Construction Maison

By Lambert Strether of Corrente. We had our Naked Capitalism meetup in Burlington Thursday, August 17, and our meetup in Montréal on Friday, August 18. Seven NC readers attended the Burlington Meetup, some coming a long distance; fourteen — I think, we had to add a table — came to Montréal. I thought both numbers were remarkable; strangers coming together for no other reason than that they read the same blog speaks to a great hunger for connection, IMNSHO, and speaks well of the blog. In Burlington, we met at Zero Gravity Brewpub at Flatbread ( excellent craft beer , excellent pizza). In Montréal, we met at Le Café Cherrier (cuisine bourgeois, again excellent, and bringing back very happy memories for me. And a big hat tip here to the Montréal organizer for selecting the venue; I’m anonymizing them because I’m not sure they wish to be named). Both meetups were very convivial — conviviality is important — and both establishments let us sit and chat for a long time. I hadn’t been to e...

'Your home is wherever you stop and that's what's really, really cool about that whole idea' Rain patters on the roof of John Salhany's 2006 Mercedes Sprinter van as he points out the half-finished ceiling of tongue-and- groove pine paneling that will eventually continue down the walls over layers of plywood and reflective insulation. Items strewn in the hollowed back include a dusty climbing rope , a road bike and a six-pack of Upslope Brewing Company 's Citra Pale Ale . All his essentials will soon have their places once the van build-out is complete, when Salhany will have a bed big enough to accommodate all 6 feet, 2 inches of him, a countertop with a sink and drawers, and maybe even a backsplash with the cutout of the mountains — amenities like that of a house. "I have a lot of friends who are buying houses right now who are just getting to that age, all on the East Coast and I'm just like, how do you guys know where you want to live?" said...