Propety Tax Assessment Follies

When we bought our house, the old siding was in bad shape, and the housing inspector said we had a few years, but would really need to replace it.  Four years later, we've done our research and have chosen fiber cement over vinyl because the materials cost a little more but is more fireproof, environmentally friendly, and might require less maintenance over the years.  Fast forward to earlier this year, when the city Assessor's office finally got around to reassessing the value of our house and determined that replacing our rotting wood composite siding with fiber cement corresponds to a 5% increase in the value of the house -- and this increase is based entirely on the "extra" value of choosing fiber cement over vinyl, for fiber cement is apparently considered some fancy upper crusty product and not for people who just want to deal with less siding maintenance.  The city's proposed increase is far more than the difference between the cost of fiber cement vs. vinyl, so they'll be out again to do a more thorough reappraisal.

Fred McGriff's 493 are looking better every day...

With Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez sucked into the steroid vortex this year, that now means that Fred McGriff and his 493 career home runs are 4th among players whose careers began within the last 25 years and have not (yet) been connected with steroids; behind Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Thome, and Frank Thomas (at least until Carlos Delgado passes him later this year).  Does this mean we should actually be thinking seriously about McGriff's (and Delgado's) Hall credentials?  I'm not sure I really want to go there.

inside the mind of John Russell (the Pittsburgh Pirates manager)

Okay, eigth inning… we’re only down by two, so we’re still in this, but the immortal Evan Meek just threw a wild pitch to advance the runners to second and third… no one out and Chris Duncan on deck… that Sid Crosby kid sure is great, isn’t he?  Hey—did I give the sign to intentionally walk Pujols?  No?  We’re down 5-1 now?  Well, can’t wait to see the Penguins against Carolina; our season is already all but over.

When will managers learn : DON'T PITCH TO ALBERT PUJOLS WITH MEN ON SECOND AND THIRD!  I mean, he's only got the highest active career OPS (and 5th highest all-time).  He *will* drive in those runs if you pitch to him!  Heck, the Mets made that mistake only a few weeks ago! 

In Padres news, they just lost their 11^th road game.  Thank you, they’re happy to play the baseball equivalent of the Generals any day.  Jake Peavy "leads" the staff with a 4.30 ERA.  New closer Heath Bell, who has yet to give up a run, is stuck on 8 saves, and ex-closer Trevor Hoffman, who missed the first month of the season (and who has yet to give up a run), just got his 8^th save for the Brewers.  Good for Trevor!

Ethan of Athos (Bujold, Lois McMaster) 1986

I really like the idea of religious fundamentalist homosexuals -- that part is interesting and could actually use a little more development.  I'm disappointed in the homophobia of the Galactics -- Ethan should be encountering prejudice because Athosians are backward, not because they're homosexual.  It doesn't seem to me that a society with open hermaphrodites (even if the hermaphrodites are rare) should have serious hangups about homosexuality and definitely *definitely* should not be throwing around the word "queer" like an epithet.  I'd believe in pockets of homophobia in Galactic society, but Bujold hasn't defined those lines well, and so these moments ring false and detract from an otherwise good story.  This book also suffers from following Cetaganda in the omnibus edition.  Ethan of Athos is an early novel in which she hasn't quite hit her storytelling stride, while her powers have matured by Cetaganda.  My delight at seeing how much Bujold's abilities have improved is at war with my disappointment at reading the superior novel first.

Sights Unseen (Gibbons, Kaye) 1995

A girl's coming-of-age story is complicated by a certifiably insane mother.  Though the mother "gets well" there is an interesting touch of sadness at the loss of the mother's mania that had brought a spark into their lives (in addition to the relief that, since it was now gone, this spark would no longer be setting them on fire).  Otherwise, nothing special.  Aside from the wonderful line about Duke hospital's doctors being comparable to the "swells" at Johns Hopkins, where Virginians went because they only go north for medical treatment, I rarely felt like I was in the South while reading this.  The characters and events could have been from Anywhere, USA.  

Hey Mabel! Black Label!

One of our yard projects this spring is to build a sand pit for the kids.  Every time we investigate the yard, we find something new.  This time, just under the sod, we found rock ledge (which we expected) and a whole lot of broken glass and a "Black Label" beer can (which we didn't exactly expect.  I can only guess that when the houses were being built on our street in the early 70's that the ledge was exposed, and the workers weren't very careful with their empties on lunch break (if it were purposeful, I can only imagine we'd have *more* broken glass).

In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (Gilchrist, Ellen) 1981

A series of short stories that are largely an expose on the empty lives of the New Orleans society elite.  We begin with a story that ends suddenly in a murder/suicide, and the next ends suddenly in a double accidental death/suicide.  Things pick up a bit in the more hopeful "There's a Garden of Eden", and "The Famous Poll at Jody's Bar" is fun, and "In the Land of Dreamy Dreams" does most of what the first two stories tried to do, only better, and without needing to kill anyone at the end.  Then we're back to suicides, abortions, and southern transplants to Indiana who don't fit in.  Woo-hee.  The last several stories are milder by comparison -- almost too mild? -- but "Revenge" and "Traveler" stand out, perhaps because the main characters are too young to have been permanently damaged, yet their smaller hurts are still very real.  Overall, I liked this, but I'm not running out to read her other stuff.