Hayward

Reminds me a lot of Ann Arbor. Of course we don't have that beautiful backdrop of scenery. Looks young, vibrant, and exciting.

I haven't gone camping since I was a kid, nor have I been to the Indiana dunes. Sounds like a great idea, especially since I'm doing zilch for the next two months.

This was common in many tenement/small apartments in large buildings back then. All plumbing runs to a waterwall or chase and branches off from there. Back then it didn't make much sense to have pipes running in absurd directions to reach distant fixtures, unless you were living it up. I have the same thing with the bathroom door right in the kitchen. In fact, the bathroom door has a glass window which I quickly covered for my guest's privacy. I also have a switch problem. The kitchen light must be turned on in the bathroom. Bah.....

I can't remember a time I've ever lost my wallet, but even if I did, I have my bank's number right in my cellphone and written down near my computer at home so that I can call them right away. I have it also set up with my bank so that my checking account is secure against any unauthorized use. So even if I get my debit card stolen and I'm wiped out, I can get all the money back at no fee. As for the credit cards, I'm only responsible for like $50 or something. I HAVE had my identity stolen from a hacked ATM once though in Chicago. The crazy thing was so did my friend and my ex-gf from the same machine a week earlier! Whoever stole my identity tried to make a $1800 purchase at a Target in Plano, TX. The target employee was suspicious of the customer, and so was the bank who denied the transaction (Nat City). The person was arrested at the store. As for the ATM, I gave it a pretty good kick the next time I saw it a few weeks later. About a month later, it was removed.

That skit made me laugh hysterically.

^ The obligatory tiny kitchen. I feel your pain. I can barely make a bowl of cereal in mine.

Cross post with the budget and saving thread.

They must. My hometown shares its mistakes, but I went to high school in an affluent suburb and they kept their school buildings in immaculate condition. My high school was constructed shortly after world war II. It had ceramic glazed block and wooden doors and framing. All of it still looked incredibly brand new. Even what we always thought was the asbestos tiled ceiling never had any stains from roof leaks. Similar mid-century structures located in struggling cities looked they had been neglected for decades length with demolition the only solution. I guess modernism can only put up with so much. Yet it's surprising how early century architecture can withstand abuse and even abandonment and continue to remain intact for years. It's interesting I never really thought about architecture of my own schools all that much during those days, yet I would pursue this field in college. You think I would have been staring more at the building than paying attention to class. I think I was too busy playing games on my graphing calculator. Rocked the TI-83 baby! I know people here at least under the age of 30 used them. Most durable calculators. We used to have open campus for lunch, but it was a race downtown to beat everyone else. This dude jumps out the window from calculus class, sets his stuff up on top his car but forgets it once inside. Hits the gas and dumps the academic load on the road, calculator included. A small car runs it over, yet the calculator survived with only a scratch at the corner of the casing. Man does this thread make me ramble.

Don't know why, but my early Tuesday mornings are always better when I can catch the garbage truck below in the alley and throw my garbage out my third floor window into the hole in the top. The only time I missed was when I tossed a bag full of cardboard I was too lazy to recycle....too much air resistance.

What an amazing park in those shots!

Or use their deposit to pay the insurance deductible. BTW, I just checked the listing for the above burned house. It was recently taken off during the fire. But repairs have been completed and it has been re-listed at a lower price for $899,000. I think it was once slightly over $1 million.

My landlords have said the parties are the least of their worries. They are more concerned with people's hair clogging drains in bathrooms, or someone leaving a poorly extinguished cigarette on the porch....which is ironic, because one week later after that discussion this happened across the street:

Rob, you should invest in two historic rental homes for sale down the street from me in Ann Arbor. Combined rents bring in $80,000/year on both properties. Both properties are guaranteed to rent out naturally without the need of posting ads, and most landlords in these parts hire management agencies to take care of repairs and maintenance. And of course, U of M students are not rowdy party people. I remember my senior year we had over 400 people show up at our party. We had one spilled drink on the floor, but the person had actually made an attempt to clean it up. This was a pretty old house, and I've notice that at numerous house parties that the joists were reinforced with modern steel beams. It seems the weight can get pretty heavy when you cram over a hundred people in a house.

It's crazy nowadays. Two years ago, when I was interning for an architecture firm, I found a niche position for a few weeks drawing up CD's for security entrances for high schools. Metal detectors, surveillance control centers, even a small detention room. It was scary, the facilities they were calling for rivaled most county or federal buildings. I don't know what to think. Schools nowadays already look like prisons with all the CMU block, metal roofs, and narrow windows.

