I misspell in three languages so forgive the title.
Anyway I’ve been packing up my stuff preparation for renovation for over a month now. Starting with the books I barely touch and now getting down to the cookbooks that I use on a regular basis. I’ve now started putting away and giving away furniture. This is a problem in the everyday, because the furniture, be it a futon couch or a chair provided a surface. Surfaces I use to plop the piles of paper that I get, on. It is amazing how much paper I accumulate. You go to a meeting, people give you paper. You buy something, little slips of paper. Mail. Newspapers. Printouts of reports, articles from work, church programs, instructions, announcements, etc. Where is this paperless society? Also the surfaces held stuff, like coats, scarves, gloves, candles, drinks, pens, etc. Now stuff is piling up on the floor, until I can decide where they go, trash, charity or storage.
There are plenty of things going to charity. I’ve given away a bunch of other things to friends, and things I’m trying to rid myself of via Freecycle. However, there are somethings I don’t think I can dispose of via Freecycle, the ugly bike. The ugly bike gets me around the neighborhood, over to other adjoining neighborhoods, at a nice slow clip. It is covered in rust, the seat looks like crap, the chain guard (which doesn’t do a great job) is a year from coming off, one of the pedals sometimes sticks, the rear rack is broken and held in place with a wire hanger, it’s stuck on one speed, and the rear basket is a bit broken and held in place with a shoelace I found in the street. I like the bike in that its sheer ugliness is its own theft protection. However, I have two other bikes, one meant as the ugly bike’s replacement. So if you know someone (or if you are someone) who doesn’t care about appearances or speed and needs something to get around the hood that has a low chance of getting stolen (provided it’s locked), email me @ mari@ inshaw dayt cam.
Month: March 2007
Update on last two posts
How to keep a parking space clear, crazy lady failed to keep moving. After I typed up the posts I got ready to head out and just kept hearing her, expecting the loud incoherent babble to die down as she moved down the sidewalk. When I got outside, she had parked herself on B & IT’s porch to smoke a cigarette. B&IT were out so I gathered it was up to me to remove this interloper from their property.
I asked her to to move. Nicely. Babble, babble, “call the police then.” I responded, “OK, I’ll do that,” and went inside to call 311. I described the woman as mentally ill to the dispatcher. Maybe ‘crazy’ would have been a better word as I am not a psychologist, never took a psych class, so it was just my layman’s opinion. The dispatcher questioned me about the ‘mentally ill’….. Anyway, I described how the woman was acting, yelling at people and so on.
I waited about 5 minutes, keeping an eye on the woman from my 2nd floor window. She looked up at me and more babbling. I saw a police cruiser come down the street and when I saw him, she finished her cigarette and got up from the porch. I figured I could leave now. The officer stopped the woman and talked to her. When I came out, I asked the officer if he needed me. He asked if I had called it in, I said yes, and he said no. I went my merry way and prayed that the crazy lady would get the help that she needed to be less crazy.
On Renovation 2007: Postpone? I am going to move forward. I picked contractor #1 as we found a way to make it more affordable and he said he could do the project later in fall. But he’d really, really, really, would like to start as soon as possible. Really. Electric and plumbing permits, as far I understand it are up to the plumbers and the electricians. I’m not putting in new outlets. The newest electric thing would be the AC. The contractor also suggested reusing some things like my toilets (provided you can get the one encased in tile out without breaking it) and one bathroom sink to cut down on costs and keep things out of the landfills. Keeping the bedroom light fixtures, the radiators, and we’ll go around later to pick out what stays. The carpet goes.
How to keep a parking space clear
I’m about to run out the door, but I just gotta share this….
It is Sunday morning and people going to one of several houses of worship are parking in on my street. There is a woman, walking down my street, screaming and yelling and carrying on, so I’m just going to label her crazy. She’s yelling at no one, but when someone does appear on the street she starts loudly hurling insults that don’t make sense. Anyway, she stopped just in front of my house, where there was a parking space. I looked out of the window and saw a car stopped near an empty space but seeing her right there yelling at them, they drove away.
