Archives December 2009

Typically I am quite content spending New Years Eve watching a stroked out Dick Clark count down the final moments of the year.  However this year we are actually going to a party that one of our buddies in the running club is throwing.  It should be fun, I guess it’s good to get out on New Years at least once a decade.

So another year has flown by so you know what that means, it’s time to recap the year, see how I did in hitting the goals I had set and set some new ones for 2010.

Ok let me go down the 2009 goal list.

Replacing the counters – this is something that has been on the list since 2005 at least. YES they were finally replaced along with the sink.  The granite made a huge difference and we LOVE it.

Jumping out of a plane – no.  I still think about this on a pretty regular basis but keep failing to act.I might as well do it before Niribu hits.

Interior of the house painted – almost.  We painted the huge main living areas.  Adding color to the walls really changed the look of the house.  It makes us wonder why we waited 8 years to do it.  The only rooms with white walls at this point is our bedroom, our bathroom and the hobby room. 

Staying fit – well short of having my legs chopped off, this was a no brainer.  Although the 300 has taken a backseat in my fitness routine in 2009 I still have been working them in as I can.  All in all I had a much healthier 2009 than 2008.  My chronic shoulder pain got better and my knees have been much more reliable, allowing me to do more running in 2009 than I have in the past 3 or 4 years.

Happiness – that is a hard one to give a black or white answer to.  I think without a doubt that overall my level of contentment with my life was higher than some years prior.  However, there is still no way that anybody would use happy as the first adjective when describing me.  I don’t think you would find many agnostic, non-religious people that are super happy.  Not thinking that there is a pot of gold waiting once you kick the bucket can have a sobering effect on one’s outlook on things.

Camaro – nope it didn’t happen in 2009 but Ali is fully behind my purchase of one sometime in 2010.  Ironically the biggest roadblock to getting one is myself.  I refuse to spend the money until the Camry payments are over and done with.

Shake things up – I don’t quite remember what I had in mind when I set that goal last year. Whatever it was, I don’t think I accomplished that one.

Ok so let me look back at a few 2009 highlights.

January marked the culmination of a long year of politic discussion/arguments on the blog by me regarding the presidential race.  My guy, Obama actually pulled it off, becoming the first black president ever.  He ran on a platform of sweeping change in Washington.

The reality of what has happened in his first year in office has been less impressive than I would have hoped for.  Many of Obama’s initiatives have been run into a tar pit of bureaucracy, old timers and the republican propaganda machine.  As a result many compromises have been made that resulted in outcomes that are off the mark of what we hoped for doing the campaign.  

I’m disappointed that we are still mired in Iraq and Afghanistan with no hope of ever leaving and the health care plan that is awaiting confirmation is so riddled with holes it seems next to worthless.  The huge focus on pushing the bill through by a certain date instead of focusing on what is in there is disturbing.  It seems like Obama is coming to the rationalization that some change is better than no change at all.

In February we adopted our second dog, Sadie.  We were both quite concerned how Nicki would react to having to share everything after going through her first 6 years as a only dog.  I remember the first morning after we adopted her, she squatted next to the kitchen counter and let loose with a gallon of piss.  I recall thinking, “WTF have we done?”  We had Nicki trained to the point where we coexisted perfectly, why did we have to upset the apple cart?

Sadie also had quite a little destructive side, chewing up items as well as taking a liking to clawing at the wall.  We handled these issues as they came and over time they subsided thankfully.  At first Nicki seemed unhappy with our decision to bring her home a playmate that had no problems trying to jump ahead in line.  Eventually they seemed to work things out.  Sadie is pushy but when the rubber hits the road Nicki is still the queen of the house and Sadie will be submissive to her when Nicki gets pissed off.

Now, like most things, we wonder why we didn’t get Nicki a buddy sooner.  Her and Sadie have a great time playing with each other.  Having Sadie in the house with her extremely outgoing personality actually has helped Nicki be a bit less cautious around new people.  Sure she still barks but once she sees Sadie greeting the person happily, Nicki is more apt to let her guard down.  Sadie has had a nice health perk for Nicki as well as Nicki has lost 10 pounds trying to keep up with Sadie running around the house and yard.

With the addition of another pet in the house we also lost another pet in 2009, Spook.  In 2008 we had Buttons put to sleep after years of health problems related to her diabetes.  Spook, who was actually older had lived a pretty much problem free life health wise.  Well it all started going down hill this year.

