and choices of my neighbors. It MIGHT be time for a little pay back.
This past weekend was the Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes in my neighborhood. I'm certain these events are as popular in your community as they seem to be in the Greater Atlanta area. Every little part of town has some kind of "tour of homes" once or twice a year. Ten or fifteen very proud, brave souls open their homes for the public to traipse through and comment on, usually as part of some larger event, like a community festival or something. Inman Park, Candler Park, Virginia Highlands, The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, etc... all these little niches of Atlanta take great pride in the amenities they have to offer and one way of luring potential residents to their communities is to let them see how people actually live there.
I always justify my attendance at a tour of homes by saying, "I'm getting ideas for my own place," when in reality I am just looking forward to making fun of other peoples stuff. Luckily my boyfriend is similarly inclined. Don't get me wrong, when someone has done it right, I am the first to offer up the praise, In fact we saw three really amazing homes this time around. But who cares about the good ones? When Trading Spaces comes on don't you just HOPE it's HILDI about to do some horrible thing to someone's room? Of course you are! No one says, "Yay! Doug did another tasteful master bedroom makeover." But people DO say, "Did you SEE what Hildi did to that living room? How will they ever get the peanut shells and shredded wet suits of the walls?" I freaking love it when a homeowner cries on that show. Anyway, THAT is why I shelled out the 40 bucks for two tickets to the Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes. We were not disappointed.
Before you go on... if at any point in the next three paragraphs I offer a critical view of something you have done in your dwelling, please know that these are just the rantings of some dude who has almost no furniture or design elements in his own home. I'm sure that if any of the quirks listed below are elements of the decor in YOUR house they are done tastefully and look fantastic.
Here are a couple of our favorites from the tour:
The fan: Now, I am all for having a favorite team. I think that's great. Sports isn't MY thing, but to each his own I say. I DO however think there is a limit to which one should limit his or her appreciation of any one particular sports team. A token here or there, or even a room with a theme (within limits) is appropriate. I don't think that one should have a photo, figurine, statue, lithograph, portrait or any other visage of his or her Alma mater's team mascot in EVERY ROOM, in ADDITION to the themed room. Sports fans are not the only perpetrators of this particular crime. Fans of a soft drink, or a tropical island or even a color should not festoon his or her entire home in all things relating to said drink, locale or hue. Mix it up folks!
The build it yourselfer: Again, I am all for this. Make the changes you CAN make by yourself, BY yourself! Absolutely. Paint, swap out electrical sockets, maybe even replace some tile, but unless you are an architect, do NOT add a room on to your house on your own! Yes, you can do it, and Lowes can help but it is going to look like crap. The problem with most of these additions is that people buy older houses, and then tack on a modern addition... which CAN be cool, it really can, but you have to do the WHOLE house, you can't leave your living room looking like grandma's parlor, with it's yellowed, plaster walls, crown molding and lace curtains when you are going to lead your visitors through a 1920's arched doorway into your drywalled, laminate floored, stainless applianced, skylighted kitchen of tomorrow! The addition looks obvious and separate, because you were thinking about a great kitchen, not a great house.
The designer: I'd like to hire one... I really would. I think having a set of different eyes, a set of educated, trained, HONEST eyes offer an opinion or advice would be awesome! I mean, what do I know about decorating? Yes, there is the gay thing, but I didn't get the dancing, dressing or decorating part of the gene... just the attraction to men, and typically men who also didn't get the dancing, decorating or dressing gene... so the gayness is useless to me in this regard. Touring a designers home may have turned me off to the whole "hiring a decorator" idea all together though. Nothing looked comfortable, or livable. Who has a WHITE FLOOR? Who says, "I think, the best place to put the color that is the most easily made dirty is on the surface that comes into the most contact with my black soled shoes and sweaty feet." As for art, I will never question someone's taste in art... far too subjective a thing to question. I DO think that one should own art because of the meaning a piece has to it's owner or a feeling it evokes, not because it matches the pillows.
After all was said and done though, I have to say that the representative homes from my building were by far and away the nicest on the tour. But what do I know?
This New Condo was not on display this year, and probably not next year but who knows... might be fun to be a fly on the wall as hundreds of people mill about in my modest space and pick apart all of my design choices and furnishings. I've had my fun mocking the taste and choices of my neighbors. It MIGHT be time for a little pay back.
