Wednesday, May 14, 2008

DISASTER!!

Listen my little chickens, disaster struck Your Mama this morning and our trusty laptop computer has become non-functional. Totally, completely and utterly non-functional. Busted, broken down and beat all to heall.

Fortunately we were able to jump on the computer at the local library to post this to let y'all know not to expect much from us for at least a day or two.

Naturally we're endeavoring to work out the problems, but hunnies it's big and we don't have any idea when we'll be back up and running.

Stay tuned.

84 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Mama, hurry back, we need you!

Anonymous said...

Bad news, Mama. I'm lost without mine. Hope you get it fixed very soon.

Anonymous said...

Oh no Mama can you let us know who bought the Kaufman house last night for 15 million please?
Hope your back online soon though!

Anonymous said...

you should have 2 laptops at least at all times, I have 6 that mirror each other, I stand to lose $$$$$$$$ if my laptops were to go on the fritz,I always make sure my assistants back them up every day.

They think I am crazy but to take an hour to back up data can save you a year of getting it back.

Laptops are cheeeap get two the next time and make sure you have mirror drives

Anonymous said...

and I am truly sorry about your misfortune.

Anonymous said...

there is one word: Mac

good luck with fixing the problem

Anonymous said...

Well I am a PC guy, I have a few macs lying around but they are not in use, to slow, and they have crashed in the past.

and anon 8 11 am

what is your problem ?????

get a hobby, a life, something

you are really coming off like a complete loser posting your ignorant thoughts over and over again, you are coming off like a joke that has been told once to many times.

yes we get it that you think that me
avg joe and others are the same person,
not possible.

yes we understand that that anyone who does not share your views is average joe

try this

check yourself in to a hospital before you kill someone in the real world, you sound like an imbalanced person that is a ticking time bomb.

Anonymous said...

mama the kids are being bad but I will be good and on the qt
and wait for you to return

Anonymous said...

How does Dr. Cooter function without having his own computer? Hope your issue is resolved quickly.

Anonymous said...

MAMA REAL ESTATE - put th eword out an dI'm sure you'd have 10 lap tops in your PO.B ox before sundown...GL

Anonymous said...

Alienware, the most stable systems my darling and I ever bought (and we need stable machines, we work those puppies). Get yourself an alienware laptop, and do not ever go offline again, pretty pretty please. My day is less sunny without you. And thank you, thank you, for your blog.

StPaulSnowman said...

Take your time Mama........we all owe it to you to sit quietly at our desks with our books closed and our hands folded until you return...............shit!, is that a spitball on my cheek?.....I guess those pesky anonyms and still here.

Anonymous said...

Pesky anonyms? Well, aren't you special snowman.

* <---(spitball)

:p~

StPaulSnowman said...

I wish I had thought of that spitball!

Anonymous said...

i have a new playskool magic screen learning desk and a Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad. They never crash. Except when I throw them on the floor when I poop my diaper.

Anonymous said...

mama, don't EVER title a post that..

"DISASTER!!!!!!!!"

i had a half-heart-attack

lil' gay boy said...

Mama, sweetie, sorry for you "equipment" troubles; I hope you don't have to replace it . . .

But if you do, trust your lil' gay boy - get yourself a nice shiny MacBook that runs both OSX & Windows (XP, of course - not that bloated Vista) - you'll be sittin' pretty with a G&T in hand in no time.

While we wait, we'll try and be good little chilruns and pass around the sacred wooden spoon, marveling at its strength and history, wondering just where each little stain came from . . .

Anonymous said...

Little Buddy,

The dreaded wooden spoon is back? I hear the drawer opening...Hail Mary full of grace...

so_chic_darling said...

Yes Mama Apple is the way,and no they NEVER crash and they do not get viruses.

Alessandra said...

So sorry, Mama. We'll try to entertain ourselves without getting into too much trouble in your absence.

Anonymous said...

As long as ed/joe the party crasher who pees in the pool goes back to his trailer at the river.

Anonymous said...

Just a note to tell you how much I enjoy your site. I first heard about your blog when my parents had their Bel Air house for sale and have loved it ever since. (and no, I'm not a Saperstein!!)

Hope things work out with your equipment problems and hurry back.

You're money, Mama. We love ya.

Anonymous said...

May the force be with you Mama.
I hope your computer problems are easily fixed and you'll be back in no time...

