We’ve all been hearing a lot lately about the real estate market cooling off. That may be true for some people – but not for the Baby Boomers, and definitely not for second or even third home sales.

CNN reported this week that second home sales were up a whopping 16% in 2005. In fact, second home sales represented 40% of all home sales. Those figures came from a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on April 24. “The baby boom generation is driving second home sales — they’re at the peak of their earnings, interest rates remain historically low and boomers want to diversify investments….” according to the NAR’s chief economist, David Lereah.

The report goes on to profile the typical second homebuyer as someone about 52 years old with earnings of around $83,000. They choose a vacation home that is near recreational areas such as beaches, mountains, or golf courses. The NAR expects that “Vacation-home sales will remain strong for the foreseeable future given the fact that baby boomers are favorably positioned in terms of affordability, as well as being at the stage in life when people are most interested in making that kind of a lifestyle purchase.”

Here in Charlottesville we have the recreational areas and attractions that make this a favorite vacation spot. In fact, some folks who come here for vacation end up staying year round for our temperate climate, our rolling hills, and our great golf, tennis, and other outdoor activities.

Retirement home or vacation getaway place, look to Charlottesville for the home of your dreams. Start by checking the listings on my web site, and then head for the hills…of Central Virginia.

This Sunday and Monday nights, the UVA College Republicans will be participated in a literature drop for Charlottesville City Councilman Rob Schilling. We intend on meeting up at 9:00 PM and working for a couple hours, with plenty of time for sleep left over. Anyone with a car would be greatly appreciated. Contact Chairman Amber VerValin (amber.vervalin@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

It has taken me roughly seven or so years, but I have finally managed to see every episode of Farscape ever produced (excepting “Farscape Undressed,” but I have at least scanned the transcript and it’s not technically an episode, anyways). I had already read the transcript for “The Way We Weren’t.” I had looked at screencaps, read reviews . . . but I had never actually seen the episode until last night. It was produced at a time when I wasn’t really into the show. I would have caught a rerun of it earlier except The SciFi Channel posted the wrong episode listing when it ran a Farscape marathon, and so I recorded some other episode instead.

It took seven long years for me to finally see it yet . . .

“The Way We Weren’t” was worth the wait.

Today after class I went to a viewing of the JAPN 202 final class projects. Each group had to do a fifteen minute video presentation. They were actually pretty good, and I could follow the stories even though I couldn’t understand much of the Japanese. At first, this was a little worrying. Then I realized if I could travel back in time to the beginning of the school year and speak to myself in the Japanese I know now, my former self wouldn’t understand much (i.e. absolutely nothing) either, so I stopped worrying after that.

Anyways, one of the groups did “Sekai de doko ni Sandiego Michiko?” (I think that was the title). It was modeled after “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” I thought it was funny and very well done. It was one of my favorites, particularly since I used to play the game “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” on our very first computer (yes, kiddies, before the internet was born!). Ironically, that also happened to be when I lived in Japan.

I had my last Japanese class today (for this semester). Hard to believe it’s over so soon. Now I’ve just got to survive the oral interview, the final exam, and finally the hardest part: remembering it all.

れんしゅう、れんしゅう、れんしゅう！

Some scientists have succeeded in creating an insect-type eye. Very cool: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Insect eye inspires future vision.

Some scientists have succeeded in creating an insect-type eye. Very cool: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Insect eye inspires future vision.

I took the Wired 14.05: The Carbon Quiz and came up with a rough score of 14431, so I’m pretty green. I don’t drive a lot (in over 3 years I’ve managed only 25k on my car) and I don’t fly long distances a lot.

I took the Wired 14.05: The Carbon Quiz and came up with a rough score of 14431, so I’m pretty green. I don’t drive a lot (in over 3 years I’ve managed only 25k on my car) and I don’t fly long distances a lot.

While looking at the source code for Capistrano today, I came across a nice idiom for making class-level accessors:

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class Actor  
  class << self
    attr_accessor :connection_factory
    attr_accessor :command_factory
    attr_accessor :transfer_factory
    attr_accessor :default_io_proc
  end

  self.connection_factory = DefaultConnectionFactory
  self.command_factory = Command
  self.transfer_factory = Transfer
end

Now you can use these class-level accessors:

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Actor.connection_factory
Actor.command_factory
…

While looking at the source code for Capistrano today, I came across a nice idiom for making class-level accessors:

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class Actor  
  class << self
    attr_accessor :connection_factory
    attr_accessor :command_factory
    attr_accessor :transfer_factory
    attr_accessor :default_io_proc
  end

  self.connection_factory = DefaultConnectionFactory
  self.command_factory = Command
  self.transfer_factory = Transfer
end

Now you can use these class-level accessors:

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Actor.connection_factory
Actor.command_factory
…

As a close friend of mine said yesterday:

Imagine finding out that you can’t get to certain websites because they are hosted by someone competing with your ISP. Or you have to pay extra to not have those sites slowed down when you access them. Or you can no longer use Skype for free because your ISP is blocking it and expecting you to pay them $20/mo for voice over IP service.

The big telecommunications companies are all trying to do this NOW. This is not some bizarre sci-fi future – this huge step backwards is actually being fought for in Congess NOW. So please write your representatives. The website Jamie mentions is a good start, but you will be much more effective if you use the forms on your senators’ sites, or actually mail a written letter.

