Hey Folks,
Quick update here. I'm hoping that by making quick updates I won't have to spend a bunch of time that I'll put off.
So this weekend Emily and I had a pretty good time. Friday was the last day of work before a 2 week shutdown for me so my co-workers and I stopped at a cigar lounge and enjoyed some scotch, cigar, and good company. It was a nice way to wind down after a pretty busy work week. Emily and I went to dinner, it was too cold out to wait for the horse and carriage ride, so just dinner. The fire department got toned to a working mutual aid fire over in Lafayette. So I threw some cash on the table and ran out of dinner. We were done eating and Emily said it was OK. Turned out Lafayette had it handled, or so they thought, since it rekindled the next morning.
Saturday Emily and I got a bunch of stuff around the house taken care of then went to the Colorado Mammoth indoor Lacrosse game. There were about 20 of us in our group and we were having a pretty good time. Then one of our friends found out that some of her friends had room for about 20 people in their suite. Sweet! The seats were better and they had a better beer selection. The Mammoth lost in over time 12-11. We had a good time anyway.
Sunday I went snow shoeing with some buddies. We are looking for a place to build an igloo! If we build it, it'll get some air time here for sure. We hiked about 4.25 miles, about 1 of it was off trail bushwhacking in the Brainard Lake area. Emily got in a good work out at the gym and did some more chores around the house. There would probably be too much junk on the floor to open all the doors if she didn't live here. She really does a lot of the clean up work and I appreciate it. I was running late so I rushed to get ready and we went the Colorado Rage hockey game. Emily's company has a suite there., so we got free food and to watch the game. It was prety fun.
I'm off for snowboarding Monday and Tuesday, while Emily and a bunch of other suckers are at work! Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for reading.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Snow Chains
I told you two posts ago to prepare for the barrage. I finally have some time and am getting these all banged out.
I made some home made snow chains for my bicycle. Version 2.0 is on the front wheel of my hard-tail mountain bike. Version 1.o did not clear the brake arms and had to be taken apart. It was pretty simple. I just stretched some little pieces of chain across the tire and held them in place with some plastic coated wire rope. Here are some pictures:
In this first picture you see the upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0. This is where the 1.0 version failed and hit the bike. That's bad. Anything that hits the frame as the wheel goes around is bad. It would be pretty safe in the snow, cause I'd be walking! In the foreground there you can see the chain wrapping around the edge of the tire.
This is how I connected the two ends of the loop of cable. Just used a crimping tool and locked them together. I think Version 2.1 will go on the back and the loops will be a tad smaller. I put the zip ties on to control the loose ends of the cable. There are some sharp edges there. Sharp and tubes don't go together well. 2.1 will probably get a heat shrink wrap over this whole joint as well.
Lastly here is the final product. I would like to see straighter lines from one piece of chain to the next. This will be accomplished by shortening the loops.
I only did the front wheel cause I ran out of chain, DOH! I figured no chain on the back would only slow me down. A wreck when the back wheel slides out at low speed isn't too bad. A higher speed wrek when the front wheel flies out from underneath you is worse. Thus front wheel first. Also getting the tension on the chains is more important on the back wheel delivering power over the front and these were a tiny bit loose. I tried them out in the snow and I couldn't get the front wheel to slide under heavy braking. I hope it gets me to work tomorrow!
I made some home made snow chains for my bicycle. Version 2.0 is on the front wheel of my hard-tail mountain bike. Version 1.o did not clear the brake arms and had to be taken apart. It was pretty simple. I just stretched some little pieces of chain across the tire and held them in place with some plastic coated wire rope. Here are some pictures:
In this first picture you see the upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0. This is where the 1.0 version failed and hit the bike. That's bad. Anything that hits the frame as the wheel goes around is bad. It would be pretty safe in the snow, cause I'd be walking! In the foreground there you can see the chain wrapping around the edge of the tire.
This is how I connected the two ends of the loop of cable. Just used a crimping tool and locked them together. I think Version 2.1 will go on the back and the loops will be a tad smaller. I put the zip ties on to control the loose ends of the cable. There are some sharp edges there. Sharp and tubes don't go together well. 2.1 will probably get a heat shrink wrap over this whole joint as well.
Lastly here is the final product. I would like to see straighter lines from one piece of chain to the next. This will be accomplished by shortening the loops.
I only did the front wheel cause I ran out of chain, DOH! I figured no chain on the back would only slow me down. A wreck when the back wheel slides out at low speed isn't too bad. A higher speed wrek when the front wheel flies out from underneath you is worse. Thus front wheel first. Also getting the tension on the chains is more important on the back wheel delivering power over the front and these were a tiny bit loose. I tried them out in the snow and I couldn't get the front wheel to slide under heavy braking. I hope it gets me to work tomorrow!
The Christmas Spirit
I'm usually pretty laid back. There are some things that get me fired up. There are somethings that I have strong clear cut opinions about. Timing on holidays is one of those things. You can't start celebrating Valentines Day (my opinions of which I will keep to myself) before New Years. Also you can't start Christmas stuff till AFTER Thanksgiving day. Turkey day being over the Christmas spirit is growing here. We got some decorations up, and the lights on the outside of the house. We even listened to Christmas music while cleaning up today! We put some lighted garland around the fire place. Take a look!
We put up the tree. If you have copy of last years tree you'll notice an incredible similarity. Par for the course if you keep your tree in a cardboard box in the crawl space. It's up, lit and raring to go!
Emily organized a cookie exchange for today. Several ladies braved the bitter cold (teens) and snow to gather and trade cookies. I think I heard a rumor about some wine as well. Emily made Candy Cane Cookies. I DID help. See all those little balls of dough. It was my job to make them all and make them equal. Then Emily rolled them out and twists them together.
Then, into the oven. It was my job to pull them out of the oven and put them on the cooling rack. Sounds easy, and it is, but it's stressfull. Emily is very attached to every cookie and gets a little teary eyed if one is broken before it cools and is eaten. It is the most fragile point for the cookies short life. Here is the final product (before the oven).
Like I said. We are getting into to Christmas spirit here! With Christmas always comes the question about lists. Emily and I have decided that we would prefer you give to a charity in our, or your, name instead of presents for us. Here are some charities that we like:
Max Fund - No kill animal shelter in Denver
Leukemia and Lymphoma - something that has effected some folks close to us
The American Red Cross - It's like a savings plan if you loose your house
You can use the links above to learn more about these organizations and to donate.
The Gathering Place - A homeless women and children shelter. A co-worker of mine is collecting children's books and puzzles to donate. You can send the books to me by the 19th of December or to her by the 27th. Here is the flier with more info.
That's Cooper, her Son, in the picture! About as cute as a button! These are, of course, suggestions and you can donate where ever you would like. This way you save on shipping. Emily and I also understand that it is fun to give an actual gift. We both have "wish lists" on Amazon.com you can check out.
Jon
Emily
Hope this finds all of you well. Again, sorry for the long drought on the blog!
We put up the tree. If you have copy of last years tree you'll notice an incredible similarity. Par for the course if you keep your tree in a cardboard box in the crawl space. It's up, lit and raring to go!
Emily organized a cookie exchange for today. Several ladies braved the bitter cold (teens) and snow to gather and trade cookies. I think I heard a rumor about some wine as well. Emily made Candy Cane Cookies. I DID help. See all those little balls of dough. It was my job to make them all and make them equal. Then Emily rolled them out and twists them together.
Then, into the oven. It was my job to pull them out of the oven and put them on the cooling rack. Sounds easy, and it is, but it's stressfull. Emily is very attached to every cookie and gets a little teary eyed if one is broken before it cools and is eaten. It is the most fragile point for the cookies short life. Here is the final product (before the oven).
Like I said. We are getting into to Christmas spirit here! With Christmas always comes the question about lists. Emily and I have decided that we would prefer you give to a charity in our, or your, name instead of presents for us. Here are some charities that we like:Max Fund - No kill animal shelter in Denver
Leukemia and Lymphoma - something that has effected some folks close to us
The American Red Cross - It's like a savings plan if you loose your house
You can use the links above to learn more about these organizations and to donate.
The Gathering Place - A homeless women and children shelter. A co-worker of mine is collecting children's books and puzzles to donate. You can send the books to me by the 19th of December or to her by the 27th. Here is the flier with more info.
That's Cooper, her Son, in the picture! About as cute as a button! These are, of course, suggestions and you can donate where ever you would like. This way you save on shipping. Emily and I also understand that it is fun to give an actual gift. We both have "wish lists" on Amazon.com you can check out.
Jon
Emily
Hope this finds all of you well. Again, sorry for the long drought on the blog!
Thanks Giving
OK, yes, I know it's late but I've already told you that we are not good at this and it will be an irregular thing at best, prepare for a barrage. So here is the skinny on Turkey Day.
Mom and Dad, (Barb and Chuck) came out from Indy to visit. One of my old bosses only said one intelligent thing in my entire career working for him (2 years), "Deadlines force action." He was right. It seems like a bunch of ideas and half finished projects get taken on, and finished up, right before my parents get here. Guess you never grow out of trying to impress your parents, or it takes more than 30 years. I finally finished up the Dart area. I used an old piece of plywood in the garage and cut it into a half circle, about 2' in diameter. Then covered that and the backing board holding up the dart board with dark green duck cloth. I put the half circle on the floor below the dart board. They turned out pretty nice and the dinning room has a nice Irish Pub kind of feel, with out all the dirt and fighting. We also got a little wine bar to keep the bottles and glasses in. It's looking very nice and adult down there. Which is good, cause we spend all the time in the living room, instead.
We took Mom and Dad out to Red Rocks Amphitheater. It's a pretty neat site for an amphitheater. You are at the foot of the foot hills and look over the stage at Denver. I've heard it's especially cool when there is lightening out over Denver or East. This was also the site of the Red Bull Soap Box Derby, so we got to walk, up, the course. We got in some good climbing at altitude while we were there. It's probably 150 vertical feet from the gift shop to the parking lot!
