No reward for an effortless A

I won’t have to take my management final.  My instructor  has a rule that if you have perfect attendance, participate in class, turn in assignments on time and maintain an A average throughout the term then you earn an exemption.

I got a 98 for the class, but don’t feel like a star pupil.  These last two weeks I’ve had to force myself to sit down with my textbooks and finish homework.  I’m too easily distracted.  There’s something a little too ironic about putting off a written assignment describing my personal one, two and five year life plans until the last minute.  I get A’s, but question why I’m not approaching my assignments with a little more gusto and efficiency.

I’m doing enough; and sometimes, lately, just enough.  But more than enough is far more satisfying.

“There’s bricks in dem dar piles!”

In total, I ended up making five trips to the demolition site for bricks this weekend.  I delivered a second carload to the Garden Station.  I wish I had a pickup truck.  There was a couple filling raised beds who had a SUV.  For a moment I thought about mentioning it to them.

I dunno.  I thought more people would be crawling all over the site salvaging brick.  There were a couple people scavenging for whatever metal they could find and pile onto their old pickup trucks.  Aluminum gutters, drain pipes, amd iron tubs—including the one I had been offered days ago.

It wasn’t until late in the afternoon someone from the McPherson Town district came over.  There had been an article in the paper about the neighborhood garden the residents had started this year.  Those are the people I thought would be hauling loads of brick away for pathways.

“Here for the free paving material?” I said to the woman getting out of her shiny, red compact car.”  I held two bricks up over my head. 

But she just said no.  And then a couple in a shiny, black SUV came by and they all three went off together to inspect the other properties on site.  I thought it seemed very standoffish.  But then I thought about how I was dressed: sweats, torn t-shirt, painter’s hat and badly in need of a haircut.  Not to mention dirty from crawling around piles of rubble and carrying bricks.
 
I imagine them thinking I was some sort of panhandler or homeless person, more than an environmentally conscientious gardener.  (“Don’t make eye contact, Margaret.  He’ll start asking for change.  Make sure you locked the car!”)

Or maybe I looked like some crazy old prospector type from the movies, loading up my Elantra like a burro.  (“Git away from my bricks.  I claimed ‘em!  This here brick lode’s all mine!  Now git!”)

Oh well.  I also ended up finding a couple good-as-brand-new downspouts, a three foot segment of limestone that I’ll use as a mini-pillar to mark the beginning of my garden path and a portion of rusted wire fencing that I’ll use as a trellis for my clematis.

Life: More Satisfying Than Galactica

I finished watching the last three second season episodes of NBC’s Life.  If the show doesn’t end up getting picked up by USA Network as rumored, then at least the last episode served as a satisfying and entertaining series finale.

And also maybe a timely remedy, considering how for weeks I’ve been walking around in a gobsmacked stupor after watching the once astounding Battlestar Galactica collapse into a sloppily resolved, disappointing mess.  And, no, I’m not just talking about the finale.  I’m talking the last six episodes.  When Tyrol showed Adama the fractures in Galactica’s hull after the failed mutiny, he might as well have been pinpointing weak points in the overall storyline.  As the cracks in the hull started to widen, so did plot holes and lapses in characterization. 

One could say that it’s unfair comparing two series from two different genres.  Life only lasted two seasons compared to Galactica’s four.  But why do I think Life turned out to be a better series?  Why would I buy both of Life’s season DVDs and not any of Galactica’s?  Because in the end, Life’s creators proved to be the better storytellers.

True, the Zen-free start of the second season screamed network interference.  Crews seemed more obsessed with his ex-wife than learning who was behind the conspiracy that sent him to prison.  However, the mysteries and characters were still offbeat.  And, more importantly, because the show started the season on the bubble I appreciated the creators’ consideration not to delve too deeply into the conspiracy and start something they couldn’t finish unless they got a full season commitment.  Once they did, the show returned to its Zen roots.  And kicked ass.   Then when I worried Sarah Sahi’s pregnancy might hamper the narrative, in came Gabrielle Union as a great cast addition and substitute partner for Crews. 

It’s just not that one show managed to end on a high not while the other languished.  The key difference is that Life’s creators had a clear idea where their main storyline (the police conspiracy) was headed while in Ron Moore’s case raising intriguing questions and mysteries proved easier than actually providing and incorporating credible answers and resolutions.

