furniture

I've once again picked up the hobby of furniture restoration. In the past I've spruced up cheap or distressed furniture out of a need to fill empty rooms economically. In a similar way I am seeking furniture from both thrift stores and out of alleys surrounding my house. The most I've paid for a piece is $65. That's the most recent one I'm working on and it was purchased at the St. Vincent DePaul. I'm probably going to put these pieces in my Coffeehouse/Craft Brewery when it opens. The colors and era fit in with the palette and theme of the place. Here are some examples of my recent pieces.

This was a 10 year old file cabinet that I spray painted. My original intention was to layer the stencils until it looked more like a texture than individual letters and numbers. I got too impatient and left it as is. I love it now. Life is all about happy accidents.

I bought this at a thrift store on Gravois. It had a big gouge in the top that made it impossible to refinish naturally so I slapped some paint on it. I wanted to go a little more modern and less traditional with it. I'm now using this color palette on several pieces.



This is a Goodwill piece I picked up for $35. It's my favorite so far. I feel like there is a lot I can do with this kind of graphic pattern on furniture.



This one was done for my wife. She always wants to infuse more red into our decor. I fight it for some unknown reason and decided to give in as a gift to her. I went with a rich red and a high gloss lacquer to give it a Chinese look. I found this in the alley directly behind my house. I think someone moving out left it there. Thanks unknown neighbor!



Not too easy to see in this picture, but this hi-fi system was found in a nearby alley. I stripped the finish and put a Danish oil rub on it and use it as a credenza in the dining room. It was a bitch getting the stereo guts out of it. They made the thing heavy as hell too.

Nathan update

I was realizing that I have some open narratives. Some topics I have started that I have not cleared up. Some issues that I have addressed, but not clarified.

One of those topics is Nate's diagnosis of the genetic disorder Ectodermal Dysplasia. It is something that is part of our daily life and there hasn't really been an "event" worth posting. The initial diagnosis threw us for a loop. We had so many questions and very few concrete answers. It was a difficult place to be.

What we may or may not have learned is that ectodermal dysplasia is an x linked genetic trait. However, there is no sign of it in Jen or her family. The insurance company will not confirm or deny whether they will pay for genetic testing so we are left in the dark. We have learned that there are spontaneous mutations. We think that this may be the case with Nate. What that may mean is that if we were to have another child that child would be extremely unlikely to have the same disorder. There are millions of other disorders and diseases out there so still plenty to worry about. We kind of feel like it would be lightning striking twice to have another child with a genetic disorder though.

Nate. Nathan. My little peanut is by far the most superior being on the planet. Ask anyone who has met him. He is the most charming 22 month old you can imagine. Probably the most noticeable difference about him is his hair. Most people think he's just really blonde. The fact is his hair lacks any color and because of a lack of oil glands it is very fine and breakable. Short is going to be the way to go for him right now. It looks really cool that way. We've seen other kids whose hair has filled in quite a bit. Maybe that'll be the case with him.

If you get up closer you'll see that he only has 2 teeth and they are pointy and right up front. Kids with his disorder tend to get teeth later. The biggest problem with not having teeth or rather never having had teeth is that the jaw bone doesn't thicken up the same way making it difficult for dental implants later. At his last dentist appointment the dentist thought he saw tooth buds so we are hopeful that his teeth are tardy and not absent.

Nathan either doesn't have or has a lack of sweat glands. It's not as noticeable until you see a sweaty little baby somewhere and realize Nathan's never been like that. The danger there is that he can't cool his body. Heat can cause raised temperatures and lead to seizures. This is the most dangerous thing we deal with regularly. August in St. Louis is especially brutal. Nate spends quite a bit of time indoors right now. Not that the rest of us don't. So far I don't think he's missing anything by spending time indoors. It may become a habit that later we need to break and encourage him to spend more time outside. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

We've got a chart of milestones that an average child should accomplish by certain ages. Nate blows all of these social and educational milestones out of the water. Things like stacking blocks and jumping and number of words in his vocabulary are history to him and still a long way off for other kids. So we feel confidant that he'll be just fine. He's brilliant and charming. What else could you ask for in an offspring?



