933 S. State Street

933 South State Street in Ann Arbor was the center of my college experience. This is the story of that house and my time there.
 
The house was built around 1910. For the first few decades of its existence, it looked right over the entrance to Ferry Field. Sitting on the front porch it would have been possible to hear the crowd cheer as Jesse Owens broke 4 world records in the span of 45 minutes in 1935.

This picture would have been from the driveway

1940 Census shows the house was occupied by the famed artist Carleton Angell who created many sculptures on campus and around Ann Arbor, including the famous Pumas flanking the entrance to the Ruthven Museum. He lived in the house with his wife Gladys and their three children.

A parade during WWI turning in front of the house

1950 Census lists Reuben Hartman, a bricklayer tender and his wife Gertrude, a waitress, as the occupants, along with 8 lodgers.
 
Sometime in the decades that followed the house began being rented exclusively to students. One time some guys from the class of 1982 came by and said they had lived there.
 
In 2001 a group of friends who lived there began the infamous BOX house along with some friends in nearby houses. The BOX house was founded on the principals of friendship and novelty. Very soon after the house earned a reputation on campus, which lead to ESPN the magazine including a write-up of the BOX house's famous keg rolling across State St. during football tailgates. The house was then passed down to new generations of BOX house inhabitants along with the traditions, stories and lore.

By the time I encountered the house it had been student-proofed. The original hardwood floors were replaced by white tile on the first floor and berber carpet upstairs. The kitchen had been renovated with builder-grade finishes. What originally was likely a single bathroom on the second floor was split in two and several vanities (pee sinks) added to bedrooms. The siding was white vinyl and the doors were hollow. Any trace of craftmanship was eliminated. The house itself was a dump, but the things that occurred there were the stuff of legend.

My first encounter with the house was at a party during my Freshmen orientation when I got so drunk on the front porch on a warm June night that I slept on a bathroom floor and missed signing up for classes the next day. When I came back to Ann Arbor in the fall I knew exactly where I would tailgate. While my dorm roommate spent his freshmen year football Saturdays as a servant to fraternity brothers that he was desperate to impress, I was immediately accepted in a wide friend circle, no doubt thanks to my older sister who was friends with everyone there.
 

Freshmen Orientation

During my sophomore year I lived in a house 2 blocks away from the BOX house. We would always tailgate at the BOX house, and during that fall the guys living in the house told me I should put together a group to rent the house since they were planning to graduate in the spring. So a few of my roommates and I put together a bit of a ragtag group to rent the house for my Junior year.
 

Tailgates are better with live music

In August 2007 I moved into 933 S. State Street and became part of the next generation to carry on the BOX house tradition. I lived in the back room on the third floor, and upgraded the futon I had my sophomore year for an actual bed. We had 6 guys and 2 girls in the house. Halfway through the year we picked up two more roommates when Brick and Andy were thrown out of their frat and moved into tents in the unfinished basement.

6 of 8 of the 2007 crew before Brick and Andy moved in

The following year was my senior year and the two girls and two of the guys moved out. The two basement dwellers moved into rooms and Paul, Matt and Zola moved in. Zola did a "pledge semester" in the basement, and then moved into a room for winter semester. Matt dropped out of college in the fall and for most of the year we had 9 guys and one hamster inhabiting the house. It was a raucous environment where people would just show up to hang out at any given time. The tailgates that fall were some of the most fun days of my life.

The house oozed patriotism

Living at the BOX House carried with it a certain cachet on campus. Most of the student body was aware of the house and our tailgates. I’d say that more than once I told a girl that I live in the BOX House and she suddenly found me more interesting and/or disgusting. It seemed like everyone had a story about the house.

We may have made this one up

If they hadn’t been there personally they may read about the house as we were mentioned on MGoBlog, College Humor, and a write-up in the Michigan Daily. After I moved out in the summer of 2009 the City Attorney for Ann Arbor sent us a Cease and Desist letter to the house to try and stop the tailgating that they said had gotten out of hand. This lead to some bemoaning in the media and student led protests of the city’s attempts to limit tailgating.
 
