Green Beans
Today was a pretty uneventful day. More t-ball.

The in-laws spent the weekend with us.

We took Jordan to O'Charley's as planned. He had the Belgium waffle. He was very surprised and excited when the folks came out and sang to him. The look on his face was priceless.

Last year I mentioned to a friend that G made really good green beans. He called the day before Thanksgiving to ask what her recipe was. Pretty much all she would say was that they were just canned green beans.

I took some crap for that for a few days. Mmmm, canned green beans.

Last night at dinner, Jim mentioned that he thought the green beans were especially good. I told him that they were just canned green beans. Then I told him the above story regarding the green beans.

Took a quick trip to HD in the Miata today. Couldn't find what I was looking for. Took the long way back home.

Look at all that dirt. Yes, I definitely think a bull dozer is in order.

The stamped concrete on the back porch is complete. Looks good.

Jordan and I played t-ball today.

Dinner at El Mariachi tonight. We took two vehicles. Of course, I was in the Miata.

Home again
Took short walk though Sandy this morning. Walked past Mall, REI, Target, City Hall, Target, Walmart, etc.

Lunch at a local place called Johanna's. They are a {free} wifi hot spot.

Stopped by the REI store. Resisted buying anything.

Flew home this afternoon via Dallas. The Dallas to HSV portion of the trip was delayed. Regardless, I got home and was happy to be here.

Jordan's Birthday

Took a quick walk this morning heading east. The mountains look so close but only because they are so huge.

Today is Jordans birthday (6). I called him this morning. He asked me to sing Happy Birthday to him on the phone.

Did I mention here that the view of the mountains here is amazing. Mountains to the east and west. The ones to the east seem more impressive, probably because they are closer, but they may actually be taller as well.

Ate lunch at the customer site. Some folks were cooking lunch on site using Dutch ovens. Dutch oven usage must be a regional thing. They even have a Dutch Oven Buffet Restaurant here. I must admit the food was pretty good.

G said the dirt arrived yesterday. By her count, there were twenty loads. Hey this is just the excuse I need to get a bull dozer.

Drove to Snow Bird for Dinner. Not much snow left here. Dinner at the Avery(?). Have some very nice tuna and a nice local dark beer. Great view of the mountains from the table.

Dirt Obsession Day
Hopped an early flight this morning. Heading to Salt Lake City, Utah on business. Today's transportation was via American Airlines. Of the last few flights I have taken, the American planes seems to be nicer than the Delta planes, however the last few times my luggage has disappeared it was on an American flight. Hopefully that won't happen today. Update - The flight was good, plenty of legroom, and my luggage arrived when I did.

Jordan's Birthday is tomorrow. He will be having a party at school on Friday with Scooby Doo cupcakes. Sunday we are going to take him out for lunch at his favorite restaurant, O' Charley's. He will get a real kick out of the singing. He said he wanted to have a surprise party so we aren't going to tell him about it ahead of time. Several of the grandparents will be on hand for the occasion.

Jordan actually wants to go to daycare 5 days a week now. The summer schedule calls for swimming and a field trip every Tuesday and Thursday. He doesn't want to miss a thing.

Worked this afternoon in Provo. Busy busy day. We are staying in Sandy. Drove out to SunDance this evening, the home of Robert Redfords Sundance Film Festival. Ate dinner at 'The Tree Room' in SunDance. Enjoyed the peppercorn fillet and a local pale ale. Quick walk up part of one of the grassy slopes. Probably a blue when covered with snow. Incredible view. I felt like I was standing under a mountain because It towered up so high.

Great Miata weather here, sadly I have no Miata here.

Today would be dirt Obsession day if I were at home.