Write and call your Senators and Congressperson today. Don’t wait. You can also go here to sign a petition.

As a close friend of mine said yesterday:

Imagine finding out that you can’t get to certain websites because they are hosted by someone competing with your ISP. Or you have to pay extra to not have those sites slowed down when you access them. Or you can no longer use Skype for free because your ISP is blocking it and expecting you to pay them $20/mo for voice over IP service.

The big telecommunications companies are all trying to do this NOW. This is not some bizarre sci-fi future – this huge step backwards is actually being fought for in Congess NOW. So please write your representatives. The website Jamie mentions is a good start, but you will be much more effective if you use the forms on your senators’ sites, or actually mail a written letter.

Write and call your Senators and Congressperson today. Don’t wait. You can also go here to sign a petition.

“This idiot here goes ‘No, it’s a head’!”

I have never seen a ventriloquist before my brother made me watch Jeff Dunham but darn, that guy is hilarious.

Wilco and Soccer
100 % Ridiculous

After attending the Wilco concert yesterday, I have realized that the best way to explain why Wilco is so good is by using a soccer metaphor. Actually, this is just the sort of thing that is likely to occur in the strange and disorienting experience that is being John Welsh.

Many soccer formations are based around the use of one player who serves as ‘fantasista.’ Look for them this summer at the World Cup, most of them wear number 10.

While the other players stick to a fairly rigid formation, the fantasista has no defined job. Or rather, he has only one job, which is to make the opposition’s formation fall apart. He does this by constantly moving around and often occupying places where he really shouldn’t be. His positioning and passing are unpredictable, designed with the sole purpose of pushing opposition players out of their comfort zone. In contrast, the fantasista always knows that his teammates will always be just where they should be, just where he expects them to be.

This is how Wilco operates in a live concert. The majority of the band keeps formation, playing very basically structured sequences and creating a very strong sense of key. Over that, one play attempts to make everything fall apart. His name is Nels Cline– which actually sounds a bit like some sort of Scandanavian playmaker.

It is different from traditional improvisation as he is seemingly unobliged to follow the band in terms of tempo, key, tone, or style. Rather than contributing to the operation of the song, it is almost as though he is attempting to make it fall apart. He plays his guitar as though he knows it so well he has forgotten what it is supposed to do. It’s a bit like the scene in Spinal Tap when Nigel attempts to play a guitar with a violin– like that except simply spectacular. Sometimes it sounded like an airplane taking off, but Tweedy and the other band members just kept playing the song, and eventually Nels would refind them exactly where he knew that they would be.

Although Wilco have been doing this kind of thing on the past two or three albums, Nels seems to be a new addition; and it looks like they have just signed a killer new number 10, who was easily the most dynamic performer on the stage yesterday. The new stuff sounded good, really good; and makes Wilco’s next effort the album I am most excited about.

I was practicing my Japanese skit just now, and I was doing it the normal way. I was basically repeating the same sentences over and over to drum it into my brain. The point is to forget about what you’re saying and so be able to say the words without thinking. But when I relaxed my control even for a second, I realized that I was messing up this one sentence.

The sentence is this: “Soshite, kyoo wa shiken wo yasumimashita kara, ashita no jugyoo no ato de watashi no ofisu ni kite, shiken wo shinakuchaikemasen yo.”

It means: “And then, because you missed a test today, you must come to my office tomorrow and do the test.”

Except I kept on wanting to say, “shiken wa muzukashikatta kara” which means, “because the test was difficult.” It wasn’t conscious. In fact, the words “yasumimashita” and “muzukashikatta” don’t even sound that similar. I’ve never confused them before. And then it hit me.

I’m just used to connecting the words “test” and “difficult.”

This says something about college life. Let me think . . .

Tonight I saw Wilco at the Pavilion here in Charlottesville. Great show. I’m not a huge fan of recorded Wilco. I like some of their songs and find myself fast-forwarding over others. Still, they are an interesting band, though Tweedy obviously has a lot of noise in his head in addition to the music. Sometimes it works and sometimes it seems like he needs to have it on too many songs.

They are a band to see live. The material from the newest album was much better live than recorded. Some tracks were quite amazing live (“Spider” comes to mind). Fantastic, though I agree with outskirts that people who aren’t at the show shouldn’t have to hear the show in their own homes!

Tonight I saw Wilco at the Pavilion here in Charlottesville. Great show. I’m not a huge fan of recorded Wilco. I like some of their songs and find myself fast-forwarding over others. Still, they are an interesting band, though Tweedy obviously has a lot of noise in his head in addition to the music. Sometimes it works and sometimes it seems like he needs to have it on too many songs.

They are a band to see live. The material from the newest album was much better live than recorded. Some tracks were quite amazing live (“Spider” comes to mind). Fantastic, though I agree with outskirts that people who aren’t at the show shouldn’t have to hear the show in their own homes!

Excellent 89%

Actually I don’t feel much like doing a review today, as I need my analytical prowess for paper writing. But I am going to a Wilco concert tonight, so I thought I should put up something about them. Very well-know, and deservedly so– Wilco is both innovative and well-rooted in the musical tradition. The recent sequence of albums stretching including Summer Teeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrol, and A Ghost is Born are all excellent and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. They would all be around 88 or 89, although A Ghost is Born gets a bit ‘phishy’ at parts. I chose this one because I wanted to do “I am trying to break your heart” which is some wonderful gibberish.