Sandalwood...

Anonymous said...

I poopyd my pants

Anonymous said...

what a bad day no updates from the best site in the universe and the window of my bentley is broken because a chicken little said he needed my laptop to bring it to his mama.

KG Finfrock said...

That just figures. Dang it. I just got here for the first time and now you're off line for a while. I'll just have to sit here and go in circles til you get back and dang it, I'm already dizzy. (lol)
Good luck with getting it fixed and I just want to say thank you for your blog. I really enjoy your style of writing. It's a blast.

lil' gay boy said...

Welcome, Kath!

We chilruns will try and keep you entertained with tales of the wooden spoon, caveman in lederhosen, and Staging Lady's mad dashes across country to save the poor real estate brokers from using to many chenille throws . . .

Anonymous said...

We should go back to the beginning of the blog when it was new and discuss the first few houses that mama wrote about. A lot of the regular posters didn't post back then. Just a thought...to keep the bitch slapping down.

Unknown said...

I have been there. My celebrity blog was down for a month. Talk about terrible. So I feel you Mama. Hurry back soon.

StPaulSnowman said...

Why don't people say a few words about their absolute favorite houses? I ,for one, would be very interested to know what some of the named participants favor, and why. It may possibly be more interesting than all of the "bitch slapping"

Anonymous said...

The standout house for me isn't a favorite. It was Lance Bass's house. Do you all remember? OMG! For any relative newbies, type the name Lance Bass in the Search field to find it. But first, brace yourselves, and prepare for the real estate equivalent of a can of Jolt, lol

Anonymous said...

P.S. I'll even make it easy for you, just for grins. Don't say you weren't warned :)

Lance Bass

StPaulSnowman said...

I would like to have had the paver installation contract on this one. Do you not have dandelions in California? I am amazed at how pristine the drive is. The bedroom, no it must be a boudoir, is pretty scary.

StPaulSnowman said...

p.s. Mama's comments on this one are priceless.....well worth the visit

Anonymous said...

I've invented a new cocktail,it's called "Mama's Down".Let's just say there's top shelf gin involved.
Cheers everyone!

Anonymous said...

A little bedtime story from Average Joe/Ed From Westwood's often mentioned L.A. Land blog -

"It is funny, at first while I was on the sidelines and simply browsing for homes I agreed wholeheartedly with the majority of your readers; don’t buy, wait it out, the bottom is not even close. It was great hearing about the price drops and seeing the rift between those who commented. The smile on my face when thinking of the greedy speculators who were now in despair was often wiped away when thinking of those individuals who work beyond belief at minimum wage and were swindled by the sketchy mortgage brokers.

"As I continued shopping around and heard the stories of individuals that purchased homes during the boom I realized how fortunate I was to be in my current position. My wife and I had the opportunity to have a checklist of all we wanted; nice-sized back yard (with fruit trees), 3 bedrooms, remodeled kitchen, a safe and quiet street etc. We found a handful that fit the bill and that we would be happy to own. We did not have to worry about competing offers. We had the peace of mind to think things through rationally. We quickly got pre-approved by several banks and put in offers at about 10% below asking price – we went back and forth with a few homes and ended up paying about 8% below asking price. I was fortunate enough to put 20% down on the house – I am 28 and my wife is 27 but we have tried our best to live frugally the past few years in anticipation of the impending purchase.

"Yes, the prices of home may/most likely will continue to decrease, but we do not plan on leaving this property for at least 4-7 years; plus the mortgage interest rates are pretty darn good. The tax benefit from the interest payment lowering my taxable income will be embraced with open arms come this April – Thank you Republicans. Plus, I still don’t know what it feels like, but I imagine the pride of owning your own home will feel pretty good.

"I just wanted to say thanks for educating me on the real estate market. I think most commenters on your site are hoping to enter the market at a bottom so they can get the best bang for their buck. The thing is you can never determine when the market hits its bottom, and plus with the tax benefits from owning a home/mortgage and the ability to pick and choose your home stress free, perhaps entering a little prematurely isn’t that bad."

Anonymous said...

In case anyone was wondering - yes, the guy got jumped on by the Joe/Eds of that blog for being happy.

so_chic_darling said...

Oh wow anon 5.14 thanks for the boring fucking story.Were they celebrities?
No so we don't care,go tell your sad sack story to a weekly womens magazine.Mr and Mrs Average sitting under a dried out lemmon tree 75 miles east of Los Angeles.No thanks.