For Turkey Day Dad and I smoked a 14lb turkey! It only took a few hours and turned out great! We had to finish it off in the electric roaster. It was pretty tasty. Also tried some garlic mashed potatoes. You bake them first then put like 1/2 the skins in and mash em all up. Turned out great as well. We also had some green been casserole as well as a pumpkin pie. More food than we needed, but it's Thanksgiving, not "international diet day!"
Over all it was a good time. Always good to see the family, and the family is always welcome!
Mom and Dad, (Barb and Chuck) came out from Indy to visit. One of my old bosses only said one intelligent thing in my entire career working for him (2 years), "Deadlines force action." He was right. It seems like a bunch of ideas and half finished projects get taken on, and finished up, right before my parents get here. Guess you never grow out of trying to impress your parents, or it takes more than 30 years. I finally finished up the Dart area. I used an old piece of plywood in the garage and cut it into a half circle, about 2' in diameter. Then covered that and the backing board holding up the dart board with dark green duck cloth. I put the half circle on the floor below the dart board. They turned out pretty nice and the dinning room has a nice Irish Pub kind of feel, with out all the dirt and fighting. We also got a little wine bar to keep the bottles and glasses in. It's looking very nice and adult down there. Which is good, cause we spend all the time in the living room, instead.
We took Mom and Dad out to Red Rocks Amphitheater. It's a pretty neat site for an amphitheater. You are at the foot of the foot hills and look over the stage at Denver. I've heard it's especially cool when there is lightening out over Denver or East. This was also the site of the Red Bull Soap Box Derby, so we got to walk, up, the course. We got in some good climbing at altitude while we were there. It's probably 150 vertical feet from the gift shop to the parking lot!
For Turkey Day Dad and I smoked a 14lb turkey! It only took a few hours and turned out great! We had to finish it off in the electric roaster. It was pretty tasty. Also tried some garlic mashed potatoes. You bake them first then put like 1/2 the skins in and mash em all up. Turned out great as well. We also had some green been casserole as well as a pumpkin pie. More food than we needed, but it's Thanksgiving, not "international diet day!"
Over all it was a good time. Always good to see the family, and the family is always welcome!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Hello? Is anybody out there!?
Ok, it's Emily, and I've not been a good blogger. Jon has been doing a much better job at this than I have! Of course, I haven't had much excitement to blog about lately. Though the shoulder is getting better! I've been able to start running again, which is nice, and going well. Physical therapy continues, I'm still working on regaining the whole range of motion, but for the most part I can do all regular things.
It's been an amazing fall here, very warm, but dry. Today it will be around 60 again, and will stay this way until Thanksgiving Day. Jon is out for a bike ride and I just got home from a run. Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful hike in Conifer with James and Hillary.
I've been busy with baby showers, Jon can tell you how fun one was! It was a couples shower, so he was lucky enough to attend. :) I'm excited for my friends Michelle and Brooke, they are both due Dec 18th!
Work has been very busy for me lately. I've been working overtime the last couple of weeks. I can't complain though, it helps with the job security!
Well, I need to go get ready for our Thanksgiving guests! And we should probably get a turkey.....
Oh.... in case you missed it... PURDUE 62 indiana 10. HAHAHAHAHHAHA
It's been an amazing fall here, very warm, but dry. Today it will be around 60 again, and will stay this way until Thanksgiving Day. Jon is out for a bike ride and I just got home from a run. Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful hike in Conifer with James and Hillary.
I've been busy with baby showers, Jon can tell you how fun one was! It was a couples shower, so he was lucky enough to attend. :) I'm excited for my friends Michelle and Brooke, they are both due Dec 18th!
Work has been very busy for me lately. I've been working overtime the last couple of weeks. I can't complain though, it helps with the job security!
Well, I need to go get ready for our Thanksgiving guests! And we should probably get a turkey.....
Oh.... in case you missed it... PURDUE 62 indiana 10. HAHAHAHAHHAHA
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Results are in!
Well, we had a ton of fun at the Red Bull Soap Box Derby! We didn't win but we did finish 13th out of 43, with the 15th place time. More updates and some video to come.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Testing Tape Duck
Hey Folks, So Red Bull is hosting a Soap Box Derby race over at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Red Rocks is over at the base of the front range here so there is a pretty good hill out there. A friend of mine from work has done this type of event in the past so I am helping him build a car. We are pretty much done. So we took her out for some hill testing. The theme for the car is "Tape Duck". So we built the car to look like a rubber ducky and covered it in Duck brand tape. We met up with "The Power of Cheese" and set up a little informal head to head racing. If you get sound in the video it's pretty obvious why we lost every race, that and their car has 50-100 pounds on us. It's been fun and the car handles really well. In the video you'll go on an inboard ride as the "co-pilot" racing "The Power of Cheese". Then at the end you get a good look at the duck 90% done. Hope you enjoy it!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
We had a pretty good weekend!
First off, Emily is doing better. She's getting dressed on her own. Next step is tying her own shoes. She told me today that "it feels normal, except that it's in a sling." So that is good news. My Buddy Dave flew into town this weekend. So we immediately got started on a project! At one point it looked like this:
Can't you tell what it is going to be? Several hours and multiple trips to hardware stores and computer stores, and I think we got Dave his first Fish Taco from Whaoo's Fish Taco in there as well. It finally looked like this. It's just a proof of concept. All I was trying to do here is to figure out if I can take an old laptop with a bad battery and make a digital picture frame.
I think I've at least proved out the idea. So, next step is to slim down the package and put a nice trim around the outside of it. It is about 13" diagonal. My plan is to hook it up wirelessly so that I can access it from the desktop with all the pictures on it. Then I don't have to mess with it to put new images on it. I'm trying to find an optical sensor that will turn it on only when people are around, or maybe the dog to.
Just hours after getting this prototype put together Emily, Me, Jason, Dave, Hillary and James went to the Weezer Show. It was AWESOME! We had a great time considering we stood for like 5 hours. Not every rock show you go to does the front man tell stories about taking his kids on water slides in Kerney Nebraska. But I've been rocking out to some Weezer since I was 15 so to finally see them on stage all live and stuff was pretty fun. Everybody said they had a good time so I'm glad I talked them all into going! Here is a shot of Rivers Cuomo from the show!
I've been super busy at work this week, got the big whigs coming into town tomorrow so gotta get everything ready, I even used chemicals to clean off my desk, not just picking up. Emily hasn't been so busy since she's only got one good arm. But I think this Tuesday night we are both looking forward to next weekend.
I was at the station for Crew Monday night and we did some Training. In the picture at the bottom we are flowing a deck gun off the top of the engine at roughly 1000 gallons a minute. We were getting a bit of spray back cause we were aiming into the wind. Probationary Fire Fighter Underwood is manning the deck gun, Chief Clemenson is instructing, Paramedic Eaton is looking on and Fire Fighter Stark is working the pump panel and getting some of her Job Performance Requirements for an Engineer done.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
This weekend
Hey All,
Emily is moving more and more every day and getting better all the time. We were up for a night out with some friends this weekend. Friday night we watched the Presidential debate. I don't really believe any thing they say at these things but it is important to me how they carry them self in public and under pressure. You get to see a lot of that at the debates, especially with the format they used. Some friends met us over at the house and we went out to the Exchange Tavern. Had a pretty good time. Fairly low key. We didn't want Emily out rubbing shoulders, so to speak, with a packed house at a busy bar. The Exchange worked out great.
Saturday I took a class from Kurt and Trisha of KT's BBQ (wonder where the name came from?) on how to make BBQ. It was great. They tailor the class for stuff you can do in your own back yard. The nice thing about BBQ is it's pretty low tech. I read an article by a guy who built a smoker out of a couple of cardboard boxes. 
I'm getting excited about making some BBQ. Dad gave me is recipe for Ribs and they came out great so I'm gonna try a brisket of some kind next. Gotta practice so Dad and I can smoke a Turkey for Turkey Day.
I'm getting excited about making some BBQ. Dad gave me is recipe for Ribs and they came out great so I'm gonna try a brisket of some kind next. Gotta practice so Dad and I can smoke a Turkey for Turkey Day.That night Emily and I took the Wii over to her co-workers place to have some cocktails and play some Mario Kart. We played a little 4 player tennis as well. We had a pretty good time. I forget how novel and entertaining the Wii can be. It's pretty fun to teach it to some one else. A good time was had by all.
Sunday Emily and I grabbed some breakfast burritos ad Jus' Burritos and headed over to the Dog Park. There were only 2 other dogs at the park so it was a bit of a bust but Brewski was pretty tired anyway. I dropped off Emily to catch up with the family, Jen's new baby is doing well and happy. I headed down to my co-workers house to help him out with the Soap Box Derby Car. It's almost got a rolling chassis. Should have brakes and steering on it by this weekend. Then it's all cosmetic stuff. Gotta make the frame look like a rubber ducky made out of duct tape. The car's name is Tape Duck, if you would like you can become friends with him on Facebook.
Then the sound of cracking whips brought me back to the house. Emily really enjoys tulips so we needed to get some more in the ground. I planted a few for her, since she's only got one good arm. We bought a bulb planter device. 
It took a bit of force to get the thing into the ground but once you did it was great. Trying to plant those bulbs with out it would not have been fun. Not the most exciting of weekends but a pretty good one. Oh, also I stirred up and added water to the Compost Bin. The stuff in the middle was hot so that's a good sign, means it's working! Ok, thanks for reading enjoy your week!