It started with the cat not eating much for a long period of time.  I didn’t pay much attention to it at first but eventually I knew something had to be wrong.  We found out she had a broken front canine which was causing her pain while eating.  After having the tooth removed she improved for a little while before again getting worse.  For months and months we went through expensive vet visits, unpleasant attempts to give the cat medicine daily and trying all sorts of food items to encourage her to eat more.

As time progressed Spook had all sorts of physical problems going on.  First from not eating she was getting bone thin, she looked horrible.  Then she went through an episode where her hair was falling out.  She would pull clumps of hair out with her mouth and spit them out.  At times it looked like an animal was murdered on the carpet from the clumps of hair scattered about.  Then finally there was the ear thing.

Her left ear started to secrete some sort of bloody discharge.  She also started having problems with her balance and was carrying her head tilted to the left at all times.  The final and most disgusting issue was when the skin at the base of her left ear started to literally peel away.  We tried treating her with antibiotics for a solid two months straight as well as giving her stuff for her ear.  It just didn’t work.  As time progressed you could tell Spook just was not having fun anymore.  Her mouth no longer worked correctly and instead of being able to eat conventionally she had to scrape her face across the plate to push food into it.

Finally after hoping against hope for a recovery I decided it was time to put her down, something I dreaded doing based on what I went through having Buttons put to sleep.  The experience was no easier this time around as I cried like a baby as Spook took her last breaths. It sucked. It’s one of those moments you never forget, ever.

For the first time as an adult I don’t have a cat as a pet and to be honest I don’t think I ever will have a cat as a pet again.  Even though most of my interaction with Spook in recent years was just having her lay on my feet at the computer desk I still  felt horrible about putting her down. I still find myself looking down at my feet as I sit at the computer, awaiting Spook to take her position on top of them.

I had more skin cancer burned off in 2009.  I am scheduled to have one area that was already burned, cut out in a few weeks since the growth came back, yay.

 We had a decent amount of visitors in 2009.  Cheryl and Dave, my dad and step mom ( a couple times),  my brother Pat,  Ali’s brother and his family and Randall/Jeremy all paid us a visit one time or another during the year.

We made another trip out west to visit my dad/sister shortly before he moved back to PA in June.  It was the Ford party van’s last big trip for us.  The trip was a lot of fun and we got to take a different route which exposed us to all sorts of new places and things to see.  We really enjoy road trips with the dogs and we’re talking about doing another one this year.  

I became an uncle for the third time when my sister gave birth to Griffin back in March.  My siblings now have 3 kids between them.

We had planned to refinance our house in 2009 to take advantage of the low rates.  After months of waiting for the process to complete we were derailed at the last minutes by a low ball appraisal from some douche bag that used foreclosed homes as comps for our place. In the big picture we will be better served long term by just paying off the 15 year note we have on our house which now has less than 10 years to go.

I kept busy with various projects/repairs throughout the year.  I had a $5 fix on the washing machine which we thought was goner.  I also did some repairs on the water equipment which saved us some major dough.  Just recently I built an outdoor dog tile resting station (that they don’t use), a ramp for the new shed and a kick ass outdoor pull up and jumping station.

We had a couple big Craigslist transactions in 2009.  I both bought a new party van  and sold the old one on the site.  The new party van purchase had some drama when it turned out the seller was less than honest in his dealings with me but things worked out in the end without causing me much pain. 

I also found a used storage shed that ironically was being sold by a neighbor around the corner.  Getting the shed onto our property was a major pain in the ass.  That project unexpectedly lead into another project when we had to cut the fence to get the shed inside the fence line.  My dad helped me install a 12 foot gate at the point of the cut during their second 2009 visit.

I inherited my dad’s 1984 Moto Guzzi motorcycle in 2009.  I am still not licensed to ride it but will take care of that sometime in early 2010.  Mom is not happy with the idea of me on a bike. 

Mom had a rough 2009.  The shitty economy hit close to home when she lost her job in late May.  Mom has been on unemployment ever since and still has been unable to find something to fill the void.  Ali and I have done several things since the layoff to try to ease some financial burdens on mom. Hopefully in 2010 mom gets re-energized and finds herself gainfully employed to help both the state of her bank account and state of mind.

 I picked up a cheap road bike in 2009.  I figured biking was a nice low impact way to burn some calories.  In recent months the bike has been sitting unused.  I have had other exercise activities taking higher priority.

I had my typical rants in 2009.  Some of the subjects of my ire included Sirius, the Fort Lauderdale parking authority, vets that charge outrageous money for dental x-rays, Planet Fitness, Pure Fitness and of course Erwin Tonch.