By the way, have I mentioned my theory that if you switch the endings of The Sopranos and Seinfeld everyone would be satisfied?

The model of humble urbanism

Friday evening I got together with some people that are involved in the same business district as my building and future business. We have some challenges ahead and wanted to get together socially to discuss things in a casual environment. We toured some buildings and visited some businesses. The weather was beautiful. It was a perfect evening for a stroll. The street was so empty that it felt a little like a movie set that was currently unoccupied. That is something we aim to change.

We ended up discussing some of the frustrating things about dealing with a large group of people. People have hidden agendas and varied histories and mental disorders. It's a real challenge when you can't predict where someone is coming from.

One thing I'd like to see is people take charge of the space in front of their building. It's more difficult than you think. It just takes one person who doesn't pick up trash or pull weeds in the sidewalk and the whole thing descends into a finger pointing screamfest. "Why should I do it if they don't!"

As I was walking to my car at 10:30 Friday night I witnessed a beautiful sight. There's a Buddhist monastery on the street. The building itself is set back from the sidewalk more than the surrounding buildings almost to say "I am a humble building". It's difficult to notice it. I've seen it before but never seen anyone come or go so I didn't know if it was active.

Friday night, after an evening of discussing the frustrations on the street, I saw a monk dressed in the yellow and orange robes planting flowers around the parking meter. The only green places on the street are these little plots of dirt or grass around the parking meters. Most of them are overgrown weed collections or hard packed dirt. They don't get any attention from the city and only a couple of business owners do anything with them.

I had seen the flowers and plants on that block before, but not given much thought as to where they came from. After watching him planting I noticed that he had planted in front of several buildings. I doubt he asked permission from the city or received planting permits or requested funds from the Alderman for plants. He just seemed to be going about his business at a time when nobody would have given him attention. It was a small urban miracle. Barely perceptible and at the same time Earth shattering.

This photo is from last Fall. In it you can see the monestary. The yellow arrow points to the sign. The red arrow points to the plots that were planted. They are much fuller now than they were at the time of this photo.

Beach Boy

Updates for June 2007

Listening to: Blonde Redhead 23, Elliott Smith New Moon, Dr. Dog We All Belong and White Stripes Icky Thump
Watching: Top Chef on Bravo, The Lot on Fox, Big Love on HBO, Meet the Press on NBC
Reading: City Comforts; How to build an Urban Village by David Sucher
Viewing: http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/
Wearing: A 31" waist for the first time in 20 years.
Drinking: Vanilla Coke Zero
Searching for: The perfect day/night color pallatte for my coffeehouse/microbrewery.
Anticipating: A very hot summer.
Loving: Mi Familia
Expecting: A full recovery from little Willa!

Exploratory demolition

While I'm waiting for permits and drawings and bank loans, etc. I can't help but poke around my building and see what I'm going to be dealing with. Last week I was removing a drop ceiling and decided to pull down some drywall attached to a brick wall. This wall was once an exterior wall and then an addition went up and used the exterior wall as it's eastern interior wall. Underneath I found a very well preserved advertising sign painted on the side of the building for the Mercantile Bank and Trust. It was one of the most exciting finds I've ever had.

blood simple

Nate has been waking up at night crying. It's unusual for him and it's difficult to guess the cause. It may be that he's lonely, or hungry, or had a bad dream. We try to let him work through it and fall back asleep on his own. One night he woke at about 5am and was crying. Hard. The crying seemed to get worse and I got out of bed, half asleep in the dark, to check on him. I could tell right away it wasn't a normal event. Even in the dark I could see a problem. I turned on the night light to see he had a bloody nose. It had bled all over. He's taken to sleeping with as many stuffed animals as will fit in his crib and every one was covered in blood. Jen came to the rescue and stopped the bleeding right away while I changed the sheets and pulled the bloody stuffy's out. We brought him into the pediatrician later that day. He's had a couple of bloody noses in the last few weeks. They were unconcerned. Everything looked pretty normal to them. They recommended we squirt his nose with saline a couple times a day. It seems to have done the trick. No bloody noses since that event.

