I’ve been on sabbatical this semester, but I start teaching again next semester. I am hoping against hope that the following is not the experience of my students.
Dec 11 2008
Dividing the promised land part 2
This is about our adventures in dividing a 5 acre lot into two 2.5 acre lots, in San Bernardino County in southern California. It will include human folly, financial folly, governmental folly, economic folly, and environmental folly. Plenty of folly to go around. If you missed it, this post will make a lot more sense if you read Part 1 first.
So, we hired a real estate agent to help us through the land subdivision process. We were starting this about 2 years ago, when the real estate boom was in full flower, and everybody was very busy, including our agent, all the county offices and employees involved, and all the private companies the county engages to perform certain services for it. So, initially, we waited.
Then we waited some more.
What we didn’t know is that while we were waiting, the prices for every aspect of the process were going up, eventually reaching about $20,000, instead of the $14,000-$15,000 we were told initially.
Dec 10 2008
Dividing the promised land part 1
This is about our adventures in dividing a 5 acre lot into two 2.5 acre lots, in San Bernardino County in southern California. It will include human folly, financial folly, governmental folly, economic folly, and environmental folly. Plenty of folly to go around.
My family and I live on the south half of the 5 acre lot. The lot is defined as “sub-dividable” by the county. We bought it 6 years ago, had a house built on it, assuming that we could subdivide it when we chose, and either sell the other half, or build on the other half, then sell it.
You know what they say about assumptions.
We moved into the house a little more than 4 years ago. As you may recall, the go-go real estate market was in full swing. When we began to check into it, we discovered that the cost to subdivide the property into two separate lots was estimated at $14,000 – $15,000. Wow. Who knew? We asked why, and were told about all the things that “had to be done” before the lot could be divided.
“But,” we protested, “we just bought the lot, and built on it. Environmental studies were already done. Drainage has been determined. Percolation tests have been done.” (Those are necessary to determine that the ground will tolerate a septic tank, since it’s a pretty remote area.) We continued, “And the survey was just done to determine the exact limits of the property before we were allowed to buy it. All you have to do is draw a line down the middle of it. Nothing has changed in the last six years.”
The county employee smiled condescendingly and explained that it all had to be done again. I asked why, and was told, “It’s the state law for part of it, and county regulations for the rest of it.” Did I mention that it was going to be $14,000 – $15,000 to get all this stuff done again?
Basically, we were staying in Judah, and wanted to sell Israel. Unfortunately, the Assyrians run the county, and the Babylonians run the state. We could wait for Sharia Law to take over, and pay the jizya, or we could just bite the bullet and pay tribute now.
Nov 23 2008
Armed sheep
You know you need a laugh.
I’d rather be the wolf… and the last time I looked, wolves sneak up on sheep, they don’t vote.
UPDATE: Of course, some of those democratic wolves DO seem to have snuck up on us lately.
Nov 14 2008
A bit late for Veteran’s Day, but worth the wait
Since my fellow blogger is a trombonist, I really couldn’t resist.
Nov 04 2008
“A twisted dollop of evil scum”: the man has a way with words
ABC News’ Jake Tapper reports (h/t InstaPundit) that Bill Ayers voted this morning at Chicago’s Shoesmith Elementary School, shortly before another “guy from his neighborhood,” Barack Obama.
I’m sure someone had the job this morning of making sure that they were never in the same room, or otherwise capable of being captured within the same camera viewfinder, at the same time.
Ayers has the legal right to vote only because law enforcement screw-ups prevented him from being prosecuted for and convicted of the multiple felonies to which he’s confessed. He remains, however, a twisted dollop of evil scum, a description that I’m quite proud will be forever associated with his name in major online search engines.
Actually, Ayers didn’t vote for Obama. He is widely believed to have planned to write in Che Guevara, with whom he shares more in common. After all, the graveyard vote is big in Chicago, and we don’t have Barry’s birth certificate, either. And Che was widely reported to have been born in the Argentine American Embassy, legally American ground, so he could qualify, too.
Nov 03 2008
What goes around comes around
Oct 30 2008
In desperation, McCain turns to illegal alien endorsements
It would appear that the McCain campaign has stooped so low that it now extorts endorsements from illegal aliens in a kind of October surprise.
In a shocking reversal with major implications for the U.S. presidential election, political kingmaker, the Alien has switched his endorsement from Barack Obama to John McCain amid furor. Both political camps are buzzing about the implications, as the Alien has correctly predicted the winning president in every election for the past 28 years.
Ongoing investigation points to Cindy McCain as being the cause for this historic shift in allegiances.
Uncovered photos suggest that in a last ditch effort to help her husband’s failing campaign, Cindy McCain seduced and then blackmailed the Alien for his endorsement.
……………. Swing state voters, who will decide this election, have the highest rate of alien abductions and UFO sightings and are known to vote in accordance with supernatural forces.
Read the entire sordid tale…. with pictures!
Oct 29 2008
Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road
I know it’s an oldie, but a friend sent it to me, and we all can use a laugh right now.
Oct 24 2008
Palestinian newspaper editorial calls for better protection for Israelis: “Criminal Neglect” of Palestinian police
In a sign of the growing freedom of the press in Palestine, a newspaper editorial has criticized the “criminal neglect” of the Palestinian police in failing to protect Israel’s citizens from Palestinian toughs.
As happens every …. holiday, tens of thousands … accepted the … invitation to take their families to visit olive groves across the country. Many participated in the harvest celebrations and heard the tale of the olive tree, the symbol of peace. And as happens every year when the olive harvest begins, dozens of youths set out…. to confront their …. neighbors. They also threatened human rights activists who volunteered to help the harvesters and beat a photographer who came to document the Sukkot riots.
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