I wish they'd reinstall all that dangerous playground equipment. Screw safety, that stuff was way more phone. Kids need to learn life doesn't always have its safety nets. My favorites were: 1. Those large steel bar domes 2. Concrete culverts. In the winter, water would get inside and turn to ice making it 10X fun. 3. 13 foot high swings. Man those days in elementary school swinging real high with the boom box playing some early 90's hip-hop between us. Our school would actually allow it on the playground. 4. "The House" Steel bar chimneys and slat walls. I can only imagine what falling down that 10 foot steel chimney would be like. I rarely remember kids getting hurt. I remember one kid maybe fell and bit his tongue. He walked back into the cafeteria during lunch recess with blood dripping from his mouth. I was in line receiving my government meal and very impressed. I could have a whole debate about playground safety, but that can go in a separate thread.

I never really thought about it, but I really can't tell who is Jamie Foxx or T-Pain in that song. Always thought T-Pain was on the hook where that line is said. That's terrible. Look what vocalizers have done to music. Actually, I'm just going to blame it all on Milli Vanilli. "blame it on the rain......"

Indianapolis is a city. A great one too!

Wow, late to the party on this. I had to write a final paper on trains vs auto travel. I did cite O'Toole on a few things (obviously the anti-rail side), and the more I read his stuff, the more I hated his stance. Surprisingly he is pretty tame in the article posted here. Some of his other works get ugly. He is right on a few things. Rail is unlikely to ever be ECONOMICALLY justified in the United States. Never Never Never. However, rail investment in the US is worth it in the long run because it begins to provide new travel options, allows easy access to downtowns, prevents us from widening freeways, provides increased economic benefits to urban centers. O'Toole's arguments are always the same, ignore them if you choose. Keep in mind rail advocates have some flimsy facts to bring to the table as well. Both parties fail to consider every little detail within the debate, but don't we all. Overall, I think rail will be worth it in the end. I don't think Obama's planned high speed rail corridor will be successful, but it's not supposed to be. Rather, it's the first step toward something better. Eventually the US will have even HIGHER speed corridors stretching from city to city. That will be one of our greatest achievements.

Love the trees!

Don't quote T-Pain, he needs no more credit.

Well, both cities DO have buildings. Buildings are essential to creating things called "cities." Up here in Michigan, we lack buildings, therefore we also lack real cities. I wish Detroit was a city.......

Yeah...I hear you drive there just for dinner all the way from Dayton. Great photos Zach

It would take me forever to finish a calculus exam. Otherwise, I can still do math in my head as well as on paper. :) A calculator usually doesn't help on a calculus exam, as you have to show your work step by step. On my calculus exams in high school the calculator helped a lot and there were some things that we didn't need to show our work for. In graphing calculators you could also program in notes and stuff, so I could just put the step by step instructions in. yeah but you had to start from the BOTTOM So true, my dad started off being a foundry worker to manager of organizational effectiveness. I don't know what that is....basically a global consultant of some sorts. Quite a few rungs on that company ladder to climb

Well, I'm part of the non-spoiled under 30 crowd. I work 26 hours / week, plus full time in grad school. I may not own a home, which cuts out a lot of work, but when I would go home during summers in my undergrad years, I did just about all the yardwork since both my parents held down demanding jobs, and my dad would teach online classes when he got home from work while my mom cooked, and cleaned house. I feel like my story is becoming increasingly common, which may debunk your theory all-together.

Yeah, it's unfortunate, but it's tied closely to the type of renter demographic. Much of the University of Michigan's student body is out of state from high wealth areas on the East or West Coasts. As a result, developers and landlords know students will be accustomed to paying more. The good news is that if I move to a more expensive city, I won't be surprised by high rents. I wish I could pay $300/month in rent, but that would get me nothing here in Ann Arbor. The cheapest units I could ever find here in the city were $450/month.....where I'd share essentially a run down unit with 4 other people. 1 bedrooms at the very minimum start at $700 but are typically far from campus. If you are about a block or two from campus, I'd expect to pay about $1100/month (with no parking available). The worst priced units I found in Ann Arbor's South U district were $6000/month "at the center of everything" with a fitness center and underground parking, and "loft style" interiors (exposed concrete ceilings, ductwork, etc. These loft style student housing I guess are the next big thing, and the proposals have come pouring in to the city planning department.