Bobcat Obsession Day
Today will hence forth be known as Bobcat obsession day. Over slept this morning {7:30 am}. Hadn't done that in a long time. I didn't have to be anywhere till 8:30 and then only in my backyard. The bobcat was delivered promptly at 8:30. Maneuvering was as simple as it was described. I had never used one before so I was a bit psyched about the whole experience. The first few minutes were similar to being on a roller coaster only without the rails. I got comfortable with the controls very quickly and proceeded to teraform the hill at the edge of my backyard. I ended up 'playing' in the bobcat for about 3 hours. After I got the hill right, I moved a stack of old brick and buried them. I also did a little bit of bush hogging in the woods. That was actually more fun that work. There is something exhilarating about being destructive, even in a controlled manner.

Brianna came out to watch me for a few minutes. She asked me if I was playing. I told here yes. I think perhaps someone put her up to that.

Butch, the concrete guy was out again today applying a few sealer coats. Foot traffic after 24 hours.

Called Bob the Builder about getting the roof started. He said he was pretty busy but would get started around the end of June. He has a two week vacation schedule before then and doesn't really want to start any new projects before he leaves.

Ginger thinks the new hot tub will probably show up before then.

Drove into work around 1:00. Miata day, top down. Nice and sunny.

Thursday evening occurred on Tuesday this week. Didn't get much done. My mind was on the up coming trip. Spent some time cleaning off the bench and then did some sanding on the footboard.

Got plenty of stuff to write about today but!

I have an early flight in the morning so it will all have to wait till tomorrow. Here is the positive spin: when I write it tomorrow I can start about with "Yesterday".

I am very tired and still need to pack. Which mantra will I live by tonight?
1. Tomorrow comes early in the morning.
2. Live the night between the days.
3. Nak nak nak.

I feel like I should give you a hint: today is Tuesday so it was a Miata day, the bobcat got delivered at 8:30 am, and the regularly scheduled Thursday occurred today, Tuesday.

Oh BTW, I noticed Blogger has a spell checker built in so I will attempt to use it now on at least one post a week. {Blogger rocks!}

Did I mention that I don't usually proof read or spell check this stuff. Sorry for the pain that it inflicts upon you.

Got interrupted while writing the post for Sunday earlier. Went ahead and published it with the intention of finishing it up later. Anyway, there is still some refinement work to be done. Fortunately there is still plenty of time, but that will evaporate quickly I am sure.

I took a new picture of Brianna and Jordan to work today. It was time to update the picture in the frame. The new picture was the Easter shot. Bri was laughing in the picture. This weekend she was Daddy's baby.

It appears that the next four weeks are going to be very hectic. More on that as the days go by.

Saturday while the kids where at their Grandma's, I drove down the parkway and headed east on Hobbs Island road. I drove thru Ditto but I didn't stop. Boat show in progress. G read that parents who own a boat are more loved by their children than parents who don't own a boat. Sounds like a good enough excuse to me. Anyway, drove the rest of Hobbs Island out to New Hope and then back towards OXR. I hadn't been through Mountain Gap yet so, I took that back to Jones Valley. That was truly a beautiful drive. At times I was in awe that I was so close to Huntsville, and I had never been on those roads before. The whole trip took about 1.5 hours. Plenty of time for me to get a nice sunburn.

On the way to work this morning, I stopped where some construction was occurring and mentioned to the foreman that if he had any extra dirt, I had a good location to store it. I left him a card with my number not really expecting to hear from him. Later in the day he called and asked where I would like it. He said delivery would begin on Wednesday. I say I would take as much as he would deliver (for free). I estimate I could easily handle 500 - 600 cublic yards. That is 25 - 30 tri-axle truck loads. I suspect could use twice that but... It will be interesting to see how much he sends my way. And I will be grateful, regardless of how much he sends.

I rented a bobcat for tomorrow. I need to clean up the access to the back of my lot so that the trucks can get in and out easily. I have never used a bobcat before but everyone says it is easy. My friends are all lining up right now to take it for a spin. Wait in line guys. I am going first. Obviously I will be late for work tomorrow.

One more thing. The back patio got stained today. The concrete looks almost like real stone. They will be back tomorrow to put a sealer on it.