While my time in the house had ended, several of the underclassmen roommates continued to live at 933 and then next door at 1001. The BOX house carried on until eventually there was no one left to carry on the tradition and the house reverted back to a regular student house. With that, the BOX house was no more, but the physical house remained.

The house in 2018

When would think about the things I would do if I won the lottery, I always liked to daydream about buying the BOX house and turning it into the most incredible student house. I’d open up the first floor to a big open space with couches and TVs, I’d build bigger porch and 2^nd story deck above, install a great sound system and generally nicer finishes. I’d then rent it out way below market value on the condition that they always host a great tailgate that me and my friends could join in at. That was my dream, but it will never happen.

The house is now fenced off and slated for demolition along with the houses to the north up to Packard. The city has approved a 14-story high-rise between State and Packard and these houses are all being demolished. The front porch where I spent so many hours will be gone, the living room where I watched countless hours of Gettysburg will be no more, the bedroom where I studied and had other significant life experiences will also disappear. In its place only the memories will remain until they too will be forgotten.

The house prior to demolition

 
But I’ll cherish the memories, and wanted to write down some of my favorites since that will leave this on a happier note:
 
Favorite Tailgate Traditions:
Du Hast
We would always start a tailgate Saturday by setting the house sound system (my childhood Gateway computer with WinAmp connected to speakers) to play Du Hast at 5:30 in the morning to wake up the residents, any overnight female guests and half the neighborhood.

Tailgate

Thunderstruck
I think this has gained in popularity in the past 15 years, but the BOX house was well known for circling up when Thunderstruck came on to take turns drinking at each mention of the word “Thunder”.
 
Keg Laps
Typically the Keg was on the porch, so a common game was to drink directly from the key and then run across State St., then across Hoover Ave., and then back across State St before running up the steps and kicking the keg. Miraculously I never saw anyone get hit by a car, but there were some very close calls.

Ann Arbor's finest multi-level tailgate

The Field Goal
Another fun tradition was going out in the street during a tailgate and trying to kick a field over the metal arm holding up the traffic lights. I usually was the holder, and then a few students would be on the other side of the light to return the kick. If it went over the metal arm the whole street would cheer the successful kick. An important thing to note is that we did this in traffic, usually before the cops would come and start directing traffic around 10am.
 
Keg Rolling
Only the most skilled could logroll their keg across State Street, turn it around and roll it back without falling off. I could never do it, but damn if I didn’t try. By the end of tailgate season we would have 20ish empty kegs in the basement so there were plenty of opportunities.
 

Keg Rolling

Favorite non-tailgate traditions:
Fall Foliage Month
During the fall, I think usually in September someone would declare that it was Fall Foliage Month and then we would go out and collect leaves and branches and in one case an entire tree and drag them into the living room. It really spruced up the place for a few weeks.

Fruit in the Street
This was one of the best activities in the house. We would take all the rotten, uneaten fruit from the kitchen/fridge and put it in the middle of State Street. Then we’d sit on the porch and wait for cars to hit it. It was truly joyful game. Eventually the game branched out and the definition of fruit expanded to any food or destroyable items. When the question of “wanna play fruit in the street?” was raised, I never recall anyone ever saying no.
 
Gettysburg
The movie Gettysburg played on constant repeat in the house on a TV dedicated to playing Gettysburg.

Your intrepid author

Hey Ya!
Anytime the song Hey Ya! came on during a party or tailgate everyone in the house would run out to the street for an impromptu street dance party.

Drunkest Man in America
At any given time, someone holds the title of Drunkest Man in America, there was a good chance that man resided in the BOX house, so after a trip to Goodwill there was always someone in possession or challenging for the title of Drunkest Man in America. When the trophy would inevitably get destroyed, we would take another trip to Goodwill.

