Clip that Makes Me Laugh
In the world of text messages and 140 character Tweets, I find the use of LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and the more definitive LMAO (Look it up yourself!) or the entirely unlikely ROFLMAO (again, you look it up) to be way over used. I have a pretty good sense of humor, but it takes a lot to make me laugh out loud and I have to say, ROFLMAO has never happened… I’m more of a smirker at heart.
That said, Becky had I started watching Ridiculousness on MTV a while back and we’ve both been inspired to laugh out loud. Occasionally there was alcohol contributing to that, but still we’ve found some pretty funny things on there. People can be idiots and people apparently don’t mind publicizing their idiocy for their Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame. The clip to the right is of a brother sneaking up on his napping sister and waking her with a vacuum cleaner. Seeing it the first time was a Laugh Out Loud moment that I had to run back and forth several times with the DVR. I still smile looking at it as it see it here! While the show revels in people doing physical harm to themselves, there are lots of moments like this too.
And who knew that bulldogs had such a propensity for skateboarding? (If you need a smile and have some time to kill, Google “Skateboarding Bulldogs” and look at the images or do the same at YouTube for some hilarious videos.
Anyway, here you go with a post of very little redeeming value, but when I ran across the clip, I had to share. One final warning – if you decide to check out Ridiculousness, be prepared for Chanel’s laugh. It’s something right out of a Chip ‘n Dale cartoon!
A Sense of Place
Becky often gives me grief about not turning things off when we’re out somewhere. When I walk through a parking lot I am looking at the lane layout, the slopes, the drainage structures and drainage patterns. When we’re sitting in a restaurant or someone’s home, I’m looking at the details of how the trim was completed, the lights that were used and the lighting patterns that were created. I can usually tell whether someone else was thinking of these things or whether they where haphazardly done. A lot of these things I file away for future reference and they will appear in some incarnation in a future project if it’s something I liked. I’ve always believed the adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…
Smaller Home Sizes
My post regarding Starter Home Barriers sparked some conversation about the square footage of a starter home, particularly regarding the 2,000 minimum home size discussed in the Builder magazine article. Many of the points about that possibly being unrealistically large for Culver were valid. Since I was paraphrasing the article in the previous quote, it seemed appropriate to stick with their numbers and rationales.
3 bedroom/2 bathroom home Plan by Zero Energy Design
In any case, the discussion prompted me to do a little further research into smaller home sizes. I did find the Zero Energy Design website which included several smaller residential footprints ranging from a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom at 624sf to a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom at 1120sf. (Apparently in a ZED home no one watches TV as they don’t even appear to allow a place for one in their room furniture layout.) While I know the boxy design is the most efficient, I would hope we can be a little more creative in our floor plans.
1-1/2 story house with porch and dormer from Hermann London
I also notice that almost all the small footprint homes are single story. I don’t know if that’s because they are often geared towards the elderly and are trying to make them as accessible as possible or if there is just a predisposition to single story now. Going back to a story-and-a-half design could provide some additional efficient space. The boxy design lends itself well to prefabricated construction, but we have had good success with panelized construction which is also efficient where duplication of layouts is possible.
I think the infrastructure issues will be more telling than the house floor plan in what the end selling or renting point is. As with their square foot home size, I think the lot buildout may be more economical here, but probably not by much. Many of the same regulations apply and our Comp Plan pushes more measures such as “complete streets” which add costs.