Anonymous said...

so harsh darling is more like it.

Anonymous said...

I want to hear about furnishings and lamps that I can't afford.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Lance's house was all that terrible. The bedroom was anightmare as is the master bath. But much of the house was quite lovely, just not furnished very well.

Other news... 9444 Sierra Mar Pl... new listing for $7.9mm... Is this Jerry Seinfelds place?

lil' gay boy said...

Now, now chilruns - we're supposed to be putting our best foot forward for the newbies . . .

;-)

Sadly, I find it ironic that a nice gay boy like Lance doesn't know one decent gay decorator.

Anonymous said...

mama, you should have one of your childrens do you blog fors you.

Anonymous said...

anon 5 14 fake ed from westwood

sigh !!!

you are sounding more and more like pathetic trolls

With that said

The laptop problem I do not care how reliable yours is, there are more sophisticated viruses lurking around these days that can get into your system even with the firewalls, virus programs.

so.......

at the very least get an identical drive, mirror it, when your laptop crashes, you can then take the back up drive, put it in your laptop and presto !!!!
you are up and running in 5 minutes.

I know this because a computer tech I hired to retrieve my hard drive years ago gave me this advice.

I have had no problems since then.

Anonymous said...

Hey I got this from another blog, I thought we could use a good laugh !!!!!


Isn't the housing "crisis" actually pretty darn good news?


* Home prices will fall to a level that will make it attractive for non-"owners" to buy

* Young couples will again be able to live the "American Dream", and buy a home they can afford

* The crash has washed away the mortgage fraud and crazed speculation

* The fundamentals will make sense again, making real estate an attractive investment class for intelligent investors

* Housing will no longer be seen as a get-rich-quick scheme. Homes will be treated as homes, not lottery tickets

* Angelo Mozilo will spend the rest of his life in jail, and will have his assets seized

* Housing porn TV shows will be few and far between

* Realtors will go the way of travel agents and buggy whip salesmen

So, what other good news will come about because of the "housing crisis"

Anonymous said...

I esp like this comment

* Housing porn TV shows will be few and far between

* Realtors will go the way of travel agents and buggy whip salesmen


On one of the HGTV shows they said that if I was to spend 50k to fix up my kitchen I would add ...it's coming ...............it's coming ............chaching !!!!

$100,000 dollars

Well I did just that and now the value of my home which is in the lower part of beverly hills has gone down 200k, I have had it on the market for over a year and it still has not sold.

I am going to SUE THOSE ******#$%%@@

Anonymous said...

me have poopy pants

Anonymous said...

real nice !!!!!!

did your mother teach you to speak like that ?

you should be ashamed of yourself !!!!

this site is starting to attract folks with no class !!!

Anonymous said...

Get a Mac.

They have the best service period! I have both a Mac and PC.
Apple has nice helpful people at their genius bars, which is why they have the highest customer service rating.

If not, you will be stuck on the phone all day with a red dotted wonder in India! That is what I get stuck with when my Dell laptop goes south. Totally lame customer service!

Also, the new Imacs have the best backup system I've used. Set and forget. And the Iphoto works great with drag and drop image blogs. No more copy and paste.

Anonymous said...

St. Paul Snowman....

Here is Carolands... One of my top five favs. Fortunately lovingly restored.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=q7s9w84t240s&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=13475452&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

LGB....
I think if one of those nice gay decorators were in Lance Bass's bedroom, he wouldn't be thinking about the decor. ><

Anonymous said...

Do poeple in Beverly hills rent out their guest houses? is this common?

StPaulSnowman said...

Willds; A great house! I think I saw a video portrait of this house on the A&E America's Castles series some time ago. The setting is magnificent. Check out the Hawkesmore house called Easton Neston in England. I just google Easton Neston when I need some eye candy.

Anonymous said...

I still haven't seen that episode of America's Castles, but look for it every chance I get to watch TV. If we're going to jump the pond, check out Tyntesfield. When I think Gothic English Manor House, this one is on my short list.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=sk61w8gs6nfd&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4248558&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=wraxall%2C%20england&encType=1

(someone really has to tell me how to imbed links!!)

