This picture was taken from the “Sideling Hill Cut” in Western Maryland. It shows the view looking north towards Pennsylvania.
Month: August 2006
Price versus Cost
The list price shown of this ticket, including all taxes and fees, is $36.00. The actual cost of this ticket to me was $125.00. For my $125.00, I got the right to stand outdoors for three hours listening to Jimmy Buffett, who I’ve seen performing live a number of times previously, singing a bunch of songs I’ve heard dozens of times before. Not only that but the temperature/humidity combination made it feel like it was at least 100 °F (38 °C).
Heat and Parrotheads
The high temperature here yesterday was about 100 °F/38 °C. It is about 1:07 PM/13:07 local time as I write this and the temperature is 101 °F. We are going to a Jimmy Buffett concert tonight at the Nissan Pavilion, which is an outdoor venue. The temperature is supposed to drop to 76 °F/24 °C tonight. I sure hope it cools off by concert time. Otherwise it will be downright miserable.
Chuck Taylor All-Stars
When I was a kid, it seems like every time I got a new pair of sneakers (or as we called them back then, tennies or basketball shoes), they were Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars®. They were high-tops and were made from canvas rather than leather. You had a wide range of color choices – black or white.A few weeks back, I noticed that my sneakers were starting to fall apart, so I decided to go shopping for a new pair. I was browsing through the Converse web site. You can still get Chuck Taylor All-Stars. They now have both cloth and leather models and they now come in a wide array of colors. But I was looking for something more “up to date” and after some searching around, I found the shoes shown in the picture. They’re not Chuck Taylors…but they are named after another guy who made somewhat of a name for himself in the basketball world in the 1970’s and early 1980’s…his name is Dr. J.
Flowers and Dogs
What do Black-Eyed Susans and Dogs have in common? Probably nothing. But I took these pictures a few days ago and thought they were pretty neat. So I figured I might as well do something with them rather than just filing them away and forgetting about them.The Black Eyed Susans are growing along the fence line of our back yard. They must like it there, as they continue to multiply year after year.
As those of you who have visited here or www.hrpr.com in the past probably know, we have two Jack Russell Terriers named Gunston (bottom) and Piggy (top) who think they are in charge of things around here. Although they have that laid-back look in the picture, I can assure you that everything you hear about Jacks being high-energy dogs is certainly true for this pair.
The Neighbor’s Big House
The house next door is just about complete now. The contractor’s foreman said they plan on scheduling the county and town inspections for the house in the next week or so. The property still has to be graded and decorative bricks need to be laid in the driveway. Once that’s done and inspected, the occupancy permit will be issued. There’s one potential problem though. The county just realized that many of the new homes built in the past few years have exceeded the height requirement (maximum of 35 feet) for residential zoning. They will grandfather houses that are already occupied, but for those awaiting final inspection, they plan on strict enforcement of the 35 foot maximum height. If the house exceeds the maximum height requirement, an occupancy permit will not be issued. Fixing the problem could run into the thousands of dollars, depending on the design of the house and the amount of rework needed to bring the house into compliance with the zoning ordinance.
The crux of the problem is that the present zoning ordinance is ambiguous about the height measurement technique. Contractors have been using the average height as the measurement; the county insists that the measurement be taken at the highest peak of the house. I can see the contractor’s sharks (aka lawyers) circling this one as I speak. And they might even win since the zoning ordinance is ambiguous and the county has been approving all the plans and drawings for these non-compliant houses for a long time now without objecting to the height.
The lower picture is of my one-story vintage late 1950’s brick rambler, which is dwarfed by the huge “McMansion” now sitting next door!