Renovation 2007: Postpone?
As of this morning I’m thinking of postponing the project till Fall. Maybe during Spring and Summer I can deal with the permits, getting rid of stuff, some demo so that certain things won’t be a complete surprise, and work on the garden. I am determined to do this project this year, that’s the one thing I’m certain of, even if I’m getting cold feet about a bunch of other things. One of the reasons I’m mentioning the renovation and my thoughts on the blog is so that I have some pressure outside myself to get this thing going. But I woke up this morning and I just did not feel good about my choices, where I am in the planning, and a bunch of other things. I can’t postpone too long as I can hear the house moving and slowly falling apart and that needs to be addressed soon.
Let’s see what I feel like tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep and church.
Well that’s depressing
My choices of contractor are disorganized and expensive, or shall I say beyond my budget. Disorganized is within my budget, and has refs, and a very, very positive attitude, but the disorganized demeanor is maddeningly off putting. Beyond budget did my kitchen so there is already a relationship there. But the price quoted was above what I took out as a 2nd mortgage, and short of working a 2nd job I can’t see where else I can come up with the extra cash. I’m beating myself up for not interviewing more, and I’m wondering if I should postpone the project so I can try to raise more money or interview more contractors.
Another issue is housing during construction. I want to do the project before the Summer intern invasion, so I’d have choices. Plan A is find a place via Craigslist or the City Paper and stay there for 3 months (or hop from one temp situation to another) while the house is under renovation. Plan B, stay with Aunt in Hyattsville (all other area relatives are so non-metro I won’t even consider them) and commute back into the city via bus and train. I would prefer to stay in Shaw, or places that are Shaw-adjacent, or right on the Green line*, so I can closely monitor the work. I can’t monitor jack in Hyattsville. So if you know anyone renting out a small cheap-cheap room, nothing fancy, ’cause really all I need is a bed, a shower, and a microwave, in Shaw or a Shaw adjacent place. If you know of such a place available in April shoot me an email mari @inshaw
*When I say right on the green line, I mean, 5-10 mins walking (not driving or biking) from the station entrance.
Battle hate with love
There was a scene on the Metro that I need to relate to y’all, mainly because there are certain situations that pop up and you wonder what to do.
Okay its around about 3 or 4 something on a weekday on the Green line to Greenbelt and the train is packed. There is a hodge podge of DC humanity in the car of black, Latino, Asian and others as office drones heading back home, students heading somewhere, the odd touristy looking folk, all squished, not Orange line squished but it is crowded, on the train. Hanging near the doors are three or four black teenagers, doing what teenagers seem to do on trains between 2-6pm, talk loudly and cut up. The train pulls up to either U Street or Columbia Heights and the doors open. People push out, past the teens, and then a few people push in. The teens, being obnoxious say “no more people on the train” and then block a short Latino mother who has a baby strapped to her chest and a toddler in tow. She pushed herself and child onto the train. Once on, one of the boys looks the woman in the eye and just insults her. Something about 20 babies and starting to have kids when she was real young. I throw the boys the skunk eye. But then they go into some stupid rant about the “Color Purple” and “Massa” and still sent more derogatory comments towards the Latino mother.
Then something happened, possibly the right thing. A young man, one of the well dressed office drones, got up and asked the mother if she would take his seat. Then another person got up and offered their seat so the toddler could sit by his mother and there was this outpouring of kindness going out in the direction of the mother from the other commuters. The attention went away from the hateful teens and loving charity went towards the little family.
Confronting the teens was not really an option. They seemed to want conflict. And I wouldn’t call them ignorant, as ignorance is defined as being uninformed. I’m sure they got the diversity message that’s out there and I believe they knew that they were wrong, it’s just that they didn’t care.
So the lesson learned? Confronting the wrong doer doesn’t get me very far, healing the wronged does. So hopefully, next time there is a train with obnoxious teens who lash out on some poor soul, I can think of a way to show kindness to that soul.