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What a week! So, one hundred ten hundred smackaroos later, I have beautiful new siding on my home and garage. The guys really did a great job and despite the bill, I feel like I got a pretty good deal for what they accomplished. Not only did they remove all the old siding and Tyvex barriers every nook and cranny before putting up the Hardy boards, they also used extra (top and bottom) nails for every plank as well as sealing every seam completely (using almost 6 cases of kaulk). They pressure washed the eves around every structure, then primered and painted everything to match. They even pressure washed all my cement walkways, patio, and driveway. Really top notch imho. So, I’m reeling from the gianormous check I just wrote for this major project, when low and behold… my AC stops working. Mind you, it has been over 100 every day this week with one day reaching 104 degrees Farenfuckingheit. I call a repairman out on Sunday to assess the damage. The blower motor in the heatpump siezed and the entire fan assembly was shot. Basically that equates to about $500 in parts and then whatever the labor is to swealter in the the heat of my attic for a couple hours. The guy has to get the parts this morning because the motor isn’t in stock and everything was closed Sunday. So while he is repairing the AC today (which it is done and my house is slowly passing back through about 87 right now), the sprinker guy comes to assess my broke-dick sprinkler system whos non-function is browning my lawn rapidly toward a nazi-gram from my HOA. He finds all the broken heads (thanks to lawn-team ninja mowers and sunlight enbrittlement) and the heads that are spitting water, but not in the fashion for which they were designed or installed. He writes up a preliminary estimate and gets to work. He’s been out there for hours and I have no clue how much it’s going to be, but my supposition is that it will be too much for my liking. I will tell you this however, I’m going to water the shit out of my lawn when it’s all said and done. It’s hot. I’m broke and miserable. Is there another domino effect cliche besides “when it rains, it pours”? ...because I’m really wearing that one out.

In other, completely unrelated news… check out this snippet over at Ars Technica on the forthcoming StarCraft II. It’s gonna be pimp.

update: Sprinkler dude finished. It was $475. I hope my grass is happy. Ugg.

Friday morning, I hung up the ‘ole BlackJack II and switched to the “new” iPhone 3Gs. So far, so good. It really has alleviated a lot of the headaches I had with mobile office applications on the Windows Mobile platform. Anything that makes my life at work easier is a good thing. I spent the weekend out at my dad’s place with Bob and Robert to do some mothing. Amatuer entomologist I’m not… especially when it comes to Lepidoptra, but it was a lot of fun none the less. Here is a pic of me with a little buddy (subsequently eaten by a bat circling above our field rig). The green color is the result of my cameraphone trying to adjust to the color temp of the mercury vapor and ultraviolent light used in to attract the moths (and various other critters) to the sheets.

Yesterday morning was day one of “home improvement week”. The gang of contractors hit the back of my house like a tornado and by early afternoon you could see the fluffy bits:

I’m not happy about the financial stress, but I’m sure I’ll feel great about it all after they are done. I sorta feel bad for the guys working out in this heat… it’s supposed to be over 100 degrees the next 3 days in a row. My mother and grandmother came up to help house-sit while I ran around to various meetings this week. I am actually off all next week, but this was the only week the contracting company had available to do the job. I wouldn’t have suspected it could all be done comfortably in a week’s time, but they are proving me wrong with gusto. At the rate their are moving, they may even be done before Friday. (/fingerscrossed)


Did I mention I’m digging the new iPhone?

I worked through lunch and realized that I need to get away from the computer in a bad way. I grab my sorely under-utilized camera and head for the backyard… after changing out some corroding batteries from my flash that hasn’t been used in forever. I always forget to take them out when I shelf something. Anyway, a short time later, I find a small spider (about 2 mm) under a leaf. Snippety snap. Then, moving to a plumeria on the patio, I see an itsy moth (about 4 mm) resting on a leaf stem. One leaf over, completely camouflaged, was this small spider that I believe to be a Lynx, but I’m so out of field practice that I can’t tell for sure. This specimen could have fit comfortably on a dime. It was miserably hot and we’re not even in July… much less August, when the real temps hit. Now I’m all sticky and uncomfortable, but at least I got a little sun. I think I’ll nickname my sensor “Pigpen”.