It took a bit of force to get the thing into the ground but once you did it was great. Trying to plant those bulbs with out it would not have been fun. Not the most exciting of weekends but a pretty good one. Oh, also I stirred up and added water to the Compost Bin. The stuff in the middle was hot so that's a good sign, means it's working! Ok, thanks for reading enjoy your week!Wednesday, September 24, 2008
News From the Home Front
Hey All, welcome back. I have to say it again, we really aren't so good at the blog thing. How long has it been? Like a long time for sure. So, not really a whole lot has happened. The big thing is that Emily had her shoulder surgery. Everything went well for her. The Doc said everything was good. I got to see the pictures of the inside of her shoulder. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until...actually it's pretty gross. Looks like they tied up a couple of fillets with some nylon cord. But, what they did do was tie up her labrum and re-create the bump that keeps your shoulder from coming out of socket. All good things for sure. The first week was pretty rough for her it seemed like. Not a whole lot of sleeping and not a lot of comfort for her. She was on some drugs but not a whole lot. She had this crazy game ready thing that was pretty cool. It flowed cold water around her shoulder to reduce swelling. It seemed to help her more than the Hydrocodone. Emily has gone back to work and is improving quickly. She has started her physical therapy and the Doc there said she is healing well. Overall we are pretty good.
Anything else new....let me think. Emily's sister had her baby, welcome Samantha Anne Nevitt to the world. She came to us via C-section at 9lbs 1oz. and 21.5 inches long. She is pretty cute. Not sure if her Dad, Kent, has a tendency toward pictures where her middle finger is sticking up or if she has some motor control issues. There are a lot of pictures where Samantha is flipping the camera the bird! She is a cutie though! Emily is heading down to meet her in October.
I have a sweet BBQ class coming up. It's just 4 hours but they are hosting it at fire Station 1. It'll be all FF's and should be a good time. Coming up is the Weezer Concert! I'm getting pretty stoked about that!
Just as an FYI. A very close friend of mines Father had a stroke recently. He is doing well and will have some PT but should be OK. I ask that you all keep their family in your thoughts. Also that you all take an extra walk and keep your selves in the best shape you can.
OK. Soap box is in the closet and it's time I make like tree and get out of here!
Anything else new....let me think. Emily's sister had her baby, welcome Samantha Anne Nevitt to the world. She came to us via C-section at 9lbs 1oz. and 21.5 inches long. She is pretty cute. Not sure if her Dad, Kent, has a tendency toward pictures where her middle finger is sticking up or if she has some motor control issues. There are a lot of pictures where Samantha is flipping the camera the bird! She is a cutie though! Emily is heading down to meet her in October.
I have a sweet BBQ class coming up. It's just 4 hours but they are hosting it at fire Station 1. It'll be all FF's and should be a good time. Coming up is the Weezer Concert! I'm getting pretty stoked about that!
Just as an FYI. A very close friend of mines Father had a stroke recently. He is doing well and will have some PT but should be OK. I ask that you all keep their family in your thoughts. Also that you all take an extra walk and keep your selves in the best shape you can.
OK. Soap box is in the closet and it's time I make like tree and get out of here!
Friday, September 19, 2008
baby time!
it's baby time for my sister! she is being induced as i type. yes, the typing will be bad since i'm doing it with one hand! hopefully i haven't taken too much vicodin and this all makes sense!! the shoulder is doing ok!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Time for fall projects
We have lots planned for this fall! Hopefully we can get it all done. Especially since I will not be my normal helpful charming self after surgery.
First, the stump. The stump in the backyard is pretty annoying, grass wont grow over there, and its really not attractive. So on Monday we're having someone come grind out the stump. Hopefully that will go well and the stump will be gone!
Second, Trees. Obviously we are down a tree since we have a stump. We've noticed the grass doesn't enjoy the full sun, so we'd like to replace the tree that was taken down. I'm leaning towards an Autumn Blaze Maple. It has some great fall color (which we desperately miss out here!). It's also come recommend from the tree guy. Also on the tree front, it's time to get our trees cleaned up, so a firefighter who works for a tree trimming company will be coming over to help us out with this.
Third, Grass. We had a pretty hot, and very dry summer. We did readjust the sprinkler system and it seems to be helping. Unfortunately, there are still parts of the yard that are not going to make it. So once the stump is out, the trees are trimmed and the new tree planted.... we'll hopefully get some grass seed down before it snows 6 inches!
It's a lot to do, and not a lot of time, hopefully we can get it done! We also have 40 tulip bulbs to plant. Come on over and help whenever you're ready! :)
First, the stump. The stump in the backyard is pretty annoying, grass wont grow over there, and its really not attractive. So on Monday we're having someone come grind out the stump. Hopefully that will go well and the stump will be gone!
Second, Trees. Obviously we are down a tree since we have a stump. We've noticed the grass doesn't enjoy the full sun, so we'd like to replace the tree that was taken down. I'm leaning towards an Autumn Blaze Maple. It has some great fall color (which we desperately miss out here!). It's also come recommend from the tree guy. Also on the tree front, it's time to get our trees cleaned up, so a firefighter who works for a tree trimming company will be coming over to help us out with this.
Third, Grass. We had a pretty hot, and very dry summer. We did readjust the sprinkler system and it seems to be helping. Unfortunately, there are still parts of the yard that are not going to make it. So once the stump is out, the trees are trimmed and the new tree planted.... we'll hopefully get some grass seed down before it snows 6 inches!
It's a lot to do, and not a lot of time, hopefully we can get it done! We also have 40 tulip bulbs to plant. Come on over and help whenever you're ready! :)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
...like riding a bike.
I love riding my bike.
This was re-affirmed last night. Some friends were meeting, old co-workers of mine at Nautilus, just down the path from my house in Louisville. In an effort to not be dead, save money and save the world (totally not concerned about the cheerleader) I rode my bike down there. It was a beautiful night, cool and clear and hardly any clouds in the sky. I always forget how great that first push from a stand still really feels. The bike takes off and starts rolling down the drive way and I'm off. I love that part! So off I went down the street and out onto the path. Down the path and back into traffic in Louisville. I met up with some good friends and had a beer and some great conversations. Did you know that Crocs paid 22 million dollars to a family in Boulder for Jibitz and they also have over 2 million Butter colored crocs warehoused around the country? Did you know that Roddick broke 2 Babolat Racquet's in the Us Open so far? After some good conversation we all went our separate ways. It was getting dark and I had a bike ride ahead of me. The area we live in has an interesting mix of Ag, open space, industry and residential. All of which I see on the 3 mile ride back to my house. As the sun was setting over the Rockies and I was cruising along a newly paved road I had this on my left:
And this on my right:
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Quick Update
OK All,
So not sure how much you all keep up on Ink! Coffee or Louisville news but we had a bit of a fire. Here is a 9 News article. There is a slide show link near the top. I usually am on crew at the station over night on Monday nights, but I took this Monday off. So while I was at home, unable to sleep, my buddies were out having a grand ole time. No one was hurt and the fire is out. 5 Agencies, 2 alarms and 35 FF's involved.
On other news. In the ongoing internet browser wars Google has thrown their hat into the ring. Enter Google Chrome. I'm gonna set it up at the house, along with Internet explorer, Fire Fox (current personal favorite) and Safari (not great on the Windows platform) to see what I think of it. The link above will take you to the download site. Check it out for yourselves.
Another thing worth looking into, as it could be as big of a change as the invention of the Mountain Bike for cycling. New Shimano Di2. It's fully electronic shifting for bikes. Pretty Whiz-Bang(read expensive)! As we begin to put batteries in our toothbrushes and more and more things become electro-mechanical this is probably the direction cycling is headed. You heard it here first folks!
So not sure how much you all keep up on Ink! Coffee or Louisville news but we had a bit of a fire. Here is a 9 News article. There is a slide show link near the top. I usually am on crew at the station over night on Monday nights, but I took this Monday off. So while I was at home, unable to sleep, my buddies were out having a grand ole time. No one was hurt and the fire is out. 5 Agencies, 2 alarms and 35 FF's involved.
On other news. In the ongoing internet browser wars Google has thrown their hat into the ring. Enter Google Chrome. I'm gonna set it up at the house, along with Internet explorer, Fire Fox (current personal favorite) and Safari (not great on the Windows platform) to see what I think of it. The link above will take you to the download site. Check it out for yourselves.
Another thing worth looking into, as it could be as big of a change as the invention of the Mountain Bike for cycling. New Shimano Di2. It's fully electronic shifting for bikes. Pretty Whiz-Bang(read expensive)! As we begin to put batteries in our toothbrushes and more and more things become electro-mechanical this is probably the direction cycling is headed. You heard it here first folks!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!
I am! I again have a reason to be awake on Sat mornings! College football is starting up again this weekend, and a couple of games have already been played. I'm especially looking forward to the Michigan game..... you all should remember last year when they lost their home opener to Appalachian State.... HAHAHAHAHA! No PURDUE this weekend though, they start next weekend. Unfortunately Comcast does not supply us with the Big Ten Network. So we may have to switch to Direct TV and get it in HD. It's very tempting! I am also excited about the NFL, but I do love college football more! You know where I'll be every Saturday morning!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
FGI addition
Not sure if you all remember the FGI (Fearnow Green Initiative) but we're still at it. I've finished my Compost Bin. Now I just have to get it to make some compost so we 
can use it. Here is a brief description on the build. It's nothing too special. First step was to dig up some stuff in the garage that was begging to be re-purposed. Here is what I found that would work. The two big white parts are 3/4" particle board that was used to turn the coat closet into a smaller cupboard. Yeah, I turned that back into a coat closet, thanks Dad! The long thing on the left is 2x4's and some other parts used to make a shelf I took down in the garage. I think Emily and I are the only people taking down storage space in our house the longer we live here. The next step was to cut the 2x4's down to a bit smaller than the height of the particle boar
d. Then I mounted the 2x4's to the particle board. This gave me a purchase to mount the 3 pieces together. Making the U shape. Looks pretty good here with 2 sides on it. I thought so to, but when I picked it up it was pretty heavy. Also it's about 30" in all directions. So I knew 3 sides weren't going out the door to the backyard. When I picked the assembly shown to the left up to carry it out, it totally fell apart. So I went outside and built a pad from some
pavers that we didn't use. Then I took all the parts out to the back yard and assembled the structure there. I used some 2x4 scraps and some 1x2 scraps that came off the shelf during dis-assembly to create a guide for the front of the bin. The 2x4's are on the right side and the 1x2's are on the left up on the pavers. So there was a guide to slide the door straight down to close the whole thing up. I have considered the issues with this closing method when the thing is full, but you tell me the easier way to make it so the front comes off of the thing. So here is the final product in all it's glory.