Monday, December 4, 2006
Baby "Tooth"
I'm a bit of a technology geek. If I could afford it I would always be the "early adopter" the electronics companies rely on to pay WAY too much for the new gadget simply so I could have it first. Luckily my tight budget does not allow me to indulge those urges and I end up being the guy who has last years technology at half the price. My two favorite magazines are WIRED and Popular Science. I devour those magazines. They are literally wet with drool when I put them down... well not literally, figuratively... but who says figuratively? Anyway, years ago I read about a new technology that would someday in the future, allow all our electronics to communicate wirelessly via a new short range communications technology that will revolutionize..." yadda, yadda, yadda. Now, of course, we know it as Bluetooth. The technology is most visible and popular thanks to those cellphone earpieces that people seem to think are jewelry. YOU ARE NOT BORG, I WILL NOT BE ASSIMILATED! My Treo has always been bluetooth capable, so I HAVE owned the technology for some time, but the thing about bluetooth is that you need more than one bluetooth enabled device in order for it to be useful. A bluetooth headset and a bluetooth phone, or a bluetooth phone and a bluetooth laptop, or just a friend with a bluetooth phone... until this weekend though my Treo was partnerless... it had no bluetooth friends. Well meet our new buddy:
It's a little D-Link USB antenna that pops into the back of my mac-mini and allows my Treo to hotsync wirelessly! It takes forever but for a cord nazi like me to be able to rid This New Condo of one more unsightly wire the wait is worth it! Now I am on the hunt for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, two more cords GONE! Presently, this is the mess behind my computer:
Ultimately I'll have some kind of desk/mini office in my bedroom so all that will be out of my kitchen and those freakin cords will be hidden. For now though... one less cord! I'm thrilled. The downside, the USB antenna came with one of those bluetooth cellphone earpieces, maybe I have been assimilated!
In other news, This New Condo has been blogrolled! How cool is that? The very funny (and cute) owner of a crack-addict min-pin at Sorted Lives has added me to his list. I'm honored to be amongst a pretty impressive crowd! Thanks! Now I need to figure out how to make my own blogroll!
Tomorrow: Community Pride or My Condo is Better than Your Condo
It's a little D-Link USB antenna that pops into the back of my mac-mini and allows my Treo to hotsync wirelessly! It takes forever but for a cord nazi like me to be able to rid This New Condo of one more unsightly wire the wait is worth it! Now I am on the hunt for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, two more cords GONE! Presently, this is the mess behind my computer:
Ultimately I'll have some kind of desk/mini office in my bedroom so all that will be out of my kitchen and those freakin cords will be hidden. For now though... one less cord! I'm thrilled. The downside, the USB antenna came with one of those bluetooth cellphone earpieces, maybe I have been assimilated!
In other news, This New Condo has been blogrolled! How cool is that? The very funny (and cute) owner of a crack-addict min-pin at Sorted Lives has added me to his list. I'm honored to be amongst a pretty impressive crowd! Thanks! Now I need to figure out how to make my own blogroll!
Tomorrow: Community Pride or My Condo is Better than Your Condo
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Bathroom Style
What's missing from this picture:
That's my commode. Its a TALL one by the way. I honestly believe that if a short person had to use it his or her feet might not touch the ground. To the left is my vanity. To the right is my tub. Seems like all the components are in place, down to the requisite trash can from Bed Bath and Beyond. Certainly the builder took into consideration all the things one would require in a modern American bathroom. Look closely though, a vital component is missing. One that we don't always look for BEFORE we need it.
Yes my friends there is no TP holder in my bathroom. When did the toilet paper roll in the wall thing stop happening? Growing up, in all my bathrooms, there was a recessed spot in the wall near every toilet that had a little spring loaded bar in it onto which one put a roll of TP... something like this:
Do people not like those anymore? Are they out of style? They are so functional... they don't take up any floorspace like this kind:
And they are DEFINITELY less tacky than something like this thing:
So when did the recessed TP holder stop being standard equipment, and why? I'm very concerned that I'm not seeing the big picture or something... If the builders aren't installing them anymore there MUST be a reason. If I install the TP holder that I like (the one at the top) will I be ostracized or otherwise shunned for my poor taste in bathroom fixtures?
I honestly thought that it would be the big stuff that caused me to freak out... the mortgage payments or major repairs to appliances... a leak or something! That stuff I have been able to deal with no problem. It's the LITTLE stuff like the TP holder that is making me nuts!!!