I had a quick fun visit up to PA to see Troy in November.  We had a memorable visit to watch a Ravens game, ran a 5K and just generally had a good time.  I wish we got together more often.

 Athletically in 2009 I played very little volleyball, only two tournaments all year long.  Both outcomes were not good at all.  It seems like I can no longer not play for 6 months at a time and put out a respectable showing on the court.  I have been trying to run semi-regularly, completing a 4.25 mile treadmill run on my birthday, the longest I had run in several years.  My new pull up station has become a big part of my fitness routine.  One of the goals in 2010 is to be able to do a muscle up. 

Speaking of fitness.  Ali has made a dramatic return to running in 2009.  When we started running a few years back Ali had made a goal of running in a half marathon.  However knee problems cut that goal off at the knees and she had pretty much abandoned running altogether.  Well about mid-2009 she started picking it up again. 

It was a weird series of events that seemed to coincide to get her back into it hardcore.  I made some blog comment about how Ali USED to run that I think stuck in her craw a bit.  Then she had a falling out with the place she took ballet after they promised her certain things but delivered much less.  And finally she reconnected with a friend of ours that had recently taken running back up as well.  Ali started training regularly and soon started doing training runs with her friend and another friend of the friend.  Soon it became both a social and exercise event.  Ali looks forward to getting together with the girls for the runs.

At this point she is up to 9 miles which is just incredible.  I’m very proud of the dedication she has demonstrated, something that I always knew she had but something she is normally hesitant to embrace.  She is on track to run her first half marathon in mid-January, a fantastic accomplishment that I could only dream of myself.  My hat is off to her.

Ok enough about 2009, I’m sure I missed a few things but oh well.

Quickly some 2010 goals.

Finish painting the interior of the house.  – Should be easy compared to what we did in 2009.

Paint the exterior of the house. – The stucco has a lot of hairline cracks that I want to resolve by repainting the house with a rubberized exterior paint that is designed to fill cracks and stretch.

Screen in the front entrance – I want to enclose the front covered area of the house with screening.  Being able to open the front door and let the mild winter air flow through the house would be fantastic.

Replace the water equipment – we are sick of water that looks like piss.  It needs to get cleaned up this year.

Camaro – I hope by this time next year I will have a 6 speed, 426 HP monster lurking in the garage.

Muscle up – I want to be able to perform a muscle up in 2010.  It will happen because  my mind is set on it.  Tunnel vision is a powerful thing.

Road trip – I would like to see more things I haven’t seen before, it makes life feel more worthwhile when you are out there seeing and doing things you never did before.

State of mind – I’d like to keep working on my biggest detriment, my head.  Trying to keep positive and happy is a constant struggle for me. I think I am doing better overall but there is much more work to be done.

Kid – even though it has been totally dropped off the list in recent years.  Ali has been bringing the subject up on a pretty regular basis, mostly because her nieces are just so darn cute.  Ali craves that closeness to be in her life on a regular basis.  My feelings are the dogs fill that need.  We’ll need to talk it out for real, soon.  I’m not getting any younger. Ugh serious conversations are such a downer.

So that just about covers it.  I hope everyone enjoys their New Years celebration no matter how simple or extravagant they may be.  Enjoy it while we can, 2012 is coming.

[podcast]https://blog.duf.net/podcast/07.mp3[/podcast]

I heard on my birthday that my buddy Scott mentioned my birthday on air.  A few people on Facebook mentioned they heard it and thought it was funny.  Scott was nice enough to send me the clip.  Listen up if you care. Many thanks to Scott and Jackie.

Here is a regular link for FB people. https://blog.duf.net/podcast/07.mp3

It’s been 6 days, it feels like Christmas was two weeks ago but hey, I’ll try to recall what I can.

I was off Christmas Eve, Ali had to work so the plan was for her to pick up my mom on her way home.  The night before on the way home from work I stopped at Home Depot to get the materials needed for my pull up station which I planned to build sometime over the break.

I kept myself very busy on Christmas Eve.  One thing I wanted to work on was the damn water equipment.  It hasn’t worked well for months and months, despite my best efforts.  Among the various problems was a pressure loss thing where the pump would run every 20-30 seconds to keep the pressure in the tank up.  I had figured out the other day that the leak was coming around the top of the tank. 

