wouldn't it be nice if there was a little section in your brain that held emotions and there was a little door on it, that you could lock when you wanted to keep them inside?

living life without regrets, every stone has to roll...i try to live with few regrets, but have so many now. why can't life come with an instruction manual that isn't written in japanese? indexed and organized, an easy how-to guide.

i'm taking a stained glass class today. :) i have always wanted to take one. i'm excited.

now that i wrote this, i think it is more listlike..so..
1. today when i went for my run, it was 31 degrees. i could blow cool little clouds out of my mouth. like the catapillar in alice in wonderland...

2. when i walk the dogs, i love looking at the different houses in the neighborhood. built from 1910-1940 with all different types of remodels since then, they are interesting and unique. there is something about house numbers, though. i always look for patterns or significace in them. for instance, there is a house on the park that is '3961'. nine minus six is three. and then you have one left over. so, 13. thirteen squared is 169, the last three numbers of the address backwards. i live at 2701 5th avenue. two minus seven is five. one left over...one=me, who lives on 'five' avenue. keeps the walk interesting. am i weird?

3. glitter is released on video today. no, wait, it's ok, you don't have to go running to your video store yet...i have a feeling they will have plenty left by the time you make it there tonight. unless people are renting it for a 'how bad can movies *really* get' night.

4. i have been saying 'terrible' quite a bit lately. isn't that terrible?

5. some wisdom from wil: buddhism teaches that one of the main causes of suffering is desire, and that living a simple lifestyle, devoid of unnecessary stuff, is part of the journey towards enlightenment.

6. finally, this comic speaks for itself, i believe.

oh, that is an essay. if you don't feel like reading, a 60 second summary (i love those blockbuster radio ads. now that's how i can do movies. 60 seconds.) california has lots 'o sprawl. much of it caused by proposition 13 and greedy cites that want sales tax dollars. new bill would change this. share all the money. share? what? cities don't like share. alissa would be stoked if this bill passes.

.sara was talking about radiohead. i am hooked on it. not at the point where i can name songs from the first few notes, but at least i know the track names! :) 'electioneering' was on repeat in my car yesterday as i banged on the steering wheel in an 'i'm a drummer' attempt. if you haven't checked it out, please do. thanks. i love the image readiohead brings into my mind...a big ole 'boom box' on some skinny shoulders. hmm.

when I go forwards you go backwards and somewhere we will meet

okie dokie. ookie dookie? um. yeah. the planning story. i have a feeling this will be terribly boring now, but i geek on this stuff. first, background...

in 1978 californians passed proposition 13 which basically froze property taxes in the state, allowing only small increases each year and the home could only be reasessed if it was sold. a majority of the property tax was not given to the city it was collected in, but to the state government who then disbursed the funds as they saw fit. local governments lost control of most of what was their primary income. there are many other aftershocks that occurred from prop 13, the biggest change occurred when cities and counties now sought to raise money through sales tax dollars. 'the fiscalization of land use' in plannerese.

this spawned scores of strip malls, big box retailers, car dealerships built by cities seeking revenue. development that was once shunned from cities was now welcomes with open arms. and open pocketbooks. cities and counties fight over the placement of auto malls and shopping malls, courting businesses with tax breaks and a trip through the express lane of the planning department. all of this activity led to sprawl, as cities grew like amoebas over the landscape with glowing signs and lakes of asphalt. dense development, new urbanist design principles and public transportation were pushed neglected as cites courted developers. proposition 13 has been the biggest force in shaping the california landscape in the past 20 years.

'regional planning' became a meaningless term. why work together? share our revenue? not going to happen.

assemblyman darrell steinberg has introduced AB 680, which would "would redistribute new sales tax in the six county Sacramento region in a manner that promotes smart growth, increases equity in the region, and fosters cooperation in the region." well, now, that makes just way to much sense to be an assembly bill. 'smart growth' and 'sustainability' are terms that are thrown around as ways to ease traffic congestion, improve air quality, and create more open space. yet nothing seems to be done to actually do anything about it.

this bill is groundbreaking in the californina planning world, and could radically change our landscape. may regions do have a 'regional planning body' - and they are often called 'area governments' leading to such delightful acronyms such as ABAG (association of bay area governments) and SCAG (southern california association of governments). but these planning bodies have no real power and can only recommend things. AB 680 would be the first bill to force the governments in a region to work together, a la portland's successful METRO.

of course, the bill faces huge hurdles as prosperous cities are not willing to share their wealth. the rich don't want to share any of their prosperity with the poor. isn't that the way it always works?

it will be interesting to see if they can push this bill through. i would be STOKED. it could then spawn similar bills in different california regions. we may just be able to put a halt to the disease of sprawl. hell, i may even consider heading back to the planning world...i care so passionately about it, yet most of the jobs do nothing to advocate better planning. *sigh* another chapter in the why alissa aint a planner diary...

oh my god. there is an ad on the top of my page a la blogger for ET...'where were you in 1982?' 'send us your memories'...20 years. it's been 20 years. damn.

the planning rant tomorrow. i promise. no, my fingers aren't crossed. or my arms. or my legs. or even my toes. and i won't get ya with the one that was always my sister's favorite, my hairs aren't crossed either. well, no, they are, but they don't count. oh! i can't cross my eyes, so that's out too. anyways...i'll type it in the morning. :)

i apologize for such non exciting posts lately. got all caught up in the redesign, then i bought a new desk, so i got all caught up in the reorganization of my office. yesterday consisted of me waking up determined to finish reorganizing right away. pulled everything away from the walls, off the shelves...drug the box o' desk into the office...and sat down at the computer. fssst...sucked in. sat surrounded by my stuff - all frozen mid move. a few hours later, got up, determined to finish. went downstairs for paper towels to wipe the very dusty furniture. found that jonathon had bought my favorite pretzels (mmm. trader joe's honey wheat ones). ate some of those, read the mail. refrained from choking on them. pretzel eating will never be the same. at least while bush two is in office. forgot about the paper towels. sat back down at the computer...

finally got the motivation. once i started, i knew i was going to be busy for a few hours. movedcleanorganize...finally finished just before jeopardy. so satisfying now to sit at a 'real' desk - a computer desk. quite ergonomic. so much space for my stuff. i figured after almost 2 years of my crummy no-quite a desk, i don't plan on returning to an office job anytime soon, hence a real desk. hey, it's even tax deductible. :)

i have a big planning rant in my head. i will type it later. i promise. land use planning should be called land use money making. it really has little to do with planning, anyways...

more vacation shots. took me forever, i know. just the same ole, though. dogs. climbing. dogs. climbing. me. hmm. oh, wait. thre are some of the beach in newport. so if you are sitting there at work, bored out of your mind, attempting to look busy and nobody is posting anything interesting on nancies, check 'em out. even if you're not bored, you can see, for the zillionth time, how neat my dogs are. :) enjoy.

more magnetic poetry...

my blogger code:
B2 d- t- k+ s u- f i o x- e+ l c
for the 50 millionth time, i gotta get this thing on my own site.

it's 34 degrees out. there is frost on the rooftops. on the lawns. i think this is still california. at least, last time i checked it was. hang on....yup. still ca. damn, it is c o l d. my grandparents were raving about the pennsylvania weather this weekend. could i have some of their weather?

comments are back. woo. hoo. wu who? i hope they stay...i swear i am going to get this moveable type stuff together one of these days...anyways, comment away! :) anyone have any suggestions/changes/problems with the new design? hope y'all are having a monday-less monday.

here it is. new! improved!(?) green! enjoy. now it's time for the real world work. today's the 13th. my lucky day. :)