House of Swank

Them

The majority of my life, and the entirety of my voting life (the year I lived in San Antonio I maintained my vote in Oregon) I've lived in two states.  States that, from a national perspective, appear to be very "progressive" and "liberal."

The fact of the matter is that both of these states are VERY divided.  The urban, metropolitan areas are very left-leaning.  The rural, agricultural areas, not so much.  However, the metropolitan areas, by definition, have more people, so tend to win out in statewide elections.  But look at a statewide map and there's a fair share of red on a local level.

My own political persuasion tends to lean to the left, and I've always been very at home in the metropolitan areas of my states.  The year I spent in the Tri-Cities I got to see what life was like on the other side, but that was a move of necessity rather than choice, so it was a bit of a badge of honor that my politics didn't match those of all of my neighbors.

Well, I've started to see these signs popping up around town:

A bit of a history lesson for those who don't live in Washington and don't remember the story:  Dino Rossi is your stereotypical Republican.  Christine Gregoire is your stereotypical Democrat.  They were opponents in the 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington.  Originally Rossi won by something like 200 votes.  There were mandatory recounts and accusations of voter fraud and all sorts of mudslinging on both sides.  In the end Gregoire became Governor.  By eight votes.

It was not a pretty process.  It showed a lot of holes in the system, that people at least claimed to be cleaning up since then.  I'm sure that Rossi supporters still have hard feelings about it.  Just as Gore supporters still have hard feelings about 2000.  And this is our first gubernatorial election since that debacle.

And here we are four years later, and we'll have the same opponents facing each other, and I now live in a place where there is enough of a right-leaning contingency that the Republican candidate can play into that us vs. them mentality.  I am now amongst the them.

At least my legislative district still leans to the left.

Notorious

Today I decided to walk to the World Wide Knit In Public Day event being held in the 'Couv.  It's just over 2 miles away, mostly downhill, and I could simultaneously be a lazy ass and take the bus home.

While walking through my neighborhood I came across a house that was for sale and stopped a moment to check out the flier out front.  Mainly to see what it was listed for, to see how badly the market had dipped since we've moved in.  The house has 1 fewer bedroom and only 1 bathroom and is listed for $10k less than what we purchased the House of Swank for, so I think we're doing OK.

Anyhow, there was a gentleman at the neighboring house out doing yard work who commented to me that I had just moved into the neighborhood, so shouldn't be looking to move already.  He recognized me from the latest neighborhood meeting.

That would be the meeting where I told the transportation committee that if they didn't support a recommendation that brought transit through our neighborhood they were not honoring the wishes of the majority of people within the neighborhood based on survey results.  I think I made a few enemies at that meeting, but I also made a couple of friends. 

This gentleman was not amongst the friends.

But we still had a nice chat for a few minutes about things completely unrelated to transit and transportation.

I suspect soon I'm going to become "that girl" - since I am making myself known and am not afraid to speak up. 

If I can be "that girl" walking to the max stop in 10 years I'll be very, very happy, indeed.

When I'm Queen

Tonight I attended (and testified at) the second of two public hearings regarding the draft environmental impact statement for the Columbia River Crossing Project.

To translate for those who don't understand that last sentence:  The Columbia River Crossing is an organization working out what should be done about the I-5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver.  There's all kinds of work to get people's input on the best options, and these public hearings were one step of the process.

There are three basic questions to be answered right now:

1. The Bridge - Should nothing be done?  Should the current bridges be used and supplemented with a new bridge?  Should the current bridges be destroyed and all new bridges be put in their place?
2. Transit - If it exists should it be in the form of bus rapid transit or light rail?
3. Transit route - What route should the transit take once it gets into Vancouver.

There were many well-researched, well-thought out statements during the public hearing tonight.  I'd like to think mine was one of them (I spoke exclusively on the third question, because in my mind there is one option that is FAR superior to the other three on the table).  It was also encouraging to find some allies in the crowd - because the loudest voices in Vancouver seem to be very anti-everything.