I shored it up a bit on the sides with the extra pavers. It is, after all, only secured together on 3 sides. I'm hoping to avoid a blowout! But it's done. The only new stuff put into it was a bunch of 1.25" screws. After it fell apart the first time I used more screws. Now I need to get some good worms, I've got a buddy that has a standard compost bin and an experimental one he practices with. I'm pretty sure he can hook me up with some worms to really get things working well. The plan right now, is to use the space to the left of the bin for a garden. We'll need the compost this fall to get it started. The space to the left we'll leave the shingles on and I'll park the jeep there when I get the gate fixed. Just for clarification because most people don't have a gated off area that they could, or would, park a jeep on. The genius that had the place before us shingled the ground! I'm a bit nervous to see what's underneath. So that's all there is for now about the FGI, we'll keep working if you keep reading!
Coming up I'll show you how I got my knees to quit hurting while I'm riding my bike, and no it doesn't have a motor on it!
can use it. Here is a brief description on the build. It's nothing too special. First step was to dig up some stuff in the garage that was begging to be re-purposed. Here is what I found that would work. The two big white parts are 3/4" particle board that was used to turn the coat closet into a smaller cupboard. Yeah, I turned that back into a coat closet, thanks Dad! The long thing on the left is 2x4's and some other parts used to make a shelf I took down in the garage. I think Emily and I are the only people taking down storage space in our house the longer we live here. The next step was to cut the 2x4's down to a bit smaller than the height of the particle board. Then I mounted the 2x4's to the particle board. This gave me a purchase to mount the 3 pieces together. Making the U shape. Looks pretty good here with 2 sides on it. I thought so to, but when I picked it up it was pretty heavy. Also it's about 30" in all directions. So I knew 3 sides weren't going out the door to the backyard. When I picked the assembly shown to the left up to carry it out, it totally fell apart. So I went outside and built a pad from some
pavers that we didn't use. Then I took all the parts out to the back yard and assembled the structure there. I used some 2x4 scraps and some 1x2 scraps that came off the shelf during dis-assembly to create a guide for the front of the bin. The 2x4's are on the right side and the 1x2's are on the left up on the pavers. So there was a guide to slide the door straight down to close the whole thing up. I have considered the issues with this closing method when the thing is full, but you tell me the easier way to make it so the front comes off of the thing. So here is the final product in all it's glory.
I shored it up a bit on the sides with the extra pavers. It is, after all, only secured together on 3 sides. I'm hoping to avoid a blowout! But it's done. The only new stuff put into it was a bunch of 1.25" screws. After it fell apart the first time I used more screws. Now I need to get some good worms, I've got a buddy that has a standard compost bin and an experimental one he practices with. I'm pretty sure he can hook me up with some worms to really get things working well. The plan right now, is to use the space to the left of the bin for a garden. We'll need the compost this fall to get it started. The space to the left we'll leave the shingles on and I'll park the jeep there when I get the gate fixed. Just for clarification because most people don't have a gated off area that they could, or would, park a jeep on. The genius that had the place before us shingled the ground! I'm a bit nervous to see what's underneath. So that's all there is for now about the FGI, we'll keep working if you keep reading!
Coming up I'll show you how I got my knees to quit hurting while I'm riding my bike, and no it doesn't have a motor on it!
Quick Update
Both Emily and the Dog are fine. No worries there. The dog's teeth look great. He was kinda running into walls and had some trouble getting to the water dish at first but he was fine the next day, once the anesthesia wore off. Emily got her shoulder surgery scheduled for September 16th. Should be an exciting anniversary for us. At least Emily will be drugged up. It's a Tuesday so we were already planning on celebrating the weekend prior, no harm no foul. Got some good stuff to add tonight, even pictures. Might read up on the FGI in preparation.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Apprehension
***Update - Brewski is fine I'm picking him up at 4:30 MST - Update***
Hey All,
I joined LFD to push my comfort zone. Which it did, I can actually watch the surgery shows on TV and be interested. But I was starting to get comfortable there. Seems (Emily and James) like a good thing but not really sure it is. Hence the Officer in Training stuff. So, yesterday I picked up a Sunday Day crew, 7am to 3 pm. We ran scenarios all morning and I was in command. I had to organize all 7 of us in 3 apparati (spelling? I mean to say there was more than one vehicle, sounds more like a secret cult though.), oh and imagine a fire of some kind in my head explain it to everyone then tell them what to do. Also, one of the guys I'm instructing has 10+ years of fire experience, I have 3. So it's stressful for me, good stress though. But today at work I'm exhausted. I didn't realize that the day crews had to talk to so many people. We gave directions, listened to offers for terrorism training (Yes, of course Louisville is a Terrorism hot bed), we even had to convince some idiot that he could not climb up on top of the Engine so he could jump up on the roof of the gas station to retrieve his cell phone. I know what you're thinking and his idiot friend threw it up there. Not everyone is the stellar decision maker that I am. (I hope that's as funny for you all as it is for me) But, it was good day.
The next thing that makes me jealous of most of my patients blood pressure is the dog. Yes, our dog. He is 5 and he needs his teeth cleaned. So they have to put him under sedation to do it. Pretty much the most dangerous part of any procedure is the anesthesia. So here in a couple of hours I'll know if we still have a dog.
Lastly, Emily is going in for her appointment about her shoulder so there will be surgery for her scheduled today. Again, not a big deal but anytime you get knocked out and they stick stuff in you, there is cause for apprehension.
But, I have a sweet rocket of a bike in the garage that uses apprehension and blood pressure for fuel and more mountains out my back door than I could ever climb in a life time. Life is like a bike chain, there at parts that are under tension and parts that are relaxed but it just keeps going on around. It's the parts under tension that get you down the road.
Anyone up for a ride?
Hey All,
I joined LFD to push my comfort zone. Which it did, I can actually watch the surgery shows on TV and be interested. But I was starting to get comfortable there. Seems (Emily and James) like a good thing but not really sure it is. Hence the Officer in Training stuff. So, yesterday I picked up a Sunday Day crew, 7am to 3 pm. We ran scenarios all morning and I was in command. I had to organize all 7 of us in 3 apparati (spelling? I mean to say there was more than one vehicle, sounds more like a secret cult though.), oh and imagine a fire of some kind in my head explain it to everyone then tell them what to do. Also, one of the guys I'm instructing has 10+ years of fire experience, I have 3. So it's stressful for me, good stress though. But today at work I'm exhausted. I didn't realize that the day crews had to talk to so many people. We gave directions, listened to offers for terrorism training (Yes, of course Louisville is a Terrorism hot bed), we even had to convince some idiot that he could not climb up on top of the Engine so he could jump up on the roof of the gas station to retrieve his cell phone. I know what you're thinking and his idiot friend threw it up there. Not everyone is the stellar decision maker that I am. (I hope that's as funny for you all as it is for me) But, it was good day.
The next thing that makes me jealous of most of my patients blood pressure is the dog. Yes, our dog. He is 5 and he needs his teeth cleaned. So they have to put him under sedation to do it. Pretty much the most dangerous part of any procedure is the anesthesia. So here in a couple of hours I'll know if we still have a dog.
Lastly, Emily is going in for her appointment about her shoulder so there will be surgery for her scheduled today. Again, not a big deal but anytime you get knocked out and they stick stuff in you, there is cause for apprehension.
But, I have a sweet rocket of a bike in the garage that uses apprehension and blood pressure for fuel and more mountains out my back door than I could ever climb in a life time. Life is like a bike chain, there at parts that are under tension and parts that are relaxed but it just keeps going on around. It's the parts under tension that get you down the road.
Anyone up for a ride?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Plans
OK, so we kinda are lame at the blog thing. For me there are two reasons. One is that mostly I don't really think that people really care what I'm doing. (This is also why I am bad a small talk, "Huh it's raining on your cousin's sisters batmitvah, that's really too bad.") The second thing is that I'm pretty much lazy. It annoys me that I have to brush my teeth every day, c'mon I just did it yesterday. But, I digress. These are things you probably already know about me so I'll get to the new stuff.
A lot of our time lately has been taken up by tracking the production and care of babies. Several of our friends and family members are pregnant or have a bouncing new baby (I don't understand this phrase, seams like they just lay there and squirm a bit but don't bounce. They do like to be bounced though). By several I guess I really mean all but several. We're going to Parker CO tomorrow to meet Baby (should this be capitalized? She is important, and I think they call her Baby, but I'm not sure) Haley Cantwell, mutual friends of ours that have recently bred. Should be fun, they are fun folks and kids are great when they belong to some one else, kinda like powerboats.
My time over at the LFD is slowing down a bit, by my choice. I'm in the Officer Validation Program (or some fancy title like that). Basically it means that I ride Shotgun, no I don't have to call it every time I get on the rig, and am in charge. I set the duties for the rest of the crew, interesting when one of the crew is the Assistant Division Chief, his actual fancy title, he is the highest ranking volunteer. Co-ordinating the ambulance crew, most of which have more experience than I do, organizing the trainings and basically being in charge of the group of 6-8 of us during scenarios. It's pretty stressful and I don't really look forward to it but it's good for me and I'm learning a lot. Hopefully at the end of the quarter I'll have most of the junk done for it so I can go back to sitting in the back and just being a FF.