I sprayed the area with some Windex and noticed little air bubbles immediately forming.  It looked like the area was starting to rust and had little pinholes where air was escaping.  Considering we just had the system replaced in 2005 I was not thrilled that the f’ing tank was already starting to rust.  When I drained the tank in order to work on it I saw a ton of rust flakes come out, no wonder our water looks shittier than normal. 

After draining the tank I used some bathroom/kitchen caulk to seal the area around the lip of the tank that was leaking.  After I put it back together and re-pressurized the tank it still leaked a tiny bit but it held pressure at least.   It’s looking like this years tax refund might be funding a replacement water system, possibly a whole house reverse osmosis set up.

Another project for the day was building a ramp for the small shed.  I grabbed some 2×6’s at Home Depot for the project and I planned to use the decking off the old dog deck. As in most projects I do, all of the planning and design of the ramp was on the fly.  It actually turned out quite well.

The funny thing is if you looked at this picture you would never think I used the decking off the old deck which is very gray and weather beaten from 5 years in the Florida elements.  However when I flipped the board over they looked almost new so that is what I did.  What you see is the underside of 5 year old decking.

Those two projects kept me busy enough but I also found the time to do a few more things like plant some new stuff in the garden to replace some items that had gone kaput.  I planted some broccoli, squash and spinach.

When Ali and mom arrived I was anxious to show them the new ramp.  Ali was somewhat distracted so she wasn’t able to properly bestow much praise for my efforts, however I still felt pride in my work.  At least the dogs came and stood on it with me.

After a day of outdoor labor it certainly didn’t feel like Christmas eve, I had to keep reminding myself it was.  We spent our Christmas Eve eating vegetable lasagna and watching Elf on tv.  Ho ho ho.

As has been the case for the last half decade or so, I slept just fine Christmas Eve.  I no longer find myself wide awake in the middle of the night riddled with anticipation of the day to come.  Instead it was like any other night and I woke up around 6:15 or so.  Mom was next up and of course I had to encourage Ali to get out of bed somewhere around 7:30 or so.

I find I enjoy watching others open stuff more than opening stuff myself anymore.  It’s especially entertaining seeing Nicki around presents.  Somehow she has connected opening presents with fun.  She gets very excited as Ali opens presents on the floor.  Sadie was excited just because Nicki was excited.

Almost everything Ali and I got was on some list somewhere so there weren’t any big surprises like the two tickets to Chicago I gave her for her birthday.  Mom brought gifts as well even though I warned her ahead of time that any attempts to buy us gifts would result in me throwing her in the pool.  She was lucky she didn’t get wet.

It took awhile for us to get through the gifts, even with us buying fewer items than some previous years.  After the present exchange was done mom prepared her traditional Christmas morning french toast which we enjoyed outside.  We commented how we were one of the very few people in the country that could actually be eating breakfast outside.  Actually it was a bit TOO warm on Christmas day, or more specifically too humid. The one time of year that I would actually prefer to live in PA is Christmas.  No matter how hard you try, Christmas in Florida just has never felt right.

Ali needed to do a training run on Friday so despite it being Christmas, we decided to hit the track.  I was happy to see mom was willing to come along.  She strapped on her sneakers and walked a little over a mile while Ali and I ran a couple of miles.  As we ran we got to watch a Mexican pick up soccer game going on at the same time.

The rest of Xmas day was laid back.  Of course we received/made the various family calls and spent time cleaning up the aftermath of rampant gift opening.  I actually took some time to play with some of my Wii games I got for my birthday, Punch Out and Wii Sports Resort. 

I am a huge Punch Out fan, dating back to the original arcade version of the 80’s.  I have played many iterations over the years and ascended the to the championship in each version.  With the Wii version you have two control options, you can use the nunchuk and controller to flail wildly at your on screen opponents.  I tried this method initially and it worked for the low level opponents however I found as I progressed, I needed the instant response that conventional control offered.

I progressed pretty easily through the first few opponents.  You follow the same game plan with most of them, look for a sign they are ready to punch and then duck/dodge and counter punch.  I was happy to see Nintendo kept a number of the established boxers from the game as well as adding some new funny opponents.  The graphics are good for a Wii title and the humor in the animations of the boxers is great.

Currently I am on the precipice of winning the title however I have had my ass handed to me by The Sandman a number of times.  I have watched a few videos of how to beat him so I think I am ready to take the crown.  It’s a great game that really requires some quick reflexes.