A typical representation of earning the DMIA title

The Masters/Old Crow Challenge
During the Masters the house would hold an annual beer can golf tournament and try to drink as much Old Crow as possible. There was probably more to it than that, but I was pretty drunk for the whole thing on account of the Old Crow.
 
Friendsgiving
Each fall before departing Ann Arbor to return to our families for Thanksgiving we would host a Thanksgiving dinner for all our friends. We would dress up, and people actually worked hard to prepare a legitimate Thanksgiving feast. It might have been the most “real-life” think we did. But it was always fun and probably the classiest think that we would do.

Christmas Party
The BOX House Christmas Party was always a great way to end the Fall Semester. Besides tailgates, it was probably the most packed the house would get. When Zola lived in the basement he reported that the floor joists would bend and creek with the weight of 100 people on the first floor.
 

All dressed up

Christmas Party

Etcetera
So many little memories. Playing drinking games, Paul’s feud with the street sweeper, watching girls come down the stairs on a Sunday morning looking very confused, Paul’s eating challenges, the house hamster, drinking challenges, and playing through. Many of those small memories are documented by the BOX House blog at https://boxhouse933.blogspot.com/

I'll miss this shithole deeply

A Theory on on Gen Z fashion

Fans of the blog will know I think much of the UC Davis student body is extremely lame. In my first post on UC Davis I declared that the student body were total nerds. In my second post, I posited that perhaps they are lame because their generation as a whole don't know how to party.

The past week I was riding my bike through campus and it was freshmen orientation, so large groups of freshmen were being toured around in groups. It made me remember being a college freshmen and how going to college was a chance at a fresh start with all new people, and wanting to fit in and make friends. I knew that my first impression with my college peers was important in doing so.

However, as I rode past these kids I was a bit amazed that the outfits they were wearing were just all over the place. Like there was no overarching style or even a hipsteresque ironic approach to fashion. It was like they were given a random grab-bag from the thrift store and said "yeah, this looks good on me".

Given how disparate the apparel choices were it made me realize that there doesn't seem to be any style trends that exist in Gen Z. When I was young I think we realized the trends that were in place, and I'd say most people in school generally tried to follow the conventional wisdom of what was stylish at the time, or had defined alternate styles like the goths and hipsters. Gen Z seems to be all over the map, or simply doesn't care about following any trends in fashion. Billie Eilish is probably one of the most famous Gen Zers and her style is so extremely broad that it's almost impossible to define or even mimic.

As I rode I wondered why this might be. When I was a kid we got our style cues from a very homogenized media ecosystem where MTV and The OC told us what was cool. Now media is much more disjointed with a myriad of TV shows, Twitch streamers, indie movies, Tik-Toc trends and influencers. So it makes sense that kids may dress like their favorite influencers or base their fashion choices on an esoteric TV show that very few other people follow. 

I also wonder how much Covid had to do with things. These kids would have missed out on chunks of their freshmen and sophomore years of High School. After a year and a half of virtual learning maybe they came back and what you wore didn't matter anymore.

Every decade seems to have some defined styles associated with it. You can look at a picture of a group of high schoolers and easily tell if it's from the 70s, 80s, 90s or aughts (shoutout to cargo shorts, polo with a popped collar, puka shell necklace and upside down visor). But I wonder if it will still be that obvious for gen Z. It seems like it's not specific trends coming back en masse ala Ugg Boots, but rather every trend ever coming back in a fraction of Gen Z all at the same time. Which honestly must really take the pressure off these kids since everything is cool and everyone looks so uncool.

Things to Consider when Picking a President of the United States

My initial foray into writing about politics occurred when I was 17 and I wrote an opinion piece in my high school newspaper before the 2004 election. In that piece I opined that the election didn't seem as dire as people were making it out to be and that "both candidates would essentially do the same thing if elected". By which I meant that it did not seem like a clash of ideologies, and that neither of the old white guys running seemed markedly different. Kerry made the election about how we shouldn't have gotten into the Iraq War (which he voted for), but didn't say that he would immediately stop the war if elected. Both candidates opposed same sex marriage. It didn't really seem like either one would take the country on a significantly different course.