And despite some commendable episodes and performances, Moore ultimately squandered much of the final season’s potential by favoring certain characters over others.  If instead of Battlestar Galactica the show was called The Epic Love Story of Adama and Roslin then it could be deemed a great success.  And I never thought I’d say it, but there could’ve been a little less Baltar.   Cylons supposedly lost the ability to resurrect.  Yet Moore still found a way to bring back D’Anna and Ellen.  Meanwhile, Boomer, Athena and Helo continued to be treated more like plot devices to move the action along rather than complex characters with relationships worth exploring.

Treating Boomer like an afterthought shortchanged the season on so many levels.  Boomer was an essential part of the first season; and her connection to Tyrol needed to be explored in depth over several episodes.  Not only because they continued pining for one another even after Cally gunned her down; but because Boomer’s identity crisis after discovering she was Cylon paralleled Tyrol’s.  It also significantly contrasted with Tory’s, who should’ve been the one to abduct Hera, not Boomer.  I firmly believe Galactica’s final season would’ve turned out better if Boomer hadn’t escaped during “The Hub” episode and was brought back along with D’Anna.

I’ve read a synopsis of Moore’s original plot for the fourth season’s second half before the writer’s strike halted production.  And although the fates of certain characters seemed better realized, it too lacked the cohesive complexity of the first two magnificent seasons.

Maybe it’s the sci-fi genre that’s to blame.  Moore might’ve come down with the same case of creative hubris that hobbled other fanboy idols like George Lucas and Frank Miller.  He got lazy or became convinced of his own cleverness; and instead of crafting meaningful storylines, he compensated with shocking scenes or gratuitous action to generate message board buzz.

This is the real reason behind Lee’s sudden and unbelievably accepted decision to go Luddite and plunge the fleet and all its technology into the sun.  It was actually Ron Moore’s thinly veiled intention of burning all the toys of his franchise so Sci-Fi Network or some other creative team won’t be able to write BSG: The Next Generation.

Or maybe it’s the television medium.  Even prolific television writers such as JJ Abrahms and David E. Kelley became so successful that they spread their creative energies too thin developing other shows and ended up neglecting the very series that made them famous in the first place.   Developing the prequel, Caprica probably distracted Moore.  Maybe that’s why so many of the cast like Tahmoh Penikett and Dean Stockwell got so much say in the storyline, especially the finale.

Maybe it was a combination of all three.

But I also found certain story elements of Life to be much more entertaining and meaningful than Galactica’s.  I’d prefer listening to Charlie’s Zen tape on a loop than Baltar’s monotheistic ramblings.  And I also thought Roman turned out to be a greater nemesis than Cavil.   Not just more cunning, but more ruthless.  If Roman had a ship, he’d ruthlessly pursue Galactica and the fleet all over the galaxy like a pitbull after a pack of rabbits.  And be nonchalant about it the whole time.

Sure, there were themes running throughout Galactica concerning theology, humanity, and wartime politics.  But, then again, themes can be found in mediocre writing too.  How well they are handled distinguishes the mediocre from the inspired.  And those themes were handled much better in the first two and a half seasons.

Am I sorry I ever watched Battestar Galactica?   Not as sorry as if I’d watched the show weekly instead of as complete seasons.  I’ll watch The Plan movie this fall, but not without some trepidation.

I will buy both seasons of Life on DVD though.  And the only thing I’ll be disappointed with was that it ended too soon.

Don’t Ignore the Free Stuff

I stayed up longer than I thought I would and woke up after eleven, which seems to be where my body’s alarm clock is stuck nowadays.  And because I fell asleep on the floor my body was stiff, and for awhile I walked around the house like an arthritic zombie.
Later, I drove to the demolition site and loaded up three carloads of brick.  The demo crew had made quick work of leveling two houses.  All the debris and brick should be cleared and gone by next weekend.

A few cars passed by.  No one stopped to get anything though.  I took one carload to the Garden Station public garden nearby.  I hope someone from there comes by with a truck and salvages some of the available materials.  My little Elantra alone isn’t going to do it. 

Some guys were rehabbing a nearby apartment across from the site, and I nabbed an old iron sink they had left at the curb.   Don’t know if I’ll make a birdbath or a sedum container out of it.  I’ve thought about repaving some of my stone paths with the salvaged bricks.  I can’t rescue everything though.  Or expect everyone to share my interest and concerns about recycling.

I think of the thousand or so buildings that will be demolished around town in the next eighteen months.  Some are supposed to be deconstructed and the materials salvaged.  But how many, and what about the rest?  I’d like to think there are industrious people in town that will find creative uses for all this free, useable stuff that will be otherwise be shoved into a landfill.

