July 3, 2004

a new word

In our continuing celebration of R.'s new job, we stepped out for a funky and delicious dinner at Millie's Diner. On the way out, we saw an advert in the window for an apartment for rent on 'hoodstoric' Marshall St.. We immediately recognized a new and valuable addition to our vocabulary.

Posted by john m at 12:34 PM | Comments (4)

July 6, 2004

The New Vision Civic League of East End

There are a number of community organizations in the area. The groups are roughly geographically based on the sub-neighborhods that make up Church Hill, but most seem to welcome anyone that wants to join and be a part of what is going on. There is a group for Church Hill proper (Church Hill Association (CHA)), a group for Union Hill (North of Broad Concerned Citizens Association), there is a group for north of Fairmont (Unity Civic Association), and, among others, there is the New Visions Civic League of East End (NVCL).

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Posted by john m at 11:01 AM | Comments (3)

July 8, 2004

on learning

When the house restoration thing comes up, one of the common questions is about what kind of prior applicable experience we had when we started this. The answer is that we had no experience at all, or even just a lifetime of negative indicators (like that time that I was just checking the valve clearance on my motorcycle and ended up making it inoperable, or the fact that none of my sculptures ever really stood up long enough to make it to crit, or even just how wonky the stretchers were for all of the paintings that I ever made)(and I could go on...).

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Posted by john m at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)

July 9, 2004

bondo-fu

'Bondo' to me always evokes the image of a primer Camaro. We've been using the stuff to fix window sills, though.

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Posted by john m at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)

July 12, 2004

casa de esqueletos

We're working on two parts of the house right now, both of which have turned up small surprises.

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Posted by john m at 11:25 AM | Comments (4)

July 13, 2004

proof

It is important that a three-legged cat is not allowed to become obese because he has fewer limbs on which to distribute his weight.*.

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Posted by john m at 11:51 AM | Comments (11)

July 15, 2004

the porch next door is slowly collapsing

The house next door was abandoned part-way through a half-ass restoration. It is now boarded up, and the porch and vinyl siding are coming off. Last night more of the porch collapsed.

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Posted by john m at 11:48 AM | Comments (3)

July 16, 2004

there used to be a trolley here

One hundred years ago we could've caught the trolley 2 blocks from our house.

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Posted by john m at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2004

another day pulling shingles

I'm spending today pulling the asphalt shingles that cover the original wooden siding.

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Posted by john m at 12:54 PM | Comments (7)

July 25, 2004

1097 N 23rd Street

2 blocks up 23rd there is a small triangle median created by the overlap of Carrington St, Pink St, and 23rd St. On this median sits one of my favorite abandoned buildings in the city.

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Posted by john m at 9:33 AM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2004

living in it

It's been raining for days and there is too much else to do; it'll be at least the weekend before we can get make any more progress on the house. Right now we are just living in it.

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Posted by john m at 9:16 AM | Comments (3)