The Current Background Picture
Posted on February 11, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 44 Comments
In response to a couple of e-mail requests, here’s what the current background looks like when you can see the full picture. It’s a picture of my house, taken in October of 2005. For a larger version, click on the picture itself.
Isn’t Ohio lovely? And cheap, too! You know you want to live here.
I love your pics of your place. I don’t know why more people don’t move to Ohio too. It really is cheap and beautiful.
Gosh I can’t think of a single reason we aren’t all rushing over there. Not a one.
Well, let me think, there’s the having-to-drive thing, then there’s the cold, then there’s the paucity of Australians to hang out with, also no mangosteens. But once you fix those little things, I’m so there.
That photo is indeed lovely.
looks like when you can see the full picture
What, people don’t just right clock/view background image when you change it? Oh, must be just me. It is a nice one though.
I spent 3 years in Columbus. That’s why I’m not rushing to live there. I know what the weather looks like most of the time.
MKK
I don’t know. Most of the time it’s pleasant around here. I can’t speak for Columbus, of course.
“What, people don’t just right clock/view background image when you change it?” Hmmm, well, I just learned something. Yeah, why don’t people just do that?
Nice digs, John, how long does it take you to mow all that grass? Or do you have a flock of sheep to keep it under control?
I have a father-in-law and a lawn tracker with an outboard deck for a combined nine feet of whirling blades with which to keep the rebellious lawn in line.
It is beautiful out there. =)
But I’m with Justine here… the whole needing to drive at night thing, plus in my case, the whole (albeit solvable) problem of being a literary agent away from NYC, among other things…. but still, it irks me that you paid $60k less for your house than we did, and you have SO MUCH more space and land. Tis not fair. =)
Lovely house!
Aww, jeez, you make me miss home so much. :-/
Wow, this is GORGEOUS.
That’s also Western Ohio. It’s a big state. But, yeah, that looks gorgeous, John. Have you given the estate a name?
I usually call it The Scalzi Compound.
I grew up just outside of Akron. I don’t know if it is the family scarring or the place, but I can barely even visit relatives there. Can’t stand Ohio. Brooklyn may be expensive and smell bad, but…
Now, Western Mass. is a different story… I could move there.
Sorry to double post, but I should add: this is not to be critical of anyone who likes Ohio. I’m sure that it is a fine place for well adjusted people, unlike me.
“Compound” usually implies some kind of cult status, crazy wildeyed guy in a robe, doomsday philosophy, and eventually – purple cool-aid and a fiery end at the hands of the ATF. And sometimes, there’s sheep.
Just saying that “Compound” is on the NSA watchword list for a reason, but hey, it’s your estate, call it what you like…
“Compound” usually implies some kind of cult status, crazy wildeyed guy in a robe, doomsday philosophy, and eventually – purple cool-aid and a fiery end at the hands of the ATF. And sometimes, there’s sheep.
Don’t forget the crossbows.
I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of crossbows. Of course, there’s already been photographic evidence of the battle axe and sword, so draw your own conclusions.
No mountains.
No ocean.
No forests.
No thanks.
And as we all know “Crossbow” is a codeword for WMD, coupled with “compound” I’d guess a computer in the basement at Fort Meade is vectoring ATF troops towards Ohio even as we speak…
I figure it’s gotta be “estate”. But not “stately”, because there’s something just wrong about “stately Scalzi estate”.
As to why folk don’t rush up there, go back to the main Whatever page, scroll down a couple of entries and have a gander: the dog and the cat are staring out at what, exactly? Query: does that look warm and inviting? Query: Does your back hurt just from thinking about what you would have to do next?
You know, I haven’t shoveled snow once since I’ve gotten here.
There’s nothing wrong with Ohio. I’ve been living in Columbus for about two years and the city has everything you could need from entertainment, shopping and of course reasonably priced living. I prefer the fall and winter weather, so I tend to like the snow and the cold.
That is one sweet pad!
I personally prefer the “stately Scalzi Manor.”
It’s all of those bacon covered cats driving real estates prices down in Ohio.
Just out of curiosity, when you talk about cheap housing, what exactly does that mean?
I live in Fresno, CA, where it used to be cheap, but is much less so now. I bought a house in 1999 for $99,000 and sold it in 2004 for $245,000; bought the new house in 2004 for $245,000 and it is now in the $380,000 range. The first house was 1764 square feet and the new one is 2464 square feet.
Cheaper than that, Tom. Considerably.
Not to get too technical, but don’t you need to have a wall or fortification to qualify as a compound?
You may need to consider “Manse Scalzi”
I have always been partial to “That Place, by the Thing, With the Guy.”
But that’s just me.
That’s an awesome shot. Is it an HDR image?
No. Regular picture, plus the Diffuse Glow filter on Photoshop.
CA real estate is crazy. You pay way too much for nothing. However, it is a beautiful state.
A couple of former co-workers at MCI were from Ohio… their family owned something like 400 acres. Sounded like a real nice setup. Unfortunately for them there were no engineering jobs, so they moved here to Texas.
Yeah I think the lack of jobs thing is the reason Ohio isn’t getting flooded with people moving here.
Seriously though, about half of Dayton is getting foreclosed. If I had Warren Buffet levels of money I’d buy the whole place and turn in into my own private Singapore or something.
Well, this is the nice thing about being a writer. You can do it from anywhere.
Curse you and your cheap real estate! (Says the girl whose rent payments on a shared apartment with one roommate are equal to 80 percent of her little sister’s mortgage.)
That looks like a hell of a nice place for Athena to grow up. Can she climb/hide in the trees behind? I was lucky enough to grow up in a house that backed on a park, and catching crawdads and minnows in the creek and climbing trees and having forts in bushes were excellent.
Lovely house that looks just like a house is supposed to look. I’m one of those people who think houses must have porches.
Ha Scalzi! You fool! You’ve done it now. Now I’m going to drive around until I find your house. And it’ll be easy. I just have to find a cloud shaped just like the one in the picture. Wait… Since when did clouds start moving?
All Joking aside – that’s a fantastic photograph (not to mention a nice spread). I gather it’s more of your ‘in house’ artistic workings?
Ha Scalzi! You fool! You’ve done it now. Now I’m going to drive around until I find your house. And it’ll be easy. I just have to find a cloud shaped just like the one in the picture. Wait… Since when did clouds start moving?
All Joking aside – that’s a fantastic photograph (not to mention a nice spread). I gather it’s more of your ‘in house’ artistic workings?
I’m moving there soon.
Good thing about filming PORNO, you can shoot it anywhere …………… No pun intended.
Beautiful. Love the wrap-around porch! Reminds me of the one on my grandmother’s house in San Antonio.
Having a decent sized, covered porch is almost mandatory in my book…
Argh! My aching back hates you. It hates you very much as I had to do a good 90 minutes of shovling this evening after work.
“Argh! My aching back hates you. It hates you very much as I had to do a good 90 minutes of shovling this evening after work.”
Heh! See THAT’s why I have a plow on both of my ATV’s, a big-ass MTD Snow-thrower with tank tracks, and a electric snow-shovel for the porch. Screw shovelling. Plus, as I mentioned elsewhere, the big snowblower is perfect for flinging frozen moose turds over the trees into my shithead neighbor’s driveway. Hey, it’s better than cable, and I can plow snow while drinking a beer. Alcohol and high-powered snow moving equipment, hotdamn, I love Alaska.