That's my commode. Its a TALL one by the way. I honestly believe that if a short person had to use it his or her feet might not touch the ground. To the left is my vanity. To the right is my tub. Seems like all the components are in place, down to the requisite trash can from Bed Bath and Beyond. Certainly the builder took into consideration all the things one would require in a modern American bathroom. Look closely though, a vital component is missing. One that we don't always look for BEFORE we need it.
Yes my friends there is no TP holder in my bathroom. When did the toilet paper roll in the wall thing stop happening? Growing up, in all my bathrooms, there was a recessed spot in the wall near every toilet that had a little spring loaded bar in it onto which one put a roll of TP... something like this:
Do people not like those anymore? Are they out of style? They are so functional... they don't take up any floorspace like this kind:
And they are DEFINITELY less tacky than something like this thing:
So when did the recessed TP holder stop being standard equipment, and why? I'm very concerned that I'm not seeing the big picture or something... If the builders aren't installing them anymore there MUST be a reason. If I install the TP holder that I like (the one at the top) will I be ostracized or otherwise shunned for my poor taste in bathroom fixtures?
I honestly thought that it would be the big stuff that caused me to freak out... the mortgage payments or major repairs to appliances... a leak or something! That stuff I have been able to deal with no problem. It's the LITTLE stuff like the TP holder that is making me nuts!!!
Friday, December 1, 2006
My first hot contractor
The plan was to blog about the fitness center in my building today (lets just say it's no Golds Gym... more like a Curves, but with no pilates) but something else came up.
There are a fair number of construction dudes walking around This New Condo because the building is still a work in progress. I always know a contractor is in the hall or around the corner because their Nextel walkie talkie phones are always chirping. The Nextel walkie talkie is the bell on the cat's collar for builders.
Anyway, maybe I've been conditioned by Hollywood or Madison Avenue or Van Nuys to expect Mike Delfino or that guy from the Diet Coke Commercial or even one of these guys to be on the jobsite. The hot construction/maintenance/workman guy has always been a part of our cultural landscape. Stanley Kowalski, the dude on "Kitchen Accomplished," Russell Crowe in "The Sum of Us," we (or the "we" who make movies) seem to have an ideal, a mold that all blue collar, construction dudes are pressed from. THIS jobsite though is staffed with very talented, professional craftsmen who came from real life, not central casting.
Remember my tile problem? It's fixed. Done on time, under budget, by a tall, broad shouldered, italian accented, craftsman with helluva handshake. He came complete with the requisite tight t-shirt and toolbelt too! I never learned his name, but I've decided that it's Paulo. When his Nextel chirped Paulo actually answered, "Caio!" Now I'm not a single guy, not looking for fodder with which to write a letter to [name you favorite skin mag here] that starts with, "I never thought these stories were true, until one day..." but it was a cool surprise to open the door and find the Hot Italian Tile Guy instead of Larry the Cable Guy for a change. He did good work too!
Looks like the whole thing might even be covered under warranty!
Why do I feel the need to blog about this? Weird. Just part of this new homeowner experience, and that's really why I write these posts, right? Yeah, right.
There are a fair number of construction dudes walking around This New Condo because the building is still a work in progress. I always know a contractor is in the hall or around the corner because their Nextel walkie talkie phones are always chirping. The Nextel walkie talkie is the bell on the cat's collar for builders.
Anyway, maybe I've been conditioned by Hollywood or Madison Avenue or Van Nuys to expect Mike Delfino or that guy from the Diet Coke Commercial or even one of these guys to be on the jobsite. The hot construction/maintenance/workman guy has always been a part of our cultural landscape. Stanley Kowalski, the dude on "Kitchen Accomplished," Russell Crowe in "The Sum of Us," we (or the "we" who make movies) seem to have an ideal, a mold that all blue collar, construction dudes are pressed from. THIS jobsite though is staffed with very talented, professional craftsmen who came from real life, not central casting.
Remember my tile problem? It's fixed. Done on time, under budget, by a tall, broad shouldered, italian accented, craftsman with helluva handshake. He came complete with the requisite tight t-shirt and toolbelt too! I never learned his name, but I've decided that it's Paulo. When his Nextel chirped Paulo actually answered, "Caio!" Now I'm not a single guy, not looking for fodder with which to write a letter to [name you favorite skin mag here] that starts with, "I never thought these stories were true, until one day..." but it was a cool surprise to open the door and find the Hot Italian Tile Guy instead of Larry the Cable Guy for a change. He did good work too!
Looks like the whole thing might even be covered under warranty!
Why do I feel the need to blog about this? Weird. Just part of this new homeowner experience, and that's really why I write these posts, right? Yeah, right.
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