Monthly Archives: August 2005

Unfiltered Iraqi Progress Reports

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If you are not reading Michael
Yon’s Online Magazine Blog, you need to be. Michael Yon is a free-lance writer embedded with an Army unit in Iraq. He is completely self financed (with the help of donations) and so is not beholden to deadlines or editorial oversight.

What is included in his reports is strictly a grounds eye view of a combat unit in Iraq. The material is thrilling and confusing. Why aren’t we hearing similar reports from the MSM?

I have included his blog link in my blogroll to the right.

Max is 5! (aka Batman)

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Holy
cow, my baby is growing up (sniff). We are all returning from Planet Birthday, after
3 consecutive days of parties and celebrations. Friday we played at the park with
some good friends (who brought cupcakes and a present) and that night we had a great
dinner with Auntie Kelly and Uncle Ray (of course, more treats – s’mores – and presents).
Saturday was the ‘all boys’ Batman party, which including swimming, lots and lots
of running, a pinata, cupcakes, presents and fun party toys. Sunday lunch was with
our family at Andria’s restaurant in Ventura, and after some good food, some ‘stomp
rocket-ing’, more cupcakes and s’mores – there were more presents! Whew! We are so
blessed by family and friends; thank you God.

ARB Final Approval But Back to Planning Commission (maybe)

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Last night we received final approval for our project for the ARB. The vote was 2-1 in favor with our architect, Bill Araluce, abstaining (of course). One of the Board Members, Wade Nomura, who had previously been a supporter of our project, was not present for our presentation. The same ARB member, Gary McCarty, who opposed us in the previous meeting continued to oppose our project due to its ‘massing’ on the west side.

One potential problem, though. When we went to the Planning Commission (and previous ARB meetings), the plans called for 8 foot ceilings on the second floor. One of our original design specifications was for 9 foot ceilings on the second floor (or in the jargon, a 9 foot plate). Unbeknownst to me, the architect lowered the plate height from 9 feet to 8 feet in order to lower the overall building height to 27 1/2 feet. When I found out about the change, I explained to him that a 9 foot plate was a greatly desired feature. So he altered the plans when submitting to the city.

The new Community Development Director, Jackie Campbell, stated that she would be discussing with other staff members whether or not the additional 12 inches of building height (now 28 1/2 feet) warranted a return to the Planning Commission for our project. If so, I believe we would be scheduled for the September meeting. To my ears, she sounded like she was personally against the new height of the building. But it is very possible that my biases were reading into her words, that which was not there. It irritates me to no end that although the City’s Municipal Code calls out a 30
foot building height maximum for my zone (and all other zones, as far as I can
tell), that there is so much concern over the 28 1/2 foot height of our proposal.
If the maximum is 30 feet and the ARB has said that our design is acceptable, I don’t
see that any one can arbitrarily say that 28 1/2 feet is too high. So, I will await
the City’s decision on whether we will re-visit the Planning Commission. At
our previous meeting we had a unanimous approval, but as I recorded before, 3
of 4 expressed ‘concerns over the size’ of the project. So, it is up in the air. If
we do run into problems with the Planning Commission, my brother-in-law Ray
Chandler (the family attorney) has graciously offered to help out in any appeal. I hope it does not come to that.

Hallelujah! It Is A Sinus Infection

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After too many nights of 5-6 wakeups, Toby took Weezy to the doctor. It turns out she has a sinus infection. Whew! It is good to know that she had something physically wrong that can be fixed. She got a prescription of anti-biotics and after about day 4 of the 10 day regimen, she is sleeping through the night (in 6 hour blocks at least).

Max received a package via UPS last night from Granmille. We opened the shipping box and there was a beautifully wrapped present for his upcoming birthday. He of course wanted to open it right away, but we told him it was for his birthday on Friday. He has seen other presents that we are holding and has been OK to wait, so we didn’t think there would be a problem. We were wrong. He cried and cried and cried and told us at least 3 times that he didn’t want to have any birthday party at all. Finally he calmed down and is anxious for Friday.

And last but not least, we have our final (hopefully) Architural Review Board meeting on Thursday (tomorrow) night. I say hopefully, because in the course of getting our design approved, our architect lowered the ceiling height of the new second floor from 9 feet to 8 feet. He did this to lower the overall height of the addition. But he didn’t tell us about this, and so we asked him to re-incorporate the 9 foot ceiling since the engineering had been done based on 9 foot ceilings. The city’s height limit is 30 feet, and the new height of the addition is 28.5 feet, so you would think there would not be a problem. But the city planner has asked the ARB for review of the new height.

Bad Guys?

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This Saturday, Max is having his 5 year birthday party with about a dozen of his young friends. Max early on let us know that he wanted a Batman themed party. So we have purchased plates, napkins, cups, favors, etc. all with some sort of a Batman picture on it. We even have a pinata of Batman’s head.

This past weekend, Max asked me why I didn’t have a Batman birthday party when I was a little boy. Max knows that I my favorite superhero is Superman. He asked me why I liked Superman. I responded that I like Superman because ‘Superman fights for Truth, Justice and the American Way’. Max looked directly into my eyes and asked, ‘Are those the bad guys?’