Lake Alvin

If you read my prior post, you know my house was floating 2 inches higher than normal recently. That caused a host of problems. Thankfully, a carpenter took care of my front porch gaps (and removed all the ginger breading on my porch posts that I hated).


Unfortunately, that was the easy part. Another problem with raising the house 2 inches is that the workers dug up around my concrete piers to place their leveling jacks. However, they didn't put the dirt back when they were done. Bad thing is, they dug under my concrete skirting also, which created a hole where water from the recent storms created a lake under my house.


That took an afternoon under my house crawling in the mud to fill those holes back in. And you thought ACL was muddy. Ha!

Speaking of ACL, I only attended Sunday this year - mostly to see Pearl Jam (and The Dead Weather). Eddie V (not to be confused with this Eddie V) and crew did not disappoint. Ben Harper and Perry Farrell joined in for encores.




Is it me or do others also feel Mr. Farrell should stick to singing and not dancing.

Naughty

I've been eating well balanced meals all week. It sucks. Tonight, I wanted something bad. I had to make trips to two fine dining establishments, but I think you'll agree it was definitely worth it. Feast your eyes on my feast.


Oh, and here are some pics of my up-in-the-air, floating house.

Pumped up

Eric took his new bike out for it's maiden voyage Sunday. He looked pretty happy. Did the Spicewoods Spring loop with Pete, Eric, Teddy and Michael.


Later that night a few of us attended the "Where We're Going and Where We've Been: Bicycles, Cities, and Transportation in Austin" forum with David Byrne at the Paramount.


Today, I finally got my house leveled. Long story short - one side of my house was originally leveled with incorrectly installed shim. The shims were put in at an angle, and the wall above has been sliding as a result of it over the years. Anyway, the foreman promised me that he took care of the problem, and the shims are now installed flat. Being the skeptical homeowner, I had to go check out their work for myself.


Looks fine, but they had to raise my house 2 inches to get everything level - which created it's own problem.


Funny thing is, I was told the house had settled 2 inches relative to the high point. So each pier, except one, had to be shimmed around 2 inches. I asked why they couldn't just lower the high point 2 inches instead. Seemed like it would have been much less work.

Too much pork

Like our government, I am sometimes faced with a pork problem. Actually, it's more of a Costco problem. There's a reason my friends tell me single people should not shop at the warehouse giant.

I reason that it takes just as much time to broil one pork chop as it does to broil 18. Well, maybe twice as long, because my pan can't hold that many at once. But you get my point.


And then I have dinner to last me a month. Or two. Thankfully, they freeze well.

Lunch

What do you do when you have a bunch of corn chips that are too small to dip? Well, if you're in Texas - you make migas.


Add some salsa and cheese and you're done. Bon appetit.

New Sweden

Went for a short ride with the Hyde Park group this morning. Well, maybe not so short. Hyde Park to Manor to Elgin (for breakfast) to New Sweden - and back. I took the cycle computer off my bike to save 36 grams, but Pete tells me it was about 60 miles. Hmmm... I distinctly recall telling everyone (Pete, Eric, and Jayne) I was good for 25 to 30 today.



Afterwards, Pete came by to uncap a few of his homebrews. I was pretty much worthless the rest of the day.

Bonus

Received my first royalty check today from ASME. I was surprised, to say the least - since I thought we had to sell 2000 copies first before royalties kicked in. Anyway, it was only for the last 2 weeks in June, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.


Spent the night building up Eric's new Cervelo R3. He bought the frameset recently from Excel Sports. It's pretty sweet - and the frame weighs less than 1000 grams. I hung a 7800 series Dura Ace 10 group on it, except for the FSA carbon compact cranks. Nice bike.