This dates from 1977, what I affectionately call my Star Wars summer.
Yes, those are three-foot thick concrete walls. Guaranteed to keep out the desert heat. I remember showing the plans to a contractor who the firm I was working for kept on staff, and he was enthralled by the design. “You bring me the money, I will build this!”
The basic idea for this house stayed with me for years, finally morphing about fifteen years later into this variation:
No longer partially sunk into the ground, the three-foot thick concrete walls and very basic layout (with a few changes) remained. This is another house I spent so much time with inside my head it might as well have been built for how real it felt to me.
At a time when Black women were largely excluded from formal training, Mary Eliza Mahoney set a new standard for who could serve in American hospitals.
Sixteen-hour days, seven days a week, scrubbing floors, emptying bedpans, and eventually assisting nurses and doctors. For 15 years, Mary Eliza Mahoney toiled at Boston’s New England Hospital for Women and Children as a maid, cook, and washerwoman. These were the only jobs open to Black women during an era historians now darkly recall as “the nadir of American race relations.”
Despite how limited her options were, Mahoney dreamed of being at the forefront of patient care. In 1878, a 33-year-old Mahoney applied to nursing school at the hospital where she worked. Although she was two years older than the program permitted, the administrators waived the age requirement, as they’d seen years of her work.
Mahoney became the first Black professionally trained nurse in the United States and also went on to raise nursing’s standards and open its doors to other Black women, insisting that professional excellence and racial justice were inseparable.
…when I still knew how to do hand-drawn architecture—and assumed I would be living by myself the rest of my life.
It’s not a house for a family, or even a couple. It’s a single man’s home. No computer/office nook (because in 1981 no one had personal computers). It’s just a very basic, very organic living space with all natural materials: plaster walls, Saltillo tile floors, and wood deck ceilings with exposed (albeit false) vigas. It’s what always appealed to me about Santa Fe architecture. I get kind of wistful looking at these plans. I put a lot of work into them and they’re among the few surviving pencil/ink on vellum drawings in my portfolio.
This was a house I literally dreamt of somewhere around the year 2000. In the dream, it was located on Twin Peaks, overlooking downtown San Francisco, and it so impressed me that when I woke up I immediately sketched out what I remembered.
When I got around to actually drafting up the plans however, I ran into issues. I had to fudge a lot because, well…it was a dream and things didn’t exactly fit together in the real world in the same way as they did in the dream.
Lower Level
This is the level below where you actually enter the house. I called it a “retreat” because it was a combination bedroom/library/office space not meant to be a part of the public area. The bed could be placed either facing the windows overlooking The City, or on the opposite side of the low cabinet, facing perhaps a wall mounted television in the cabinets directly opposite.
Ground Level
The main entrance is at ground level. This floor contains the living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, powder room, and garage. Where the dream directly bumps up against reality is the garage. I know you could comfortably fit two vehicles in that funky arrangement, but it’s still troublesome from a design standpoint, y’know?
Upper Level
The second level contains a second full bath, a sitting area, and a guest room. The guest room cannot be closed off from the rest of the space because we don’t want people staying too long now, do we?
Street Elevation
Hillside Elevation
Right Side Elevation
Left Side Elevation
I think if I were to go back and change anything, I would have the stairways opening directly off the entrance instead of having to walk through the living room to reach them. Sadly, I no longer have an AutoCAD license and at this point I have no idea where these original files might be even if I did and had the inclination. (I know they’re archived somewhere, just not sure of where.)
today is Memorial Day. you’re going to hear a lot of mouth-farting from the Usual Republican Suspects about how much they honor and respect our nation’s fallen heroes.
they’re going to be all over social media, tweeting out the same old boilerplate platitudes about duty and sacrifice.
it’s all bullshit. the GOP fucking hates our veterans.
as always, watch what they do, not what they say.
soldiers, sailors and marines are useful props whenever some asshole wingnut needs to burnish their ‘patriot’ cred, but when it comes time to actually support them — say, by helping them when they’re in need — it’s a completely different story.
need proof? let’s go to the video tape, from July 29, 2022:
here we have a bunch of Republican Senators fist-bumping. why? because they just blocked a billthat would have expanded healthcare coverage for military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their service.
who the fuck celebrates that?
awesome job, you evil soulless hypocrites — because nothing says ‘we support our heroes’ so much as ‘just fucking die.’
fast forward to 2025. in April of that year, the Space Nazi’s merry band of pimply DOGE incels showed up at the Department of Veterans Affairs and said good news, everyone — you’re all fired. they then took a wrecking ball to the place.
right now, the VA is so understaffed that veterans calling in with need for assistance can’t get anyone to answer the phone. that’s “just fucking die” on steroids.
listen up, shitheads: if you send a person into a war zone and tell them to fight for their country, and they come back injured and permanently disabled, you fucking well take care of them — forever.
it’s basic human decency.
head-trauma poster boy Tommy Tuberville is a complete bag of shit in every way. he’s posted an eight minute video about how super fucking grateful he is for our troops. don’t bother watching it, you’ll just get stupider.