While I took a lot of flak for it at the time - mostly from teachers - looking back 20 years later I stand by it. Bush vs. Kerry was not a fight for the soul of the country, and the ideological divide of that election seems so small compared to today.

As we gear up for another election it seems that the economy may be at the forefront of this matchup.  Recent high inflation, high interest rates, and high housing costs have most voters focused on which candidate will be better for the economy. This is incredibly stupid.

The economy is the thing the President has the least control over. It's not like the President walks into the Oval Office on Monday morning and sets the price of gas, the value of the stock market and the cost of rent. The President can't issue an executive order to create 200,000 jobs. The economy goes in natural cycles, and if you think politicians are responsible for when economic bubbles burst or deserve to take credit for boom periods, that ain't how it works. 

Oil is a global commodity, so if you think the President can significantly change the price you pay at the pump, you're a moron. Sure there are some levers the president can pull, like adjusting gas taxes and energy policy, but that pales in significance to things like global demand for oil and OPEC production. 

Here's the other thing about the economy... there is no debate about the direction we should take the economy, everyone wants low unemployment, cheap food, good jobs, low inflation, so then it's about which politician's plan is the best way to go about achieving those things, but even economists disagree about how effective those plans are, so nobody really knows who has the better plan. Even if those plans work, they oftentimes take years to have an impact, so by the time they do, that President has probably left office. I suspect the previous President has more impact on the economy than the current President does.

I think people should spend more time weighing their vote on things the President actually does control. The area the president has the most control in is Foreign Policy. That is almost entirely under the purview of the president as head of the executive branch. The issue is that foreign policy seems to have the least impact on people's daily lives. Unless the president is starting WWIII, most people don't seem worry much about foreign policy. But a Presidential Candidate should be judged on their understanding of the nuances of diplomacy and how well they would work with other world leaders.

The second area to consider is domestic policies. The president has more control in this area than the economy, but since most domestic policies require congress to enact there is less power here unless the president's party also controls congress. However, these also impact American's daily lives more than foreign policy. A candidates approach to healthcare, education, benefit programs, etc. should probably be the driving factor for most people.

The last area that I think is useful to consider is how the candidate would perform leading a large and complex organization. The president is essentially the CEO of the country and needs to do many of the things a CEO does, like hire subordinates, budget, set strategic vision, improve government operations. This one might matter to me more because I work for the executive branch, but I think running the government is an often overlooked aspect of picking a President. This is one of the reasons that I thought Mitt Romney would have been an effective president. His career as a management consultant and then CEO of Bain & CO, followed by essentially saving the 2002 winter Olympics, then as a Governor leading a state seemed like a great resume if you're looking for someone who would be a competent executive in large complex organizations. 

This area would probably also cover how they would respond to an unforeseen crises. No one voted in 2000 based on who would be better at responding to a terrorist attack, and no one voted in 2016 on who would better handle a global pandemic. But invariably these crises come up, so I try to think about which candidate would better handle a true nationwide emergency.

So to sum it up, in my opinion you shouldn't vote based on "who is better for the economy", but vote based on domestic policy positions, understanding of foreign policy and diplomatic relationships, and lastly on how they would be as an executive running a vast and complex organization.

New Orleans - An American City Unlike Any Other

I just returned from a some-expenses paid work trip to New Orleans, a city I hadn't been to since my bachelor party in 2015, but a city that I really enjoy visiting.

The main thing I love about New Orleans is that it holds a uniqueness that is sadly missing in many American cities. Most American cities are everchanging landscapes following the latest in value-engineered building trends. Most big cities start to look generally the same. But not New Orleans. 