Emily is getting geared up to have her arm cut off, or just have her torn labrum in her left shoulder fixed, I think it's the latter. Her shoulder just sort of pops out of socket at random times, like sleeping. It's a pretty good heart check when some one wakes up screaming next to you while you're sound asleep. She has been to several specialists and has ended up with probably the best shoulder guy in the state, we live in the part of the state with the upper end of the doctors. She seams happy with him and is gearing up for surgery, over Chinese food she started eating with her right hand. It will be an adventure but shouldn't be too bad.
OK, well, that seams like enough for now. If something exciting happens I'll let you know. Watch out for October, it could be a good one, got the Great American Beer Fest (1800 beers to taste) there is the Weezer concert that Dave is coming to, and maybe a trip to Mexico for, what else, a wedding. So stay tuned listeners for another exciting adventure!
P.S. Mom, Don't get too worried about the distant and negative attitude towards babies. You didn't have one at my age yet either!
A lot of our time lately has been taken up by tracking the production and care of babies. Several of our friends and family members are pregnant or have a bouncing new baby (I don't understand this phrase, seams like they just lay there and squirm a bit but don't bounce. They do like to be bounced though). By several I guess I really mean all but several. We're going to Parker CO tomorrow to meet Baby (should this be capitalized? She is important, and I think they call her Baby, but I'm not sure) Haley Cantwell, mutual friends of ours that have recently bred. Should be fun, they are fun folks and kids are great when they belong to some one else, kinda like powerboats.
My time over at the LFD is slowing down a bit, by my choice. I'm in the Officer Validation Program (or some fancy title like that). Basically it means that I ride Shotgun, no I don't have to call it every time I get on the rig, and am in charge. I set the duties for the rest of the crew, interesting when one of the crew is the Assistant Division Chief, his actual fancy title, he is the highest ranking volunteer. Co-ordinating the ambulance crew, most of which have more experience than I do, organizing the trainings and basically being in charge of the group of 6-8 of us during scenarios. It's pretty stressful and I don't really look forward to it but it's good for me and I'm learning a lot. Hopefully at the end of the quarter I'll have most of the junk done for it so I can go back to sitting in the back and just being a FF.
Emily is getting geared up to have her arm cut off, or just have her torn labrum in her left shoulder fixed, I think it's the latter. Her shoulder just sort of pops out of socket at random times, like sleeping. It's a pretty good heart check when some one wakes up screaming next to you while you're sound asleep. She has been to several specialists and has ended up with probably the best shoulder guy in the state, we live in the part of the state with the upper end of the doctors. She seams happy with him and is gearing up for surgery, over Chinese food she started eating with her right hand. It will be an adventure but shouldn't be too bad.
OK, well, that seams like enough for now. If something exciting happens I'll let you know. Watch out for October, it could be a good one, got the Great American Beer Fest (1800 beers to taste) there is the Weezer concert that Dave is coming to, and maybe a trip to Mexico for, what else, a wedding. So stay tuned listeners for another exciting adventure!
P.S. Mom, Don't get too worried about the distant and negative attitude towards babies. You didn't have one at my age yet either!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Catch up!
So it's been a while, and we (Emily) apologize. It's been my turn to blog and I've been lazy. We won't discuss the fact that I am addicted to a game called packrat on Facebook..... it's a sore subject! :) (right Hillary?!)
So we've been busy! We've had some gourmet meals. Yes, hamburgers are gourmet when you have them with wine! I also tried my hand at homemade steak fries. They are VERY simple, and turned o
ut quite delicious! I can't remember what wine we were drinking with this, but it was good as well.
Yeah, it's not the best photo, but you get the idea, we're fancy!
We've been very busy with other projects as well. A couple of months ago I got the itch to redo some of the downstairs bathroom. We affectionately call it the "Playboy" bathroom. Unfortunately I don't think we have any before pictures of the bathroom, but I'll try to describe it for those who haven't seen it.
1) There was a giant mirror.... It covered the entire wall above the sink and toliet, I believe it's dimensions are about
2 feet tall by 4 feet wide. But I'm not positive. It was big.
2) There was a giant mirrored light bar above that, it would hold about 9 clear glass globe lightbulbs. That bathroom isn't the size of the Taj Mahal. Really.... 9 lightbulbs!
3) The black tile and toliet don't help the playboy image.
Ok, so here's what we did. We took down the giant mirror and large light fixture. We replaced it with a small 2 light fixture. There used to be a recessed medicine cabinet on the wall to the right of the sink. We took that out and patched the hole. We patched a couple of other small holes discovered behind the mirror and from where the old light fixture was. Then we added texture to match the rest of the walls and painted. We hung a new medicine cabinet over the sink, and a couple of decorative shelves over the toilet. Topped it all off with a new towel bar by the sink.
It wasn't a huge project, but we're pleased with the result and glad it's done!
I have to admit I don't know when we would have gotten this done, but a phone call from my Dad, who was ready to come visit, that was a great motivator!
And finally, we hung some curtains downstairs. This was a HUGE remodel last year,
we do have before and afters for this one. Looks a little different now! And finally today we hung the curtains down there.TaDa! No more house projects for the next week or so I think..... hehehehehe But soon.... the mailbox! (I loathe our mailbox!)
Thanks for checking in! Hope all is well!
So we've been busy! We've had some gourmet meals. Yes, hamburgers are gourmet when you have them with wine! I also tried my hand at homemade steak fries. They are VERY simple, and turned o
ut quite delicious! I can't remember what wine we were drinking with this, but it was good as well.Yeah, it's not the best photo, but you get the idea, we're fancy!
We've been very busy with other projects as well. A couple of months ago I got the itch to redo some of the downstairs bathroom. We affectionately call it the "Playboy" bathroom. Unfortunately I don't think we have any before pictures of the bathroom, but I'll try to describe it for those who haven't seen it.
1) There was a giant mirror.... It covered the entire wall above the sink and toliet, I believe it's dimensions are about
2 feet tall by 4 feet wide. But I'm not positive. It was big.2) There was a giant mirrored light bar above that, it would hold about 9 clear glass globe lightbulbs. That bathroom isn't the size of the Taj Mahal. Really.... 9 lightbulbs!
3) The black tile and toliet don't help the playboy image.
Ok, so here's what we did. We took down the giant mirror and large light fixture. We replaced it with a small 2 light fixture. There used to be a recessed medicine cabinet on the wall to the right of the sink. We took that out and patched the hole. We patched a couple of other small holes discovered behind the mirror and from where the old light fixture was. Then we added texture to match the rest of the walls and painted. We hung a new medicine cabinet over the sink, and a couple of decorative shelves over the toilet. Topped it all off with a new towel bar by the sink.
It wasn't a huge project, but we're pleased with the result and glad it's done!
I have to admit I don't know when we would have gotten this done, but a phone call from my Dad, who was ready to come visit, that was a great motivator!
And finally, we hung some curtains downstairs. This was a HUGE remodel last year,
we do have before and afters for this one. Looks a little different now! And finally today we hung the curtains down there.TaDa! No more house projects for the next week or so I think..... hehehehehe But soon.... the mailbox! (I loathe our mailbox!)Thanks for checking in! Hope all is well!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Back Home Again in Indiana
Hello all,
Emily and I made it home for another trip. It was really good for us to see the families. You'll have to get an update from Emily on her trip but here goes mine.
In an effort to save a couple bucks on the tickets we flew out pretty early so we got into town in time to actually do something. The parents and I stopped at their new Whiz-Bang grocery store. It looks like something right out of Boulder, Colorado! They had a fancy version of just about everything like potato salad, chocolate, turkey, and even pre-burnt wood (cowboy charcoal). We got a little bit of all but the chocolate. I have to admit the turkey was better than the Oscar Mayer stuff I had later in the week. It was pretty nice and if your looking for fresh food they'll have it. But, that place will never be able to say it was the place where David Letterman had his first job.
We hung out at the house then headed into theBroad Ripple Brew Pub for some beverages and to throw some darts. As lame as it might sound hanging out with my parents friends at a bar really is a good time. The beer there is good, and I wholly approve of drinking locally (ehhem Budwieser). To top it off Kelly and I killed it at darts, despite being an underdog team! We won 3 of the 5 games we played! Beating my Dad and her boyfriend teamed up. The last two we lost I think mostly cause we had too much aiming fluid, Dad had an advantage being a the driver! It was a good time though. Nice to see that your parents are normal people with friends and hobbies, despite being parents.
We spent most of Friday day getting ready for the upcoming cook out on Saturday and trying to get some shade set up for the deck, Dad will have to start a blog of his own to explain all that. After that we headed down to the Canal downtown to gauck at some people. There was a guy down there with a remote controlled sail boat, pretty neat little gadget. There were all kinds of people doing strange things for our entertainment. Finally we headed over to Victory Field for a baseball game and some fireworks. The game was pretty fun and we had a good time watching the fireworks. Then a mad dash back to the car to dodge the downtown fireworks traffic and called it a night.
Saturday we got the rest of the house and food ready for the cook out. Had a great showing from the family and had a really good time. All the food was good and had a good chance to catch up with all the family. Thanks to everybody that came out. It means quite a bit to me to know that everyone took time out of thier busy schedules to see me. Even though I'm selfish and moved away. I snuck out to my buddy Dave's house for some late night hanging out playing pool and video games. Indy brings me back to high school, I guess.
Barely made an early flight to Denver, Silly I-69 shootings almost got us in trouble. But made it home and picked up the dog, and got back to normal life, after a 4 hour nap.
Emily and I made it home for another trip. It was really good for us to see the families. You'll have to get an update from Emily on her trip but here goes mine.
