House Forlorn #6 - Sad, But Happy & Hopeful

Can you be sad, and yet happy and hopeful? Can you be despondent, and yet see the glimmer of hope somewhere in the darkness? Can you spend a weekend putting together a supportive yet protective bank bailout package, and yet fail to...

...but I digress.

I'm a sad little house, but I see glimmers of hope in the marketplace...far off from this high hillside I sit on. Russia, the US of A, and Starfleet welcome oldest-of-nations China into the self-propelled & peopled space-faring community. Blackberry and iPhone welcome Android into the community of smart-phone operating systems. And Dinosaurs that breathe like birds welcome the 45th Mersenne Prime into the world of science.

Here, let me illustrate these points:



[House Forlorn #6 on Chogger]

Do you have any comments on these blog posts? Are you a house in search of humans, a search that has thus far proved fruitless? Post a comment here, or drop me a line at houseforlorn[at]gmail[dot]com.

..HF.

Stern-gating #5

Just Ducky Tours takes pre-game Steelers fans on a tour of
Pittsburgh's waterfront, adjacent to Heinz Field.

..HF.

Stern-gating #4

The riverside entrance to Heinz Field.

..HF.

Stern-gating #3

..HF.

Stern-gating #2

..HF.

Stern-gating #1

He's not near me, but walking again down near the river. He works
near a river (the Allegheny) so I'm not sure why he's surprised...but
apparently, in a river town where the football stadium is adjacent to
the water, some fans will travel to the game via the personal
watercraft, and some subset of those fans will "stern-gate" off the
rear of their boats with fellow boaters. The next few pics chronicle
some of that.

Below, in the distance, Steelers fan barbeque their lunch.

..HF..

PCPGH3 "Friday 5" round 1

Like most American houses connected to the internet, I try to stay up with the times, though the pace of human society sometimes blows me away. I remember, way back in 1929, my fellow houses in the neighborhood...

...but, I digress. A particularly keen human, Ms. Dawn Papuga, is keeping her fellow local bloggers, podcasters and video producers on their social media toes. As I tap into the maelstrom, I've found the following questions she asked of her fellow social media PCPGH3 pals:

1. What brought you to Social Media and what keeps you hanging around?

2. Which social networking tool gives you the shakes when it’s not updated or is experiencing down time? (Podcasts, Blogs, Micro-blogging, etc)

3. What kind of insight could you offer to others on a topic at PCPGH3? If none, then what do you most want to hear more about?

These are really good questions...but does a house really have a right to chime in on human affairs? Alright, I guess I did a wee bit of chiming in yesterday with this lamentation of a particular friend to houses...but really folks, what can I say?

Well, let me at least try.

For the first question, I call on a friend who is comic-stripping these days, down at Pittsburgh's own www.chogger.com:



As for question #2, I have a somewhat unexpected answer: finance.yahoo.com.

We houses have to stick together and keep track of our livelihood. Our stock in trade, so to speak, is our individual and collective valuations, and some of that valuation is tied up in the bank loans that you humans give to each other to buy us. I like to keep up on the human companies who grant these loans, see who might be loaning to fellow humans in my neighborhood, etc...and chat with my fellow houses behind the geise of internet screen-names, etc. After all, on the 'net, as the saying goes, no one really knows that your just a house surfing the 'net.

So, Yahoo!'s finance site is where I like to go for information and community...and it irks me when the site is down (admittedly seldom) or when information on a company's recent SEC filings have not yet made onto the company's Finance set of pages.

As for the third question, what can I offer attendee's of PCPGH3?

Although I'm just a lonely human-built structure up high on a hill, and really cannot attend these events, I suggest you (I presume that my readers are human...if you're another house, lurking behind a computer screen [or tapping in through the packets on those networking cables that humans string through us], drop me a line at houseforlorn[at]gmail[dot]com) make use of these functions to get out and meet with your fellow humans, learn what technologies they're using to communicate with, and become facile with those technologies. This CDO-inspired recession will end sometime, and when it does, these technologies will take the world by storm...or may do so sooner, as they're cheaper to use than a Gulfstream V for gettin' around (not that I could fit on such a small jet...I'd need something a bit bigger, perhaps a Galaxy-class row-boat).

:-)

..HF.

Dappled Sunshine

Ahhh, sometimes he pleases me. Here is one of my favourite views,
looking up my front steps through the dappled sunshine of late summer.

..HF.

I'm Feeling Kinda Blue Today

House Forlorn #2 on Chogger.

..HF.

House Forlorn on Chogger, #1

Chogger is a new Pittsburgh start-up, designed to allow users to read and create comic strips. House Forlorn is a great vehicle for talking to people...let's see how it does as a comic strip! :-)



[...fixed here, a la Chogger]



NB: The picture this embedded code & link should show does not appear to work...Chogger is in Alpha, so I'm communicating with their webmaster. In the mean time, here's a JPEG:



..HF.