There were also a lot of nut jobs.  About every third or fourth speech involved peak oil, how we were at maximum capacity at the moment and there would never be more cars on the roadway as a result.  There were also a lot of people who were very passionate about whether or not tolls would be charged to help fund the development.  One fellow suggested that automobile drivers shouldn't bear the sole burden of tolls, but everyone who crossed the bridge - including transit riders and "freeloading bicyclists" - needed to be charged or it was all a socialist conspiracy.

I'm all for everyone's voice being heard, but when you've got a viewpoint that is only slightly anchored in reality there needs to be a trapdoor or a cane that comes from stage left or some other way of putting these people in check.  When I'm Queen of the Universe that's going to be high on my list of priorities. My fear, since I'm not Queen, is that if there are too many comments from the whack jobs the people in charge won't hear the comments with actual substance through the white noise of the people with opinions not grounded in reality.

That's part of why I'll continue to fight the fight.  Well, that and the fact that I have a view that's distinctly different from that of my neighborhood at large, so if I want my voice to be heard I've got to do it on my own.

FYI to readers who subscribe to The Oregonian - the reporter there talked to me a bit after I made my statement, so there's a chance I'll appear in the article.  Since I don't get the paper, y'all will be responsible for witnessing a few seconds worth of my fifteen minutes of fame.

Fringe Benefits

One of the benefits of living in the 'Couv that I never counted on is the fact that KnitPicks is headquartered here. 

I am not a KnitPicks consumer in my everyday life.  I've considered purchasing some of their interchangeable needles because they are the bomb, but I much prefer my local yarn stores for the actual purchasing of yarn.  Yes, I pay a hell of a lot more for my yarn because of it, but to me it's worth it.  I can go in, fondle the yarn, compare different brands and such, and have my purchase in hand that day.  The proprietors and employees are a really good resource that you can utilize and get assistance for questions such as how many skeins will I need and will I get the desired effect.  They also remember you and will help celebrate accomplishments and mourn the mistakes.  Plus, there's the whole supporting of local business and it doesn't seem very green to have things individually shipped to every consumer, especially when you consider that a UPS package shipped from Vancouver to Vancouver probably travels through Nashville or somewhere similar along the way.

But, I'm not such a snob that I'm not willing to take advantage of some of what KnitPicks has to offer.  And when you live close to them you sometimes get opportunities like I did yesterday to participate in usability testing for their website.  For an hour of my time I got a $50 gift certificate.  SCORE!

The guy in charge of the testing was not a knitter (as he had to point out when he asked me to explain why I might want to see a swatch of a multi-colored yarn knitted up rather than just a close-up shot of the yarn itself), and I think there were a few points of the test where I frustrated him. 

"What do you like about the KnitPicks website?"
"I can get cheap yarn and awesome needles."
"Yes, but what do you like about the WEBSITE?"
"It allows me to get cheap yarn and awesome needles."

Really, the website they showed me had some real issues with it.  When I came home and decided to start planning how to use my money I noticed a lot of the issues I had with the website they showed me were non-issues in the website as it currently exists.  Makes me really curious as to how it's all going to play out.

I've got some tentative plans for the money, but for now I'm just sitting tight because I have placed myself on a yarn diet until I get a couple of things cleared out of the queue.

Alienating the Neighbors

There is a river (the Columbia River, as a matter of fact) that divides Oregon and Washington for the majority of our shared border.  If you live in the 'Couv and want to cross into Oregon you take one of two bridges - the I-5 bridge, which was built in 1917, or the Glenn Jackson Bridge, which was built much more recently but is on the complete opposite side of town. 

Facts:

The I-5 bridge needs to be rebuilt.  I'm sure there's some crazy person who doesn't agree with this statement, but most of the crazies will at least agree with this much.

Someone will need to pay to have the I-5 bridge be rebuilt.  There are three basic places we can go to in order to get the fundage.  Oregon, Washington and the Federal Government.  This bridge is actually an issue of concern in the Feds eyes.  It's a drawbridge that is still in use as such.  Which means that there is a stop in Interstate traffic between Mexico and Canada and it's all this bridge's fault.

The Feds have said they won't help pay for the bridge unless mass transit is part of the plan.  They can be expected to foot up to 33% of the bill.  Oregon has said it won't help pay for the bridge unless mass transit is part of the plan.