In an effort to save a couple bucks on the tickets we flew out pretty early so we got into town in time to actually do something. The parents and I stopped at their new Whiz-Bang grocery store. It looks like something right out of Boulder, Colorado! They had a fancy version of just about everything like potato salad, chocolate, turkey, and even pre-burnt wood (cowboy charcoal). We got a little bit of all but the chocolate. I have to admit the turkey was better than the Oscar Mayer stuff I had later in the week. It was pretty nice and if your looking for fresh food they'll have it. But, that place will never be able to say it was the place where David Letterman had his first job.
We hung out at the house then headed into theBroad Ripple Brew Pub for some beverages and to throw some darts. As lame as it might sound hanging out with my parents friends at a bar really is a good time. The beer there is good, and I wholly approve of drinking locally (ehhem Budwieser). To top it off Kelly and I killed it at darts, despite being an underdog team! We won 3 of the 5 games we played! Beating my Dad and her boyfriend teamed up. The last two we lost I think mostly cause we had too much aiming fluid, Dad had an advantage being a the driver! It was a good time though. Nice to see that your parents are normal people with friends and hobbies, despite being parents.
We spent most of Friday day getting ready for the upcoming cook out on Saturday and trying to get some shade set up for the deck, Dad will have to start a blog of his own to explain all that. After that we headed down to the Canal downtown to gauck at some people. There was a guy down there with a remote controlled sail boat, pretty neat little gadget. There were all kinds of people doing strange things for our entertainment. Finally we headed over to Victory Field for a baseball game and some fireworks. The game was pretty fun and we had a good time watching the fireworks. Then a mad dash back to the car to dodge the downtown fireworks traffic and called it a night.
Saturday we got the rest of the house and food ready for the cook out. Had a great showing from the family and had a really good time. All the food was good and had a good chance to catch up with all the family. Thanks to everybody that came out. It means quite a bit to me to know that everyone took time out of thier busy schedules to see me. Even though I'm selfish and moved away. I snuck out to my buddy Dave's house for some late night hanging out playing pool and video games. Indy brings me back to high school, I guess.
Barely made an early flight to Denver, Silly I-69 shootings almost got us in trouble. But made it home and picked up the dog, and got back to normal life, after a 4 hour nap.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Home
So I don't know if all of you guys know this but Emily and I really like living in Colorado. It's hard for us to be away from family and friends. This blog helps (and would help more if you jamooks would leave a comment or two using the comment button at the end of the posts) and trips home help a lot. When you guys get to come out here and see us that helps the most, for me (Jon) at least. Emily and I get a chance to share with you all the great things that we love about CO. That's sorda the plan with the blog as well. I had one of those "This is why I love Colorado" moments today on the way home from lunch. I pass this view every day going to and from work:
It was a beautiful day and a great day to be out on a bike. Yesterday was just as good. So I know the distance is hard on all of us, but Emily and I get a lot out days like this.
It was a beautiful day and a great day to be out on a bike. Yesterday was just as good. So I know the distance is hard on all of us, but Emily and I get a lot out days like this.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
POSram Crank Rant
***UPDATE***
So I pulled all the washers out of the system that weren't needed and put the whole thing back together. It seams to be working pretty well now. Got 50 miles in on it and felt good so I think I have it pretty well dialed in. Thanks for your concern.
***UPDATE***
So, most of you don't know that I have Sram Force Crank set. I doubt that any of you are as disappointed with it as I am. Being who I am and that I am superior to instruction manuals I put the crank on all by myself. It was great for a while. Then my knee started hurting. So I found that the drive side crank was 1/8" closer to the frame than the non-drive one (I am going to double check this again). Not a big deal, until your hip and ankle are fighting about where you leg goes. Just so you know your knee looses. So I went to my LBS (Local Bike Shop), mine happens to be former employer Golden Bear Bikes. My old roommate Tyler had some parts and suggestions for me. Back into the garage I crawled. After several attempts and a few chunks of fragile precious carbon fiber removed I again tucked my tail and sought answers. None were to be found on the Internet so I acquired a phone number for the saviors, so I thought, at Sram technical support. I was told there is absolutely nothing I could do to fix my problem and that there is no way to adjust the crank to meet the spec's that Sram defines. As an engineer I find this to be, well, infuriating. So, back together the crank shall go. I'll remeasure to verify if there is a discrepancy. Also the alignment of the frame comes into question as well and will be checked. Whew. Ok, I feel a lot better. Thanks for listening to that
In an update to the FGI I haven't driven my car all week. I figured out a way to get all my FF gear in the trailer for my bike and can take it to the fire house for my scheduled crews. Me and the trailer even survived a slight creek crossing. The route needs a bit of a tweak, sometimes the lake is there sometimes not, yesterday it was along with it's feeder creek. Still working on the compost bin thing, got some education coming down the pike on that.
So I pulled all the washers out of the system that weren't needed and put the whole thing back together. It seams to be working pretty well now. Got 50 miles in on it and felt good so I think I have it pretty well dialed in. Thanks for your concern.
***UPDATE***
So, most of you don't know that I have Sram Force Crank set. I doubt that any of you are as disappointed with it as I am. Being who I am and that I am superior to instruction manuals I put the crank on all by myself. It was great for a while. Then my knee started hurting. So I found that the drive side crank was 1/8" closer to the frame than the non-drive one (I am going to double check this again). Not a big deal, until your hip and ankle are fighting about where you leg goes. Just so you know your knee looses. So I went to my LBS (Local Bike Shop), mine happens to be former employer Golden Bear Bikes. My old roommate Tyler had some parts and suggestions for me. Back into the garage I crawled. After several attempts and a few chunks of fragile precious carbon fiber removed I again tucked my tail and sought answers. None were to be found on the Internet so I acquired a phone number for the saviors, so I thought, at Sram technical support. I was told there is absolutely nothing I could do to fix my problem and that there is no way to adjust the crank to meet the spec's that Sram defines. As an engineer I find this to be, well, infuriating. So, back together the crank shall go. I'll remeasure to verify if there is a discrepancy. Also the alignment of the frame comes into question as well and will be checked. Whew. Ok, I feel a lot better. Thanks for listening to that
In an update to the FGI I haven't driven my car all week. I figured out a way to get all my FF gear in the trailer for my bike and can take it to the fire house for my scheduled crews. Me and the trailer even survived a slight creek crossing. The route needs a bit of a tweak, sometimes the lake is there sometimes not, yesterday it was along with it's feeder creek. Still working on the compost bin thing, got some education coming down the pike on that.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The yardwork never ends!
So besides triathlon training, I've been work in the yard plenty too. All those Saturday's while Jon was off playing firefighter, I was sitting in the yard. And not always with a beer in my hand!
Most of my time is spent picking the leaves out of the lava rock.... oh what a joyous task. I seriously would rather scrub a bathroom than do this! Here's where I'm at... you can see on the left where the lava rock is a lovely leaf color, and on the right where it looks black, like lava rock! Underneath the tree is the worst spot of course!
Our first real "landscaping" were these barberry bushes we planted. They survived the winter and are growing again! I managed to not kill them! They are planted in the lava rock, and yes I'm not good enough to get ALL of the leaves out!
I planted some Dahlias a couple of weeks ago, and they are starting to come up as well! So guess I haven't killed those yet. Hopefully we'll get some pretty flowers out of these!
And finally, after visiting Indiana and seeing lots of Hostas, I decided to try some in our yard. I heard they are pretty easy to maintain and hardy as well. For now they are tiny baby hostas.... hopefully they become grownup hostas one day!Hope so, cause I can be pretty good at killing plants. Just wish that talent also worked on dandelions!
I planted 3 hostas total in front of the house, if you look VERY closely you can see 2 of them. (yes the grass here is a little shaggy.... but cutting the grass isn't my department!)
Most of my time is spent picking the leaves out of the lava rock.... oh what a joyous task. I seriously would rather scrub a bathroom than do this! Here's where I'm at... you can see on the left where the lava rock is a lovely leaf color, and on the right where it looks black, like lava rock! Underneath the tree is the worst spot of course!
Our first real "landscaping" were these barberry bushes we planted. They survived the winter and are growing again! I managed to not kill them! They are planted in the lava rock, and yes I'm not good enough to get ALL of the leaves out!
I planted some Dahlias a couple of weeks ago, and they are starting to come up as well! So guess I haven't killed those yet. Hopefully we'll get some pretty flowers out of these!
And finally, after visiting Indiana and seeing lots of Hostas, I decided to try some in our yard. I heard they are pretty easy to maintain and hardy as well. For now they are tiny baby hostas.... hopefully they become grownup hostas one day!Hope so, cause I can be pretty good at killing plants. Just wish that talent also worked on dandelions!
I planted 3 hostas total in front of the house, if you look VERY closely you can see 2 of them. (yes the grass here is a little shaggy.... but cutting the grass isn't my department!)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
What's been going on
So we haven't had a lot of time to work on the posts lately. Emily has been training her little butt off for a quickly upcoming triathlon. She is going to a class to get pointers twice a week. Here is a preview from last year’s tri.
In the picture Emily is making her transition from the swim to the bike portion of the race. She will be doing the Mini Haha race right here in Broomfield.Emily has also been handling a lot of the issues with Maggie. She is still sick and was causing a lot of extra work for her, taking away from the blogging time. Maggie was super lazy again and not feeling very active. Here is a pretty good shot of Maggie making our lazy dog look like a marathoner.
So, we decided that Maggie needed more attention than we could give her. Some days she needed to go out more often than once every 3 hours. So we have resigned from the Great Dane rescuing business. It was pretty sad for me to see Maggie go she is a great dog! But the lady taking care of her now will do a much better job than we ever could. Hope fully Maggie’s tumors, worms, and bad teeth will all get cleaned up and she’ll make someone a great companion.I have been busy helping out with the Louisville and Lafayette Fire Academy. So, pretty much, all of the Saturdays were taken up for me. That is finally finished up. I missed out on the picture and final burn building because I make poor decisions.They are a rag tag crew but they’ll do in a pinch. I guess I hadn't taken enough abuse so I decided to take a Wildland fire fighting class. That ended up being every bit of free time I had from Monday night to Sunday afternoon, including the final day of structure academy. But it was pretty cool. Here are some photos from the prescribed burn we did.