Urban Garden Photos 5-8-09: Solomon’s Seal

Demolish and Salvage

Demolition has started on the site of the new elementary school across the river from downtown Dayton.

Can you see all the free garden path paving materials that I see?  I was offered an old cast iron bathtub that could’ve been used for a bog garden, but I didn’t have a way to haul it back home.  Darn it.

Don’t think that I’m not thinking of a way though.  Maybe I can put wagon wheels under it and push it all the way back to my house.

Porch Loitering

I was on the computer when I heard voices.  It sounded like arguing, but I thought it was the television in the next room.  But then I heard “n-word this” and “n-word that”, and I thought that can’t be MSNBC.

So I go to the front door and sitting on the porch ledge are these two guys.  As soon as I opened my door to ask why they were on my porch immediately they’re all, “Oh, sorry man.  I didn’t know anybody lived here.”

“Who do you think takes care of all these plants?” I said, gesturing towards the front yard.  Specifically, the 30 feet of yard that seperates the sidewalk from my porch.

It was raining, but they had umbrellas.  Why they chose to hang out on my porch, I don’t understand.  I thought I smelled pot.  Maybe they were high and showed up at the wrong address.  Or I just live in a crummy neighborhood.

Urban Garden Photo 5-4-09:Fern

Urban Garden Photo 5-3-09: Bleeding Heart

Busy Saturday

I woke up early and attended the Capital Improvement Program town hall meeting at the Dayton Convention Center and listened to a panel of city department heads discuss the progress of existing infrastructure projects as well as future ones. Me and less than 30 other people. A noticeably different turnout compared to the 200 that turned out for the Vacant to Vibrant town hall two months ago. And the mayor sounded a little scold-y when suggesting that next month’s town hall could be better publicized.

True, but it could also be that this is the third straight month of public meetings addressing Dayton’s planned future. Last month there was that Creative Youth Summit. Or maybe asking Daytonians to crawl out of bed early on a Saturday morning isn’t going to draw a large audience now that the weather is warmer–no matter how many free knickknack pens and water bottles you set out on tables to lure them.

Actually, I found this a very positive, informative meeting. Thanks to federal stimulus money even more projects are on the table. The good news is that Dayton will be undergoing some very visible improvements, especially around downtown. Rebuilt bridges as well as street and interstate upgrades. Five times more nuisance structures will be taken down. The problem is several of these changes won’t be noticeable for at least another year. Guess it’s a matter of looking at the glass half full.

Afterwards I went to Second Street Market, which seems to be getting more popular lately. This is my favorite place in the city. Diverse crowd. Fresh, organic food. With the live music at the east end and the little kids walking around with their balloon animals it has a recreational, festival atmosphere that the strip malls and shopping centers don’t have. I wish it could be open seven days a week.

 

I think I can spot the Second Street-newbies though because they haven’t figured out that when you shop the Second Street Market it isn’t like the mall or supermarket. The Market’s aisle is much narrower, which means people shouldn’t stop in the middle of it and chitchat. (hint, hint) It just makes getting around even more difficult for others.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there I drove to the Wegerzyn Gardens Plant Sale where I bought a few tomato plants and a sunflower. Not much of a selection. At least for me.  I wish I had known about their giveaway area because I have hostas, lambs ear and creeping jenny that I need to find a new home for soon and would’ve gladly donated them. Heck, in another month or so I’ll have irises, Russian sage and water lilies to give away too. I might have to take up guerilla gardening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I drove all the way to Green Vista Gardens because I needed barely straw for my green, murky pondwater. I told myself I’d just be in and out, but water features are like garden porn to me. After examining the bog filtration pond I knew I have to try some sort of mini-bog myself because my pump filter needs replacing much too often. Let nature do the work for me.

 

Oh, and I almost stepped on a snake while examining the bog.

Kinda cool though.

 

 

 

 

On my way home I went to a construction site in Kettering because I needed some stone edging for my garden. Over the years, I’ve saved a fortune in stonework by going to contruction sites with a shovel and digging out stones uncovered by bulldozers. I’ve found rocks of all sorts of colors, shapes and textures. Accent stones and the rocks used in my pond and garden paths all came from sites where housing developments and restaurants now stand.

Of course, I follow rules. I never enter a site that has a “No Trespassing” sign.  And I steer clear of the machinery and buildings so as not to give anyone cause for worry. And I never try to take anything too large, not that I could with my little Elantra. Sometimes there isn’t a convenient parking spot and hauling rocks back to the car can be a workout. And it can get muddy.

By the time I finished it was evening, so I took my tired butt home, did some garden weeding and called it a day.