So now the debates start, because someone has to come up with a plan that might actually work. 

There are a number of alternatives at play here.  The big questions, at least in a lot of Vancouverites minds, are whether mass transit takes the form of busses or light rail (building off of Portland's existing, successful system) and, especially if light rail, which route the rail should take.

One of the proposed routes cuts along the border of our neighborhood, and has the terminus at a park and ride within our boundaries.  Me, I'm all in favor of this.  I'll be upset if it's not the alternative selected.  A lot of my neighbors don't feel the same way.

Last night was a neighborhood meeting on this very issue that I opted to attend.  The issue had obviously been debated before, and this was information gathering so that the neighborhood association could form a statement that could be taken to the city council.  There was a power point presentation with anonymous, electronic voting.  Pretty cool technology at work.

To my neighbors' credit, there was only one moment where I wanted to disallow some of them from expressing opinions on any of the issues at hand.  Once we'd weighed in on how we'd like the bridge to be rebuilt (use existing structure for part of it with a shorter lifespan, or start from scratch to last twice as long) we had to decide our preferred method of mass transit.  We had already been presented with the facts:  Feds won't pay without mass transit.  Oregon won't pay without mass transit.  There are people who actually said there should be no mass transit included on the bridge.  And, based on the demographics of our neighborhood, I don't think any of them would have the funds to build this bridge themselves, so I'm really not sure what they were thinking there.

The general consensus in the room seemed to be "transit is OK, we just don't want it in our neighborhood."

There were two moments in the meeting where I got to make it obvious (even though things were predominantly done be anonymous, electronic vote) that there are some people who really WANT light rail in our neighborhood.  The first was when a question was posed as to "What is your greatest concern if they put a park and ride at this one location in the neighborhood?"  Options were increased crime, pedestrian safety, traffic, etc.  There was also an "other(specify)" option.  I picked that one.  Once voting was concluded the moderator gave us others a chance to specify what we meant.  My answer:  "I'm in favor of it and don't feel any of the concerns can't be properly handled."

At the end of the presentation were a few blanket statements the neighborhood leadership had put together, to show us how this information would be put into the statement.  One of the statements they had was "If light rail must come to our neighborhood...."  I took issue with that, as the use of the word must to me implies "We really don't want it, but if there's no way around it" and that's not my feeling at all, so I asked for more neutral language to be used there.

After the meeting an older gentleman came up to me.  Not totally surprising, since most of the people in the room were of the older variety. 

"It seems you're in favor of the light rail"
I prepared myself for a vigorous debate with him "Yes, I am."
"Me, too!  Whenever I go into Portland I drive into Delta Park and take it from there."

An ally!  A friend!  We had a lovely discussion about how good a thing it would be, and how we seemed to be in the minority in the room.

Next month's meetings we get to see what the leadership put together as a result of this meeting.  I'll be there, but it may be a bumpy ride.

Home

I spent the last 5+ years of my life telling outsiders I lived in Seattle, when the truth of the matter was I had not actually lived in Seattle since 1998.  So what if there's a lake between me and the city?  I considered myself a Seattleite who lived in Bellevue or Redmond out of necessity.  Seattle was my home.

When Sweetie and I moved South we were moving to Portland.  Yes, our house was going to be in the 'Couv - again, necessity required it - but Portland would be home to me.  I probably make my way into Portland at least four times a week - way more than I ever went into Seattle.  I am a Portlander!

Yet, while traveling  this past week, when people asked where we were from, my mouth would stick when I'd try to say "Portland, Oregon."  Because I'm not from Portland, Oregon, anymore.  I'm from Vancouver, Washington, just outside of Portland.  And you want to know a secret?  I kind of like it.  Now that I've got to know Vancouver a bit, and there really is a cool side to this town of mine.

Of course, I still said I was from Portland, Oregon, most of the time, because no one's heard of Vancouver, Washington, and sometimes it's a lot better to go for the easy answer than to have to explain yourself.

Things Are Looking Up

Commuting to Portland just became a heck of a lot easier!

