So I've not done a very good job of keeping this page up to date...lots of changes, both good and bad, stealing my time and keeping me away.

In the meantime I've started posting some photos on Flickr...take a look at my page there for some more recent work.

Posted at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)

Long time, no post...it's been busy.

Went into the city to watch the NYC marathon this year. The runners are, as always, amazing and inspirational...

And the spectators put on a pretty good show too:

(I swear this scene could be lifted from a Hollywood set, but it's real!)

Posted at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)

Now that things are finally getting under control with the house and job (although the job remains crazy and the house needs a new roof), I'm finding time to get back to one of my passions--food! Tonight was pizza from scratch, using my own sourdough-boosted variant on the quick crust recipe from the Berkeley Cheeseboard (the purveyor of, IMO, the best non-traditional pizza ever). It's not that hard to throw together and pretty quick, actually, especially when you keep the toppings simple--tonight, mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, roasted grape tomatos, and basil.

The convection oven in my new kitchen does such a good job with these that they were almost too pretty to eat. I compromised by pulling out the camera and preserving the visual appeal for posterity before indulging directly in the gustatory appeal!

Posted at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)

I've been completely consumed for the last few weeks with repairs on the new house and moving in. Despite the painters running a week behind schedule, the fan distributor shipping the wrong bathroom fans, running out of heating oil, and an exploding water filter, I think I'm finally starting to settle in. It'll be even better when the painters finish and I can move into the other half of the house. In the meantime, I'm loving the big spaces, fabulous kitchen, and the woodland setting.

What I'm not loving, however, is cold showers in the mornings. I think I've narrowed the problem down to the mixing valve--the water stays lukewarm no matter where I set the handle. Unfortunately, the valve is made by Waterworks, a company whose entire existence seems to be predicated around being as pretentious as possible. They only sell through their eponymous boutiques--no chance of ordering a new valve online--and worse, while they supply CAD drawings and installation instructions online, the text seems to be designed to be intentionally unhelpful. I mean, they could say "screw on" instead of "set up", couldn't they, saving someone 10 minutes of trying to figure out how two pieces are attached? Ah well. At least they look nice.

(And here I thought I had left my hot water problems behind when I moved. At least this one I can fix--the joys of homeownership!)

Posted at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)