I have a dream of owning some land in the Texas hill country someday. I squirrel pennies and nickels away inside a sock buried in a coffee can in the woods behind my neighborhood… slowly scraping together a smidgeepoo here and there, trying to make something resembling a down payment or whatnot. It’s a slow and painstaking process. When I make some progress, even a little, I get this overwhelming sense of well being… like I made it through tax season without a nervous breakdown or I’ve secured horizontal comfort following a holiday meal. Since I’ve started this proverbial piggy bank, I’ve not ever (not even once when I wasn’t looking) had to withdrawal money from “the sock”. This is a good thing (see above).

In some parallel universe, there is a version of me living in a house with aging wood siding that is visibly water damaged in several places. Siding that, with best reputable estimate, will cost just north of ten thousand simoleons to replace. This must be done. There is no escaping it. It can either happen sooner (read: now) at the expense of my financial discomfort, or later (read: when I eventually must sell this house) at the risk of further and potentially more costly damage. The common sense thing is to just do it now and suck it up. I’m a common sense sorta fella, so that is the decision that was made. It is to be done now and now is next week.

So I’m chatting with “the dude” that owns the construction company that is doing the work. He’s a good guy. I trust him. His company comes highly recommended via word of mouth and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. I had them replace some sheetrock, float, tape, and paint in my living room and kitchen earlier this year and they did a professional and fantastic job for a decent price. All things point to goodness when using them, so I’m relatively comfortable with this large home improvement project. So back to chatting with “the dude"… he wants to come by this week so I can sign the work order (basically a contract saying if he does what we agree to, I’ll pay him) and collect half the project cost upfront (standard operating procedure that was fully disclosed in the initial quote). I’m all good so far… except one little thing slips out in the conversation that makes me cringe. “The dude” and his company do not accept credit cards in any way, shape, or form. Cash is king. Checks are queen. Credit cards are not in the castle.

This shouldn’t be an issue because the logical (read: smart) thing to do would be to take money out of the proverbial sock and pay for the repairs, then replace the sock money with regular payments… like a loan to myself if you will. The thing I wanted so desperately to do was to pay for this entire project on my little plastic VISA and not touch the sock in an effort to avoid that feeling in the pit of my gut that I’ve lost progress toward my dream. Common sense, in this case, was the salmon swimming upstream.

Long story short, I have to dig in the savings because this has to get done, but I’m not happy about it. It’s going to take me a long time to refill the sock to it’s current level. Every day ticking by is one day further away I am from looking at this town in my rear view mirror.

I need to hit the lotto. I don’t even need to be Oprah-rich. I just need to be make-the-sock-fat-quicker-rich.

It has been 22,043 days from the day of the first recorded credit card transaction in the world. That is 3149 weeks. So, basically, in the last 60 years, 4 months, and 8 days, we have not found a way for my contractor of choice to accept credit cards and thereby enable my poor decision making.

This is America, damnit. What the fuck is wrong with us?

What a gorgeous day outside! Sadly, the heat is creeping up in my little neck of the woods and my poor, downtrodden air conditioner already can not keep up with the heat of the afternoon. It runs constantly in the summertime and often my electricity bill is in excess of $500 per month during the hottest months. A few years ago, the compressor went out on the unit and I was given this unfortunate opportunity to decide between replacing the compressor (around $1500) or replacing the system (around $6000). It seems that the external cooling system and the internal hear pump must match efficiency ratings (SEER) in order to function properly. I didn’t have the six grand to throw around, so I am living with the dreaded season of elevated utilities. Sucks.

My dad left this morning for Seattle followed immediately by 10 days of B&B life in Alaska. I can only imagine what sort of wonderful photographic material he’ll witness during his trip. I find it amusing that the more I age, the less interested in travel I become. I am quite content just enjoying life “from the porch” these days. Hopefully the porch has a better view in the coming years. Houston is a great town with a lot to offer… both good and bad. I have little faith in the direction the scales will tip as we continue to consume pine forest with cement and orange construction barrels. 

