#90: Living Independently, with Lots of Help


Dan’s dream house? How close is the nearest city?

This time we talk about complaining about everything (there’s a shocker!), restoring sight to the blind, the election and the Middle East, and living in the woods. All I need is a barn, a solar panel and high speed internet access…

Also included…my appearance as part of Story Salon’s Story Fest ’06. To hear the whole show, which also included Tim Coyne and Lance Anderson, check out LA Podcasters dot com

10 thoughts on “#90: Living Independently, with Lots of Help

  1. Dan for President!
    Ah, but there is the small matter of my not being allowed to vote…yet.
    Dang.
    Got 18.5 acres of “God’s Own Country” (at least that’s what someone once told me it was…anyway, he’s letting us use it for now). Will the mowing ever end?
    Got the barn.
    Got FOUR horses (not of the ‘apocolypse’ variety)…just need the buggy.
    Got TWO wells.
    Going solar.
    Well…as soon as we raise the necessary spondulics.
    All we need is for Google to roll out their own wireless web countrywide…
    It’s a crazy plan, Dan…but it just might work.
    I think we are all set right here where we are…which is nice.
    No windmills…deed restrictions…township etc.
    Plenty of flippin’ wind though…all going to waste.
    Woods…well…most of the trees are about 18″ tall…so…umm…time?
    Hold on to your dreams, Dan…hold on.

  2. omg, your Saturday night sounds way too much like ours! Couch, snack, dopey movie, spouse fairly close by, around 9ish, with kids finally in bed.

    There’s a family in my town that has converted their car to use vegetable oil. Not bio-diesal. Vegetable Oil. Used veggie oil, in fact. (from restaurants that previously had to pay someone to take it away) If it can work in Vermont, it could certainly work in Southern California. Check out http://www.greasecar.com. I am in no way affiliated with this company either. I’m just an intrigued observer.

  3. Hey Dan,

    As someone who grew up being called “half blind” by way of simplifying the explanation for my visual impairment, I think I can relate to your uncle’s reaction to a newly colorful world. I can totally imagine the sensory overload he must be experiencing. It would be groovy to have 20/20 vision, check out the fall colors, drive to the store instead of taking the bus, make eye contact with my nieces, all that stuff. But I have to say it would also be a hell of an adjustment. I have nightmares about being behind the wheel of a large car, trying to pull into traffic. Really. They’re nightmares and I wake up shaking when I have one. So yeah, turn down the world a little, will ya?

  4. Finding a preschool that is less than an hour away might be a start.

    Also, the United States gets most of it’s imported oil from Canada. Also we get more from Venezuela than we do from all the Middle East countries combined.

    When was the last time you rode your bike to get frozen yogurt?

    mike3point14159@yahoo.com

  5. 1) I can’t imagine my wife (from Long Island originally) even thinking about moving to a barn. She already thinks that we live in the country and we live in San Jose.

    2) Huh, starting a stand-up routine with a murder. That’s a different approach.

  6. Well, I had a great morning of audio. Started with Harry Shearer’s radio show (live), then Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (missed the broadcast yesterday so I picked it up online…Harry Shearer was the guest!), and then finally wrapped things up with a two-part episode of The Bitterest Pill (both “studio” and “live” material: bonus!).

    You guys lucked out with this one; that’s like a “greatest hits” of Dan’s celebrity anecdotes. Good listening as always, my friend.

  7. Hey dan! I like your show very much, youre a very funny guy. I just had a problem with this episode, I dont like to listen to people talking about politics. I dont like americans, please, dont remind me you are one of them.

    Greetings

  8. Dan,

    As an upstate New Yorker who drives a Prius year-round, I say forget those needing-SUV musings! We do have snow plows, after all. If you’re really hard core, one of my co-workers does live literally off the grid, his house being powered by solar with a gas generator as backup. He gets broadband satellite internet and has his own cell tower for phone connectivity. Now, mind you, he’s on about 100 acres of timber land, and does in fact have 4WD (a Subaru Forester), and sometimes has to snowmobile over to where it’s parked when storms hit–but to him it’s a small price to pay for his lifestyle. I can’t speak to how good his schools are, my kids are all in college, but I’ve never heard him complain about them. I say, get out of smogville, ditch the ridiculously overpriced property disease, avoid your state becoming part of the Pacific Ocean when The Big One hits, and return to your New York roots! Coming from California you’d be one of the few people whose taxes would actually go down in comparison! 😉

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