Falling in love with a building

Vacant and underutilized buildings near the Saint Louis University campus.

This building has my name written all over it.

Rehab: I spend a good amount of time exploring neighborhoods and business districts in St. Louis looking for the next boom area and my next project. From time to time I come across a building that just needs to belong to me. The above building is boarded up and full of junk and needs to be turned into a coffee house for the students at SLU. It has 2 different sides on the first floor that could be used for a coffee house on one side and an acoustic music venue on the other. From what I understand this building is very near the projected Biotech district along Forest Park Parkway. That could make this building very expensive given it's proximity. The 2 upper floors could be offices or apartments which would then subsidize the mortgage payments. Seems like a workable deal.

Music: Brendan Benson's The Alternative to Love came out today. I picked it up this morning and have been listening to it all day. Recently I've been listening to Low's The Great Destroyer, Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning and Keane's Hopes and Fears. Lot's of good stuff out right now. It'll take me some time to sort through it all and see what is good ear candy now and what the classics will be. I haven't been a big fan of Low but am enjoying this album quite a bit. I've been wanting to put together a theme album of songs about California and they have a song called California which fits in nicely. I didn't think I'd like Keane much. It's a little smoother and sort of wimpier than what I like. I don't listen to macho music at all but just music that's a little more raw and underproduced than Keane. I find that it's a really listenable album though. The kind that I can put on and play repeatedly and it just sets a nice tone for the room. Not exactly like background music, more like mood music for regular days.

Baby: Jen is in Vegas at a work conference this week with most of her co-workers and still hasn't told any of them about being pregnant. It's getting harder to not tell her friend Shelly who is also expecting. She called last night to say that one of her co-workers may suspect. He picked up her drink and sniffed it. It was a Sprite with a slice of lime which looks like her usual drink of vodka and tonic. I think he's on to her.

We're still up in the air about finding out the sex of the baby. We'd like to wait and be surprised, but don't know if we can. My Mom says it'll be a surprise when we find out from the doctor. My Mom isn't known for being patient.