Marko's recent experiences in having the chicken coop set up in the side yard have led him to muse on how nice it would be to have a little writing shack somewhere on the property. You know, a teeny barebones shed, free of the distractions of kids, dogs, and hot & cold running internets where he could get some wordsmithing done in austere surroundings.
Somebody reminded him that he'd want some insulation, given the climate around Castle Frostbite. Another person piped up with suggestions for windows. Eleven comments in, they just about had the thing plumbed & wired and were seriously eying a second story.
I blame Bob Vila.
Reference the story of UNIX and the bikeshed.
ReplyDeleteWhy should I care what color the bikeshed is?
I realized that my dreams of a "writers shack" were rediculous about the time I mentally added a "thinking room" (aka bathroom). AC is a given since I live in Florida. But NO CABLE... I draw the line at cable TV.... oh.... maybe just a little bit.
ReplyDeleteSEE?!?! Que imposeble!
s
The second story is Marko's job....
ReplyDeleteSigh, if you let in the wiring, the internets will sneak in behind it. They are sneaky, those internets, they don't even need wires now in some places.
ReplyDeleteMy Writing shed will be made out of brick.
ReplyDeleteStupid wolf...
Are your sure just Bob Villa? I'd blame Norm Abrams & co. myself...
ReplyDeleteSorry everyone, Tbolt just won the internets for today
ReplyDeleteNJT,
ReplyDelete"My Writing shed will be made out of brick.
Stupid wolf..."
So, it'll be a little red Writing shed? :D
Thoreau had the same sort of issues designing Walden.
ReplyDeletegvi
Planing; the most socially acceptable form of procrastination.
ReplyDeleteA prefab garden shed from Home Despot can be assembled in a couple hours by any two people who are not handicapped or absolute morons. Add some insulation and plywood indoors and it's a snug little hideaway, add a Jotul stove and it's an all-winter retreat.
ReplyDelete@Global Village Idiot -
ReplyDeleteYou are forgeting that not only did Thoreau have the same sort of issues designing Walden, he had the fortune of convincing a significant number of people to subsidize not only the building but the maintenance and keep of the little cabin in the woods. I am experiencing difficulty believing that Marko will suffer the same.
stay safe.
Maybe there is a design you could use, or just borrow. Like Ted Kaczynski's shack in the woods.
ReplyDeleteWhat is important is the same as writing well. Put in everything *required* to tell the story or provide the desired environment, but not a word or object or feature past that. Then edit out the extras and distractions.
Start with an outline, "sell" it to a "publisher" (run it past one of the kid's at Lowe's for a quick quote on prices; take not of any hesitations, questions, or comments like "Huh, never saw anyone use 1x2's to make a wall before."), and express the design in reality.
And if the thing does get painted red, I suggest naming it a TamShack.
Hmm. sounds like he's trying to be Arthur Two-sheds Jackson.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjS3gzHetA
And if the thing does get painted red, I suggest naming it a TamShack.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a "Tam-o-Shanty?"
gvi
All that austerity crap is nice until you decide you don't want to be austere. It's man's innate nature to "improve the position". That's why we don't live in skin huts.
ReplyDeleteHey, we all want to help!
ReplyDeleteLife on Walden's Pond ain't gonna happen no more...
ReplyDeleteWhen the main office spaces at Flat State U were being renovated (first time since the T. Roosevelt administration), the grad student herd in my department proposed leasing six or seven Morgan (TM) portable barns/ sheds in the university colors (readily available), running power cables to them, and using those as office space. Close, quick, cheap, and easy for students to locate. The Dept. Chair liked the idea but the dean nixed it; something about aesthetics. I think he was jealous.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
@ Anon 9:08,
ReplyDeleteThe dean's issue might have been with the concept of "temporary".
Back in WWII the US military put up a lot of temporary buildings, mostly wood, long, some two stories, standard proportions, standard spacing between.
Thirty and fifty years later, many of those temporary buildings were still in use, I suspect a surprising number still are.
Buildings are sorta like budgets. they are the foundations that empire builders use, and never lightly given up (they allow the next schmuck over to expand their territory).
Especially if the temporary buildings were durable, this posed to hazard that they would persist in use past the completion of renovations; and likely cut into the department's budget at that time, as some stature-grabber proposes raiding the dean's budget to replace or upgrade the temporary buildings for some grand and memorable use.
Just as tenure is grudgingly extended, "temporary" buildings pose a risk to the entrenched establishment. It would have been better to recommend marble mausoleums, that after the renovations were completed could be used for the ashes of particularly generous alumni and former cheerleaders.