At lunch (yeah, right, during lunch) I usually look at this page and see how many I can find from space and read about these great old houses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_houses_in_England

I think someone's opening the drawer to get out the wooden spoon since we're not talking Ma-Lee-Boo or celebrities, but architecture in general is my love.

BTW, has anyone thought of posting all the realtor sites that include floorplans? I lust for floorplan porn! Maybe something to add to the Children's table??

lil' gay boy said...

Willds,

Unfortunately Mr. Bass already has a drop-dead-gorgeous boyfriend, although they have recently been on the outs. And let's face it; if it wasn't for his 15 minutes of fame, he could barely turn a head - at least not mine.

;-)

As for the laptop issue, I've been in the business for longer than I care to admit (here's a hint: my original programming was done in Cobol on Hollerith cards).

Seen all types of equipment come and go, enough not to be a fanatic about any of them, but . . .

. . . I have to recommend the Mac for it's superior manufacturing quality (yes, even though many components are Chinese, they're made to an exacting standard). They just last forever, and as was pointed out earlier, are not susceptible to viruses like PCs are (the last one I saw was an innocent Trojan horse that said "Happy New Year!" about 6 years ago).

I have two on my desk at work - a Titanium laptop and a 10 year old G4, both of which run mission-critical apps. I'm forever asked to convert files for our poor Windows users because they might open on a Dell, but not a Toshiba, etc., because of 3rd party conflicts with the hardware and missing dll's.

And they're fun, too . . . just ask anyone in our office who's seen nearly-naked pics of a less than brilliant employee playing with the iSight camera one weekend.

StPaulSnowman said...

Willds; I know Tyntesfield well and its a beauty. I don't think people mind if everything is not centered around California but I am sure we will hear if they do. I have found this site fascinating because of the scope of the properties and the variety. Yes, most of the high end architectural porn in this country is in California....where the money is. I really enjoy the long ago and far away vintage architectural porn and much of the best is in England. I enjoy looking at the houses without the distractions of tall palm trees and huge swimming pools. There is an amazing series of books published by Country Life about period homes and gardens and I have ordered several through Amazon. The great thing is that Mama has something for everyone here.

Anonymous said...

I can't find my pills!

Anonymous said...

So Joe/Ed has had a sex change? Not surprised in the least.

Anonymous said...

Mama
Everyone in Palm Springs is waiting for you to tell us who bought the Kaufman House. Was it Brad Pitt? Was it Tom Ford? Was it David Gaffen? Please get back up so we can find out!

Anonymous said...

anon 845

ENOUGH

no one cares what you say anymore troll somewhere else !!!!!

Anonymous said...

anon 9:16 = Ed/Joe/Debby

Anonymous said...

willds, I'm responding to the request for instruction on how to imbed a link for your benefit and anyone else who'd like to know.

Go here, scroll down to the 'Link behavior in web browsers' section, copy the line below where it says 'Example: To embed a link into a Page, blogpost, or comment, it may take this form:' to a Notepad, and save it as your embed template to use from now on.

While preserving the configuration intact, insert the URL you want to link to in place of http://www.wikipedia.org, and insert the hypertext word or phrase you want to use in place of Wikipedia.

Copy/paste the completed embed link to the exact spot you want to use it in your comment, then continue normally typing your message, or end it there with a period, depending on what you want to do.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

The Carolands in Hillsbourgh is awesome. Thanks for the link.

I once went inside before it was restored in the 70's and it seemed like the ultimate haunted house.

Glad to see it look so spectacular.

Thanks again for the link.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 9:58....


THANK YOU!!!!

lil' gay boy said...

StPaulSnowman,

Sorry, but I have to give my due to my home as well; although the highest concentration of architectural porn may indeed be in California, Long Island certainly has it's share too, from fin de siecle estates to the Gwathmey Siegal tour de force Toad Hall, the de Menil estate in the Hamptons.

It also is, sadly, the home of Levittown, a well-intentioned blight on the country's easternmost prairie, Hempstead Plains. Meant to be obtainable housing for returning vets from WWII, these cookie-cutter shacks (I spent a brief portion of my childhood in one) became a symbol for shoddy mass production of "affordable" housing.

But I lift my eyes from them and instead choose to focus on such places as the Goodyear House, Coe Hall, FLLW's Rebhuhn House, etc., as well as those remaining Revolutionary-era homes such as can be seen in the Old Bethpage Village Restoration and dotting the older villages up and down the spine of Long Island.

Anonymous said...