I had big expectations of Wii Sports Resort.  I have heard several good reviews of the game.  The game comes with the Wii plus adapter that allows the controller even more functionality.  I ran through a number of the new games but only found one that was truly compelling for me, Ping Pong.  The Wii Plus adapter really comes into play here, allowing you full control over the type of shit whether it is a huge hooking down spin shot or dancing back spin variety.  I really enjoyed my matches and even had mom play for a bit.  She managed to win a few matches herself.  However other than Ping Pong I can’t say anything else really jumped out at me as all that much fun.  I will need to dig into the title a bit more.

Christmas evening we watched The Blind Side.  Mom said she wanted to see it.  It is based on a real life story about a down and out big black kid that gets taken in by a white family and winds up going to the NFL.  It was a feel good story and a good flick overall but there wasn’t anything that made it stand out above any other feel good films.  The thing I kept noticing more than anything was that Sandra Bullock has very wide hips and a big old ass, something I never knew before.  I’d give the film a B+.

On Saturday Ali had a long training run scheduled.  I asked mom if she minded if I began construction on my pull up station.  The construction of the station is documented in the prior entry so I won’t rehash it except to say the project went pretty smooth and I am very pleased with the end result.  Over the following couple days I did a ton of pull ups utilizing numerous grips.  I plan to use it on a regular basis.  Nothing will build overall upper body strength much better than pull ups.

Saturday night was the Chicago (the musical) performance.  Ali was excited for it and of course I was not but I was more than willing to go since I knew Ali was into it.  We sat down in prep for the show.  A large group sat behind us, the person right behind us was some old guy.  When he coughed I was lucky enough to catch a whiff of bad breath that smelled like he chewed on some mothball mints.  Throughout the first act I got to enjoy that wonderful scent repeatedly.

I tired to prepare for the performance by slamming a cup of DD coffee en route.  I was already tired from waking up early.  Sitting through a musical would be like taking a sleeping pill. 

The performance itself was fine.  The “star” of the show was Tom Wopat of all people.  Yea Tom Wopat from The Dukes of Hazard.  Tom is much older now of course but he did a decent job playing the slimy lawyer.  The female leads of the show were both very talented and the singing and dancing was all top notch.  One thing cool about Chicago is a lot of the females are basically wearing nothing but underwear.

I paid attention for most of the show however during the second act I did catch myself shutting my eyes a few times.  The show finished up around 10:30.  I asked Ali if she liked it and of course she did.  She knew I wasn’t that into it but I told her it was ok.  If nothing else it was interesting to see the performance live in a venue I never had been to before.

  Sunday morning mom was antsy for me to take her back home so I drove her back mid-morning in the van with the dogs hitching along, they love going on rides.  Mom thanked us for the gifts, especially the gift card that we cleverly concealed in the joke box.

Sunday afternoon we caught the Eagles game, well the last 2/3’s of it.  I was on the phone with DirecTV because my receiver refused to show the game, saying it was blacked out.  Normally a game will be blacked out on satellite if it is being shown by the local network affiliates.  Well I told them the game was not showing locally, they needed to fix it.

The woman on the other end had no idea why it was not showing the game.  She had me try various things, none of them worked.  Finally just for the hell of it she resent the authorization to my receiver and that somehow fixed the problem, yay.

So by the time I tuned in the Eagles had the lead and quickly extended it.  Before long they were ahead 27-10 and it looked like an easy blowout win.  Well the wheels fell off.  In classic Eagles form, the team went through a prolonged funk where they made mistake after mistake, allowing the Broncos to score 14 points within a couple minutes to get right back into the game.  All of a sudden the Eagles offense which was clicking on all cylinders could now do nothing. 

The game was then tied 27-27.  The Birds seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  They finally were able to move the ball after a now rare McNabb scramble to get a first down followed by a fantastic catch by Maclin to get them in field goal range.  Akers booted it through with 4 seconds to go to seal the win.  Whew.

Thanks to the Bears knocking off the Vikings, the Eagles can actually lock up 2nd seed in the playoffs if they beat the hated Cowboys Sunday.  Man that would be SWEET. 

Wow I still had two days off yet.  I figured I had busted my ass quite a bit already so I didn’t have any major labor planned.  On Monday I decided I would take my camcorder outside to a shoot a video demonstrating proper technique for the upcoming 300 challenge that Randall and Jeremy will participating in.  Of course the thing was shot with comedy in mind.  I was disappointed to see that much of the audio was stomped out by wind noise.  Evidently with the shitty on board mic the only time you get audible narration is if you are behind the camera shooting.  Most of what I said while the camera was on the tripod can’t be made out.  I tried to accommodate by adding captions to the final video.  The final cut is funny more than anything which is what I was going for.  When Ali saw it she just shook her head in disbelief.