I've always posited that if I fell asleep and work up in New Orleans that I would instantly know exactly what city I was in (San Francisco would also fare well in this exercise). It has held onto its history better than nearly every other city I've visited, and that historic architecture is generally unique for American cities. The number of pre-revolutionary war buildings and pre-civil war buildings in New Orleans must be unmatched in the USA.

This trip I was able to spend some time in the Garden District and it was such a delight to walk around that neighborhood. From the mansions to the shotgun shacks, some beautifully restored some in a more dilapidated state, but all held beauty and charm, with nary a modern McMansion in sight. I also quite enjoyed hanging out in Igor's on St. Charles street drinking $2 Miller High Life and watching the Olympics on a steamy Louisiana afternoon.

A house in the garden district

That leads to the other reason I like New Orleans, it's a great drinking town. Of course things get skewed with Bourbon St. which is a fun time unto itself, but there are many great bars all around the town. Most of those bars are in old buildings, which I love. I spent a long time chatting with the owner of one of my favorite Bourbon St. Bars, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, and he told me about the history of the building going back to the 1720s - and they still don't have lights!

I'm not sure the next time I'll be making it back to New Orleans. I'd still really like to go to the WWII museum, and explore a few other areas outside of downtown/garden district. Unfortunately nearly every local I talked to said unsolicitedly that the city seems to be going in the wrong direction. This was confirmed for me when I looked up the population losses and crime rate. I felt that a little bit from the last few times I visited, but chalked some of that up to being there midweek during the summer. It felt a little dirtier, and a little rougher around the edges, and the sidewalks were atrocious. I'm amazed the city isn't getting sued every day by people being injured on the sidewalks. Hopefully the city will continue to attract visitors to enjoy one of my favorite places to walk around with a beer in the US.

Time

Lately I've been more pre-occupied with the concept of time and my own aging. In many ways having kids makes you think about your own mortality. It's not something I enjoy thinking about, realizing that life is passing me by and that I very well may be halfway through it. This is a very unpleasant thought and my body gets very tense at the mere notion that the blip of my existence is whizzing by so quickly. It is so unpleasant to consider that I think I will not continue to expound on it.

Time also comes into play often with the ranch. Carly and I have a really great vision of what the property can become. We've done so much in the 3.5 years that we've been here, and have accomplished so many things, but the list of projects that lies ahead and continues to grow in way that at times seems daunting. The property boasts so many great assets, but they hadn't been properly cared for in the 15 years before we moved onto the ranch. For example, the chicken coop was a really well built structure, but it needed a total refurbishment that took me a year to complete. And there are a bunch of other structures that need the same. It's about an even split between trying to keep the existing things in good condition and trying to add new aspects to the property.

At the beginning of the year we renovated the ancillary house which was way overdue for some upgrades. I did a majority of work on that myself with the help of some tradesmen we know. We're now living there while we renovate the main ranch house. That work is being done by a GC, but it still is generating projects for me like building the outdoor kitchen for the beer fridge and flattop. Once the house is done then it'll be time to focus on the landscaping, where we have big plans for a garden, bike grotto, greenhouse and tool shed. Those alone are a few years worth of projects.

But the truth is that I love doing it, and I love seeing it come together as part of our vision. I have no problem investing my time, sweat and money into this ranch. I'm building on the progress made by Carly's father and grandfather. If I can make progress on making this ranch a better place for my kids, I think that would make my blip of an existence might be worth it.

The Three Most Useful Tools to Have on the Ranch

This is my 4th year living on our ranch, and being on acreage definitely has it's perks and challenges. There is always work to be done on a ranch and the scale of things along with the ample storage opportunities make owning the right tools a must. In the last 4 years I've found these three tools to be absolutely essential to maintaining our ranch.

The tractor in all her glory.

1) The Tractor. Simply put, I don't think we could maintain the ranch without a utility tractor with a front-end loader. I don't even use the tractor to work our ag land, but it's just so useful for so many jobs. Just this last week I've used the tractor to: haul branches to the burn pile, move concrete pavers to a spot where I'm putting a path in, remove the sod/dirt where said path would go. Combine that with the implements like the box blade and the auger, the tractor is the most expensive but also the most necessary piece of equipment on the ranch.

