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Surfaces, packing and la bicicleta muy fea

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.

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.

Poverty and Dental & Vision Health Care

Saw this unfortunate article in the Post about a young boy who died because his abscessed tooth was not removed and the bacteria got to his brain. What stopped me early in the article was “A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.” I had a molar extracted about 2 years ago and it cost me around about $70-$80, and I have health insurance.
Let me give you a little of my dental health history. I didn’t have any, any health insurance growing up and I had cavities. Every once in a while mom would drag me to the dentist and if it wasn’t about finding cavities, it was filling them, so each visit was expensive, and not often. It didn’t help that I hated brushing. A far as I know, mom never bothered with Medicare. Jump forward to undergrad, still no insurance, and the needing to remove a wisdom tooth. I waited for hours, and hours, and hours at the university teaching hospital. So long, that I swore then and there that when I got out into the real world I was going to have health insurance so I would never, ever, ever have to spend a full part of a day waiting. I did get it removed, but the student dentists nicked a neighboring tooth, taking off a chip. I can’t remember what I paid, or if I had to pay. The grad school I attended required students to have health insurance, so I got the cheapy non-dental only useful if you get hit by a bus insurance and used the campus health facilities. It was at the campus clinic I first heard the word “abscessed” in relation to my teeth. After borrowing $200 bucks from grandma (and learning never borrow money from grandma unless your next option is loan shark) I fixed another wisdom tooth problem, sans insurance.
Fast forward to now. I have a decent job and health insurance which I pay over $100 a month for individual coverage. If I had a family, dependents, it would be about $300 a month. My employer chips in for a significant portion of the premiums, which in total are $400 a month for an individual. I don’t have one of the extra dental or vision plans. Going to the dentist still costs me, just not as much. I swear I pay $40-$50 for cleaning but my plan says I’m supposed to be paying less. I’ll find out why there is a sizable difference my next visit. I also plan to get some new glasses this year. My health plan will save me with the eye exam but the frames and lenses will be cheaper if I go to an Americas Best or other like place. I expect to blow $200-$400 on a pair of glasses, mainly because of the lenses.
Last year, I chipped in to get my niece glasses. Medicare should have covered some part of her glasses, but because her mother, my sister, didn’t want to bother with whatever Medicare hoops needed, which the Post article talks about in relation to the young boy, I and my mom wound up paying for her glasses.
After much typing and deleting and typing and deleting, I’ve decided not to make a political argument out of it. As some of you know I identify myself as moderate conservative, and I know many of you, my readers and my friends are a diverse group of liberals, and this could get political in the comments section. So what I challenge you with is to avoid theory, if you have something to say, talk about your own experience, your reality of health care in America. And to comply with my screwy interpretation of HIPPA you may just use initials or fake initials to be somewhat anonymous. Not completely anon because I’ll start confusing one anon with another anon and that will just drive me nuts.

Wifi, and farmers, and bears! Oh my!

Over on the Eckington Listserv there is a flutter of hope about the corner of 1st and R Sts NW. Hopefully in a few weeks ANC Stu will open up Big Bear Cafe. ANC Stu also wants wi-fi. But the big thing that has everyone aflutter is the drive to get a farmers market on that little strip of R St that is between 1st and Florida. It would be a perfect staging area for an open air market, when the cafe opens.
This interests me and probably folks in the northern end of the TC because this is right on the border between Eckington and the 1973 boundaries of Shaw.
The chatter on the listserv is contacting the Stu crew about helping with the market. Apparently some emails got lost, or more than likely buried (with me its the spam filter, which is why you should have a decent subject line). So if you want to help ANC Stu contact him at his gmail account at studavenport@ .

Mayor Fenty to be at Woodridge Comm Mtg

From Jim:

Neighbors,

If you are interested in hearing from Mayor Fenty at a community meeting that will focus on the debate over changes in the governance structure of the DC Public Schools (DCPS), you may want to go to the Woodridge Library, 18th and Rhode Island Avenue, N.E., on Monday, February 26, 2007, between the hours of 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Specifically, the Coalition for Concerned Neighbors will be holding their monthly meeting at which Mr. Fenty will be the featured speaker and the DCPS issue will be the subject matter about which he will be examined by community residents.

Best,

Jim Berry
Bates Area Civic Association, Inc.