Yesterday the highlight of the day was me going to the local Chevy dealer to actually look at Camaros.  I saw in an ad that they supposedly had some in stock, cool.  I parked and was greeted by some older, skinny, obvious chain smoker salesman.  He looked like he was in the business a looooong time.

I told him I wanted to check out the Camaros and told him I already know most of what there is to know about them, probably more than he did.  He told me all they had on the lot were the V-6 models including two used ones that they bought from rental car agencies.  I told him I was interested in the SS but still would like to sit in one of the V-6 models.  He said there was one in the showroom I could sit in, a base LS model.

I already knew quite well what the interior looked like but I was anxious to sit in it myself.  As I crawled in I noticed my hair which is sort of long right now, was brushing against the headliner.  The seat angle was a bit more forward than I would normally have it.  After I adjusted it back I had a little more clearance. 

As I sat in the car to take it in I was asking the salesman some questions about the process of ordering a car as opposed to buying off the lot stock.  I was surprised when he said the entire process should only take two months after ordering the car.  I asked if there was any financing deals going on. there weren’t but he said if you waive the GM 60 day guarantee you get $500 off the price of the car.

He said they had 2 or 3 SS models coming in a few days although they were the more expensive 2SS models.  One of them is an orange 6 speed which is one of the two colors I am leaning towards right now.  he said he could call me when they came in if I wanted to check them out.  I’d definitely like to drive on.

This guy was very low key, very laid back.  To be honest it felt like he could give two shits if he sold me a car or not.  He scribbled down my first name and cell number on a piece of paper and that was it.  Hell when I sold cars we had a little info card that we filled out on everyone we talked to with as much info as we could pry out of the person.  This guy asked me nothing, not if I had a trade, money down, lease, payment range.  Maybe that is just how they work there but it certainly does not follow the car salesman 101 guidelines.  Hell he didn’t even give me a brochure.

I sent Ali a text message on the way home saying “I bought it!”  I was surprised when instead of getting something back like “What the F???” she instead sent “What color?” like she would have been fine if I went a bought a Camaro without any input from her.  I guess she really is ok with me getting one.  Anyway, I told her I was just kidding.  It was cool though to see the car in person although I didn’t feel quite as excited as I thought I would be.  I think in the back of my mind it still seems like a far off goal, too far to view it as tangible quite yet.

The rest of my 6 days off was uneventful, played some WoW did some pull ups. It was just fine with me, I had a pretty full 6 days as is.

So you say you want to build your own outdoor pull up station?  Well I can walk you through what I did to make my own recently which will be used for a 300 challenge we are running with my buddies.  I also made a 24 inch high jumping platform.

Ok first off, what will you need?  The one thing a pull up bar needs to be more than anything else is sturdy so I chose 4 x 6 lumber as the supports.  Here is a list of everything that was used.

Qty 2 – 12 foot long 4×6 pressure treated posts
1 – 1 inch diameter, 8 foot galvanized pipe (to resist rusting)
1 – 1.5″ wood boring bit
2 – 7 inch long 3/8″ bolts, with 2 nuts and 4 washers
1 – 3/8″ metal drilling bit
3 – 50 pound bags of quick set concrete

Ok I was debating how deep to sink the posts and if I was going to use the entire 12 feet section.  After doing some reading and knowing that I wanted the final height of my bar to be somewhere around 8 feet high, I decided to cut a foot off each post to bring their length down to 11 feet.  I then planned to dig an approximately 3 foot deep hole with the post hole digger.

I dug a hole bigger than what you would use for a normal post because you want extra space to fill in with concrete for strength.  I would guess the hole was about 10-12 inches in diameter at the top.  You don’t need to keep it that wide all the way to the bottom.

I temporarily attached a piece of 1×6 wood to the posts to assist with manipulating the post. The posts were heavy and slimy from the pressure treatment solution so the temporary handle was very handy.

First post in the ground

  After digging my hole I inserted and removed the post several times until I had the portion out of the ground right at the 8 foot mark.  One thing you may want to do that I did not is put some crushed stone in the bottom of your hole for drainage.  Since our soil here is basically sand I wasn’t very concerned about drainage.

