Britain v. America: Views on Critical Issues
According to this, I am much more British than American. No surprise.
More from The Economist: [via Reddit]
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DIY prefab, baby
Our little family will be soon moving to our new house on E. Zia Road, and as commodious as it is, I don't have an office/studio space to work in. So for the time being, I'll be working in a provisional setup in the guest room while I complete the design for my new office space which will be a custom converted lean-to storage shed made by TuffShed (www.tuffshed.com). We researched a bunch of the new crop of ship-ready prefab modern buildings that are available, but honestly, they are all still too expensive. One criticism I have of most that I have seen is that the designs themselves are a little too precious, and do not lend themselves to the DIY "modder" (someone who has a circular saw, a drill, some paint brushes, but not much more...like me). There is nothing inherently wrong with 2x4's and plywood, and these mundane materials can become something pretty special in the right plucky hands (like mine).
The first design I am working on (seen here) is a combination storage shed and office space, made from a single 12'x32' Tuffshed. These were drawn using Adobe Illustrator, which is the poor man's AutoCad. One of the ideas we have is to create interior walls from the backyard fence which we are planning to replace with a different design. This size Tuffshed will probably cost about $11,000 with a few options like barn doors, 2x2 windows, vents, etc., whereas many if not all of the fancy-pants modern prefab buildings we've seen start at $30,000 and that's without shipping, siteprep, and assembly labor (which probably doubles the price, depending on locale). Tuffsheds are manufactured only an hour away from Santa Fe, and are shipped on a flatbed and assembled on site in an afternoon by 3 Tuffshed tuffguys - all included in the one price. I reckon I'll spend another $2,000 on the interior, another $2,000 on electrical and networking, and about 100 hours of my time, so we'll have a 384sf building for about $15,000, and a fun summer project to boot. Should be completed by late summer, and I'll be sure to post progress images.
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Reader Comments (3)
You arent British, you are sane
I am startled to find how mainstream I am. More so, when I read your “about me ... ” and I realized that on top of mainstream, I am—all right, not old—but aging. As if that is significantly different.
The thing about no longer being—let’s say—young, is that I am starting to look for rapid answers. To all that ails us as a country, a race (the human), and a world. This may be in recognition of the fact that there is likely more behind than ahead, tho’ in my case not much less ahead, I believe.
The aging, tired, mainstreamer that I am wants to say that all can be solved by the free distribution of all information and knowledge. Consumerism, not so much, tho' I still like stuff. Conveniently, making books allows me to feel a part of the solution, rather than the problem.
I think I will add you to my blogroll so that I remember to read you regularly. Please feel free to take a gander at my blog.
For the record—in re: your top-left survey question—I can’t get my mind around no beginning. No end is fine. But there had to be something to kick it all off, right?
stephen,
i think it's natural to become more reflective as you age (it is the case for me). i, too, like stuff. there's a lot of "good stuff" out there to consume, and sometimes it's even life-enhancing. but "stuff" will never replace real human experience. think of two broad categories of things: tools and toys. we need tools to perform the tasks of living, we desire toys to mitigate the stresses of life's realities. both are valid. the degree to which we respectively consume them is an individual thing, and much can be ascertained about where one is in life by the tools and toys he/she posseses.
i have recently experienced great personal loss, and what am i doing other than grieving? shopping online. there you have it.
thanks for writing. and i will definitely check out your blog.
g