My Owner is Dumb!

Well, okay, not dumb, perhaps, but in some ways misguided.

All this time, with the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis, he's been going around with the assumption (incorrect, as you'll see) that the term "subprime" referred to bank loans with an interest rate below the Prime interest rate.

Duh!

No, subprime refers to loans to less-than-prime loan candidates. So, although it may seem that the subprime mortgage-inspired crisis occurred because interest rates were brought real low by Alan Greenspan (and it was, but not because of the aforementioned misconception), the whole-crisis was due to lenders (banks, savings-and-loans, mortgage companies) lending to folks who could not afford to keep up with payments, either due to income issues, over-the-top lending fee's or balloon interest payments (adjustable rate mortgages).

More later.








phew!

..HF.

Weekend Work for You

Owner, it's the weekend.

Podcamp Pittsburgh 3 is still a month away, and the Introduction to Social Media sessions at Northland Public Library can wait another 7 days.

You, there, owner. You had fun on the shores of the rivers yesterday, and you're not at work servicing clients, drafting documents and padding the company's bottom line with sales and service fees. You're at home, so do some work on me!

I like the changes to my cover page at houseforlorn.com, but it's time to get off the computer, down on your hands and knees, or up on a ladder and work on me! Clean my windows, scrub my floors, vacuum my floors and carpets, pick up those newspapers (where do they all come from???), pick up those clothes and throw them into the washer! Clean, clean, clean! Quick, while the kid is with the grandparents, while you don't have social media obligations, while the sun is shining and the clouds are at bay!

Get out there and cut the grass. No, it needs no fertilizer or other lawn-care products...just a little T.L.C. Cut the grass, trim the hedges, clean up the pre-fall leaves, sweep the walks...anything to work up a sweat!

In other words, enjoy the weekend. Fortunately, I know you're not a sports nut, so you won't be facing the boob-tube all weekend...but get out there and clean me!

..HF.

Far From You

Dear house,

Here I sit, on the bank of the Mon and Allegheny confluence. I should
be working on my Wu taiji, I should be paddling about these waters as
I'd been planning all morning, I should be working on plans for
getting you shipshape for your next family.

But, no, instead I sit here listening to the minimalist waves lap the shore, watch the mallards stand and flap and preen, watch vehicular traffic make use of the wonderful Pittsburgh bridges, view Hilton, Highmark, Ariba, UPMC, PNC, United Steelworkers and Federated adorn the tops of relatve skyscrapers, and dream of ways to get out on that wonderful water without putting more rotomolded plastic or form-fitted fiberglass where it doesn't belong.

Latis just cruised by, a 30-foot cruiser, but she's not the answer. I know the answer lies somewhere between my brain and the water ... I've just gotta find that middle ground.

..owner.

Nowhere Near the Sound of Cannon

Not that it's a bad philosophy, "buy[ing] at the sound of cannon" - purportedly said first by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, fka Mayer Amschel Bauer - is a risky proposition.

My current owners were perfectly happy to pay above-prime interest rates when they initially purchased me some twenty years ago. That may seem stupid, that may be unwise and wasteful in the eyes of some who could get loans at subprime interest rates or who could afford an inexpensive purchase with cash...but stodgy safety and a long-term relationship with a bank can eventually appear wise...even though nowadays it depends upon the long-term healthiness of the bank itself.

Consider the following when considering Rothschilds statement...when are we hearing cannon-fire?

"On September 16, 2008, American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”) issued a press release announcing it has entered into a revolving credit facility with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“NY Reserve Bank”).

Under the terms of the revolving credit facility, AIG may borrow up to $85 billion from the NY Reserve Bank. AIG’s borrowings under the revolving credit facility bear interest, for each day, at a rate per annum equal to three-month Libor plus 8.50%. The revolving credit facility has a 24-month term and is secured by a pledge of all of the assets of AIG and its Material Subsidiaries. The revolving credit facility contains affirmative and negative covenants, including a covenant to pay down the facility with the proceeds of asset sales by AIG.

In connection with the revolving credit facility, AIG issued a warrant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (“Federal Reserve”) that permits the Federal Reserve, subject to shareholder approval, to obtain up to 79.9% of the outstanding common stock of AIG (after taking into account the exercise of the warrant). AIG anticipates calling a special meeting for such purpose as promptly as practicable."

source

..HF.

This Man is Crazy!

How do I mean crazy? How, you ask, can I, a mere house, presume to
gauge the mental state of my owner?

Easy, I say.

First, yesterday he was here cutting grass, and the temp was nearly 90
degrees F. and nearly 100% humidity. Crazy, I tell you, crazy.

