I used to find Neruda too florid. perhaps I’ve simply become so jaded I need the thunder.

from the last storm, which was also the first snow of the winter. it became more ice than snow, as winter storms around here are wont to. the ice globes can’t be good for the tree buds, but they are pretty.

of those that are currently on the market, this one on old dominion (8100 sq feet, finished – thumbnail at left) takes the cake. this one (6000 sq feet), built next door, is a close second. (the links are to the homes’ respective PDF brochures.) they’re being shown unfinished (mostly exterior work remains to be done, although there are still interior wiring and lighting issues) – possibly in the hopes of a sale before they’re foreclosed? (they’re also described as craftsman style, which is complete bs.) for nearly $2M, you too can own a monstrosity overlooking the scenic intersection of old dominion and lorcom lane.

(update: it seems these things (i hesitate to call them “homes”) are the misbegotten product of a company called roman design/build. another house they have on the market right now shows many of the same architectural offenses features as the two on old dominion.)

what is is about the neighborhood that leads builders to the worst kinds of offenses against architecture?

 
(for good measure i’m throwing in this photo of an actual craftstman-style home. good looking, isn’t it?)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

on the other hand, i have to say i love this house, profiled in the city paper, on barton street (more interior photos here; listing agent here). although i do think it’s overpriced for the lot size, location (next door to a commercial property and right behind a bus shelter) and the neighborhood – not to mention the current market.

just to show you that bigger isn’t necessarily more liveable (and my house could be exhibit #1 in how stuff expands to fill the space you live in), there’s an article in the NYT about a very cool 344 sq foot apartment in hong kong, and a quick blurb from another dc-area blog about downsizing to 450 sq feet. that addition i’ve been thinking about is looking less appealing by the minute.

ecuador’s 2008 constitution has a governmental guarantee of sustainable development. the whole section on the environment is fascinating. (there’s also an interesting article in the post that leads one to question just how involved a spanish consulting group was in drafting the document.)

(with audio book sales)

g is getting a kindle 2 for his birthday, or the ides of march, or whenever it shows up. i’m not letting the cat out of the bag by posting this; he knows i ordered it for him before xmas, and the order’s been languishing in amazon’s no-stock purgatory for months. and although infinite jest isn’t yet available for the e-book reader, i think it’s still a pretty useful gadget.

version 2 has a number of improvements and changes from version 1, including the ability to “read” the book out loud. a great boon for people with poor eyesight (like g’s grandmother), or people who want the book along for road trips. but the authors guild is apparently up in arms about it, arguing that the reader function violates the author’s copyright and erodes the market for audio books.

they’re morons. (and the EFF points out the real absurdity of their arguments.)

for one thing, once i have an authorized copy of a work, i can do pretty much what i want with it. i can have it fitted nasally. i can use it as a dog toy. i can even *gasp* read it out loud to the mice living under the dishwasher! (that’s a topic for another post.)

but let me see: if i could choose between (picking a book at random, here) the graveyard book being read by author neil gaiman, or the same book read by the kindle’s robotic voice, which would i pick? that’s a no-brainer – i’d go with neil. (and i happily will still go with neil, as he’s sensibly against the guild’s infringement stance.)

another thing: i’d be very surprised to learn that every book available for the kindle is also available in audiobook. (infinite jest, for example, isn’t available in either format.) picking a book at random – kerouac’s on the road (original scroll edition) is available for the kindle, and… oh, okay, i’ll pick another one. beverly cleary’s beezus and ramona is available for the kindle… no, that’s available in audiobook as well. hmm. how about terhune’s lad: a dog? okay not available for the kindle, or in audiobook. trying again… anthony beevor’s the battle for spain: the spanish civil war 1936-1939 is available for the kindle, but is not available in audiobook form.

i rest my case.

but seriously. copyright infringement? eroding the market for the audiobooks? please. it almost might be worth tracking down the authors who agree with the guild and boycotting their works in any form.

almost two years ago, a good friend and mentor died of pancreatic cancer. she’d managed to beat the odds for awhile, enrolling in a treatment study out of california that seemed to knock the tumors back and raise the possibility that she’d be able to get a whipple that, it was hoped, could extend her life. in the end she didn’t, but at least she was able to leave on her own terms, in her own house, with her family around her.

and now wapo is telling me that ruth bader ginsburg, author of one of the most well-mannered tongue-lashing dissents¹ i’ve had the pleasure to read, lone remaining woman on the supreme court, has been hospitalized with the same disease. it appears the cancer was caught early, and she’s undergone surgery (although what type is unclear). but still. it’s an ugly cancer, and has a very poor prognosis.

i hate pancreatic cancer.