Driving the kids home from school tonight, Jordan pointed at a Red Miata and said that looks like yours. They had the top down and it was an NA. My NA had the top down as well but it was at home parked in the garage.

It is pretty weird swapping back and forth from driving the Miata, to driving the gas guzzling Dodge 1500 Quad cab. One is so high, one is so low. The last fill up on the Miata was less than $20. The last fill up on the truck was just over $50. And I get about the same number of miles on each per fill up. A very fortunate event that I bought that little car just before the price of gas shot up. Perhaps that will recoup some of its cost over the next year.

Lunched at Viet Huong today with DBE. We both had A7 and B4 with unsweeted tea. Julie was our waitress. She always takes good care of us, calls us by name, and asks if we will be having the usual. That's pretty cool.

I think this pen is running out of ink.

Can you say Utah?

The car really needs to be washed. The tires are filthy due to a little off roading I did last week. I had read that there was an autocross track over near County Line Road and 565. One day at lunch (the day I got rained on with the top down) I drove over there to check it out. I couldn't find what I would call an auto cross course, but I didn't really look that hard. At one point I realized I was actually driving on the motorcross track. I had a choice of either turning around or catching some really big air.

Sunday
Made a quick trip to Ardmore for a cold Frapacheno{SP?} Mmmm.
Spent some time working the the 3rd generation camp oven. Looking good so far. While the oven is fairly light weight, I successfully loaded 10 lbs of lumber inside.

Finished, But Not Finished Finishing

I think I will start things off a little differently today.

Last night I finished the final glue up on the cherry bed. Now for the really fun part, sanding, sanding, and more sanding. Then a little bit of Minwax golden pecan stain and a whole lot of poly.

I showed DM what remains of the finish on the chest of drawers. I plan on 'fixing' it while I am finishing the bed.

Part of last nights guild meeting involved a tour of the local home depot. We focused our attention on the 'fastener' section, specifically staples. A plethora of staples is available at your local home depot.

I bet you were amazed that I managed to start this entry without saying 'yesterday'. Doh!

This evening Jordan will don a cap and gown and graduate from kindergarten.

I once told Matt "I'll make you famous!". Now it's Daddy Mack's turn.

Today was a somewhat tense day for me. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to get things done. I also get distracted very easily. Unfortunately my office is essentially a hallway and the community fridge and coffee pot are a few mere feet from my desk. This does not help! I have a lot to get done and a few scant weeks to do it. Time to work a few more miracles. I think perhaps this is last time I shall mention work in this blog.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Perhaps I shall take the long way to work. For me there is something very relaxing about driving the Miata. Especially when the navigators seat is empty. It is not just a way to get from one place to another. It is something more. I can't really explain it. You either get it or you don't

Some guy dug up part of my backyard today with a bobcat. The back patio is being extended, covered over, and screened in. It should be very nice when it is done. The mosquitoes here are terrible. (Aside: 'Mosquitoes' doesn't look like it is spelled correctly to me but the spell checker is happy.)

Yesterday {Doh!} I met the little people for lunch at El Mariachi. As I was paying, the guy running the place started asking me question about the Miata. He said he really liked it and was thinking about getting one. Of course I am always trying to sell people on Miatas, just not my Miata.

Happy Birthday

Today is little Terry's Birthday. I believe she is 33 but I will always think of here as 13.

Extreme Miata

On the way back to work, the bottom dropped out of the clouds. I was on the highway and there wasn't a good place to pull over so I just keep going. It was a pretty cool experience, and the interior didn't really get wet, though my hair did. At some point I realized it was foolish to be wearing sun glasses in the rain, so I took them off. Most because there was so much water on the lenses. By the time I got back to work it had stopped raining and my hair was dry. Who knew the Miata was also a high powered hair dryer.

Words of Wisedom

When riding in the rain with the top down, don't turn on the windshield wipers. It was cause all the water to come in around the side of the windshield, not over the top. I suppose this wouldn't have been a problem if the side windows had been up, but then again thats almost like putting the top.