“It’s Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is about more than just grilling out by the lake. It’s a time to reflect and be grateful for the tremendous sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.”
ugh.
let’s not forget that Mr. Should Have Worn A Helmet When He Played Football single-handedly blocked all military promotions for the better part of a year. why would T-Tubes do this? because he had worked himself up into a big hissy over a Pentagon policy that paid the travel expenses of raped soldiers in need of abortions.how dare they.
but sure, Tommy — please tell us once more about how you’re “grateful for the tremendous sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.” no, wait — don’t bother.
just fuck all the way off.
here’s something that white supremacy’s middle manager, Steve Scalise, tweeted out on Veterans Day 2023:
“America is the greatest nation in the history of the world because of the bravery and sacrifices of our veterans. Join me in thanking and honoring all those who answered the call to serve our country and defend our freedoms—because without them we’d have neither. #VeteransDay”
Steve, with all due respect, you too can fuck straight off into the sea.
you voted against the VA Employee Fairness Act, the Veteran Service Recognition Act, the PACT Act (twice), the Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act, and the Ensuring Veterans Smooth Transition Act.
for a guy who claims to honor those who made sacrifices, you have an odd way of showing it.
last Veterans Day, six-time international lap-hockey champion Handy Oakley took a minute off from vigorously beetlejuicing her latest conquest to post this drivel:
“Without our Veterans the American Dream would not be possible. To anyone who has ever worn the uniform, thank you!”
sit down and shut the fuck up, you vapid bobblehead.
let’s see how you show your appreciation: in your first term in Congress, you made 15 anti-veteran votes. in 2023, you voted to cut funding for the 49,000 veterans in your district by supporting a bill that would gut their health care.
now let’s move on to the googly-eyed director of the Federal Bureau of Guzzling As Much Bourbon As You Can, As Quickly As You Can — the always steady on his feet Kash Patel.
this atrocity should be fresh in your mind, as it was first reported on a couple of weeks ago. I’m talking about the day that Krazee-Eyes Kash got it in his head to invite a bunch of his besties to have a snorkel party within splashing distance of one of America’s most sacred war memorials — the sunken remains of the U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbor.
this memorial is such a hallowed place that no one but the divers who inter the remains of fallen heroes are allowed to go into the water. you can’t even walk around in a bathing suit. they will throw your disrespectful ass right out of there — but that didn’t stop Kash and his posse from jumping right in for some snorkely hijinks.
who the fuck thinks this is appropriate behavior?
and don’t even get me started on this rotting diaperload.
Cadet Bone Spurs has spent his entire life finding new and inventive ways to insult and dishonor our troops. back during the 2024 presidential campaign, the Biden-Harris HQ assembled this greatest hits video:
here’s what this dipshit posted last Memorial Day, on his own crappy app:
“Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Dumocrats, who disrespect our Military and all of the tremendous success that it has had over the last year. God Bless those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. I love you all! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
awesome. Donny can’t even post a simple Memorial Day message without turning it into some broken-inside grievance-fest.
let’s not forget that in November 2018, as world leaders gathered at a cemetery in France to honor the memory of US soldiers killed while fighting in World War One, Donny blew the whole thing off — because it was drizzling lightly and he didn’t want that weird tangle of piss-colored bullshit on top of his fat head to get wet. instead, he spent the day rage-tweeting from his hotel room. good times, bro, good times.
let’s also not forget that in conversations with his chief of staff John Kelly, Donny referred to prisoners of war as “suckers” because “there is nothing in it for them.” he also called soldiers killed in action “losers.”
what kind of overgrown diaper-baby gets mad at a fucking boat?
let’s not ever forget that incident in 2024, when Donny barged his way into Arlington National Cemetery to do a disgraceful thumb’s-up campaign photo-op while trampling over the graves of fallen heroes — and grinning like an asshole the whole time.
“Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away. … What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone,” Trump said at his rally in Conway, his first visit to the state this year.
Michael Haley is deployed in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard in support of the United States Africa Command, his second active-duty deployment overseas.
hey, remember that Pentagon policy that got Terminally-Concussed Tommy Tuberville so upset — the one that paid the travel expenses of raped soldiers in need of abortions? Tommy should be happy now, because Donny shitcanned it four days after taking the oath of office.
now I want to repost something I wrote on September 24, 2023 — because of all the shitty episodes regarding Little Donny Fuckface’s callous treatment of our troops, this one just might be the rock-bottom worst:
At his welcome ceremony at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, across the Potomac River from the capital, Milley gained an early, and disturbing, insight into Trump’s attitude toward soldiers. Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America.” Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries. To Milley, and to four-star generals across the Army, Avila and his wife, Claudia, represented the heroism, sacrifice, and dignity of wounded soldiers.
It had rained that day, and the ground was soft; at one point Avila’s wheelchair threatened to topple over. Milley’s wife, Hollyanne, ran to help Avila, as did Vice President Mike Pence. After Avila’s performance, Trump walked over to congratulate him, but then said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley. (Recently, Milley invited Avila to sing at his retirement ceremony.)
what a cold-hearted prick.