Imagine this image but covered in blood and you'll get an idea of what the event was like.

Multi-tasking

Nathan is getting tubes in his ears on Friday. The poor little guy has had 10 ear infections in the last year. Here's a picture of him calling all his friends to let them know he'll be unavailable to hang on Friday.

Off We Go

I've been working on a plan for over a year now to buy and renovate a commercial building in the city. For as many reasons as there are buildings in St. Louis it just hasn't worked out yet. I can finally announce that I have found a building that: a) is in an up and coming neighborhood b) that was actually on the market and c) I have been able to negotiate a reasonable price on.

I'm very excited. I'll have many posts as the long process progresses, but for now I just want to finally be able to discuss it in public. Yay!

There are still many hurdles, and it may not happen the way I am currently envisioning it, but it has the best chance of working of any project I've been trying to make happen to date. And for the record I don't think the Indian statue comes with the building. It is quite a marketing tool though. Everyone knows the big indian at Jefferson and Cherokee! Want to rent a space? Call me now! Get pre-construction pricing!!

2006 Favorites

I've put together my list of favorite songs for 2006. It can be downloaded here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R4QLNP36

Unfortunately the megaupload program puts the titles in alpha order. Below is the order in which I intended.
1. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
2. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Iliad
3. Tilly and the Wall - Rainbows in the Dark
4. Cat Power - Living Proof
5. Gentleman Auction House - A Hospital or Heaven
6. The Hard Lessons - Bamboo
7. Band of Horses - The Funeral
8. Eef Barzelay - I Wasn't Really Drunk
9. Ray LaMontagne - Three More Days
10. Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists!
11. M. Ward - To Go Home
12. The Avett Brothers - When I Drink
13. The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
14. Beck - Nausea
15. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
16. Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough
17. Ben Kweller - Sundress
18. Jack Johnson - The 3 R's
19. Ray LaMontagne - Can I Stay (live) bonus

Pillow Fight Club

I never did get in an adult kickball league. Maybe this Pillow Fight Club will be more my speed. If that doesn't take off I may start a Professional Kick-the-Can League. The advertising possiblities on the can alone can fund the whole league.
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pillow-fighting-now-a-sport/

faves

Happy New Year! 2007 is going to be the year that comes before 2008 and after 2006!! You can be sure of that.

I'm working on my year end mix cd. I've done it for the last 4 or 5 years. It's probably geeky, but I enjoy it and subject my friends to it. The thing I find hard to believe is how many titles I put on my year end favorites list that I don't see on other lists. I listen to podcasts, read magazines, etc where critics list their favorites and see a lot less duplication than I would expect.

I'm not sure if critics are being honest with themselves or if my taste is too mainstream. Then again I see a lot of major label titles on the top lists that just don't interest me in the least.

This year I'm picking songs from albums by Jenny Watson, Band of Horses, Ray LaMontagne, Cat Power and Tapes n' Tapes among others. Once I finalize the list and order of songs I'll publish a link here.

Poinsettia

I was out in my front yard one evening this summer and noticed a car driving by real slow. It got my attention as I try to be observant and aware. As it got closer I noticed it was a couple of little old ladies staring at me. They drove around the block and came by again sizing me up as either a friend or foe.

The second time coming by they decided to pull over and get out. One of the women was on crutches (not the broken leg kind, but the aluminum ones with the arm cuffs). They came up to me and said that the woman with the crutches grew up in my house. She lived on the first floor with her parents. Her aunt and uncle lived on the second floor throughout the 40's and 50's. The other woman, who was behind the wheel, was a high school friend of hers who now lives in St. Louis Hills.

