curt, you use the terms right wing and hateful.  There are people who are right wing and hateful at the mere notion of GLBT anything.  THEY are right wing and hateful.  How does this issue make people who have never been anti-GLBT right wing and hateful if they don't agree with these current goings-on?  There are factions within the GLBT community that either don't care, or don't want it either.

Well, if the current and last Democrats in the Presidential office are skirting this issue, then what does that say?  Are you going to look to the Republicans for "relief?" 

I'm glad I'm Married.  However  we have no money so nothing to worry about if we weren't.

I always wonder what my  high school girl thinks about all of this.  She came out in college, studied law was a judge and who knows what she is doing now.  Probably raising goats  and crops....

FRaC, with all due respect to you my sweet, sweet libertarian friend, I often ask myself this simple question; would I be the person I am today, if I was this age 30 years ago? What about, instead of being born in 1968, what if I was 18 in 1960? Would I be different then? Part of me thinks I would be a severely prejudiced white male, and likely very conservative. Hell, I was pretty conservative in 1992! I'm going to give most people a pass on their "evolution" even if it is politically expedient. It's certainly not unheard of, I mean how else can you explain John Boehner clinging on to his narrow view? Surely a man as powerful as the Speaker can step out and support government staying out of people's lives, and not imposing restrictions on how religions choose to practice their faith, right?

So I went to a lecture by Michael Graves tonight.  It was very nice and personal.  He mainly showed pictures of his own house and talked about how his time at the American Academy in Rome affected his work.  And how he'd bring his buddies the New York 5 over to see his house in Princeton and they'd all critique each other like friends.

One of things he said was when he went to U Cincy for undergrad he didn't learn Architecture he learned How To Design.  It was Rome and being surrounded by scholars in other fields that made him learn about his own field.

I met him and shook his hand and told him how much I like the local Art Center building by him, and how I use it (and I do) as an example to students of a simple, elegant parti. He's very gracious and humorous.  And his house in Princeton looks really great - tall doors.

FRaC, sorry baby, i forgot my emoticon ;)! yes, i do support all those things, well, maybe not cap-n-trade, companies should be regulated, and not coaxed into not polluting the environment. fuck that pipeline too.

besides, Obamacare is a tax, and we should have single payer, so the conservatives got what they wanted in 1994, it just took a Democrat and 14 years to get what they wanted. So, Obamacare is a republican victory as far as i'm concerned.

i feel like i need to apologize to donna for my part in letting thread central go all political when her contribution is more beneficial as it's specific to the field of architecture.  i've always liked michael graves.  there is a sense of humor in what he does.  i would think he should have more to talk about architecturally than his own house.  i suppose postmodernism was just a quick flare-up and there isn't much going on that would be more directly related to his practice.  he works for obama now doesn't he?

also, i'll apologize for my hateful right-wing statement observant called me out for.  as FRaC pointed out, not all of the right wing is being hateful on this issue.

It's Good Friday to all who observe.  They've gotten more lenient.  Now, only today does one have to abstain from meat.  Salmon sounds good.  Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Whole Easter thing dates back to a bunch of pagan events  from across the globe that all celebrated Spring Equinox. And who could possible hate Spring.

So happy Spring ya'll. 

Whatever.  I'm sure the greeting is relevant for some.  Had this been the eve of Dec. 24, I would say "Merry Christmas" ... and qualify it with "to those who celebrate it."

You mean festivus?

Happy Friday and beginning of the weekend for those who celebrate them!

Wait, curtkram, apologize to me? I'm in a water-off-a-duck-back phase right now, so no worries.

Sarah, designing my own house would be nigh impossible, I'm afraid.  At this point if my house burned down I'd probably want to essentially rebuild a replica with just a few tweaks here and there, though I imagine in the design process the few tweaks would end up with an entirely new design by the end.  But that's how I design - tiny moves, little changes, everything eventually settling down into an idea - I never have big "Ah-ha!" moments or even overriding concepts.

Granted, if my house burned down my husband would probably insist on rebuilding with shipping containers, so that could be fun because I would only do so if they were on stilts.

My Easter is going to be spent celebrating Steven's birthday.  I'm skipping Easter this year.

yay! and i get to see donna twice in a month! in louisville both times! with bourbon! 

i'm so excited about this party, it can't possibly live up to expectations. met the dj in the space yesterday and at least i can report that he's excited about it too. [vinyl nerds.]

Or should I start a thread for that? :)

i'd rather celebrate easter than spring this weekend.  there is snow on the ground here.  the vernal equinox was essentially a failure this year, at least in my book.  spring is kind of pissing me off.  i'll probably just grab a couple beers and play a video game or something instead. 

Turtle. I love my turtle.

I spent eight hours today again with the "Guys"  making "Skees Diner" ready for the move.

Everything is aching...but it feels good because we accomplished so much today.  If you want to see  her, just type  in Skees Diner.  It is a great  hands on project.