The pictures above are my crew watching a fire line and the one below is a fire whirl. That’s a tiny little tornado of fire. A prescribed burn is used to safely thin out the forest to it's appropriate levels without endangering any of the community around it. We got to see a lot of pretty fun stuff and sucked a lot of smoke.
After all that Emily and I had a couple of days to get our stuff together to go to Fort Wayne. Emily put together an informal BBQ for her Dad. It was a fun gathering of the closer friends and family to say “congratulations” for Mike’s retirement (Congrats Mike!). Hopefully he is stress free and spending less time picking out ties and more time picking out hobbies! The kids got together and got him a tent. It’s conditional though, he has to come out and go camping with us. As you can see Mikey Likes it!
I managed to sneak out and see some friends and take in the 500! Here I am with Carl, Justin and Me, from Right to left.
Don’t worry, it’s Carl’s hat, and it looks a lot better on him. Speaking of Carl, he met his Dream Girl, too bad he’s married and she didn’t really care that he existed!
It was a whirlwind trip to Indy, as they always are. Sorry I didn’t have time to meet with family. I caught enough guilt from Mom as it was, so don’t worry about that. It was sad to leave but nice to be in our house again. The offer always stands; the guest room is ready for company at all times! We just need like a couple hours notice so we can be home.
That pretty much covers what all we have been up to. Emily has been as busy as I have and we’ll both try and make more updates. Hopefully they won’t be this long!
In the picture Emily is making her transition from the swim to the bike portion of the race. She will be doing the Mini Haha race right here in Broomfield.Emily has also been handling a lot of the issues with Maggie. She is still sick and was causing a lot of extra work for her, taking away from the blogging time. Maggie was super lazy again and not feeling very active. Here is a pretty good shot of Maggie making our lazy dog look like a marathoner.
So, we decided that Maggie needed more attention than we could give her. Some days she needed to go out more often than once every 3 hours. So we have resigned from the Great Dane rescuing business. It was pretty sad for me to see Maggie go she is a great dog! But the lady taking care of her now will do a much better job than we ever could. Hope fully Maggie’s tumors, worms, and bad teeth will all get cleaned up and she’ll make someone a great companion.I have been busy helping out with the Louisville and Lafayette Fire Academy. So, pretty much, all of the Saturdays were taken up for me. That is finally finished up. I missed out on the picture and final burn building because I make poor decisions.They are a rag tag crew but they’ll do in a pinch. I guess I hadn't taken enough abuse so I decided to take a Wildland fire fighting class. That ended up being every bit of free time I had from Monday night to Sunday afternoon, including the final day of structure academy. But it was pretty cool. Here are some photos from the prescribed burn we did.
The pictures above are my crew watching a fire line and the one below is a fire whirl. That’s a tiny little tornado of fire. A prescribed burn is used to safely thin out the forest to it's appropriate levels without endangering any of the community around it. We got to see a lot of pretty fun stuff and sucked a lot of smoke.
After all that Emily and I had a couple of days to get our stuff together to go to Fort Wayne. Emily put together an informal BBQ for her Dad. It was a fun gathering of the closer friends and family to say “congratulations” for Mike’s retirement (Congrats Mike!). Hopefully he is stress free and spending less time picking out ties and more time picking out hobbies! The kids got together and got him a tent. It’s conditional though, he has to come out and go camping with us. As you can see Mikey Likes it!
I managed to sneak out and see some friends and take in the 500! Here I am with Carl, Justin and Me, from Right to left.
Don’t worry, it’s Carl’s hat, and it looks a lot better on him. Speaking of Carl, he met his Dream Girl, too bad he’s married and she didn’t really care that he existed!
It was a whirlwind trip to Indy, as they always are. Sorry I didn’t have time to meet with family. I caught enough guilt from Mom as it was, so don’t worry about that. It was sad to leave but nice to be in our house again. The offer always stands; the guest room is ready for company at all times! We just need like a couple hours notice so we can be home.
That pretty much covers what all we have been up to. Emily has been as busy as I have and we’ll both try and make more updates. Hopefully they won’t be this long!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Green Update
For a quick update on our going green initiatives. The latest big step is the addition of an electric lawn mower to our landscaping arsenal. It's a beaut! Bright red metal deck with black accents. It's battery powered and works pretty well. The grass was at least a foot longer before being cut than it was after and I got the whole yard mowed on a single charge. The mower is made by Homelite and we got it over at Home Depot. Getting the commuter bike set up for bad weather and compost bin are the next steps in the FGI (that would be the Fearnow Green Initiative).
Friday, May 30, 2008
Hold Please
Everyone, seams like the excitement of a blog may have worn off a bit. Emily and I will get some stuff up here before to long. We are happy and living well. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Keeping Mad Props to my Dog!
Not to upstage our Dog, Brewski, but today is my birthday.
"What is he going to do?" You might be asking yourself. Well the answer is simple; save lives, make a difference, and serve ice cream, duh. I'll be at the Baskin Robins in Louisville raising money for FF's tonight, till about 9 or 10. Then I'll be spending the night at the station on Crew. The worst part is I don't drink on days that I have crew. My whole birthday with out a beer. I hope a tear lands in all of your beers for me, my dears. But enough of my whining.
Last week I took the day off. Got in a nice mountain bike ride at Hall Ranch. It's one of my favorite trails and if you're here we'll hit it up. Then I met up with Jason, Beth and Emily and we went to the Cubs vs. Rockies Baseball game. I splurged and got nice seats, 30 rows up on the First Base side, right at first. We had a blast! Played some of the trendy Texas Hold Em' Poker with Jason over at Buenos Tiempos after the game and called it a night. Pretty good for a day off. The weather was great so that's always a plus. That was a Thursday, I spent all of Friday thinking it was Monday, weird.
Maggie is turning into one great dog. She has a lot more energy and is a lot happier. Her tail might beat a hole in the floor from wagging! Might be time to start up with some training to work on her commands. She knows all of them but is a little vague on the term "command". The more we get to know her the more we start to see she's had a rough past. Any quick movements or yelling at Brewski will start her cowering and tucking her tail. So far she's inappropriately taken down a half loaf of bread and a half bag of treats. So we switched her to the Senior food so she can eat more food and consume the same number of calories. Even getting through the worms she still has to loose another 5 pounds. Brewski is doing his best to get Maggie to play, still to no avail. So that's the latest.
Also I rebuilt the stable and got things organized and easier to access over the weekend. I'll add pictures as I get them. Still no hardware from James to get the finders on but might see that this weekend!
Hope all of you are well, feel free to leave us some comments!
"What is he going to do?" You might be asking yourself. Well the answer is simple; save lives, make a difference, and serve ice cream, duh. I'll be at the Baskin Robins in Louisville raising money for FF's tonight, till about 9 or 10. Then I'll be spending the night at the station on Crew. The worst part is I don't drink on days that I have crew. My whole birthday with out a beer. I hope a tear lands in all of your beers for me, my dears. But enough of my whining.
Last week I took the day off. Got in a nice mountain bike ride at Hall Ranch. It's one of my favorite trails and if you're here we'll hit it up. Then I met up with Jason, Beth and Emily and we went to the Cubs vs. Rockies Baseball game. I splurged and got nice seats, 30 rows up on the First Base side, right at first. We had a blast! Played some of the trendy Texas Hold Em' Poker with Jason over at Buenos Tiempos after the game and called it a night. Pretty good for a day off. The weather was great so that's always a plus. That was a Thursday, I spent all of Friday thinking it was Monday, weird.
Maggie is turning into one great dog. She has a lot more energy and is a lot happier. Her tail might beat a hole in the floor from wagging! Might be time to start up with some training to work on her commands. She knows all of them but is a little vague on the term "command". The more we get to know her the more we start to see she's had a rough past. Any quick movements or yelling at Brewski will start her cowering and tucking her tail. So far she's inappropriately taken down a half loaf of bread and a half bag of treats. So we switched her to the Senior food so she can eat more food and consume the same number of calories. Even getting through the worms she still has to loose another 5 pounds. Brewski is doing his best to get Maggie to play, still to no avail. So that's the latest.
Also I rebuilt the stable and got things organized and easier to access over the weekend. I'll add pictures as I get them. Still no hardware from James to get the finders on but might see that this weekend!
Hope all of you are well, feel free to leave us some comments!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Happy Birthday!
Today is Brewski's 5th birthday! He's getting so old. His new nickname? Old gray beard!
For Brewski's birthday.... he's getting.... .DEWORMED! Ha, great isn't it. Here's the story-
Maggie (our foster dog) had been having accidents in her crate, and couldn't make it through the night without needing out. Often twice a night. Certainly not normal behavior for a dog (Maggie is also about 5 years old). On Monday she had multiple accidents and a rough night. So Tuesday morning we called the vet. Maggie went in, along with special sample from the yard (you get the idea....)
They gave Maggie an antibiotic to help with her tummy trouble and we started her on a rice diet for a couple of days. Tuesday was a much better day, and after her trip to the vet she seemed better already. Well the results of her tests came back today. Maggie is a SICK dog. Let's see, whipworm, roundworm, and hookworm. The poor girl, she has been such a trooper, I think her new nickname is Magatron! Not sure we told you, but she also had an eye infection when we picked her up.
So here's what we have going on at our house....
Hopefully soon we will have 2 happy healthy pups!
For Brewski's birthday.... he's getting.... .DEWORMED! Ha, great isn't it. Here's the story-
Maggie (our foster dog) had been having accidents in her crate, and couldn't make it through the night without needing out. Often twice a night. Certainly not normal behavior for a dog (Maggie is also about 5 years old). On Monday she had multiple accidents and a rough night. So Tuesday morning we called the vet. Maggie went in, along with special sample from the yard (you get the idea....)
