I think ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) retrozombi would support your gardening habit willingly if you had this statue in your garden. Just think what your neighbor would say!
(this is a close second, but really not quite as good as a dead body. :-)
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| 2008-07-14 17:32 |
| cool! |
| Public |
 amused |
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These photos are pretty neat: Human Mirror at Improv Everywhere. I love the idea of spontaneous theater and jokes like this one. (this is partly a reminder to myself to look at the video when I get home from work)
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| 2008-06-24 18:53 |
| you may call me... alphabet soup |
| Public |
| happy |
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I passed my (hopefully last ever) professional exam on Monday! which means that, professionally speaking, I now have the following letters after my name: AIA, AICP, and LEED AP.
AIA = licensed architect & member of the American Institute of Architects
AICP = American Institute of Certified Planners (for urban planning, that is)
and
LEED AP = accredited professional in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program
whoot!
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| 2008-06-17 08:26 |
| this was not the best thing I could have done |
| Public |
 drained |
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Not many of my LJ friends have kids, but a word of advice to anyone who does...
On the same evening where you need to gather your only child's discarded or too-small items to pass on to others, do not watch the movie 'Children of Men'. To say it is sad is hardly descriptive. More like watching a car accident in slow motion. Gut-wrenching, morbid, and awful.
( spoilers behind the cut )
This is one of those movies that I'm glad I've seen, but I NEVER want to see again. ('Trainspotting' also falls in this category.) On the bright side, we can return this and get something cheerier from Netflix now.
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| 2008-06-04 13:12 |
| random life |
| Public |
| amused |
| husband |
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Last night I was doing our dishes, listening to J's Ipod since I left mine at work by mistake. The music went from Lyle Lovett to Richard Wagner's Flight of the Valkyrie to Cowboy Junkies... and this thing wasn't on random.
I have a strange husband.
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| 2008-05-14 09:09 |
| Boston, day 1 |
| Public |
| calm |
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I spent the first day trying to get my bearings, and mostly failing. I am staying at the Langham hotel in the financial district, and there are just a ton of narrow winding streets that randomly dead end. I've learned a few major thoroughfares though, so I'm getting there.
Hotel is *really* nice. Used to be a federal bank building, so it has these great high ceilings in the room. Better yet, I lucked into getting a room overlooking the park across the street. (many pictures of this trip will follow, trust me)
So in the first day, I walked to Chinatown, through Boston Common, followed the Freedom Trail for a while and visited graveyards (took picture for ya Gemma!). Walked to the City Hall and saw Fanuil, but didn't go there because I was tired by this point. Met one of my sister's friends who lives here for dinner at Legal Seafood... OMG the crab cakes were to die for. Wrapped up the day by vegging in the hotel room, reading up on sites I want to see and other convention stuff.
A few observations:
- first, it must suck to be an architect in Boston. There are just a ton of them, for starters; on the order of several thousand, and that's just AIA members (which nationwide has a member rate of about 50% of all licensed architects). The bigger problem is that because the town is so old and so into historic preservation, it feels like every single building has an historical plaque of some sort. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to get a building approved here, what hoops you must have to go through... and then to have the historical weight of previous designs all around you. Ugh. Sometimes it is nice to be in a newer city.
- most of the newer architecture here is pretty mediocre. Given the number of architects and (supposedly) more focus on design, I would have expected better.
- WTF is it with Boston and Dunkin Doughnuts? there's one on every streetcorner, I swear. More ubiquitous than Starbuck's in Seattle.
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| 2008-05-01 12:52 |
| architectural anniversary |
| Public |
| calm |
| architecture |
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happy 77th birthday, Empire State Building!
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Dumb as We Wanna Be explains, in one short editorial, why the US is f*cked when it comes to energy policy and the development of energy alternatives. Frankly, hearing that Clinton is siding with McCain on his insane gas tax break for the summer season has made me an Obama supporter. :-p
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| 2008-04-30 12:31 |
| doing my part to help the economy |
| Public |
 excited |
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I took part of our tax refund this year and bought a rain barrel. Interested locals should order now because delivery is *this Sunday*. I'm excited to get it; I've been hoping to install a rain barrel on our north downspout pretty much since we moved into our house 5 years ago.