Second, he's not spending all his spare time and resources cleaning me
up and correcting my problems for the next owner. Instead, he works a
job way far away (well, okay, 14 miles to downtown Pittsburgh is
really quite close, as the car drives), spends time studying Tai Chi
with his long-time teacher and friend, Sifu Tolbert, spends way too
much time with the various segments of his family... and, to add
insult to injury, is now pondering the ups and downs of devoting time
to learning more of Pennsylvania's waterways atop a kayak.

A kayak? And he's not crazy?

Not just any kayak, of course... Not a nice plastic, fiberglass or
skin-covered baidarka, but he's contemplating building something out
of locally-grown bamboo for the frame and using plastic bottles for
floatation. How the heck is that supposed to work?

Let's wait and find out. :-)

..HF.

Sent from my iPhone

End of a Dry Spell

Are we back into a routine?
He was back to cutting grass today, after several weeks of dry
weather. And trimming shrubs. And rubbing down my interior
surfaces. When you've no regular human around, it's amazing how
grubby surfaces get: floors, counters, window sills and steps. He's
happy with the progress he's making...but so much to do yet...and so
much that could be done to make me happier to be a house.
:-)

River of Clouds

Two cities he has lived in have very different terrains, but some
similar atmospheric conditions.

Here in Pittsburgh, houses are arranged up and down ancient mountain
valleys where morning fog accumulates in the upper valleys and slowly
grow into valley-bound clouds as the coalescing moisture falls toward
the larger stream and river valleys. This morning, the Turtle Creek,
watershed and the Allegheny River valleys are so enshrouded,

allowing higher corridors such as Rt. 30 and I-376 to be blissfully
illuminated by bright late-summer morning sunlight.

San Francisco starts the day in bright sunlight everywhere, from the cool environment of downtown SF, Pacifica and other coastal
communities to the much warmer regions of peninsula communities
Redwood City & San Jose to East Bay and east valley communities.

In SF, though, the fog gathers through the morning over the ocean just
outside the city gates, as it were, the Golden Gate Bridge. After
noon, the flood gates seem to open, as the pent-up demand of ocean fog
to roll in over the unsullied waters of the SF Bay. Initially, the
careful water-hugging clouds stream in along the shipping channels...

but as the excitement builds, clouds leap up over poor fog-vexed
Pacifica and western SF neighborhoods and begin to over-run the high-
rise apartments and skyscrapers of fashionable downtown SF, north and east of Chinatown.

In Pittsburgh, the sun melts the morning moisture...in SF, the
inhabitants aren't so lucky.

..HF.

Sent from my iPhone

Power Outage is a Great Time to Re-group

He is at work, not bugging me here. 

I enjoyed the rain this morning, the precursive rolling thunder, the rain itself pitter-patting on my shingled head, dripping down through my gutters, soaking the soil 'round me, reviving the foliage.

His work today enjoyed an lengthy power outage, while I enjoyed humming systems.

The saving grace for him was his iPhone, tied to the wireless web and able to access e-mail and internet, while even the Cisco IP telephones were laid low.  While everyone else scattered to their home neighborhoods, he stayed in the building, enjoying the solace, the darkness...and a rare chance to raid his boss' bookshelf, where he found Seth Godin's "Purple Cow".

I'm seeking to be the purple cow of blogs.  I mean, how many houses are blogging out there?

Is this a new idea?  Shall we join forces? 

Perhaps together we can get renters out there, the world 'round, to notice how many houses want owners.  New houses, old houses, we're all the same:  we just want to be loved, not just lived in by people who could care less about upkeep, about trimming the grass, about washing the windows.

Have you tried Ning?  Is that the right place for houses to congregate?  Check out my Ning site.  How to improve it?  How to purple cow it?   :-)

..HF.

Deep in My Library

Deep in my library, beyond Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, William J.
O'Neil's How to Make Money in Stocks, and down the aisle from
Blitzer's Algebra & Trigonometry, and other exciting Sunday afternoon
perusals through the collected knowledge of humanity, you'll find the
map room. Don't turn away just yet...don't let the large flat-files
turn you off, or the listless Replogle globe spin you around, for this
is, unbeknown to most, the best part of the library. That which lists
of figures & text will just begin to whisper to you, maps will grab
you by your lapels, scream into your ears, and check to see if you're
still listening. Here's what's known as a Block and Lot map, the key
to understanding the area in which you're looking to buy a house.
Your town or county may not use exactly this system, but I'll bet
they've got something similar.

Blocks are defined by the surrounding streets, and the blocks are
comprised of lots. Whether you're looking at a newly defined set of
lots out of town or at an old part of town first inhabited hundreds
of years ago, the mapping of the deed-based land will be the same.

Differently and more generally than a survey or the actual Deed, the
block and lot map will show you both where your property lines and
also describe the boundaries of all your neighbors parcels.

