The Net Monkey

This weekend my employer will be relocating its offices from above the Hard Rock Cafe in the Mirrison Opera Place to the Gauranty Building on the southwest corner of of Meridian Street and Monument Circle.

A fellow at work sent me a little email describing the history of the Gauranty Building that I’d like to share with you now.

The local architectural firm of Rubush and Hunter designed the Guaranty Building in 1922, with construction completed in 1923. The building’s design was born out of the height restriction controversy of 1921-1922. The 1920s was a decade of new commercial construction that transformed the downtown, particularly Monument Circle. A local ordinance of 1905 limited the height of buildings fronting the Circle to 86 feet or approximately seven stories in an attempt to protect the prominence of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. After much debate, an ordinance passed in 1922 permitting Circle-fronting buildings to rise to 108 feet and allowing for an additional 42 feet through a series of facade setbacks. Rubush and Hunter’s final design conforms to the 1922 ordinance; however, two earlier design proposals for the Guaranty in 1921 called for building twelve-story and seven-story heights. The Guaranty set the standards that decade for other near-identical Circle buildings constructed with Renaissance Revival styling, limestone facades, and nine-story height.

The Guaranty Building was built by William P. Jungclaus Company as an office building with retail use on the first two floors. Early tenants included Western Union Telegraph Company, numerous law offices, and insurance companies. Over the years the Guaranty has retained most of its original design and fabric. The sculpted bas-reliefs on the facade are the work of local Estonian-born sculptor Alexander Sangernebo. The curved limestone facade continues to underscore the importance of its location on Monument Circle.

Outside our windows is a spectacular view of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. I’ll be sure and post some photos when I get the chance, as well as shots of the outside of the building.

I read that iTunes 4.9 was released today. This is the version that Steve Jobs announced at WWDC would support podcasting.

Since I was at home this morning — working, of course — I installed it on my PowerMac and took all of my podcast feeds from Bloglines and put them in to iTunes. All I had to do was update my iPod and start listening.

I’ve seen several movies lateatly.

I watched Batman Begins yesterday while on a date. It’s definitely the best Batman movie to date. I’m also in complete agreement with my friend Jason that it is just a great overwall film. If you’re not a fan of the Batman movies, you will have a change of heart once seeing this one.

I’ve also been watching films by Alfred Hitchcock. After years of putting it off and being teased by friends, I packed a bunch of his work in to my Netflix queue. So far, I have watched North by Northwest, Rear Window, and Vertigo. All are excellent movies, but North by Northwest is probably my favorite, with Vertigo coming in second place. More to come!

I made some changes to the blog recently.

The blog is now hosted at an actual web hosting company. I did this because I am eventually going to convert the site to Movable Type, which is not something I can do over at Blogger. For now, I’m sticking with Blogger’s publishing service, which uploads the files to the new server, until I find finish configuring the new software.

Another benefit of putting this at a web hosting company is that I can use www.netmonkey.net as the host name instead netmonkey.blogspot.com. Kind of nice using my domain instead of having it redirect somewhere else.

If you subscribe to the RSS feed, it hasn’t changed. It was updated to pull from the new location when I moved the hosting.

It has been an incredibly busy weekend.

Homo Pride:

http://flickr.com/photos/netmonkey/sets/442493/

Brew-Ha-Ha:

http://flickr.com/photos/netmonkey/sets/442495/

Grandma’s 94th Birthday Party:

http://flickr.com/photos/netmonkey/sets/447748/

I was on the Good As You blog this morning reading that the Los Angeles Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual & Transgender Pride Parade’s grand marshal will be none other than Paris Hilton.

Link to Article

I’m unsure what’s worse: Paris Hiltson herself; or, the fact that queers actually admire her enough to put her on such a pedestal.

Indianapolis doesn’t seem to have a grand marshal in its little parade and festival.

Title: Strawberry Shortcake

Uploaded By: mattbarton77

The 40th Strawberry Festival was today on Monument Circle. Check out my new photos.

http://flickr.com/photos/netmonkey/sets/435554/

I love dessert.

Title: Pixies

Uploaded By: mattbarton77

I have seen the Pixies live in concert.

I can die now.

It seems that every June I become inundated with things to do. I don’t know if it is Spring fever or just the nature of things.

• June 6: Parents’ 32nd Anniversary
• June 9: Strawberry Festival
• June 10-11: Italian Street Festival
• June 11-12: Talbott Street Art Fair
• June 11: IndyPride
• June 11: Brew-Ha-Ha
• June 12: Grandma’s 94th Brithday Party

Other birthdays include my friends Jason C., Andy P., and Mikel. My ex-boyfriend Robert is having a birthday, too.

Can one have too much to do?

Thankfully, the last two weeks of June aren’t busy because I would like to take a trip up to Chicago to visit my friend Clay.