Before I began the outline for Suki I, I set down some rules for the environment the characters would be living in. Being set in the USA just a few years in the future, I decided that the country would be no more legally homogeneous than it is now. That ties into something I have noticed across the country, when people get used to their local laws they seem to think that they are the same everyplace. Certain laws anyway, which has run people into problems for decades, even centuries when it comes to Eastern vs. Western property rights rules.
In this case, a simple towing of a vehicle that happened a few days before this post:
Nothing particularly exciting there, on the face. The land owner has designated certain parking spots reserved for this-or-that. The land owner has made an arrangement with a wrecker company to monitor parking and remove vehicles that are parked without permission on the land.
Now imagine that adjoining jurisdictions, Washington, DC and most of Maryland, have different rules, where parking in areas like the one this vehicle was towed from being mostly controlled by the government and must be marked in a certain manner. Just for fun, imagine that the tow trucks in these areas are government trucks, not contractors, so being towed is less of a risk. When the drivers from that environment arrive in Virginia and just grab a spot because they think they can get away with it with maybe a ticket, they get a rude awakening when they discover their vehicle has been privately towed and is going to require a substantial payment to retrieve.
The above example is too minor for the short novels that I write, so there is a mention of a demonstration in Suki's neighborhood over someone from DC or MD losing their home for destroying a Virginian's property with their under-insured vehicle and bad driving habits.
The video above was taken from across the street from Chipotle, 2231 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Fireplace at the Concord Starbucks is Lit
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Watching Someone Read One of My Books, Interesting
Looks like others enjoyed Suki With A Twist: Part One and Suki IV: Finally A Vacation enough to walk away with them.
The Concord Starbucks, as it is known currently, is the one that inspired #OpBookDrop by Ami Hendrickson, on Twitter. Actually, that man was reading the book that I left that day. It is also a location in Suki I that the couple visits on an early date. The pictures below are recent at that location.
Photos of other locations from the books and other area pictures are here.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
John Tagliaferro's Neighborhood - Rosslyn, Arlington County, VA
I placed John's condominium in Rosslyn, a community in Arlington County, VA, for several reasons:
- Several fantastic condominium buildings were being constructed around the time I began writing the outline for Suki I, in 2008. They had features like private elevators for each unit, ample parking, modern amenities, and high-level security.
- Close to a METRO station.
- Easy access to I-66 and other major highways.
- A generally quiet, safe neighborhood with a generally dense population of women within his dating age range within blocks.
- A great view (the view from John's balcony is borrowed from the view from Rep. Charlie Wilson's (D-TX) apartment, see Charlie Wilson's War).
The book begins in "the mid 2030s" and several years before that John's building was under construction. The contractor uses some unconventional techniques, advanced even for the future, that create problems with the inspectors (even though that is much less of a problem than in the current day) and slow the pace of filling the building.
John gets his premium unit at a great discount, good because he had a financial setback due to a fire in his old building and getting laid off from his defense contracting job. He started a new business, bought a bare condo and started building everything out, including his own furniture.
In the 2010s, the closest Starbuck's Cafe to John's condo is the one pictured above. By the time he moves to the neighborhood, it is much larger and the building he lives in is closer to this location than the one that inspired my description of his building.
- Several fantastic condominium buildings were being constructed around the time I began writing the outline for Suki I, in 2008. They had features like private elevators for each unit, ample parking, modern amenities, and high-level security.
- Close to a METRO station.
- Easy access to I-66 and other major highways.
- A generally quiet, safe neighborhood with a generally dense population of women within his dating age range within blocks.
- A great view (the view from John's balcony is borrowed from the view from Rep. Charlie Wilson's (D-TX) apartment, see Charlie Wilson's War).
The book begins in "the mid 2030s" and several years before that John's building was under construction. The contractor uses some unconventional techniques, advanced even for the future, that create problems with the inspectors (even though that is much less of a problem than in the current day) and slow the pace of filling the building.
John gets his premium unit at a great discount, good because he had a financial setback due to a fire in his old building and getting laid off from his defense contracting job. He started a new business, bought a bare condo and started building everything out, including his own furniture.