I have now driven topless in the rain, and in the 30's (F). I suspect I will hit a new high temperature today. Probably lower 90's. I actually don't look forward to driving top down after the temp reaches 100, but I don't think I could put it up after all the ribbing I have given my friends about having a convertible and not using it. I imagine the coolest thing, pun inteneded, will be driving top down with it snowing!

Farmer Tan

Did I mention I already have a darker tan this year than I have ever had in my life. Actually I am still pretty white but at the same time it is an all time best for me.

Yesterday I noticed that most posts begin with me talking about yesterday. Doh!

Today, my friend, is a beautiful day. I started the day torturing myself with a little weight lifting. Little being the key word. The drive to work was magnificent. And you know what the status of the top was.

Last night I made a trip to Home Depot to pick up some dowels, sheet metal, etc. DE and I will are beginning to begin the process of making the 3rd generation camp oven. He actually did all the work on the first two. I am on a mission. More about that later.

On the same but slightly different topic, the annual camping trip is rapidly approaching. Sure it is still six weeks away, but some planning time is required. We started the preliminary menu yesterday. Perhaps the salmon will make the final cut this year. Can you imagine sitting in the woods in the middle of nowhere with a nice salmon croquette with beurre blanc sauce and a glass of wine. Ok, so it wine will probably be in a itty bitty bottle. I would also like to introduce a layer cake this year.

The camping trip is a fairly long standing tradition. This will be the tenth year. It will be my fourth. Currently 10 folks are commited but I expect that will drop off to six or seven in the next few weeks. Part of the tradition is to hike out into the middle of nowhere, usually in one of those Carolina states, setup camp, and do some cooking, hiking, and for some trout fishing. As for the food, I have seen some rather amazing things for a camping trip. Brownies, chocolate pie, Tollhouse cookies, all homemade. Ever carried an egg in a backpack? And the rumors of past menus are pretty exotic. How about roasted feasant. Steak and baked potato's is the staple for the first night. That rocks after hiking a few miles with a 60 or 70 lb backpack.

I hope to get started on the rough design of the new oven tonight. I want to design it in such a way that it doubles as 'counter space' and a cook stove stand. Cooking on a little single burner Coleman cook stove setting on the ground is no picnic. To be continued...

BTR must be bird dogging his web statistics. I linked to him Sunday evening and by Monday I had gotten a thankyou note for my kind words. Who knew anyone was actually reading this. He has setup a link back in this direction and promised I would see my hit rate go up by 10 hits a year, or my money back! Brian, if you have to send my money back, I would prefer the 30 cents in the form of an Alabama quarter and one of those new nickels. Perhaps I could send him a few photos of the local Post Offices.

Did I mention I got a little time Sunday night with the barn doors open. Sweet!

Motivation

This blog was my motivation for my own.

At the time I was searching for information on removing waterspots. Brian The Red had an entry about a solution he used to remove some water spots from the mirrors on his miata, etc etc.

Almost Famous

I was looking at the stats from my web server. It appears I have been getting a few hits on Google. While that has no real significance in this reality, it is pretty cool to me none the less.

The phrase that pays was "Guild Furniture". Today, my page shows as the second link. It turns out that "ram92" shows me as the first hit. Last time I checked, I didn't show at all.

Bravo!

Kenny says "Check out Bravo!" Way to go Kenny! Using Bravo!, I created a screen saving containing some images of my car. Way coolio.

Short drive this evening, top down of course. The paint job is looking bad. Don't know if it actually getting worse, or it just seems that way.

The Tivo recorded "Two and a Half Men". That show is seriously funny.

And there was this one time, at band camp...

I hear the ice cream in the freezer calling. Eat me, eat me.

Quote of the day

"Woe be unto any fat women dishing out attitude (or as we call it
around here, Fat-itude) that I see in the next few days." - So sayeth iMike.

