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Here is an interesting way to put the hard choices back in the people’s hands. Even if it is just an exercise.

I do an awful lot of talking about this particular beverage but am by no means an aficionado. I brewed another IPA the other day with my buddy Steve. I think I have only brewed IPA’s except for the first brew I ever tried, a Hefeweizen. I have always known it was the world’s oldest alcoholic drink but I was surprised to find out yet another great historical fact. My Grandma Elenore is 93 years young and never ceases to amaze me. Seriously she is witty, intelligent and can still dance a jig. She moved to Alaska on her own with three or four kids back in the 60’s and built a grocery store. Her life really should be a book, but anyway back to the beer.

She got her license to sell liquor and had it shipped in from Seattle along with all the other goods she sold. So the other night I was with her and talking about my brewing in a nonchalant cool way and she just pulls out the “do you have a capper?” and motions the capping mechanism. I was like what, you brew too!?! She brewed it and gave it to her friends, and soldiers on leave ( I am sure that is a great story too). Anyway the thing that is great is that although it has been done through the ages it has the ability to relate across generations. I love that my grandma brewed beer. You too can get in on the action by going over to the Home Brew Outlet don’t mind the guy that works there, he was born that way. That’s what he said anyway.

Do you think the United Auto Workers will act any differently now that it owns 17.5% of GM or 30% of Chrysler? Kinda a tough balancing act that I am very excited to see the results of.

Things are failing all around us constantly. GM, Chrysler, WAMU, KWOD 106, and on and on. I have myself been examining the simpler moments in my life and appreciating them more. In the crazy previous years 2005, 06, 07 I had a good time living but was too attuned to all of the balls that needed to stay in the air to keep the ship upright. Maybe it is part of letting things die that don’t have any business living that has allowed me to free up that mental space to appreciate the other things. Getting a recycled something, or fixing a broken down something else brings more satisfaction than going and buying something brand new. But similarly the BBQ’s with friends, walks around the neighborhood, days at the river, all seem more valuble in the light of what is truly important. When you wake up tomorrow, stretch and take a deep breath and enjoy the sunrise if you get a chance.

So I have been asked quite a bit lately, “So what are you going to do?” With concern and empathy people wonder, what else is LJ Urban, or Micah, going to do.  This is a difficult question.  I find myself daydreaming about what is next, but at the same time feel the weight of what is present.  This is a time of great uncertainty and craziness in the world and I have to say I don’t always know where we are going.  I am working to still put our projects on hold and downsize LJ Urban as you have seen recently with the new co-working space taking over most of our space in the building.  I am ready to start looking a little further beyond real estate and into renewable energy which I think will bring forth truly sustainable communities in the future.  I am sorry for the melancholy post but I think what is really going on right now is that I am missing the optimist who has been at my side through the last few years of hard work.  Levi and Jessie and their kids should have landed in Ethiopia as of this post and we are waiting like the rest of you to hear what they are seeing.

Wow I feel tired and a little overwhelmed after that. Micah

I saw this on a blog the other day and I am stealing it. It’s called the Kyoto Oven and it quite possibly could change the landscape of Africa. The thing that I find interesting about these types of inventions is that they will require a change in habits. I mentioned this oven to a friend who is familiar with African culture and practices (she’s been there and lived it) and she thought, ” Yeah, its great but what about cooking at night?”. I have to admit the solar oven might have some issue there, but you could change the way you do things. 1) Precook your dinner before the sun went down. 2) Boil lots of water while the sun is shining and store it in a cool place. 3) Make a couple of them yourself and sell them.

In order to make the serious changes we are going to have to make in the world to sustain the current inhabitants and bring everyone’s quality of life up, we are going to have to change habits.  I think we have used this one before, the same thinking that got us where we are isn’t going to get us to where we need to be.  I think everyone in the world should read, at least, the first chapter of Thomas Freidman’s book Hot, Flat, and Crowded to get a little perspective twist on how we all live and how much we need to change.  Or there is a talk he gave on it that I haven’t watched yet.

Micah Baginski

I was talking to my friend the other day and he made a funny analogy that I wanted to share. Do you remember when you were a kid and you played tag? You probably had a safe zone like a car, the mailbox or maybe a tree? Well it seems as though the banks, the small businesses, homebuyers, are all just chillin in the “Safe Zone” hugging the tree and very few if any people are playing tag. Now is a very good time to start playing again.

Micah

I guess this is what happens when you don’t develop a site.

We had a community meeting Monday night to review our design guidelines we have prepared for the Habitat and Simple projects in the Washington Neighborhood. It went pretty well I think. We got some questions about parking which I hope we answered. We got some questions about why the City couldn’t provide streetlights for the neighborhood surrounding our proposed projects. We told them the lights would come with the development but that we would like to decrease their frequency from those in other developments due to the light pollution.

People asked about the historic character of the neighborhood and how we would rate our projects “integrity” to that character. Kind of a nebulous question, but one every architect and developer is faced with. We described how our guidelines would help ensure that historical themes would be carried through our projects but not necessarily replication of exact Victorian architecture.

But the question of the night had to be about OSB. What is OSB you ask,well I am sure you can Google it just like I did and find out the good and the bad about it. I wanted to throw it up here to show that it has advantages and disadvantages but I was just as interested in proving that we are building quality housing while using it. Below is a list of its advantages in comparison to conventional plywood. [Read more →]