D E S I G N /// ck

Sevier Heights is one of the bigger churches in Knoxville, but they have surprisingly little presence on the highway they are located on. So I am trying to come up with a sophisticated yet welcoming monument sign to address passing cars.


Most church signs look like this. Nothing wrong with them, but they've become so common that no one pays any attention to them.

After a long lull, Perry Bible Fellowship has a new one. I love the guy's face in the third panel.

Me standing in line at the grocery store last night:

In front of me are two older ladies, all dressed up for shopping. They are buying:

- 4 party packs of assorted candy

- Virginia Slims

- 2 Chocolate Bars

- 2 40 oz. Budweisers

- a bunch of bananas

The reason why I know this is that they took ten minutes to get through the checkout. But my question is, where's that party happening and how can I get invited?

The house passed it's framing inspection this afternoon! That may not sound very exciting, but it means that we can start to work on the interior. The next two weekends will be insulating, and then drywall starting the first week of August. Good times!

Thanks to Laurence for this one. It's basically true. I'm glad to see Tennessee in the portion where "People Talk Normal".

To the a'hole that felt compelled to lay his car horn at me for TEN SECONDS this morning:

I'm sorry that I held you up and increased your commute by five seconds. I know that your huge pickup truck, that you were driving alone, can barely fit in the lane without a pesky bicycle in it. I know that you're probably already pissed at how expensive it is to fill up that monster every other day. I know you probably hate the 45 minutes of traffic that you have to fight each way so you can live the suburban dream. And now some punk has the audacity to ride his bike in road?

Well, all I can say is that you did this to yourself. Don't take it out on me. Bicycles have a legal right to the road. I only have three miles to commute because I chose to live close to where I work. I haven't filled up my car in two weeks and have stopped paying attention to gas prices. Let me do my thing, and lay off the effing honking. Thanks.

In related news, I'm kickin' it old skool these days with a '83 KHS road bike that I found on Craigslist (for $50!).


It's way better than riding a granny-gear mountain bike on the road. It's old and heavy, and only has 10 gears, but it sure can cruise.

Bringing back West coast rap. "Hate It or Love It" is an infectious track. Listen to it [here]

Alice and I saw this movie last night. Very cool, beautiful movie. It's had a very limited release, so we were lucky to see it on a big screen. I definitely recommend catching it when it comes out on DVD.

And it's gotten me OBSESSED with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

If you don't like Radiohead, you probably won't like this video. The intro is kinda long, so skip to about 1:10. It's worth it.

Like staging a summit push on Everest, with weeks of effort and many people involved, the back gable of the house is complete. Now all of the outside is basically done once except for paint.
Also, I've begun re-conquering our backyard, aka "the jungle" and getting it ready for domesticated pursuits, like a garden. I cleaned out a lot of the junk and pretty soon we'll be able to see the alley.

Look familiar?

This is a church in Vikki, Finland. Exposed trusses, double wooden columns, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. (If you're wondering what I'm getting at, you may have not seen the Camp Cowen Dining Hall) Those Scandinavians sure know how to use wood in simple, elegant ways. I hope I will get to design a church this cool someday.

The long weekend was good for working. The back gable has been the hardest thing we've done so far- spending hours going up and down BIG extension ladders. The back gable will probably get done this week.
In other things, the fireplace rough in started on Thursday and should finish up in the middle of this week. It's a true wood-burning fireplace, so come visit this winter! With fire flue in, we should be able to get our final framing inspection and start insulating and drywalling inside. THEN I'll finally feel like we're getting somewhere.