Certified Idiots

A) FUCK YEAH! I agree with the central thesis.

B) Last night, I called out a neighbor for being a certified idiot. My friends Ian and Heather are visiting, they happen to be of the darker persuasion. We decided to sit in the hot tub after running. While attending to the dog I overheard a lady ask them, "From your behaviour, it looks like you two don't live here." An educated person will quickly recognize that this is passive racism. What types of behavior would would one exhibit to live in my neighborhood? Or conversely, it was not like Ian and Heather were stealing hub caps or gardening.

I walked over and laid into her, "That's really rude and fucked up of you."

She replied tersely, "Do you live here? What unit? I've never seen you before."

I replied with my unit number and street. I asked her where she lived. She only gave me her unit number. I pressed her on what street she lives on. I recognized her street and dropped the Del Mar bomb.

"Oh, you live on this side of the street, we live on the other side."

I let the statement hang uncomfortably between us. She apologized for her fucked up behavior.

That was the end of the conversation. My complex is divided in half: one half lives on the bluff overlooking the ocean while the other half lives close to a noisy road (and likely rent instead of own). The price differential between the two halves is substantial. We live on the bluff side.

I hate to floss, but it was appropriate in this context.

I wanted to ask if she rented or owned, I'll ask next time.

PS. It must be tough to live with four sets of tits. What a fat fuck.

Lights

Lights and switches were installed this week. Jim made the call to the A-Team to install the electrical. Steven and Alfredo were unsuccessful earlier in the week with the electrical. However, Alfredo was successful in destroying the dry wall while attempting to install the dining room light. Watching them was frustrating, they had no clue how expensive the fixtures were. The A-Team consisted of a senior electrician with a bad head cold and an assistant, an Ivy League educated lawyer. The assistant struck me as a little odd, his hands were extremely soft. I got it out of him that he had switched careers less than a year ago. In the end, the A-Team installed the dimmers, chandelier and dining room light.

Roberto, the over qualified carpenter with a MFA from Carnegie Mellon, is installing cabinetry tomorrow. He is another guy I cannot figure out.

The architect sent an invoice for his visit two weeks ago. He invited himself over to check the progress and billed me for it. How do you like them apples?

Random shit.

The sights and smells of life (Mong Kok, HK).

I love the city (Mong Kok, HK).

Stanley Market boardwalk (Stanley Market, HK).

Tugboat (HK from Kowloon).

Year of the Rat.

Too cool for school (Goldfish Market, HK).

My favourite Honky (Stanley Market, HK).

Look familiar (private residence, Kowloon Station, HK)?

Rhine Valley Yogi Bear (St. Goar, Rhine Valley).

One of those rare mornings.

A lot has happened in the last little while. For starters, we have a new member on the architectural review committee. We are expecting the arrival of a little one this fall to join our kooky family. The new member demanded that changes be made to accommodate his/her fussy needs before s/he takes residence at our abode.

The architect and I are best friends again. He stopped by yesterday to check the progress and revise some details. I said I would have to think about the changes. He replied half-jokingly, "You don't need to think, just agree! I'm here now!" He is a funny guy. His latest project is on the cover of some architectural digest journal. He must be feeling pretty good about himself these days.

I woke up this morning feeling relaxed and settled about the design changes. For me, waking up at ease is a low probability event. There were some details I was never entirely convinced, however with the revisions everything comes together. Simplifying the design facilitated the transition between living areas and building materials.

Enough jibba jabba, here are the pictures.


In the kitchen, we are going to use the orange stone on the back splash. By eliminating tile, we eliminate introducing an extra material that would have required an awkward transition with the dry wall and counter top (This would have required the introduction of yet another material, likely a Fry Reglet product. You can see the reglet to the left of the countertop leaning against the wall.). We are also running the bamboo up the vertical face of the counter to provide symmetry.







Here is the handrail in progress. We are not using cable rail anymore since little people have a tendency to use them as ladders. Plus, I personally feel that cable rails are overused and are a lazy solution to provide a "modernist flair" to an otherwise uninspired drab build. We are doing something different to preserve the openness of the stair case. Stay tuned ...



This is the serpentine trim detail from the bottom staircase. I found out this is not typically done, you either love it or hate it. We repeated this detail on the other side of the staircase that runs along the drywall. Some members of my family probably recognize this detail.