It's been a busy week. A couple of re-orgs at work. I was promoted for a week - then unpromoted. One of our 3 remaining developers quit. Ah, well... at least the weather has gotten cooler.
Friday was a nice night to celebrate the grand opening of Link, a place for co-working. If you work from home and need a quiet, well-equipped place to work, this may be perfect for you.
Saturday morning, I checked out the Texas Custom Bike Show at the Music Hall. I guess I was a little early, because not all the lights had been turned on.
James from Alchemy was there with a full array of custom bikes.
However, the coolest thing I saw may have been the carbon fiber travel bike, with a frame that breaks apart with carbon couplers.
After a quick tour of the other exhibits, I met up with friends at Inks Lake for a quick camping trip. Couldn't beat the weather - sunny days and cool nights. And lots of dogs (not all pictured - but trust me).
Had a really nice bike ride yesterday. Dustin even rode in from Steiner to join us. It was just a gorgeous day.
We parted ways in Manor, with Dustin heading back to Steiner while Pete and I continued on to the Aztec Taquería in Elgin for our traditional breakfast tacos. Happy to see my mileage edging up slightly every week. 45 miles last Saturday, 51 miles this Saturday. More importantly, I remembered my water bottles this time, so I wasn't cramping the last 10 miles of the trip - making for a much more enjoyable time.
Sunday, I was given a wristband for ACL, but I decided it was too much trouble to go for just a couple of shows. The line-up this year really sucked. Hopefully, Pete got more use out of it.
Instead, I went bowling at Highland Lanes. It doesn't have quit the charm of Dart Bowl, but it'll do for a lazy Sunday afternoon. AJ kicked my ass, but he's on a bowling league, and this was my first time to bowl in at least 3 years. Still, I did break 100 in each of the 3 games. Woohoo!
I can be stubbornly cheap (as evidenced by all the half full Diet Pepsi cans in my fridge). That's why I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon searching my house for a $3 flapper to fix my leaking guest toilet. I've purchased a number of flush repair kits over the years, and know I have a few unused flappers somewhere. Damn if I know where they are now.
Anyway, a trip to Home Depot this evening, and I come home with this:
It's suppose to make my 600 gallon per flush toilet environmentally friendly. I figure the $100 I'll save per year (as stated on the box) will more than pay for the $18.00 device. Although, my water bill is usually only $8.50 a month, so my water will be practically free now. Nice.
Btw, the device I purchased should not be confused with this device endorsed by Austin Powers:
Hey Eric - this is what you missed while you were training in New Braunfels:
Your son knocked on my front door while I was drinking my coffee this morning. Apparently, Lilly flew the coop and landed in a tree down the street. She was hugging a branch 20 feet off the ground.
After trying to call her down for a good 15 minutes, we came up with the following Rube Goldberg plan.
Drive the minivan under the tree, put a board across the roof to provide support (blanket to protect the paint), place a ladder on top of board, climb on top of the ladder, pull a nearby branch, the branch Lily is on also moves closer (transitive property of tree branches), grab the bird, climb down from the roof. Have child close by with a Super Soaker to spray bird in case bird flies off again.
Thus far, my efforts to have my back yard declared a wildlife preserve have met with little success. Thankfully, Hyde Park does not have an HOA. If it did, I don't think this would make them very happy:
Unlike my front yard, I rarely receive complements on my back yard. Guess it was time to do something about it.
So far the weekend has just been gorgeous. Yesterday was a great day for a bike ride. Getting to see Cedar Park was just an added bonus.
Oh, and speaking of riding, I saw the following segment (pun intended) on how bike chains are made recently. Makes me wonder how chains were made before companies had million dollar machines to do most of the work.
WHOA - did the narrator in the video just refer to my neighborhood as 'the hood'? - damn, those Canadians are progressive. And urban.
