When it comes to planning a house, there are some common architectural archtypes: --Massed plan: Early American houses tended to be simple, massed plans (a Monopoly "house" or "hotel"), often multi-storied, using square and retangular shapes, which were easy and economcal to build and efficient to heat in the north's winters and cool in the south's summers. Massed plans are best for small, simple structures. --Irregular plan: The advent of ballon framing in the 1800s allowed much more construction flexibility for building, and larger houses began to be common with irregular shapes (L's, T's, U's, etc) with many extensions and re-entrant shapes. Irregular plans are best for larger, more complicated structures. --Garages: Before the automobile, horses, wagons, carts and the like were kept in buildings seperate from the house, for obvious reasons. When cars first became common in the early 1900s, they were kept in the same manner as horses and wagons--seperate from the house. This approach continues to this day, but it has also become common to make the car storage a part of the main house. This latter desire has drastically impacted the overall size, shape and appearance of the house--often dwarfing or even consuming the house such that the only visible element from the street may be multiple garage doors! Small lots and large garages make the problem even worse. In this case, the house and garage are simply too large and overwhelming for the given site. In response, some of the strategies may be: --Change from a massed plan to a irregular plan to break up the mass and humanize it, bringing it back to the scale of the residential neightborhood in which it is proposed; --Find a piece of commercially zoned or mixed-use zoned property so tha the garage may be put on the first level and the living quarter placed above the garage--sort of an earlier era of "living above where one works"; --Purchase a wooded tract and place the current design in the middle surrounded by trees so that it cannot be seen, but can be enjoyed by its occupants. The current design and site are simply incompatible with each other. Discussing the plan's makeup, such as laundry room and door swings, in this case, is really pointless. A new design strategy is what is needed. Good luck with your project. --

This is a really old post but I went to the link anyway. Some pretty cool pictures. Photo 14 of 40 showed what looked like a new Corvette but with an old rear clip on it. A quick google search turned up the link below. A c5 corvette made to look like a 1953. Very interesting and it looks well-done. Anyway, fishman10: thanks for taking the time to post the pics. Here is a link that might be useful: 2004-1953 Corvette

When you have four pockets ... ... and you know that there's no money in three of them ... ... into which pocket do you stick your hand when you need some? ... how often do you stick your hand into any one of the three pockets where you know that there's no money even when your hand gets all of the way to the bottom?? Memo ... to individuals, as to businesses (but most of the latter know it now) ... ... when you need money ... ... go where the money is! Like the credit card companies do. They may cancel the cards of folks who've been giving them a rough time, i.e., not paying. But they don't mind your payment being late - look at the large fee that they charge ... for what ... waiting an extra day or two for the payment? Suppose it's $100.00 payment ... at 10% annual rate, that's $10.00 per year, or about 3 cents per day. If your payment arrives 3 days late ... their cost is about a dime ... and they charge you a $20.00 late fee? Think they're about to cancel your card? Why would they?? They're making a very nice bucket of money off of you ... and others like you. You go over your credit limit? More of the same. So why would they shut you down?? You're a profit centre for them!! If so for them ... how about you?? If you blow an engine in your car tomorrow ... how will you pay for the repair? Or ... if you get laid off ... what will you live on? Have you ever had a pair of handcuffs snap around your wrists? I haven't either ... and I don't want any: I have absolutely no hankering for such an experience! I love my financial freedom!! If you don't have a financial cushion of some funds available in case of immediate drastic need, I claim that you have a pair of handcuffs lying on your dresser, right beside where you lay your wallet at night. Just waiting for an emergency need of money ... or a layoff ... to have them jump up and snap around your wrists. Financial freedom - that ain't!! Hope you all have a lovely weekend ... and if you'd be sweating blood if you don't get a paycheque ... or two ... ... please - do yourself a favour. Even though it may be a beautiful weekend, find a way to enjoy it while spending little or nothing. Start that savings fund ... build yourself a financial cushion. Aim at a minimum of 3 months' income available in case of emergency. Six months' earnings, or 9 months' ... or up to a year's worth, is even better. After 25 years or so as a personal financial advisor, I don't have it, myself, some of the time. Some of the time I have money in the bank, money market fund, etc., immediately available ... but sometimes not. I have a credit card that I don't use much, that I can use to fix my car, fly me home in case the travel co. goes broke and the hotel says pay - again - or go to jail, etc. And I have a Line of Credit at the bank, initiated several years ago at no fee, fully secured by stock or mutual fund certificates, in order to arrange a low interest rate ... and it lies there unused, most of the time (but there's no inactivity fee to pay). If I use the card for emergency ... I pay off the full balance prior to the due date, using my Line of Credit if the amount in my bank account, money market, etc. are short. Then ... pay off that loan (low interest - far lower than the rate charged on unpaid balances owing on the credit card) as soon as possible. I want my money working for me ... not be forced to use other folks' money ... and pay rent on it while I'm using it ... especially if it's the kind where they charge very high rates! I never want to have to darken the door of a payday loan company: their rates are ... *horrendous*! (By the way ... have you read my thread about the differences between a paycheque and a pension cheque?) ole joyful

Could you go an entire month without talking to your best friend? -- I could not go a month without talking to my parents or my immediate family. But my closest friends, yeah, we could just get busy and not connect for a few weeks (but watch out when we finally do!). Would you rather have an old classic car or a brand new car? --New. I'd like to try a hybrid or something that uses alternative fuel. What flavor Tic Tacs are your favorite? --The orange ones. Do you have a nickname that only your family calls you? --Not a true nickname. But only a couple close family members (only DH almost always, my parents sometimes) call me "Steph." I have preferred "Stephanie" my entire life. My mother, though, uses her given/legal name for work/social and a completely different name by our entire family and family friends. Sometimes we forget and call her work, ask for her, and are told "no one here by that name." When someone marries into the family they might now know for 10-12 years that's not her "real" name. Do you REALLY laugh out loud EVERY time you type 'LOL'? --Sometimes, but honestly not usually. But I would if/when I actually told someone face to face whatever story I'm typing. I usually mean it literally, though, when I tell someone else I LOLed at *their* post. Do you think it would be cool to direct a film? -- Not really. I barely enjoy watching them. I'd rather direct an orchestra.