I invited her in to show her the work I had done on the place. Since I completely gutted the house before moving in I didn't think she'd recognize much. She loved the condition the place was in and pointed out things like which room was hers. She also recognized these 2 massively heavy armoires that came with the house. She said that her Dad bought them for $5 each. They are both beautiful cross cut oak and would be worth hundreds today. She had polio and told me about how her Dad would lift her in and out of the tub a couple times a day and that she got bumped out of her room and had to move her bed to the hall when her cousin moved in with them.

She mentioned she went to Roosevelt High School, which is where my mother-in-law went. She recognized the name and it turned out she graduated with my wife's Uncle. She said he was very handsome (a very difficult thing to imagine now), and that he was a little odd back then (he's a lot odd now and is rarely seen by the family since he lives in Germany).

She now lives in Washington, D.C. and her husband is a retired diplomat and they did a lot of world traveling. She doesn't get back to St. Louis very often, but was happy I happened to be in the yard because they wouldn't have had the guts to knock on the door.

I think she told me her name when she first pulled up, but I'm terrible with names and it felt rude to ask again before she drove off.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. There is a young woman pacing around on the corner near my house smoking a cigarette. I pull up with my son and am getting him out of his car seat when she walks up and asks me if I live here, pointing unfortunately to my house. I noticed right away she was missing a front tooth and had a black eye. I reluctantly said...yes, imagining her pulling a gun, forcing me into my house to rob me or steal my baby.

She said she lived in the house for 16 years in the 80's and 90's. She was embarrassed about the black eye and missing tooth but was trying to get a friend off drugs who wasn't cooperating. Unfortunately I had a tired and sick baby in my arms and had to cut it short. As she was walking away I asked her name and she said "Jennifer".

Yesterday I get a poinsettia delivered. The card said: "Thank you so much for letting my friend and I visit your home which was my home from grade 6 through college. What lovely changes you have made and how nice it is to know your lovely family lives there." And it was signed "Jenny Bergsten".

It seemed odd that 2 woman approached me about living in my house. One named Jenny and one named Jennifer. I had to remember to tell my wife, Jen, about that.

I'm not bald I'm Bold!

It's funny that I seem to be forced into "clubs" that I never had any intention of joining. One of those clubs is the bald man club. If you're not bald you pay no attention to new products or positive and negative portrayals of bald men. Bald guys are almost exclusively bad guys in the media. You have your occasional Jean-Luc Piccard but it's certainly rare and that character was 10+ years ago. Watch Law and Order or CSI and the bald guy ends up being the serial killer. It's easy to spot him and guess the conclusion if you know.

Sports end up being the only place where bald men are portrayed positively. But let's face it Matt Hasselbeck and Brian Urlacher are just one DWI away from being a villian. Anyway, I noticed this new line of products labeled as "Ideal for head shaving" and just wanted to thank them. They are attempting to capitalize on a niche and I wish them luck.

If your life were a movie your soundtrack would be...

I love the strange coincidences that pop up with something like this. It gives new perspective to old material which is something art is supposed to do. Some songs work, some don't and some are just plain funny. Have fun and comment on what came up for you. I'm anxious to do it again, but these were my first attempt.

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, MusicMatch, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
**********
OPENING CREDITS: Graveyard Shift by Uncle Tupelo
WAKING UP: September Song by Willie Nelson
FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL: They Never Got You by Spoon
FALLING IN LOVE: Waiting For the Sun by the Jayhawks
FIGHTING: Hotel by Broken Social Scene
BREAKING UP: Here Comes My Baby by Yo La Tengo
PROM: After it All by Cat Power
LIFE'S OK: Paper Aeroplane by Kasey Chambers
MENTAL BREAKDOWN: Bizarre Love triangle by Frente!
DRIVING: Hash Pipe by Weezer
FLASHBACK: Lizzy by Ben Kweller
GETTING BACK TOGETHER: Turn a Square by the Shins
WEDDING: Speaking of Happiness by Gloria Lynn
BIRTH OF CHILD: Kiss Off by Violent Femmes
FINAL BATTLE: U Mass by the Pixies
DEATH SCENE: Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (with Lovin' on your mind) byLoretta Lynn
FUNERAL SONG: Don't Get Around Much Anymore by Sam Cooke
END CREDITS: Halloween by Ryan Adams