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| Glimpse of a Building that Inspired the Fictional Condo Building John Tagliaferro Lives In |
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| The Cafe John likes to visit in his neighborhood. |
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| Another view of John's neighborhood and the cafe. |
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| Yet another view of John's neighborhood. |
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| This is just stupid and I am not putting anything like it in John's neighborhood. It is a solar powered trash compactor. In the future, valuable varieties of trash from buildings like John's is sold to keep condo fees down. The unsellable trash is removed, for a fee, by trash companies and eventually ends up in landfills. The landfills are located in places that can't use the land for much else and they profit from the refuse of others. Buildings lining the streets have trash receptacles that pay for marketable trash and there are severe community fines for leaving unmarketable trash on the street. Scroungers scour the few public trash cans for marketable trash. |
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| Another view of the Court House METRO. |
John Explains the Universe to Suki
Suki has hired John as an Astronomy tutor, but she is long out of college, with a PhD in Robotics, a Masters in Bionics and an MS in Mathematics.
This passage from a recent Stephen Hawking article captures a bit if the instruction in Suki I, during their first tutoring session. However, the couple sticks with science without launching into religion:
The tale of how the primordial universe of hydrogen, helium and a bit of lithium evolved to a universe harboring at least one world with intelligent life like us is a tale of many chapters. The forces of nature had to be such that heavier elements—especially carbon—could be produced from the primordial elements, and remain stable for at least billions of years. Those heavy elements were formed in the furnaces we call stars, so the forces first had to allow stars and galaxies to form. Those in turn grew from the seeds of tiny inhomogeneities in the early universe.
Monday, September 6, 2010
John's Muscle Car Restoration Business
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| In the 2030s, John's automated muscle car restoration shop is located in this building complex. |
Slashdot | Self-Powered Parts Are the Future
Slashdot | Self-Powered Parts Are the Future
"The idea is that the parts will make external power sources redundant — because they can convert energy from body heat, light and vibrations straight into electricity. Self powered electronics have already sporadically been used in technology like wall-mount remote control units for air conditioners, says Nikkei, but existing parts are bulky and cost a couple thousand yen a piece. 3,000 yen is about $35 — which means they're not the best bet, financially, yet."
Pilotless Commercial Aircraft Becoming Reality
Slashdot News Story | Ryanair's CEO Suggests Eliminating Co-Pilots:
"Ryanair's miser-in-chief Michael O'Leary now suggests eliminating co-pilots as a way to save money. Will airliners be powered by drones, or is it actually viable to have just a single pilot on passenger planes?"
Cross-posted to Suki Project. In Suki II: Sunshine Returns, pilotless commercial aircrafr, cargo only, are mentioned. In Suki III: Never Let Us End, John reveals that he worked on an Army project that advanced the concept to reality (TEC: The Effortless Cockpit). In Suki IV: Finally A Vacation (War With Iran), the couple watches pilotless aircraft and driverless trucks moving supplies for a looming war. In Suki With A Twist: Part One, the couple rides in a pilotless, retrofitted Cessna Citation from Reagan National Airport (DCA) to San Francisco (Berkeley Airport (JBK) during one of their earlier dates.
"Ryanair's miser-in-chief Michael O'Leary now suggests eliminating co-pilots as a way to save money. Will airliners be powered by drones, or is it actually viable to have just a single pilot on passenger planes?"
Cross-posted to Suki Project. In Suki II: Sunshine Returns, pilotless commercial aircrafr, cargo only, are mentioned. In Suki III: Never Let Us End, John reveals that he worked on an Army project that advanced the concept to reality (TEC: The Effortless Cockpit). In Suki IV: Finally A Vacation (War With Iran), the couple watches pilotless aircraft and driverless trucks moving supplies for a looming war. In Suki With A Twist: Part One, the couple rides in a pilotless, retrofitted Cessna Citation from Reagan National Airport (DCA) to San Francisco (Berkeley Airport (JBK) during one of their earlier dates.Crystal City Restaurant (CCR) South 23rd & Eades, Arlington, VA 22202
View Suki's World in Suki I; Suki II: Sunshine Returns; Suki III; Suki IV; Suki V and Suki: Fan Fiction in a larger map
In Suki I, Jung and Cinful talk about The Restaurant while Jung has a Scotch at The Sports Pub. Cindy, the name she goes by as a waitress, mentions to Jung that she will be dancing at The Restaurant soon.