Pictures will be taken once it is installed. They'll show up on my long-neglected home blog (LJ feed here).
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| 2008-04-24 18:05 |
| Exactly how much housework does a husband create? |
| Public |
| amused |
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Having a husband creates an extra seven hours a week of housework for women, according to a University of Michigan study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. families.
*heh* and that's WITHOUT kids in the mix. Though honestly, I think J and I are switched, in that he definitely does 7 hours more housework a week than I do.
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| 2008-04-24 18:03 |
| only in California |
| Public |
 annoyed |
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Redwood trees versus solar panels - who wins? In California, it's the solar panels that win thanks to the Solar Shade Act, which mandates that any trees blocking a neighbor's solar panels have to be cut.
An exerpt: On both sides of the Sunnyvale backyard fence, there is evidence of environmental virtue — one Prius (Ms. Bissett and Mr. Treanor), one electric car (the Vargases), one water-free xeriscaped front yard with recycled-plastic borders (Ms. Bissett and Mr. Treanor), 128 solar panels providing almost all the power for one home (the Vargases), and eight carbon-dioxide-sipping, bird-friendly redwood trees in various stages of growth (Ms. Bissett and Mr. Treanor). Poor trees. The photo shows what an awful thing they did to avoid the panels.
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| 2008-04-24 08:55 |
| e-recycling |
| Public |
 energetic |
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thought some of you locals might be interested in this:
http://climatesavers.umich.edu/e-waste/
The Ann Arbor Public Schools and Climate Savers Computing Initiative @ U-M are sponsoring free electronics recycling events.
Public Event
for your personal electronic equipment
PUBLIC EVENT
Saturday, May 10, 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Pioneer High School Parking Lot (Main Street Entrance)
610 West Stadium Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI, 48103
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| 2008-04-17 14:50 |
| world's shortest fairtale |
| Public |
| silly |
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Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?" The girl said: "NO!" And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, ate chocolate, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, traveled more, had many lovers, didn't save money, and had all the hot water to herself. She went to the theater, never watched sports, never wore friggin' lacy lingerie that went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants and was pleasant all the time. The End.
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| 2008-04-13 18:52 |
| duck eggs? |
| Public |
 curious |
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I have a half dozen duck eggs, courtesy of J who got them from work. (yes, the creamery seems to be carrying eggs now!) we are planning to try 2 of them plain, scrambled, just to fully taste the difference between chicken and duck eggs. Any ideas on what I should do with the other 4? my usual sources - the Splendid Table and Epicurious - did not have any entries for duck eggs in particular. J says they are better for baking due to the slightly higher fat content, but given the size I wonder if we have to decrease the # used in a recipe too.
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| 2008-04-07 17:23 |
| is this a sign? |
| Public |
 crazy |
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A coworker accidentally left a cost estimate for providing a padded room on my desk.
No, really. She does hospital work and this is for a psyche ward she's working on. It was expensive, too, on the order of $17K.
I wonder if it was really a mistake, or a hint...
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| 2008-04-03 07:17 |
| birth day |
| Public |
 awake |
| music from 'Once' the movie |
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I had a lovely birthday yesterday, marred only by the fact that I had to go to work and deal with very stressful stuff there. But lunch out with coworkers was fun, and dinner with friends was even more so. Among the gifts... music which I'm listening to right now (which completely ROCKS!), a gift card for a spa (which will be used on a facial before the gala where I'll receive my big award), a gift card for Zingerman's (new olive oil!), some cash which is going to plants for my garden, flowers from my sister (who sent them to my office, which is sweet)... The generosity of people is always pretty amazing to me, especially since I'm content with people just coming out and celebrating with me. Thank you all.
I could have done without the HUGE meltdown by my son on the way home, but to be fair he'd had a long day and I taunted him by not letting him chew on the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs his Aunt Wendi gave him. :-\
Here's to another year on earth!
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tired
indescribable
giggly