Independent Art Market Dec 8, 9 & 10

the perfect storm

Craptastic! That's how I would describe this week. It started with Nate getting a stomach virus that leaves him puking and with the worst diarrhea ever. We thought it was a 24 hour bug, then a 48 hour bug, then 5 days in we realized it was much worse. That however is not why it was a bad week. That was just a small contributing factor. Nate is a trooper and for the most part has kept his spirits up.

My wife is travelling for work this week. She goes to NY/NJ a couple times a month. It's all become pretty standard. That is until the worst snow/ice/freezing rain storm to hit St. Louis in the last quarter century happens and she can't get home. This is but one more factor in the perfect storm that hit this week that nearly succeeded in breaking me.

You see the storm brought with it widespread power outages. We were hit by a big wind gust in July and never lost power. That may have played a part in me being totally unprepared for this outage. As I mentioned Nate has been sick. Frequent vomiting in his crib has become commonplace. I heard him on the baby monitor losing his dinner at approximately 11pm Thursday. I went up to change him and it was a sad state of affairs. He puked and then rolled in it. It was in his fuzzy hair and he wasn't happy. I picked him up out of his crib and he felt really wet. I took off his pajamas and he was covered from chest to knees in diarrhea.

That, dear loyal readers, is when the power shut down. I had a naked baby on the floor covered in excrement when things went black. I froze. Nate sensing this wasn't a normal occurrence froze as well. A moment later the power flickered. I took that opportunity to open the shades in his room. Then it went dark for good. Even with the street lights blacked out it was lighter outside than inside. By the pale light of the cloudy night sky I grabbed fist fulls of wet wipes and began to clean the baby. He stood up and clung to me as I searched for something fresh to put on him. He's been sick all week and we were running low on fresh outfits to sleep in. I found one and got him in a new diaper and some pajamas. I was feeling pretty good.

It was then that I realized I wasn't going to be able to clean up his crib, give him fresh sheets and put him back to bed. For one thing he wasn't letting go of me. I had to do everything with one hand. Also with the power out the temperature was going to start dropping. He couldn't sleep in the crib by himself even if I could clean it up. I decided to put him to bed in my bed. I placed some pillows down the side to keep him from rolling off and put a towel under him in case he got sick again and we snuggled in, a little daddy/son team, working together. Then he puked again.

I picked him up and set out to find some candles and matches. It wasn't as easy as I had hoped, but I got my hands on some and lit up the room. By that point I could feel the temperature dropping. It was probably in the 50's in the house, but I began to worry. I wanted to find someplace safe for my baby.

I have 2 cars. One is great in the snow and was purchased with snow emergencies in mind. The other is an old Ford pick up that has rear wheel drive and is atrocious in the snow and ice. I'm sure you can guess which one was at the airport while my wife was stranded in NY and which one was sitting out front with it's doors frozen shut.

I called Jen and she went to work. It was late but she started calling her family and organizing the troops. At about 1am my brother-in-law picked me up in his Landcruiser and drove me to my Mother and Father-in-laws in the county. We were total refugees. Nobody wanted a sick baby. They were understandably protecting their own families.

My in laws were also without power, but they have 3 woodburning fireplaces in their house. I set up the portable crib and put Nate down in the family room. After all this excitement he had no intention of sleeping. I tried rocking him, but it wasn't soothing. The fireplace needed to be stoked and logs needed to be added. Every time it would wake him. Every time an ember would make that popping and crackling sound he would wake up. If I let the fire get low it would get too cold. We finally both collapsed at about 3am and woke to a chilly room at 7am.

Little Nate was sick, tired and out of his element. He was understandably not himself. It was a difficult day and we were running low on diapers, juice, patience and all the other things a parent needs to have on hand. While I was out picking up supplies I received great news from my next door neighbor via my barely charged cell phone...it read...Let there be light.