“why do you bring people like that here? no one wants to see that, the wounded.”
imagine you’re a severely wounded soldier. after five combat tours, sacrificing yourself for your country — you find yourself in a military hospital, minus one leg, your life permanently altered. you live though months of hell — bedridden, undergoing multiple operations and grueling physical therapy — and when finally you’re discharged, you’re confined to a wheelchair for the rest of your life.
and what does the President of the United States — your Commander in Chief — say about you?
“no one wants to see that, the wounded.”
fuck you, Donald Trump. you piece of shit.
let’s look at how a real patriot honors our troops.
two years ago, President Joe Biden gave the commencement address to West Point’s graduating class. afterwards, he spent over an hour saluting and shaking the hands of each one of the 1,036 graduates. he didn’t ask what was in it for them. he didn’t call them suckers and losers. no one had to hide any warships.
at last year’s West Point commencement ceremony, after rambling incoherently about trophy wives to mystified cadets, Preznit Fuckwit teetered off stage and hurried the fuck out of there. the MAGA-cap-wearing shithead didn’t shake a single hand.
he then spent the rest of the day cheating at golf at his New Jersey ex-wife cemetery.
this year, Donny didn’t even bother to show up for the West Point Commencement. he sent his piss-drunk Secretary of Skateboards in his place.
Donny, Tuberville, Scalise, Handy Oakley, Krazee-Eyes Kash, the whole worthless lot of them — the next time any of these grandstanding hypocrites starts going on and on about how much they love the shit out of our troops, remember: watch what they do, not what they say.
this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:
practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.
to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.
we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.
I would make a few minor changes to the floor plan, however.
I’d put a pocket door between the kitchen and the utility/laundry room so you don’t have to drag your laundry outside in order to get it in the washer. I’d keep the door from the patio kitchen area in place because the connected half bath is useful adjacent to the pool area.
I’d also flip the orientation of the master bath so that the fixtures can share a common plumbing wall and cut the overall cost.
If the overall length of the house is fixed, I’d add a couple additional feet in the little office area at the front of the house by pushing the living room and atrium to the right and reducing the kitchen/dining area (which seems a little excessive). Finally I’d remove the attached dining counter in favor of a traditional table and chairs which could be oriented 90 degrees to how it is currently.
Also, I don’t know if it was a rendering glitch or an intentional design choice in the master bedroom, but how does a flat screen television get incorporated into the wardrobe doors (unless they’re not intended to be full height across the wardrobe’s entire length)?
(Yes, Victor, I know the garage is in front and you hate it. But this is suburban America, and unless you (a) get rid of cars entirely or (b) redesign the infrastructure of every suburban city from the ground up to allow for garage entrances in the back, this is pretty much the way it is.)
This is the fourth tuner I’ve acquired since I got my Yamaha amplifier back in 2023. Why, you ask? It’s because I just can’t seem to find one I like that matches the amp. When I originally had this model amp, I had the matching tuner that I bought at the same time. It was nothing to write home about, but it was adequate considering how infrequently I listened to the radio. (In fact, I ended up selling it after I’d briefly moved back to Tucson from San Francisco because Tucson was a radio wasteland.) When I replaced the amp in 2001, it came with the matching tuner again, and I kept them as a set throughout my remaining time in San Francisco as well as my move back to Phoenix in 2003. I sold both again that summer—not from lack of interest, but rather from lack of funds.
I didn’t want the matching tuner when I replaced the amp in 2023. I wanted something different. But different turned out to be problematic. Thankfully second-hand tuners (even Yamahas) are dirt cheap, and this allowed me to experiment a bit.
Last year I thought I’d settled on one I could live with, the T-7. It arrived with some issues, and for the most part I was able to fix them myself. But it needed some major work done (despite replacing the battery that powered the preset memory function, it would still lose its mind if it had been turned off for more than a couple days, indicating it needed work at the component level—something I am definitely unqualified to do). Looks-wise, it was a good match to the Yamaha, but and annoyance of making sure it was powered on every few days just to recharge its aging capacitors was just one. more. thing. I didn’t want to deal with.
I loved the look of my CD player. So I wondered what the Yamaha tuners from that era looked like. Bingo! The second to top of the line model caught my attention, and five Franklins later, it was mine.
I knew the key to getting good reception in this house was the coax antenna I got for the T-7. I attached it to this TX-930 and…WTF? I had one bar of reception on the only two stations I listen to and no stereo reception whatsoever on either one.
This tuner had funky antenna connections, so while I had one of those old coax adapters like you once needed for televisions back in the day, I was thinking that maybe that was the culprit. So I ordered a proper adapter from Amazon. (Yeah, yeah, I know.)
The adapter arrived today and after hooking it up, I got the same result. Then I remembered that among the numerous other issues with the old T-7, it too had difficulty receiving stereo as well—until I squirted some De-Oxit into a few of the internal pots and gave them a good exercising..
So I popped the cover on the TX-930…
…and did the same. It wasn’t a miracle cure (I’m still only now getting two bars of reception, but apparently that’s enough to trigger the stereo detector circuit and it kicks in. I mean, both stations sound great, and since that’s all that really matters I can live with it—especially considering how I actually listen to radio these days.
I like how the unit itself fits in with my other components, so hopefully this one will be sticking around a while.