After getting my first post in the hole I measured over 4 feet and dug my second hole and placed the post, again making sure it was as close to the same height as the first pole as possible.  I then kicked a small amount of fill back into the hole so I could use it to keep the posts in place as I made them level.

Now not only do the posts need to be level, they also need to be parallel to each other so the pipe threads through them cleanly.  To make them parallel I used another long piece of 1 x 6 and laid it across the front of the posts and made sure the posts were flush against the board.  Again my temporary T-brace came in handy for making those adjustments.

Both posts in the ground, level and parallel

Ok so after making sure the posts were level and flush I was almost ready to add concrete.  I dumped a bit more dirt in the holes and used my tamping bar to compact it tight around the post to hold it in place.  After verifying the posts had not moved I was ready to add concrete.

I pulled over the hose and filled the hole 1/3 of the way with water.  You then add concrete until it reaches above the water.  You then add another 1/3 of water, add concrete, add water, until you fill the hole. 

I decided to let the concrete set for a few hours before I would begin work on installing the pipe to make sure the posts weren’t going anywhere.

The first thing I had to do was cut the pipe to length using my sawzall with a metal cutting blade.  I cut the pipe so that I would have a few inches extending beyond either side of the posts. 

The pipe was labeled as 1″  (made in China by the way) so I figured I would need a 1″ wood boring bit.  Well I quickly discovered that the 1″ refers to the inside diameter of the pipe, the outside of the pipe is 1.25″ in diameter.  To be safe I wound up using a 1.5″ inch wood boring bit.  I went down about 4 inches from the top of the post and centered the bit to drill the hole.

Pipe installed.

The pipe slid nicely through the hole so now I just needed to drill the hole in the second post.  It is important that the bar is level obviously.  To facilitate this I held a level on top of the pipe as I centered it on the other post, using a pencil to draw an outline of where my second hole would be.

After drilling the hole I nervously slid the pipe towards it, hoping everything would line up properly, it did.  The last thing I needed to do now was use the bolts to secure the pipe in place.  This turned out to be one of the trickier parts of the install.

I got my eyes down to pipe level so I could determine where to drill a hole that would more or less split the pipe in half.  I used a 3/8″ wood bit until I hit metal.  Once I did, I switched to the 3/8″ metal bit.  Drilling through the pipe was a challenge. It wanted to spin as I drilled into it.  I had to use a death grip with my one hand while drilling the hole with the second hand.

Once I punched through the pipe I loaded the wood bit back in and drilled through the other side, taking measurements from the first hole to try to line me up for the second.  I got close enough that I

Pipe secured, station ready for pulling

saw daylight and was able to push the 7″ bolt through.  I used two washers for each bolt, one at the nut and bolt head side to be safe. 

After bolting the one side, the second one went smoother since I knew what to expect.  After a few cranks with a wrench the pipe was secured and the pull up station was complete!   Just for the hell of it I attached two scrap pieces of 2×6 to the inside of each post as an assist for potential pull up participants that could be vertically challenged.

I grabbed a hold of the bar and did a few reps to test it out.  The structure felt extremely solid which is what I was hoping for.

The next day I built my 2 feet high jump station.  I won’t go into much detail here as it is a pretty straight forward process. 

I used pressure treated 2×4’s for the top frame.  I used a countersink tool to predrill the holes for the screws to minimize splitting near the ends of the wood later on. 

Jump station top

I used two 36″ and two 24″ pieces for the frame to give us plenty of landing area.  I used 4×4’s for the legs cut to 23 inches to allow an inch for the decking that goes on top. 

 

 

The 4×4’s are installed upside down while the frame is still on the ground to ensure they are flush with the top.  Again I pre-drilled the holes to minimize cracking.

 

 

After attaching the legs all that was left was to flip the stand upright and attach the 1×6 decking to finish it off.  It was really a very simple build compared to the pull up station. 

After completion I took the stand out and place it against the side of the pull up station for additional stability and did some test jumps.  Once again it felt very sturdy and up to the task.

 

 

If you have any questions regarding either project feel free to shoot me an email. In retrospect the only things I may have done differently is to use rock in the bottom of the holes and only use 6 inch bolts instead of 7 since 4×6 lumber is actually on 5.5″ wide.

 

 

  I have additional of the pictures of both projects.  If you would like to check them out, click here. If you want to see a funny video I shot using my new equipment you can check it out here.

