Culver Garden Court Siding Progress

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We previously discussed efforts to make Culver Garden Court “Greener” than previous Garden Court projects.  Apparently our project architect, Brent Martin, took that a bit literally when selecting the color scheme as you can see as the siding installation progresses.  The siding is Certainteed’s Cedar Impressions and the color is Cypress.

There is a flurry of activity at the site now that the drywall and painting has been completed.  The vinyl tile has been installed.  The cabinets are in place.  This is allowing installation of door frames, plumbing fixtures, electrical devices and electrical fixtures.  On the exterior the siding is nearly complete as well as the soffit.  The gutters and downspouts are scheduled for completion this week as well.

Utilikilts for Christmas

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The working man’s skirt, a.k.a. the “Utilikilt” is so liberating, pledges its website, that “your burden will be lighter, your sense of freedom less impaired, and your sense of yourself, will have room to grow.”

I considered these as Christmas presents for the Easterday Construction crew, but I thought it might be a little chilly this time of year.  On the website there’s a picture of a guy wearing one while roofing…  I thought that might be a little more about our crew than most of our clients would want to see.  In any case, I thought it was an amusing idea to put out there.

Merry Christmas

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On a lighter note, I’ll give you my top three Christmas movies.  Anyone that knows me knows that my sense of humor is a little non-traditional and probably won’t be surprised by this list.  Suffice to say I trend toward the humorous over the “heart-warming”…

  1. A Christmas Story – Okay, okay… there are some heartwarming moments in this, but overall there’s a lot of humor.  This movie was adapted from a short story by Jean Shepherd.  If you haven’t seen it, TNT runs it on a 24hr loop for Christmas Day.  It’s worth a look.  It will be on in the background when we’re opening presents Christmas morning.
  2. Scrooged  –  I’m not always a big Bill Murray fan and he’s his typical over-the-top self here, but I still enjoy this retelling of A Christmas Carol.  Bobcat Goldthwait is even well cast here.
  3. Bad Santa – This one’s not for everyone and definitely not kiddie fare.  If you get the uncut version there’s a lot of violence and language, but there are some genuine laugh-out-loud scenes here.  Billy Bob Thorton stars in this, so as you can imagine it’s not a sugar cookie and gum drop movie.

Yeah, well, in reality they all have some sort of redeeming, heart-warming ending, but it’s all done with a bit of humor.

          In closing I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and hopefully Prosperous New Year.  May you get your Red Ryder BB Gun and not a pink bunny suit (A Christmas Story) and not

a toaster

         to the jaw (Scrooged).  Hopefully no one steals your advent calendar chocolate either!  (Bad Santa)

Merry Christmas!!!

 

Energy from Footsteps

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A company in England has come up with a paving tile that harvests the energy from footsteps.  Pavgen has developed technology that converts the kinetic energy from foot steps into electricity that can be stored and used for a variety of applications.  The tiles are designed to compress 5 millimeters in order to collect the energy.

Pavgen pavers will be installed in the mall at the 2012 London Olympics and are expected to provide enough energy to power half the mall lights.  (See CNN story here.)

*  Image borrowed from CNN.com

Revised NextEra Wind Farm Map

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Above is the new map NextEra Energy has provided showing the area they are considering for their wind farm.  This is the latest map provided to the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC).  NextEra has moved the area they are considering further east than originally planned due to some of the concerns that have been expressed. 

This map shows not only Lake Maxinkuckee, but a delineation of Lake Maxinkuckee’s watershed boundaries.  As currently planned, there would be no towers within the watershed or within Union Township.  I am pretty much putting this up here for informational purposes without much comment as it doesn’t really change my thoughts expressed here and here.

I had a brief conversation about this with the County Plan Director, Ralph Booker, today at the Broadband and Bagels event.  He asked me if Culver was still planning to lynch him.  It’s obvious that Culver as a community is straining some relationships with the County over this.  I hope this doesn’t create a rift that makes future projects such as the recently completed Town/County outlet project impossible.