Thursday, February 28, 2008

Another day in the hole

Not everyday on the job is spent working on high end kitchen cabinets or multi member moldings, sometimes we have to get down and dirty to keep the wheels turning and today was one of those days.


First off: Hanna had to resort to the duct tape to maintain the structural integrity of her coffee mug.
Then: it was a trip down under to repair a 50 year old plumbing problem in the crawl space of a client’s home. One of the rules of plumbing is that shit flows down hill,

note the rubber gloves, the homeowner was charged accordantly.


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

It's fun to stay at the...


Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What I lernt today

I’m starting a new segment to my blog where I’ll post from time to time something new I learned. I can’t promise that it’ll be insightful, useful or even interesting but if you haven’t figured it out yet; I’m keeping this blog for me not you, so there.


Today I found out what would happen if I were able to dig a hole to the other side of the Earth. This has nothing to do with Chinese take out either. Let’s just suspend belief a little and say I have a hole from one end of the Earth to the other big enough for me to jump into and there’s no molten center that would burn me to a crisp or that the rotation of the Earth would bounce me off the sides of the hole as I fell down thru it. 12 minutes into my free fall I would be half way to the center at a speed of about 12,000 MPH, as I get near the center, Earths atmosphere is half of what it is on the surface allowing me to reach a speed of nearly 20,000 MPH as I pass the center point or the core of Earth. As I begin to reach the other side I begin to slow down and when I reach the opening at the other end I will stop. But unless there is something to catch me I’ll begin to fall in the other direction and will continue to sling shot back and forth forever. Trippy ain’t it.



Julie's Winter Tour

While I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in South America this winter Julie had a different winter destination this year. Work took her and Director of Photography, Peter, to lovely winter destinations like, Helsinki Finland, London and Warsaw Poland. Burrr…
Global warming has the temperature hovering just above freezing in Helsinki when normally this time of year an Icebreaker is needed to keep the harbor open for shipping. Now it’s just tied to the dock.


Julie with Annika on the Esplinade in Helsinki.

Then on to London for a few days. We’ll be heading there soon for a summer visit or maybe spend New Years in Piccadilly. After London it was on to Warsaw where she got to see some examples of Soviet architecture. WWII and communism really did a number on this place. Between the Nazis fighting their way in and the Russians beating them back the place was turned to rubble.

Some buildings remain and since the fall of the Soviet Union there is a renovation of epic proportions to try and restore as much of what remains of old Warsaw as is possible.

An otherwise handsome man I’m sure, not many people can pull off the parka/stocking cap combo and make it look good but Peter gives it his best shot.

Friday, February 22, 2008

pumpkin floor

The space is ready to load in the bike shop. Now I have to build the tool shed which is what this was intended for as I was reminded of today by Julie. But I'm way ahead of her and as soon as the weather breaks it'll go up. Nothing fancy this time just lockable storage. Right...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Timing is everything

Today was cold for a Southern boy and its getting colder and wetter tomorrow and I’m itching to ride my Surly 1x1 so I did a little work on the list until around 1:30 and blew off the rest of the day to ride



I went back to Pocahontas State Park to ride the “Lake View” trail. It’s got great flow and is just enough of a challenge for me right now.
I got in a couple hours and then returned in time to set up tomorrows work just in time for the rain/ice/snow mix that’s heading our way.

One thing I’ll get done is the floor install in the “Bike Shed.” Then it’ll be ready to move the shop and bikes in and with lots of room to set up a workout space. Cool pumpkin color vinyl composite tile.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Something that’s bothering me is; what happened to the rattlesnakes?

I’m going to reintroduce rattlesnakes to “Rattlesnake Creek” and need your help. As you might know rattlesnakes aren’t cheep, so I’m hoping that you’ll find it in your heart to sponsor an orphan rattlesnake. For just pennies a day you can help bring a displaced Eastern Diamondback Rattler home. You can make your donations here at http://www.cqchammer@paypal.com/
Then I’ll send you a photo of your sponsored rattler as it’s released into its long lost home.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Trail Work Tuesday

There’s a bunch of folks that give countless hours to the downtown trail system but no one that gives more than Jimmy Mac and Nathan the city trail manager. I run into these guys during the weekdays building crib walls, tamping clay, setting armor pavers all to build sustainable trails. It's all about building it once to last and they know how to do it. With just 4 people and some great equipment we built today what an army of volunteers would have spent a weekend on.