So much damn food on Easter weekend, from good meals to baked goods people are bringing over ... and it ain't over yet.  It's kind of like the "buzz" you get from whatever hormone is in the Thanksgiving turkey that puts you to sleep ... or maybe it's just the abundance of food.

holy jesus, anyone check that MArch commiserating thread? it's been up for a little under 2 months and it's got 1400+ comments already??? a lot of whining going down i suspect.

the commiserate thread started late this season.

i'm pleased to report that donna started the dancing at the 45 party on saturday night. yay! 

I did.  I'm glad to finally be old enough to not give a damn about how goofily I dance.  But it was a slow crowd.

PS The song was Holiday by Madonna.  I'm somewhat mortified, but then again, who can resist that song and the blind optimism of the 80s?!

kick-started the dancing, which continued the rest of the night.

the dj was supposed to stop at midnight but - since the dance floor was full still, he kept going until 1am! 

Steven, do you have video proof of this?  A Donna Holiday gif is a MUST.

no video or photographic evidence. she looked mahhvelous, though. maybe donna can video a reenactment. 

...and, happy to report, i lived through the madonna song. 

no holidays here related to devil bunnies or saintly saints.  our holidays are not nearly as interesting, sadly. 

@sarah, about houses, the way we manage it is to not make it about any of the stuff you mentioned in your list. It all gets in there and i think we're pretty awesome at space planning, but it aint what we aim for.  Finding out what it IS about is a bit different fish filled kettle and i suppose is what makes architecture into a career for the long lived. At least it seems like that just now...very jealous you get to think about it for your own place. 

I miss the blind optimism of the 80's!  thank goodness donna is here to remind us.

Yes, I'm working closely with both.  And the contractor. 

you should post pictures and details.

i like sill dams.  sometimes the window people say their system is self-weeping or some crap like that, but i still don't want water getting into the building so i'd like to see a sill dam set in mastic.

i just watched this movie - 4.5 minutes of windows leaking

See? SEE?! There is nothing we can do, the sill will leak, the condensation will form, the ice dam will dam, and in the end water will get in because water always wins.  Water laughs at us; as Tom Robbins said water invented us as a means to move itself around and no matter what we do we can't keep it out; we are more likely to keep it IN where it will then invite its friend mold in to join in laughing at our silly attempts to control it.

i had one undergrad professor who said that - while he could give criticism and he could make suggestions - he only had one universal piece of advice for every architect:  "learn to think like water."

Steven was that Eean? I think he said something like that to me once.

Ah, the old water test. Lots of architects fail this one.

I just drew up a small set of drawings to repair a couple of concrete balconies where the previous architect failed the test.

Worked for a roofing conctractor one summer and he'd always take me to unique job sites in order to (paraphrasing) "show an architect how to properly flash things."

what i recently learned was that - no matter how good your window detail is resolved for thermal AND water separation - if the building is pressurized wrong, WATER WILL GET IN!  negative pressure can basically hasten failure of sealants and suck water in! this was a mystery that we finally solved after 6yrs of attempting to address leaks at one project, taking windows out, putting back in, reworking wall/opening around the windows, etc. physics is crazy. 

we need to quit sealing buildings.  let some air in and out.  i'm sure there is a mechanical way of doing that instead of poking holes in the wall, but in the end we should still be pushing a bit of outside air into the building (in a balanced way).  that would reduce mold because moisture can evaporate and reduce the likelihood of negative pressure buildings.  also make carbon monxide poisoning, radon, and most sick building syndromes almost impossible.

i think negative pressure probably comes from adding exhaust fans or hoods independent of the HVAC system, so the in-out balance of air supply and return doesn't take into account the out of the exhaust.

not a fan of passivhaus standards, i take it? 

nope.  oddly enough, i'm old school on this one.  use the sun for solar heat if you want it :)

curious to see if that really ends up being a successful movement.  maybe it already is.  the houses they make seem to waste less energy, so the numbers probably meet their goals.

i wonder if you had a baby in one of those houses, if it never breathed any pollen or bacteria because of the hepa filtration and whatnot, if it's immune system would be stunted.

But passivhaus has specific fresh air intake requirements, right? So you actually get a lot of air movement throughout the building just in controlled locations?

Locations which, per my previous post, are actually not controllable anyway.  So nevermind.  Wattle-and-daub huts and canvas tents for all!

Wattle and daub.....

whole foods is the next starbucks.  where I live there are places where they're maybe a couple blocks from each other.

passivhaus has air quality requirements. i still don't care for the idea so much, mostly because its technocratic as solutions go...and i really like to keep windows open if i can.  there is another alternative with a few built test houses in tokyo called, exergy house.  not sure if i like it much better for same reasons as passivhaus, but at least it is based on keeping doors open and letting house breathe.

wattle and daub sounds oddly kinky

i've had similar questions about passivhaus, but it's fun to follow bruteforceblog and learn about the efforts of our own holzbox. (i'm surprised he hasn't shown up in this conversation yet, since we're practically summoning his wrath.)