They gave Maggie an antibiotic to help with her tummy trouble and we started her on a rice diet for a couple of days. Tuesday was a much better day, and after her trip to the vet she seemed better already. Well the results of her tests came back today. Maggie is a SICK dog. Let's see, whipworm, roundworm, and hookworm. The poor girl, she has been such a trooper, I think her new nickname is Magatron! Not sure we told you, but she also had an eye infection when we picked her up.
So here's what we have going on at our house....
Hopefully soon we will have 2 happy healthy pups!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Big weekend, no time for Bed Bath and Beyond!
Jon here. So, we had a big weekend! All kinds of fun stuff going on. I had to teach other people how to put out fires on Saturday. Scary as it sounds they trust me to teach new guys. So we spent the beautiful upper seventies sunny and clear day wearing 30 pounds of clothes and 30 pounds of gear running into a building full of fires. It's more fun than it sounds, weird.
Emily was spreading the gospel of science to children. She put on science experiments with her co-workers for children at the Broomfield Library. She put in normal stuff and turned the inside of the beaker, or some glass thing, silver like a mirror. Sounds more like Alchemy than science but she promises it's science. She got to spend the beautiful day in the library.
I took in a show Saturday night, a band called Under a Blood Red Sky. They are a U2 tribute band. So they pretty much get paid to go around and pretend to be U2. Except that U2 plays stadiums and these guys were in the basement of a resturant. They were pretty good musicians, U2 music is pretty tough to play. I kept waiting for them to cover another band at some point, they never did, weird.
We got in a nice ride Sunday and spent the day together, watched some hockey and took care of the dogs. Kind of lazy day but still nice.
I don't really want this thing to turn into a play by play of our lives but it was the best format for today, to show off the wonderful things my Wife and I do to support our community. Aren't we great!
Emily was spreading the gospel of science to children. She put on science experiments with her co-workers for children at the Broomfield Library. She put in normal stuff and turned the inside of the beaker, or some glass thing, silver like a mirror. Sounds more like Alchemy than science but she promises it's science. She got to spend the beautiful day in the library.
I took in a show Saturday night, a band called Under a Blood Red Sky. They are a U2 tribute band. So they pretty much get paid to go around and pretend to be U2. Except that U2 plays stadiums and these guys were in the basement of a resturant. They were pretty good musicians, U2 music is pretty tough to play. I kept waiting for them to cover another band at some point, they never did, weird.
We got in a nice ride Sunday and spent the day together, watched some hockey and took care of the dogs. Kind of lazy day but still nice.
I don't really want this thing to turn into a play by play of our lives but it was the best format for today, to show off the wonderful things my Wife and I do to support our community. Aren't we great!
GO US!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
IRS
So Jon and I mailed our taxes on Monday (whew, pretty close to the deadline!). We waited because we owed the government some money this year. Wanna take a guess at how long it took them to cash the check?
We mailed them Monday April 14th, the check cleared our bank account on the 18th.
Guess they need that money pretty badly!
:)
We mailed them Monday April 14th, the check cleared our bank account on the 18th.
Guess they need that money pretty badly!
:)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Going Green!
Jon and I have been working towards being more "green" (not like Kermit). So here are a couple of things we've done.
We started using vinegar and water to clean most areas including the bathroom. Some baking soda helps for the tough stuff too. It's awesome! It cleans surprisingly well (at least it was a surprise to us!). Not only does it help us keep toxic chemicals out of landfills, waterways, and the air but it is FAR more cost effective!
We recycle. You know, it's so easy, maybe it isn't a huge step, but every little bit helps! We have a free recycle center here in Broomfield, we collect our recycling and when it starts to get out of control and overflowing we take it to the recycle center. The good news is, it's always busy! Lots of people use it! They also have a tree branch recycle center there, you can drop off tree branches and they will mulch them..... so then you can also get free mulch! We picked some up earlier this spring.
We've also started using a soap called Seventh Generation. Check out their website for some coupons! It is not a petroleum based product as many soaps are. We use their laundry detergent for the same reason!
James and Hillary got us some great reusable grocery bags while they were in California. They are super sturdy and hold a ton. When we do have plastic bags we either reuse them, or take them back to the grocery store for recycling.
We've done some of the smaller things too, changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs in the fixtures we use most (and where they will fit!). We always use the programmable thermostat, and use the sun to warm the house when its cool, and close the blinds when its hot.
I'm still trying to get a garden going.... there is lots of talk on this subject, but little action! When we get that started we may try our hand at composting.
So now..... what else can we do? Lets hear some suggestions!!
We started using vinegar and water to clean most areas including the bathroom. Some baking soda helps for the tough stuff too. It's awesome! It cleans surprisingly well (at least it was a surprise to us!). Not only does it help us keep toxic chemicals out of landfills, waterways, and the air but it is FAR more cost effective!
We recycle. You know, it's so easy, maybe it isn't a huge step, but every little bit helps! We have a free recycle center here in Broomfield, we collect our recycling and when it starts to get out of control and overflowing we take it to the recycle center. The good news is, it's always busy! Lots of people use it! They also have a tree branch recycle center there, you can drop off tree branches and they will mulch them..... so then you can also get free mulch! We picked some up earlier this spring.
We've also started using a soap called Seventh Generation. Check out their website for some coupons! It is not a petroleum based product as many soaps are. We use their laundry detergent for the same reason!
James and Hillary got us some great reusable grocery bags while they were in California. They are super sturdy and hold a ton. When we do have plastic bags we either reuse them, or take them back to the grocery store for recycling.
We've done some of the smaller things too, changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs in the fixtures we use most (and where they will fit!). We always use the programmable thermostat, and use the sun to warm the house when its cool, and close the blinds when its hot.
I'm still trying to get a garden going.... there is lots of talk on this subject, but little action! When we get that started we may try our hand at composting.
So now..... what else can we do? Lets hear some suggestions!!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Jon's Projects, or Bikes
OK, so we just started all this so I'll do a bit of catching up for all of you. You probably already know that I ride bikes. So now Emily rides bikes to. I like riding bikes. Most of the bikes are prety stock. My baby out in the stable, see the stable below,
is my Felt. It's an F1 with a Sram Force groupo and Mavic Ksyrium wheelset. It's fast, one of us ought to be.
You can see Emily's Special ed on the stand there with a sweet new SID holding up the handlebars. I just slapped that on there for her. She should be shredding up some XC trails before we know it. Next bike project is installing the free fenders I got from James on the Colner commuter bike. See her now as she stands with her checkered past.
Once I get the fenders on there I will have one less excuse not to ride to work. The next project is to turn this laptop...
into a digital picture frame. It's running a sweet Window's ME setup and that's about it. The photo display screen saver works, so I plunked the pictures in there, off the external hard drive, and viola digital picture frame. There might be another step in there or so.
I think that's it for now. I'm not including the Honey Do' list on here but as I crank stuff out, I'll be sure to let my internet public know. OK, I'm out!
is my Felt. It's an F1 with a Sram Force groupo and Mavic Ksyrium wheelset. It's fast, one of us ought to be.
You can see Emily's Special ed on the stand there with a sweet new SID holding up the handlebars. I just slapped that on there for her. She should be shredding up some XC trails before we know it. Next bike project is installing the free fenders I got from James on the Colner commuter bike. See her now as she stands with her checkered past.
Once I get the fenders on there I will have one less excuse not to ride to work. The next project is to turn this laptop...
into a digital picture frame. It's running a sweet Window's ME setup and that's about it. The photo display screen saver works, so I plunked the pictures in there, off the external hard drive, and viola digital picture frame. There might be another step in there or so.I think that's it for now. I'm not including the Honey Do' list on here but as I crank stuff out, I'll be sure to let my internet public know. OK, I'm out!
Newest Foster
Hey All,
So in the efforts of equality and suffrage and to reduce suffering Emily and I are switching blogs. So it's not your "other" personality coming out, these things may take on a bit of a different tone, supposedly, every other time (one of us is a bit lazier than the other). So it's my turn and here we go.
Today we helped a friend celebrate his 30th birthday, a hint of things to come for one of us. Good times, also got some good advice to only get one kid. Also heard that a kid is easier than a puppy. Aside from the advantage that a baby would wear a diaper, I'm not buying it. We also acquired our newest foster dog, Maggie.
Maggie is a Merle female that's 5 years old. She has had puppies in the past and fought a bit of cancer as well. She is a great dog so far.... She is getting along well enough with the man, Brewski, so that makes life easier. Take a look at Maggie...
She is a bit over weight and we will be thinning her down. She also needs a bit of work on the commands, she's a Mom and is pretty sure she knows what's best.
Well, that's about it for now. I don't have much to say but this is the only new thing going on. Got some playoff hockey and Cubs Baseball in the near future so you can wait anxiously for that!
So in the efforts of equality and suffrage and to reduce suffering Emily and I are switching blogs. So it's not your "other" personality coming out, these things may take on a bit of a different tone, supposedly, every other time (one of us is a bit lazier than the other). So it's my turn and here we go.
Today we helped a friend celebrate his 30th birthday, a hint of things to come for one of us. Good times, also got some good advice to only get one kid. Also heard that a kid is easier than a puppy. Aside from the advantage that a baby would wear a diaper, I'm not buying it. We also acquired our newest foster dog, Maggie.
Maggie is a Merle female that's 5 years old. She has had puppies in the past and fought a bit of cancer as well. She is a great dog so far.... She is getting along well enough with the man, Brewski, so that makes life easier. Take a look at Maggie...
She is a bit over weight and we will be thinning her down. She also needs a bit of work on the commands, she's a Mom and is pretty sure she knows what's best.
Well, that's about it for now. I don't have much to say but this is the only new thing going on. Got some playoff hockey and Cubs Baseball in the near future so you can wait anxiously for that!
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