7 A.D.: Universal Pain Assessment Tool

Sitting in the doctor's office waiting for the results of our son's flu test, I drifted to the handy chart on the wall to self-assess not only the fever boy sitting in my wife's arms, but the general state of our family after one week of construction.

We are decidedly in stage 4, the not-so-happy-but-not-so-sad-yet face.  Living in smaller quarters is a bit of a trick, as we have absorbed the demo-ed areas into our life.  The kitchen now doubles as a home office.  The living room houses outside toys.  And the dining room is a domestic United Nations, with a little bit of everything.

1 A.D.: A Slow News Day

The demo guys seemed to have expended all their fun tearing frame down yesterday, because all they sent today was one lonely soul with a jackhammer who had to jack, pry, and haul all by himself for 8 hours.  As a result, the awesome gush of progress from yesterday was down to a trickle today.  Oh well.  Pool guys come tomorrow to start framing the new footprint.  Click through to the pics, and to more on the 1963 newspaper.

0 A.D. (After Demolition)

Woo-frickin-hoo.  Tomorrow became today.  A new time begins that marks in process rather than waiting to process.  As exciting as demolition was because it marked the start of something new, it was equally exciting for what it signaled an end to.  The months and years of fretting, reworking, new architects, new plans, new engineers, new contractors, new bids - all preparation for something else.  For today.

1 B.C.: Un-Realtime

1 B.C.  One day B.efore C.onstruction.  B.C. represents an ancient time, a prehistory before an epochal milestone.  And while I'm fairly certainly we won't be birthing the Messiah in the next 24 hours, we enter a new era nonetheless.  No matter how exciting the new age will be, today is a moment to reflect on the age that ends.

2 B.C.: Trench Warfare

Monday is the day, or so we think. It’s been pushed back so many times I’m having trouble getting psyched about it. But now, there are no more plans to revise or permits to acquire. No more contractor schedules to dovetail, at least for the demo. Just over two months after we thought we were starting, Monday is it. Amazingly, we still have things to do to be ready for Day 0.

Forecastinating: Presidential Names

Every four years, millions of dollars are spent and endless polls tallied in the quest to determine who will win the U.S. Presidential race. Sadly, all of this would be unnecessary by applying just a smidge of Forecastinating, which tells us a simple truth: The winner of the U.S. Presidential race will be the person with the longer name… (usually).

Intro to Forecastinating

One aspect of my work as a transit planning consultant involves forecasting ridership on a rail or bus line 25 years into the future. You can imagine the inherent inaccuracy of this. Yet we still do it, in part because it is necessary to at least attempt to plan for the future, but mainly because getting paid to predict the future is pretty cool.

3 B.C.: It's All About The Woodrows

Up through the middle of the 20th century, the U.S. printed bills in denominations up to $100,000 - the Woodrow Wilson.  With Demolition Day fast approaching, my wife and I huddled up to review the finances for our little remodeling endeavor.  Yikes.  A few Woodrows lying around the house would come in handy right now.

"More"

Like any parent, my kids are an endless source of pride for my wife and me.  And the infinite ways they are adorable, kind-hearted, intelligent, or hilarious will no doubt be the topic of future posts.  But one particular piece of cuteness has stuck with me over the last couple weeks.

4 B.C.: Harder to Breathe

Out for a jog the other day, iPhone - that sage master of the 21st century - randomized to Maroon 5's  "Harder to Breathe," which felt like an apt metaphor for this time in our lives.  Every day closer to construction feels like a little less oxygen left in the tank.