Work has been ridiculously busy, but I guess in this day and age, that is a good thing. Count your blessings, eh? I have been saving money and looking for some land to invest in to make a little homestead down the road… away from here… away from everywhere hopefully. Baby steps.

I want to get back into some form of regular photography. I don’t really care what it is, just need to get my chops back. If you don’t lose it, you lose it. Tru dat. Hopefully I’ll have some sort of image to post up this week. Gotta get off my ass and just do it.

I’m convinced that Greg Giraldo anf Doug Stanhope are the same person.

That is all.

Happy birthday, sweet EL… we all miss you.

I know this is old writer’s strike era material, but if you haven’t seen it, watch it (especially if you like JW). The best cheese I’ve seen in quite a while. I totally dig it.

Speaking of cheese… Georgia and I are meeting Mike and Nikki for dinner, drinks, and the Cheese show at HoB. Work has been ridiculously busy and I desperately want some vacation. Lots to do before the end of the day, so this is to be continued...

My baby kitty turns 14 today! How the years have flown by…

When I was stationed in upstate New York in the service, one of the reactor operators on my crew had a female indoor cat that always seemed to find a way to sneak out of the house. One winter she found herself preggo and he had no way of caring for the litter once they became adult cats. After some campaigning at work, a few of us offered to help. I was the first to make a selection. I picked Penelope out of the bunch when she was only 2 days old, but had to wait a little while for her to ween. When he called me to come pick her up, it was actually a smidge too early and after some struggle with “bottle feeding” her via eye dropper, I took her back to her mom for a quick snack. She was fine after that… and we’ve been together ever since. From New York, to Virginia, to Texas… through marriage and relationships… through the gain and loss of other pets even… she has been with me. Fourteen years.

In other news, the colon cleanse I started a few days ago has been placed on hold. I did what I call “the forrest ride” with Ted yesterday morning. The route basically is something like this:

View Forrest Ride in a larger map

At some point during the day, and I don’t know when, a series of blood vessels ruptured in my eye. I didn’t notice it at all, but Georgia pointed it out when I returned from the trip. Here is the obligatory cameraphone pic:

I’m not sure what could have cause it, but after some Googling, it seems that it’s fairly common and usually not serious. Some of the herbs that the wiki mentioned as contributors are also found in the colon cleansing thing I was starting. I don’t know if it’s unrelated or not, but I’m going to let my eye heal up before I consider a re-try. Anyway, I’m extremely busy this morning with work. I just wanted to publish some birthday wishes for my little sweetie. Cheers!

I’m not convinced this will be quite so smooth. Perhaps someday the technology will evolve, but I doubt Microsoft will be the ground-breaker. Maybe I’m just being cynical.

So tonight I start my pre-cleanse on the Blessed Herbs program. Basically, it’s 3 days of prep and 5 days of liquid fast while you are strapped to a toilet most of your days… or so I hear. It’s all part of shedding a few unwanted pounds and getting in better shape with a new fitness routine starting next week when I recover. I can’t shake being rundown all the time and am hoping this will help. Right now all I can think about is sloppy Mexican food… which isn’t a good sign on day 1.

In other news, my one year old niece is home from the hospital and doing well after a surgical procedure to remove a staph infection which was most likely MRSA. Scary stuff. Georgia and I have been on the hunt for ranch property in the Texas Hill Country so we can flee the concrete jungle and trade orange construction barrells for rock formations and native flora. It all seems so far away. I’m trying to ease back into this blogournaling thing, so don’t expect much Chatty Kathy-ness this morning. My head is pounding and I’m having a hard time concentrating.

However, here is a nugget worthy of interweb clickage… Texts from Last Night. Go there and pee your pants.

I don’t know if it is the subliminal swimming of the knowing what today is or something less modest, like the onset of a cold, but I feel like hammered shit right now. There should be a sniglet for that feeling where you must concentrate every ounce of your being into keeping your lids open and head from bobbing. I think it would be a work like exhausted, but maybe that one is taken? I just landed back in Houston after a couple days out of town on business. Soon today will be over and we can wait another year for the anniversary of the worst day of my existence on this satellite we call home. 