Suki II takes place mostly in Suki's apartment. The couple does not have an opportunity to go there in that book.
In Suki's fan fiction story, Suki: Settling The Score, the Suki character tries to get an extra job there. In Suki III: Never Let Us End, Suki treats John to lunch there. Later two women, impersonating entertainers, engage John while Suki and the bartender are in the ladies room. They later attack John and Suki in John's shop down the street and Suki saves the day.
In Suki With A Twist: Part One, Suki offers John her contract of "formal submission", a ritual in the future Domination/submission erotic play world of the 2030s.
Suki's Cleaning Bots
View Suki's World in Suki I; Suki II: Sunshine Returns; Suki III; Suki IV; Suki V and Suki: Fan Fiction in a larger map
The concept has been used by many before and is incrementally improved in reality, great examples come from iRobot in the form of Roomba and other products of theirs. My vision was for even the most common residence in the 2030s robots would do most of the cleaning while their owners were away. They would be programmed to the owner's taste to stop and await instruction, continue, or stop and put themselves away when a person entered their work area.
I wasn't thinking Jetson's style "human approximation" robots either. I was going for smaller, specific purpose robotic devices.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Crystal City Water Park, 1700 Block of Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202
Not long after meeting John in Suki I, a stranger offers to light Suki's cigarette near here. The water park is one of Suki's favorite spots in Arlington and she hopes to have her wedding ceremony here one day, if she ever finds a man who wants a Libertarian wedding (no wedding license).
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| A park that Suki enjoys in the first Suki series. She walks past this park between her apartment and work at her mother's office at 23rd and Crystal Drive. |
Suki's Crystal City Apartment: Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, 22202
Suki's apartment appears in most of the books. Located near the intersection of 15th Street South and Crystal Drive, in Crystal City, Arlington, VA 22202.
View Suki's World in Suki I; Suki II: Sunshine Returns; Suki III; Suki IV; Suki V and Suki: Fan Fiction in a larger map
In the original series (Suki I, Suki II: Sunshine Returns, Suki III: Never Let Us End and Suki IV: Finally A Vacation) her apartment was decorated with furniture, mostly cherry, that she customized herself with ornate carvings.
In Suki With A Twist, everything is store bought of the finest quality available in the 2030s.
Suki and John's first night together is in Suki's apartment, in Suki I. In Suki II: Sunshine Returns, almost everything happens in Suki's apartment from the point John rescues Suki from Sunshine. Much of Suki III: Never Let Us End happens in her apartment too.
Mentioned in the first series, occasionally there are protests in Suki's neighborhood by people from Washington, DC and Maryland. In the 2030s, Virginia requires people to be financially liable for damage they cause, especially while driving. When a DC or MD motorist loses their home the usual activists arrive in force to protest the "plantation mentality" of Virginians. These protests resemble this video (shot in DC, 2010, near one of John and Suki's favorite restaurants):
View Suki's World in Suki I; Suki II: Sunshine Returns; Suki III; Suki IV; Suki V and Suki: Fan Fiction in a larger map
In the original series (Suki I, Suki II: Sunshine Returns, Suki III: Never Let Us End and Suki IV: Finally A Vacation) her apartment was decorated with furniture, mostly cherry, that she customized herself with ornate carvings.
In Suki With A Twist, everything is store bought of the finest quality available in the 2030s.
Suki and John's first night together is in Suki's apartment, in Suki I. In Suki II: Sunshine Returns, almost everything happens in Suki's apartment from the point John rescues Suki from Sunshine. Much of Suki III: Never Let Us End happens in her apartment too.
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| Suki's apartment is at this intersection in both series. A previous apartment of John's, from the first series, is near here too. Suki's apartment faces the river and airport, to the right of the shot. In the Suki With A Twist series, Suki keeps her import sports car collection in the underground parking garage. In both series, the buildings on the west side of Crystal Drive (left side of shot) are much taller. In Suki With A Twist a covered pedestrian overpass crosses Crystal Drive, connecting the apartment buildings to The Underground. |
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