Not much news. The last three days were good top down days.

Oh yeah! I found out Thursday that Beth had her baby on Tuesday. Barry sent me the hospital picture. Henceforth, they shall call the boy David.

I went to the hobby shop today. I was thinking about getting the N-scale railroad going again. It has been all boxed up for over a year. Action Hobbies left town a few years ago. The current shops don't have near the variety Action had. Perhaps I should put that off a little bit longer. Time and space would be the current problems. As usual, they are highly linked.

Perhaps I should just drink beer and watch tv. That is fairly low cost, except for the beer of course. Unless I could get a hold of some of that "Free as In Beer" beer that the open source guys are always talking about. I understand the concept of "Free as in headache", but anytime I have been offered free beer, that was usually manual labor involved, and that means the beer is not really free. The cost usually works out to a payrate much less than minimum wage.

And while we are on the subject of free labor, the neighor came over this morning. Her landscapers had broken a pipe on her sprinkler system. Because she had seen me working on mine so much she asked for a little help. Had she thought about it a little more, perhaps she would have realized that because I had to work on mine so much, perhaps I was not the right guy to ask. Anyway, after a quick trip to Home Depot {in the Miata, top down}, and a little playtime in the mud, they were all set up.

Her husband just had knee surgery. He is in a lot of pain these days, but at least he has the good drugs.

Hi iMike! How are things going with you? Gotten any sleep lately?

And finally I am back home again. The weather was a cool 78 when I got off the plane last night. I thought today was going to be perfect car weather. The thunder rolled in around 10:00 pm and it has been raining since. Top up.

Monday after work we went to dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango. The food was very good.

Tuesday afternoon I had a little free time. I spent an hour by the pool (again with SPF 8000000) and then went back to the room and took an short nap. Excellente! And then back to the show. Tuesday evening we skipped dinner. I had some pretzels and a dip in the hot tub before turning in early for a full 8 hours of sleep!

Wednesday seemed to last forever. The flight was long and hot!

I am in Orlando on Business. Fortunately we (Crabby) have a few free hours here and there. Last night we ate at UNOs (pizza). It was pretty good. The pizza of choice was sausage, onion, and jalapenos. Unfortunately, the peppers woke me up around 2:00 am and keep me up till about 5:30 am. I sure Hope I sleep better tonight.

We walked around the Disney shopping area yesterday for about an hour. I don't remember what that place is called. It is right next to pleasure island. We walked through pleasure island but nothing was really happening. It was still day light. Some guy told us it gets really crazy up there around 10:30 pm.

This morning we setup the booth and then went to a Thai restaruant for lunch. (Thai Thani) I ordered something called Double Delight. Chicken, shrimp, onions, red bell peppers, and mini corn. It was really good. I was tempted to get a red or yellow curry but after last night, I was skeerd!

Two hours at the pool this afternoon. I put on some SPF 3000000000 so that I wouldn't burn.

Off to Orlando on business. The Miata will remain in the garage for the next few days. Top down of course.

Lunch today with DM and TW at the Po-boy Factory. it was pretty decent. I had the crab cake basket.

Great week for the Miata: Top down all week. Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Clear skies and it hit 80 today.

No woodworking this week. DM canceled due to a shoulder injury. BTW, He is now an expert on toilets. :)

I added a few Mini Cooper photos to the web site today. One even includes a 1992 Limited Edition Sunburst Yellow Miata.

Rainy today. Started in garage with down down, put the top up for before backing out. First stop: gas. I got close to 30 MPG on the last tank. Next I went on a photo expedition. The goal was to get a picture of a certain blue RX-8 and red MazdaSpeed MX-5. Mission Accomplished. Returned home and put the top back down after pulling back in. Also wiped all the excess water off the bonet. I don't want anymore of those waterspots.

Read about the photo expedition here.

Yesterday I made a trip to the hobby shop on Meridian street. I purchased the racing pylons for the RS4 micro. Top down all day.