Monday, February 18, 2008

Single Speed Sunday

I snapped a picture of this Wood Nymph as she was trying not to get her feet wet. I fear I’ll be in big trouble if she reads this blog. Not a good idea to piss off a Wood Nymph, I could wind up much shorter and living in a hollowed out tree.

We had a good day of riding the “one fing gear” bikes and I was happy that I had as much fun as I did. I wasn’t sure I’d like my Surly 1x1 but it’s a blast to ride and I’m really looking forward to Napa and the SSWCO8

Friday, February 15, 2008

Friday Dab Ride

Taking advantage of the 60+ weather I did my route on the Downtown Trail. This time of year I’m not interested in how fast I can do this ride but how few dabs I have at the finish. There is only one spot on the whole trail I consistently dab but every ride I end up putting a foot down on some spot I normally can flow thru. Today was no different and really a bit worse than most.


The first dab was here, looking back down at the little climb and one that I can usually do. Not looking ahead again but at my tire and not carrying enough speed, lazy dab, and no excuse.
This rocky little hill gets me, and most riders I talk to, everytime. I think I’ve made it once in fifty attempts. It’s loose gravel with baby heads scattered about and a blind approach out of the tunnel with limited speed. I hope it never gets changed, it’s something to conquer.
I own the wall hop. The trail crosses the park road then a 16 inch rock wall that you pop the front wheel up on then hop the rear wheel and up the short climb…easy. But this time my chain slapped down the cassette and jammed. Mechanical dab…that like a half a dab.
Trail maintenance dab…This is my favorite city employee, Nathan. He’s the Down Town trail boss and liaison between Richmond MORE and the city parks and recreation. I’ll see him this Tuesday at 9am to pay it forward on some volunteer trail work.

5 dabs total; 2 foot downs, 2 mechanical and 1 get out of the way for maintenance

Thursday, February 14, 2008

My Valentine.


Julie has followed me to some crazy places and put up with my many silly faces.



Friday, February 8, 2008

What can you do when faced with a 3 hour layover in the El Salvador airport? Go to the bar and drink one of every beer that you’ve never had before. We found 5.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Smoosh - Find A Way (Jimmy Kimmel Live 2006-07-12)

My friend; to insure his anonymity lets call him Robert and I were talking music tonight after poaching some mountain biking trails after dark and he told me to check out these girls which I obviously did and I’d like to offer up a review. These girls are not very good. I’m sure their parents are very proud and all the boys at their school really like them and all the girls at their school are really jealous of them but to put them on the TV or sign them to tour with Pearl Jam is an “awe aren’t they cute” kind of thing that should be saved for the school auditorium or a talent show at the mall. I have always respected my friends, I’ll call him Rob, taste in music but I’m concerned that since he’s turned 40 in an attempt to stay edgy and up on youthful culture he’s over compensated and instead of hitting the under 25 hipster mark has landed in a pubescent pool of perky. So my advice to my friend, let’s just call him Professor X, is to recalibrate his music sensors for musicians born before 1988 for the next 5 years then check in on the Smoosh girls. Maybe then he can say I told you so, but I doubt it.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Frozen Grand Central

lifted from "how to avoid the bummer life" check it

Monday, February 4, 2008

E*TRADE Banking Baby 2008

Saturday, February 2, 2008

A nice little atheist boy

Its not news that I don’t believe in god or the here after but that doesn’t mean I have to alienate every person that does. Take for instance my friend Gera; He’s a good friend and a Christian of the highest order. He accepts me for who I am and doesn’t judge me on what I believe, but on my actions. So when he wants me to climb up with him to the monument of “The Virgin” in his home town of Minas to light some candles for our families and friends I’m honored. It’s not the first time I’ve lit a candle for friends while on a cycling trip, hell, I lit one for Gera while in Italy in October at a chapel over looking the Mediterranean Sea…see, Gera had a tough summer in the US this past year what with crashes on the bike and in the van on I95 just outside DC so I thought it’d be nice, and damn if he didn’t have a great end of year in Argentina racing. To me it’s not that god had anything to do with it but that I kept my friend in my thoughts and if I had a place to symbolize that for a moment by lighting a candle then that’s cool.