Long time no post. Toadies are at Stubb’s tonight in our fine capital. Get some of that.

Although much needed, this rain is starting to get old. I was able to grab a shot of the new bike this morning before work in-between sprinkles to make some desktop wallpaper. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Have a green beer on me.

Yesterday, I ate a big lunch.

You may or may not recall my infatuation with the king of road cruiser muscle bikes… the Yamaha VMax. Unleashed upon the world in 1985, the generation one VMax was ahead of it’s time. Ahead of it’s time so much so that in over 22 years (1985-2007), its basic design and specifications have not changed. In fact, the only thing different year over year has been the paint scheme. This past year, all that completely changed. In 2008, Star Motorcycles (an affiliate/subsidiary of Yamaha) announced the generation two Vmax. Set to ship in 2009 without a production run, the only way to get a gen-two was to front a cash-money deposit (~$1000) before October of 2008. Only bikes with registered pre-orders were built and the numbers were somewhere south of 2500 worldwide. I’ve been in love with the VMax since it’s launch all those years ago, but despite my fan loyalty and owning a gen-one bike, I simply couldn’t bring myself to pre-order without more information that the smidge here and there that was being leaked out. (There is actually a nice in-depth overview posted on an Aussie site here if you care to read.)

my gen-one

After the reviews and testimonials confirmed that this wasn’t just a pipe dream, I started my search. Having not pre-ordered, the only way I was to find one in my garage was to either purchase a used bike from someone that took delivery and was insane enough to let the bike go used… or, find someone that pre-ordered and couldn’t complete the deal for whatever reason. Less than a week ago and about 2 months into my casual search for this rare work of art, I was in Kerrville at a dealership that I happened to pass on the way to an appointment and stopped only out of curiosity. They didn’t have a 2009 on the lot, but were kind enough to run a Yamaha locater in Texas and revealed there were 4 of these bikes “available” in the state… one in Gruene, one in Lubbock, one in Richardson, and one in Humble. I started my process of elimination. Having entered negotiations with three of the four potentials, the odd one out was the bike near Dallas. I didn’t have the dealer’s name. While waiting on some pricing counter from the dealer near New Braunsfels (who only had the bike because the poor gent that pre-ordered was diagnosed with colon cancer 2 weeks before his bike arrived), I decided to call the local Yamaha/Star dealer and ask them to re-run the locater to pull up the Dallas info for me. Lady luck was smiling upon me that morning. Apparently this economic pickle we are in caused a local pre-order to lose his ass in the stock market between the time the deposit was made and the time the bike was manufactured and put on a boat to America. So fresh was this event that the bike wasn’t even listed as available yet (hence flying under the radar of the locater system). Within 18 hours of the call, I was sitting at a desk talking about how to take this gen-two home and keep my 1997 mare company. This was done at lunch… and like I said, it was big. It’s raining cats and dogs here, so there are no Clayton-pics yet of the new addition to the family, but here is what she looks like:

the gen-two

Here is the microsite with more info. I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to feed my VMax addiction, but the moment I pulled out of the lot toward home, I knew I’d not made a wrong choice. I think my cheeks were actually cramping from the smile I couldn’t wipe off my face by the time I pulling into my garage. It was 48 degrees outside this morning. I got up shortly after 6:00 aye emm and rode in the dark before work and before that forecasted rain socked in the metro area. There was 0.0 miles on the odometer when I first turned the engine over and I have nearly a thousand to go before the engine break-in is complete and I can let the 200 hp and 124 ft/lbs of torque out of the bottle. I’m in no hurry… driving Miss Daisy in the countryside will be just fine for now. For as much as I love and have loved my generation one… this bike has more potential than I originally would have imagined. Redesigned from the ground up to take advantage of modern alloys and build processes as well as the latest in technology for maximum performance, the new VMax is truly spectacular.


A big lunch indeed.