Posted inSustainability

“Sustainable” Fairview: is it really?

Today’s Salem “Statesman-Journal” has an article about a Friday-Saturday open house at the 275 acre Sustainable Fairview property. I’m glad to see any hint of openness from Sustainable Fairview Associates, the LLC that Laurel and I are members of, and which I’ve criticized in various posts (under my Sustainability category) for not understanding either (1) what “sustainability” really means, or (2) how to manage a mixed-use development of this scope, regardless of how sustainable it is. If you go to the open house and walk around the property, you’ll see a lot of interesting old buildings and beautiful natural land.…
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Posted inHome life

Feel the fear and install SP2 anyway

A Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD arrived in the mail from Microsoft a few days ago, but I had left it on the dining room table until this afternoon, fearful because of past malevolent Microsoft experiences that if I so much as touched it my computer would stop working. I kept my eye on the CD, looking for signs that it was possessed. But I didn’t see any green vomit dripping from the cardboard mailer, nor hear any guttural chanting in Latin when we were in bed and the house was quiet. I read the “Before installing SP2” guidelines…
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Posted inBooks Plotinus Writing/Weblogs

Ranting reaps a review

Proving either that ranting results in a rapid response from the cosmos, or, more likely, that magical thinking is alive and well in my twisted mind, after yesterday’s posting I was pleased to find an email from the Radical Academy waiting for me when I turned on my computer this morning. My book had been reviewed! My fingers were trembling slightly as I clicked on the link to Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty’s review. For while I have been eager to have “Return to the One” reviewed, naturally I was envisioning positivity at the end of the Review Rainbow, not negativity. Thankfully,…
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Posted inPlotinus Writing/Weblogs

I get an exclusive interview with myself

It’s been three months since my non-fiction book about Plotinus, a 3rd century Greek philosopher, was published. So I thought I’d catch up with myself and provide an exclusive update to my HinesSight weblog readership about what is happening with “Return to the One.” I found Brian outside, enjoying an unusually warm October Oregon day on his deck. Me: Thanks for taking the time for this interview. Brian: No problem. I’ve managed to fit you in between reading the Oregonian sports page and taking my Sunday afternoon nap. Always got time for someone I’m so close to and admire so…
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Posted inHome life

DMV license renewal horrors

I’d been dreading going for my first over-55 license renewal, since the notice said that an eye test was required. For though my optometrist had assured me that my contact lens-assisted vision was better than DMV requires, more and more I’ve been using the “go past it and turn around” approach to finding unfamiliar streets. “We’re supposed to turn right on Cranberry Street,” Laurel will say. “OK,” I reply, straining to read the letters of signs that used to be much larger twenty years ago. I can only assume that budget cuts have forced cities to put up smaller street…
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