2) The chainsaw. We have about 50 trees on the ranch, which means a large amount of tree trimming and deadfall. We also have a wood fireplace so I spend considerable time cutting up wood for firewood, and it simply wouldn't be possible with our chainsaw. When we first moved here we had a very old electric chainsaw and a crappy Poulon Pro that barely ran. I quickly went out and bought a 50cc Stihl Farm Boss that is a fantastic tool for the ranch and a smaller polesaw that can pretty much do everything I need.

3) The utility trailer. Our first few years on the ranch we relied on just having our ranch truck to haul things. But like most trucks you can't fit a 4x8 sheet or other large items in the bed, and getting things up into the bed can be a pain. After a year it became clear that we needed something bigger. I got a 10x5 utility trailer with a fold down ramp and have use it so much more than I imagined. At first I thought it would be used just to haul materials and take dump runs (which happens at least one a month). But it's been super useful for a variety of other tasks as well. I've used it to pick up furniture and vanities saving myself big money in delivery fees. When I needed to get some sand from the local rock yard for the paver project, the trailer made it super easy to haul and then unload. 

Honorable mention tools:
1) Zero Turn Mower - A must for mowing around the trees in the orchard
2) Paint sprayer
3) Power Washer
4) Pit in the garage - a must have for doing your own oil changes and general vehicle maintenance
5) Wagons - I use wagons all the time to move tools and materials between the buildings. I'm not hauling around 5 gallon buckets of paint!

Tools I'd like to have:
1) Trencher. I'm often thinking about running water or power to various part of the ranch but without a trencher it's a bit of a pain. I think I could get an implement for the tractor to make this job much easier. In the long run I think a trencher would be a worthwhile investment.
2) Wood splitter - I currently rent one which means I need to process and stack 2 cords in one day which is an absolute killer of a day. With a splitter I could spread that job out across a few months, but they're so expensive compared to how often I'd use it.
3) Bucket truck - It'd be nice to have a cherry picker, boom lift or bucket truck to do high work in. It'd be nice to be able to trim tall branches, string lights, repair barn rafters, or literally pick cherries in a bucket. I see these come up at auctions all the time, but they are still pretty expensive. Someday though it could be a really useful tool.

Milestones

17 years ago (and a week) I started this blog.

10 years ago today I moved from Seattle to San Diego. I packed whatever I could fit in the back of my Camaro, drove down I-5 and stayed with Jello in SF. The next day we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping in Santa Barbara for the night. After making our way through LA we arrived in San Diego and celebrated by having a beer at the bar inside the Hillcrest Whole Foods.

Jello and I at the grocery store bar

0 years ago Michigan won the National Championship. Their first since 1997, when I was 9. At the time I was young enough to think it would be a somewhat regular occurrence. But it was a long arduous road to get back to the top of the mountain. Many better writers have waxed poetic on this journey and what it means. For me it's sheer joy and elation, having stood in the Big House and watched us lose to Toledo in 2008. All those low moments and having to watch all the players who graduated without ever sniffing a Championship, or worse, a win against Ohio State. Those lows make this high feel even higher.

I'd love nothing more than a Michigan dynasty. But it's a rapidly diminishing marginal return. That feeling of the first win against Ohio State after losing 8 in a row doesn't compare with their feelings if they had won a 9th. Just getting back here, even once is enough for me. As Blake Corum said "Business is Finished". I will still be a huge fan forever and watch every game, but that weight of them desperately needing to win each game feels like it's been lifted. Maybe not against our rivals who we need to beat to keep talking trash, but if we lose to USC or Texas next year, I think I'd be immediately at peace with it. I don't want to wait another 26 years, but I'm content to ride this championship for at least the next 10.