The power was up. It was very good news. I can deal with all of these hardships much better if I am on my own turf. Packing a duffel bag in the middle of the night by candlelight wasn't exactly ideal and we weren't going to have enough clothes to get us through another night. Thank goodness we could go home.

Jen's Thursday evening flight was cancelled and she was hoping to get on a Friday afternoon flight. Unfortunately many people were trying to get to St. Louis from LaGuardia. Nobody was giving up their seat. She is booked for a Saturday morning flight back to STL. She did what she could for the family from afar. She proves herself to be a great parent and partner time and time again. If she were able to be here, if the power hadn't gone out, if the baby wasn't sick, if my 4 wheel drive vehicle were here, if any one of a number of things had been different it would have been a much better situation. As it was it was a perfect crap storm and although it's dying down I'm still here by myself taking care of a sick baby. But at least I'm doing it under my own roof!

When life throws you a curve

Friday afternoon November 3, 2006 we had an appointment with a pediatric dermatological specialist. Our pediatrician had some concerns about Nate's progress at his one year appointment. The specialist instantly diagnosed Nate with a rare genetic disorder known as Ectodermal Dysplasia. She was able to so quickly diagnose him because the disorder carries with it some specific external characteristics. Ectodermal dysplasia refers to defects in the development of the ectoderm, which is the layer of cells in the embryo that develops into skin, hair, teeth, nails and secretory glands (tear glands, salivary glands, and mucous glands in the throat, larynx, respiratory system and intestinal tract).

Nate's fuzzy hair may never get any thicker than it is now. His toothless smile will most likely stay that way for awhile and when or if his teeth come in they will most likely be sparse and shaped differently. There is a great degree of variance in the disorder. We have reason to believe that Nate has a milder case. He does in fact have tear ducts as witnessed just about anytime we try and strap him into anything. (He hates to be contained.) He most likely has no sweat glands and that can be a serious problem resulting in fevers and overheating. We are learning what we can on our own and have appointments with specialists and geneticists to try and learn what we can about Nate's specific symptoms.

What isn't impacted by the disorder is Nate's personality and life expectancy. It is not a disease. It will not progressively get worse or become unpredictible. The disorder is part of his DNA and is what it is. We were devastated by the news and are thankful for caring family and friends and know that they will come through for us when we need them. We are slowly becoming accustomed to the changes that this news will mean for us. Nate is full of life and full of energy and we cannot predict at this early stage what kind of person he'll become, but we can guess that he'll be very special and loved by all.

Life threw us a curve. It was high and inside and brushed us back from the plate. It's time for us to get up off the ground and hit the next one out of the park.

Time flies?

I had a really fantastic weekend. Last year at this time I was celebrating my birthday in the hospital waiting for Nate to be born. This year Nate was eating cake and playing with his new toys. What a year it has been. Someone was saying to me that this must have been a quick year. That it probably flew by. I had to disagree. This was one of the longest years I can remember. I experienced so many things for the first time that I have twice as many memories from the last year than I have for the last 10 years.

My birthday is the day before Nate's. My request this year was for a night out with Jen and some of our friends. A Detroit band that I am fond of was in town at the Duck Room and we went to see them Thursday night. The Hard Lessons put on a great show. They stuck around town for a couple of days to do an instore performance too. Saturday night they came over to our house to enjoy some of Nate's birthday cake and sit around a backyard fire pit and shoot the breeze. They are good folks who know how to put on an entertaining show. Go see them if you get the chance.

Nate's party Saturday was well organized by my wife to make it enjoyable for kids and grown ups alike. Things moved along and nobody got bored. Nate got great presents and was exhausted by the end of it all. Most of Nate's fans were there to witness it. We have great friends.

random photos

I am not a photographer. I do, however, like to keep a camera with me to document things I find interesting as I explore the city. Here are some current photos of things I 've found intresting.