In my perusal of route maps and schedules and such, I was under the impression that I had two options available to me:

1. Travel North 60 blocks to a park and ride, where I could catch a bus into the city.   Runs weekdays 6 am to 7 pm about every 45 minutes.
2. Travel to downtown Vancouver, transfer buses, travel to the end of the MAX line, transfer to the light rail, travel to downtown.

Either of these options would work, but both were extremely time-consuming.

While reconsulting the maps today, I realized that the bus in option #1 can also be picked up in downtown Vancouver.  It will take me just around 45-50 minutes from the time I step outside my door to be downtown.

The biggest bummer of the deal is that I'll have to be downtown about 30-40 minutes earlier than necessary tomorrow, but the other option is to give myself 8 minutes to walk 10 blocks in heels and look nice and presentable for a job interview.

If things work out, either with this job or another job in the downtown vicinity, I'm confident I'll be able to work out a schedule in which we can work around the bus schedule.  That makes me very happy.

Sweet, Sweet Water

Once upon a time, grigorpdx and his lovely wife, Al, bought a house.  I fostered their fish for a month (who then committed suicide when he was reunited with his original family).  I also helped them move out of their apartment.

One of the items to be moved out of the apartment was a stand-up piano.  It was on casters, so shouldn't have been a problem for the four of us there to move it that day.  Unfortunately, we all seemed to forget the laws of physics and almost rolled a Ryder truck parked on an incline.  It really was quite an adventure, and added the phrase "at least it's not a piano" to our vocabularies.

Yesterday grigorpdx and his lovely wife were visiting family that lives near us, and we had invited them over to see the new digs.  We had informed them we would be lousy hosts, as there was nowhere to sit in the living room, no food in the house, and depending on what time they arrived there may or may not be running water.

They decided they wanted to see the place, anyway, and even brought their own brie, so as to make sure that there WOULD be food in the house.  They arrived about 1 pm, and left around 8 pm.  And we weren't procrastinating and visiting all that time.  Grigorpdx was installing our bathroom fixtures for us.  Sweetie lifted and carried the toilet.  Al and I talked, assembled the bed, and gave grigorpdx's co-worker a ride to the airport.  Throughout the day we insisted that they were far too generous for such lousy hosts as ourselves, and they just reminded me that at least it wasn't a piano.

I tried to do the math with them... as dramatic as the piano incident was, it was done in about 1/2 an hour.  They were helping us for nearly 7 hours (OK, we had dinner in there, but the least we could do was feed them).  But apparently they've decided that the math still works out in their favor.  So we're all considering it a win-win situation at the moment.

Today I finished installing our washer and dryer, and have already put them to good use.  The first box hasn't officially been tackled, but that should be happening later this evening.

And you will be happy to know that Vancouver Mall offers free wi-fi, so as long as I can make it to the mall until we get internet of our very own installed, the blogging should go off without a hitch.

Legitimate

Well, in the eyes of Washington State, I am now, officially, a resident of the 'couv.  Today I renewed my tabs on my car (which were due to expire on Saturday), changed the address on my driver's license, and registered to vote.

Which also means that I have now, completely and totally (as best as I can tell), given up my maiden name.  I'd never gotten around to changing it on my voter's registration, since I figured it would involve having to take my marriage license in to the elections office and jump through hoops and I was just too lazy.  Plus, voting permanent absentee, it wasn't like I was going to run into a problem of someone checking my ID and it not matching.

As luck would have it, the Clark County elections office is across the hall from the vehicle licensing department, so once I got the tabs updated on my car I popped in to see what hoops I had to jump through, and learned that there were none.  Just had to fill out a form.  Done!

In the eyes of me I should become a resident of the 'Couv this weekend... stay tuned for details.

Why?

It should surprise absolutely no one that I was one of those precocious little kids who was always asking questions and wanting to know how things worked.  I'm just skeptical enough that I rarely take things at face value.  And this is why, in the division of marital responsibilities, my husband is the one tasked with dealing with customer service agents.  Because I cannot understand how they can be so dimwitted as to not accomplish the simple tasks laid in front of them.  But that's not what concerns us now.