Blah,blah,blah,blah.

StPaulSnowman said...

LGB; thanks for the comment. I recently read " In the Shadow of the Woolworths" and was fascinated by what Long Island must have been before so many great homes were demolished. I plan to chase down some of the homes you name. The loss of so many great masterpieces of residential architecture to "progress" is nowhere more disappointing than in Manhattan where so many were demolished to make room for tall but uninteresting buildings. At least we can visit these and the Gold Coast homes through photos.

Mike Cook said...

One of my favourites was the apartment layout similar to the one Vera Wang purchased at 740 Park. Serious New York City real estate porn.

Anonymous said...

nooooo i need your blog

Anonymous said...

Mama,

When you're back up and running (soon I hope) is there some way you can ban joe/ed from posting? Spam them, so to speak? Change the locks?

Anonymous said...

Dang wlllds, you are one quick study. Well done, and thank you for the roses.. my fav ;)

Anonymous said...

My favorite home featured on this site would have to be.... the former J.Lo pad which changed hands to none other than Gwen Stefani & her hubby.

The home is simply stunning. Unlike most "California Moderns" which are over the top, cold and sterile. The home is beautifully portioned and a great lot with a feeling of casual elegance.

http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2007/03/gwen-and-gavin-up-in-summit-circle.html

lil' gay boy said...

StPaulSnowman,

I can recommend a good book for you: Long Island Country Houses & Their Architects - the most complete catalogue of extant and demolished estates. A new book about the Mackay Estate, Harbor Hill, has just been released; a great document of what it was like to live on an estate of the times (on the highest natural point of Long Island), as well as what it was like to be in service on such a place.

Funny you should mention "In The Shadow of the Woolworths", which was a good read despite its ambiguity. I met Monica Randall briefly at one of the Designer Showcases they hold each year in a surviving mansion (this year it's the Dodge Estate, "Sefton Manor", in Mill Neck, now operating as the Mill Neck School for the Deaf) and she's not too tightly wrapped, if you know what I mean, but a nice lady nonetheless.

Still, she holds belle epoque tea parties in the surviving gazebos (such as the one at the still-privately-own Morgan estate "Salutations") complete with vintage dress and accoutrements.

Interesting woman though, with a wealth of info about the families that lived on these estates; I would love to see her family home in Oyster Bay, which is reportedly chock full of all the architectural fragments she salvaged from the various great houses that fell to the wrecking ball (like the Tiffany pendant from the orangerie at Pembroke, the Della Robbias from the Garvan estate, and the Napoleanic memorabilia from Winfield, the Woolworth estate.)

I wonder where F. W. Woolworth's Egyptian sarcophagus is?

Anonymous said...

Lance Bass is hott. Lil gay boy you just wanna slob his nob... and are mad cuz he won't let you slime his pole.

As for his house, it looks like straight women puke, EVERYWHERE!

Anonymous said...

for the record that other ed from westwood was not me

and that girl
11 16 am =

anon "poopy pants" and all of the other idiotic comments on this board.

Anonymous said...

ed from westwood-

seems like you have real issues on here, perhaps you should just go away... as should stpaulsnowman. you're both like bopolar, schizophrenic with multiple personalities. Caliming you did and didn't write comments.... Go away already!

Anonymous said...

I know no one on this board except through their given names and I have NEVER seen stpaulsnowman write anything but decent comments. It's strange to come to the defense of someone I don't know, but I think you are misguided in this.

stpaulsnowman=good

joe/ed/haters=bad

Maybe I missed something..

Anonymous said...

Woolworths..blah,blah,long Island oh whatever.

Anonymous said...

Opps, You are correct, I just read a comment from stpaulsnowman and went retarded for a minute. I mean Ed and Joe.

Anonymous said...

I just blew the hundred grand I had under the bed on coke and hookers.

Anonymous said...

I found my pills!

Anonymous said...

got a spare bottle? i want to make joe/ed a nice cocktail

StPaulSnowman said...

Boy, the bullets are flying around here. Thanks Willds and LGB. I have Harbor Hill and the photos are wonderful. I know what you mean about Ms. Randall, not from personal experience but through her "blithe spirit" prose style in the book. Glad you are up and running Mama.

Anonymous said...

I eat my poop

Anonymous said...

Nice to see the same anon is now coming up with alternate personalities to insult

this is pure comedy