Want to find out more? Take a day to go down to your local planning, assessment
or Deeds office to research your future community. Take a pen and
paper and record that research!

My Living Room with Summer Sun Streaming In

My Living Room with summer sun streaming in is my favorite place to be.

She repainted me with a warm tone, and the trim is a light gloss.  The venetian blinds on one window, the curtain jauntily drawn aside on the other.  I just wish that the old fireplace, whose chimney was at some point claimed for its flues, was open for burning.

..HF.

20080905 - Kayaking the Allegheny

Harumph. I was right...he did go kayaking. Well, that's alright...I enjoyed my hillside, especially with the thought that a certain wet lady named Hanna might visit on Sunday to water my gardens. They do need a good soaking.

The Alcoa Building

The Princess Sails Westward

Pittsburgh, PA - Capsized

The Western End of Herr's Island

Returning Downriver, Catching Glistening Sunlight

A Push-boat Pushes Upriver Between Bridges

Return to PNC Park Boatlaunch

Kayak's Returned

The Four-mile Round-trip

Last Hot Day of Summer '08

Is this really the last hot day of Summer '08?

I'll be sitting here on this hill. Just you see if I don't!

Sunning myself, enjoying the heat, listening to the bee's buzz around the flowers, watching the humming birds zip amongst the blossoms.

Hopefully he doesn't come by today, to interrupt my solace, my blissful quiet. I think he's considering kayaking on the Allegheny River, wherever that is. What's the point? What's the fourth river?

I enjoy the streams of air caressing my siding and eaves ... he enjoys the caressing water streaming under a kayak.

He's wearing shorts to work? Is that allowed?

..HF.

Why Doesn't He Drink His Coffee in My Foyer?

He chose the lobby of the Omni William Penn Hotel in which to sip his quad americano.

So I don't have a Starbucks in the corner of my foundation. So I'm not smack dab in the financial district of some major metropolitan city. Is that any reason to snub me in favor of some posh locale?

..HF.

Hosta - My Favorite Flowering Perennial

He and his spouse planted many of these around me: various varietals,
various locations. Such shades of green, such flower spikes, such
seasonality.

..HF.

Box by Box

I feel the key turn in the door. My door. He pushed his way inside.
I cannot help but allow him in.

I think he came to pick up some of the shelving that's stacked in my
front room. But, no. He's been distracted.

He mounts my stairs, hesitantly at first, but quickening his pace, as
if knowing what he'll find at the top.

Boxes. That's what he's found. Boxes of books and boxes of her art
supplies. Her. Why can't he spend more time with me? But they found
another house to call home. That's why the constant trips to cut the
grass but not to stay for dinner, that's why the mail & box pickups
but nothing more meaningful.

The boxes.

What now has he found to draw his eye? Ah, I should have guessed...
books.

Not just any box, of course. Many of these bare the family name,
penned in faded ink, in his deceased mothers hand:

Black Boy; Snow Falling on Cedars; Excellent Women; Three Men in a
Boat; Purgatorio; O Pioneers!; The Autobiography of Malcolm X; A Death
in the Family; and Seven Gothic Tales.

What a mixture of titles, of genres. Now I see where he gets it.

Please. Take the boxes and go. I continue to want a human to live
with me, to live in me, but I know you are lost to me.

Go.

..HF.

Sent from my iPhone

A Skyline View I'm Not Graced With...

...But I love my environs, nonetheless.

Are you happy where your foundation sits? I don't talk to a lot of other houses, but my foundation has been pretty well settled for about the last century, and I'm happy to sit on the side of this hill, looking down upon a valley of other houses and a local rail line.

Much like Thomas the Tank Engine and his co-horts, a troup of five switcher engines pull coal cars up and down that rail line several times a day.

Just as the kids of Our Gang ran around playing games, hooting and hollering, kids play around me, year in and year out.

Time lapse photography shows us how action continues around immovable objects - snow falls and melts, leaves bud, leaf out, brown and fall, and humans eat, sleep, love and wash laundry through my rooms...

...and still I remain. Looking not out upon the wonderful skyline of the city that sits just fourteen miles West of me, but upon the people, animals and plants who live around me.

..HF.

My Neighbor Totoro?

A colleague of my owner suggested that he see the film My Neighbor Totoro, which is apparently a story of a spirit in a house, that this could have some correllation to House Forlorn.

Could it?

Will it?

Or will it just be an artistic expression in the same vein, an apparently inanimate object trying to make it's voice heard over the din of human interaction?

Who knows...he's gotta see more than just the YouTube trailer first. :-)

Looks like some cool shot's of bamboo fencing, at least. ;-)




..HF.

Fallen Bamboo Scaffold; Now He's Gotta Salvage the Culms