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in related news, obama is apparently trying to reframe the abortion debate. or, perhaps as the wapo put it, “appease both sides.” (yeah, like he tried to appease the house republicans by persuading the dems to drop a number of provisions in the stimulus bill, including expanded access to contraception for poor women? and how did that work out for him?) he seems to be trying to walk the “reduce unwanted pregnancies” tightrope with the establishment of a white house office on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships², but i’m wondering if he realizes that the antiabortion side also trends heavily toward anticontraception as well? if he starts pushing abstinence education as part of his agenda, i’m going to hurl.

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¹ gonzalez v. carhart. it should be required reading for anyone concerned about how the supreme court has consistently eroded abortion rights since roe.

The Court offers flimsy and transparent justifications for upholding a nationwide ban on intact D&E sans any exception to safeguard a women’s health. Today’s ruling, the Court declares, advances “a premise central to [Casey’s] conclusion”—i.e.,the Government’s “legitimate and substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life.” Ante, at 14. See also ante, at 15 (“[W]e must determine whether the Act furthers the legitimate interest of the Government in protecting the life of the fetus that may become a child.”). But the Act scarcely furthers that interest: The law saves not a single fetus from destruction, for it targets only a method of performing abortion. See Stenberg, 530 U. S., at 930. And surely the statute was not designed to protect the lives or health of pregnant women. Id., at 951 (Ginsburg, J., concurring);cf. Casey, 505 U. S., at 846 (recognizing along with the State’s legitimate interest in the life of the fetus, its “legitimate interes[t] … in protecting the health of the woman” (emphasis added)). In short, the Court upholds a law that, while doing nothing to “preserv[e] … fetal life,” ante, at 14, bars a woman from choosing intact D&E although her doctor “reasonably believes [that procedure] will best protect [her].” Stenberg, 530 U. S., at 946 (Stevens, J., concurring).

² headed by a 26-year-old, no less. wtf?

and likely blisters on her toes in the morning, and horrible cramping in her feet during what’s left of the night. but it’s all good. toujours gai, archy. toujours gai.

happy new year, everyone!

when i was much younger, my grandmother would load up the trunk of her aging volvo sedan (over the years she had at least three, but it didn’t matter what year it was, or how long she’d had the car – it was always aging) with branch trimmings from christmas trees to take to church for her sunday school class. invariably, she’d leave a branch or two in the car, and the sap would perfume the passenger area for months. i loved riding in the back seat then, sitting bundled up in my winter coat and watching the world go by.

it was drizzling this morning as i headed in to work.¹ it was a morning for sipping hot chocolate in front of a picture window at a coffee shop, or at my kitchen table. street scenes or backyard tranquility, the weather and the hour were conspiring to keep me inside – or at least wishing i were.

but i was trudging through the gloom, making my way from the gym on 14th to the office. sidestepping puddles and skirting the occasional bit of trash, my head down and hoodie up. i glanced around occasionally to make sure i wasn’t about to walk into another person (usually not a risk at that hour) or an immovable object (always a risk), and to check for oncoming traffic at the intersections. but mostly head down, watching drops of water arc from the toes of my shoes.

and then i smelled it. it was faint at first, but after a few steps i was in the middle of a cloud of pine-scented heaven. i stopped. i pushed back my hood, straightened my back, and looked around.

the garden district was taking delivery of a shipment of wreaths and what i can only describe as bonsai christmas trees. a few employees were moving the pine boughs from delivery racks into the store, but for a brief moment i was alone, in the rain, surrounded by one of the happiest smells i know.

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¹ actually, it is still drizzling, and if the weather forecast is correct, it’s going to get heavier and heavier until we have a full-blown rainstorm this afternoon.

iphone snapped & blogged. at least it’s a new photo.