been out looking at houses this afternoon

[click image of successful author's home]

This approximates the view from the linked home listing. It used to be an itty-bitty cute thing and so one corner of this monster was built in 1935, and I think Crate and Barrel not only put the furnishings in but designed the whole remodel. A young attorney with his Afghan hound... er, no, sorry, bride... will no doubt fall in love with the place and move in next week. Fuming old buses will be passing by underneath them all day and night, but, hey. The decking is really cool fake wood made from recycled plastic and probably will never need replacing. The painters did a shitty job. The hood over the gorgeous range is an ugly piece of crap. When the power poles are finally replaced by underground lines, it will help with the view. I guess that's all why it's so cheap.

There's another one up the road half a mile or so that is pretty much all framed in, with all the plumbing and electricity, just about ready to start on the sheet rock, that has an even better view, three stories, about eight bedrooms, and is going to sell for a heck of a lot more than a million five. You can see clear across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge from almost every room.

This one is down the hill a little way from the first one and has much more class, in a quieter spot, with about an equal view. If I'd had it together to go to the neighborhood picnic today, maybe I could have grabbed myself a stray wealthy socialist gentleman so I could consider purchasing one of these....

It's really fun going house snooping in Berkeley.