What concerns us is the house.  And, more specifically, getting repairs made to the house before it becomes ours.

We've been through the inspection, and are into the negotiation phase now.  There were lots of little things that came up in the home inspection, as will always happen, but to our minds it boiled down to three main points:

1. Structural Integrity.  Because I do not want to buy a house and have it fall down in a week, and there were a couple of spots where the brick had settled in such a way that the inspector wanted to have someone else come and look and make sure it was just standard settling and not about to be falling down.
2. Moisture Problems.  Because I live in the Northwest, and have a home to stay out of the rain.  This mainly boiled down to the roof, and the fact that at least part of it was installed incorrectly in the last go-round.  There were also a couple of questionable spots in the bathroom where leaking/dry rot may be at work.
3. Building Codes.  The home was without a smoke detector.  Yes, really.  And without a light outside the back sliding glass door.

Today we had a contractor out to the house, to get an estimate on what the necessary repairs were and would cost.  The good news is the house is not going to fall down anytime soon, and a simple repair will help insure that.  The bad news is that the contractor recommends we tear off the old roof and put a whole new roof on. 

The seller's agent was there today, and I got the sense from how things were going that we would be able to get the roof out of the deal (or at least enough work done to the roof that we could happily live under it for years to come), and be left with most of the other repairs ourselves.

Which, for the most part, doesn't worry me.  Except when you look to #3 above.  The smoke detectors are a no-brainer.  The seller will install one, and all will be good there.  The light is another issue, because that involves and electrician AND drilling through brick, and there are a myriad of complications that can arise once you start to go down that path.

So I decided to be an informed consumer today, and find out what the implications are.  If code requires me to have a light and I DON'T have a light, is anyone going to know between now and when I try to sell the house?  If someone finds out will they even care?  And if they do care, is it simply a matter of "OK, now it's time to install a light" or are there other liabilities that may be at play here.  The answer to this question is very important, as that is what will decide how ardently I fight for that outside light.

I started by reviewing the City Municipal Code, which wasn't of much help (although, on further review, I think I just found the answer to my question).  So I decided to call the city.  I had to use my best guess on who to call, but decided Development Review Services was a good start, since "Code Enforcement" falls under their listed services.  I started with a friendly receptionist, who transferred me to a helpful fellow who referred me to an inspector.  I left a message for the inspector, who passed my message along to someone else.  I wasn't expecting the jackpot on the first call, so I'm pretty pleased with that chain of events.  The guy I ended up talking to is going to TRY to find out what the code was in 1950, and from that I can know if this is a code violation, or simply a good thing to have.  He has no idea what recourse may be taken against me if the code requires the light and there is no light.

The fact that no one seems to be able to answer this question tells me that this is probably something that no one concerns themselves with, so if it's not a concern to me it's not a concern to anyone else.  The bit of code I discovered while typing out this entry leads me to believe that IF it is discovered that we have a code violation the first step to be taken is a notice to correct the problem with a timeline imposed.  So, worst case, we have to install the light at that time.  That's telling me it's something I can probably live with.

I'm still going to fight for it, though, because if the code says I get a light than I want my damn light!

In good news, while researching all this I did discover that the electrical system was updated in 1993 when the heat pump was installed (which we suspected but had not confirmed), and the roof was installed in 1997.  I don't know if the age of the roof impacts the potential damage underneath, but I'm sharing that info with the contractor and we shall take it from there.

I'm SO looking forward to the day when I have things to blog about OUTSIDE of buying and selling homes.  Although y'all are gonna' get sick of me going on and on about the decorating and remodeling on the house, I can feel it now.  Although at least that will feature photos.

ETA:  In case anyone cares, we heard back from my new friend in the building department.  From his research it seems the light is NOT required per code.  He could only find code as far back as 1953, but as of 1978 a light was only required for an exterior ENTRY door.  A sliding glass door is not an entry door, it's an exit door.  The code did not require lights for entries AND exits until 1987.  So, presuming the door is original (there are no permits on file to suggest it is newer, and the step and patio lead me to believe it was part of the original design, although I could be wrong) everything is to code.  But we're still fighting for the light.