 

While I was reviewing last years entries around this time I stumbled across this gem.  It is so f’ing bizarre and funny it is worth reading again.

https://blog.duf.net/?p=2185

Wow.  I haven’t taken any melatonin in awhile.  🙂

So let me start off by giving some background about me and Chicago, the musical.  I never saw the show but I did try to sit through the movie with Ali one time.  In between the four or five times I fell asleep I recall repeatedly having the urge to stab my eyes and ears with sharp objects.  I was just not into it. Ali on the other hand LOVED the movie, she even went as far as to download the Chicago soundtrack from ITunes.

Well a couple weeks ago I saw an ad saying that Chicago was going to be coming to the local theater the day after Christmas.  I set aside my personal dislike for the production and grabbed a couple tickets for the show.  I figured it would be a good birthday gift for Ali and something she would never expect. 

Fast forward to last night, Ali’s birthday.  Ali was doing a 7 mile training run with her two running buddies and then the plan was to meet up at Michelle’s place for pizza and birthday cake.  As we were sitting around Ali brought up that both of her buddies were going to Chicago on Saturday!  Oh how perfect, I instantly knew this was a golden opportunity to further layer on the BS.

I started making comments about them going to the show like “Ew, who’s idea was that?  Who would want to go to Chicago, it’s terrible.”  Ali, already knowing how I hated the movie said that she actually was talking about how much I hated Chicago during their run and how I would never take her to see something like that.  Hah!  It couldn’t have been set up any better.

So after having a good time at Ali’s party we headed home and I set Ali’s stack of presents in front of her, all of which she really liked.  Of course mine was saved for last.  I did my typical misdirection routine.  Wrapping the receipt for the tickets in a large box, enclosed in a case with three dead Roomba batteries to add weight to the box.  After removing all of my trickery Ali finally got to the paper and was amazed at what she found.

She couldn’t believe I got tickets after all of the carrying on that just went down an hour earlier.  The pure coincidence that her friends just happened to be going to the same show added to her amazement.  I guess I still have a few tricks left up my sleeve. 

Sure I’m sure sitting through the performance won’t be a highlight of my life but that’s what alcohol is for, right?

I am on the doorstep of a 6 day Christmas break which I am looking forward to.  Of course I have some projects in mind, the most interesting of which would be the construction of an outdoor 300 challenge station which initially will be a pull up bar and a platform to jump on. 

I also need to build a ramp for the second storage shed, similar to what I have for the big shed.  Not much makes you feel more manly than being outside with power tools and some wood and making something out of it.

I surely will also spend a lot of time playing with my various xmas/ birthday gifts.  It should be a grand old time.

Merry Christmas suckas.

Even if you think you hate Howard Stern, I DARE you to load this up and listen without laughing out loud.

A cool front blew through this weekend.  This morning it was in the upper 40’s brrrr..  Of course this doesn’t compare to the one to two feet of snow our former stomping grounds received.  I saw many Facebook comments ranging from “Love the snow” to “This f’ing sucks”   Let’s just say both Ali and were quite glad to be in SW Florida this weekend instead of SE PA.

So after work Friday I picked up my mom.  She agreed to come help us with the race we had to time Saturday morning.  When I woke her out of bed before 5 am Saturday morning I don’t think she was real happy with her decision.

It was cool by south Florida standards with temps in the lower 60’s with a steady wind.  By the way mom and Ali reacted you would think we were in Canada.  Both of them were very cold once we got to the race site, even with dressing  in warm clothes they were both freezing.

I told mom we could use her help but I did not have a specific duty pegged for her initially since we never know exactly how many volunteers are going to show up.  Well the race organizer for this race is also a track coach so he enlisted a lot of kids to help.  For a little while mom was just sort of hanging out until I found a good niche for her which wound up being the go between for the day of registration table and Ali who was doing the data entry.  I introduced mom to a bunch of people from the running club and she was talking to a few of them which I was happy to see.  I think it’s good for her to get her into more circles of people than just the old ladies at the pool.

Ali originally had planned to not run this race since it is a hill course.  Ali has attributed some knee issues she had in the past to running inclines.  Well when her two running buddies showed up at the race it was enough to change Ali’s mind last minute.  I took over data entry with about 15 minutes to go.

This was a 5 mile race so I had plenty of time to get the timing equipment up and running.  Mom sat with me at the finish line as the runners started to cross.  She found it interesting watching the variety of people cross the line spanning many ages, running styles and quirks.  The timing went flawlessly.  The only issues I had were some last minute changes to the awards and some woman that won her division that somehow was registered as a man.  Luckily I am familiar enough with the new timing software to be able to handle most issues like that quickly.  It is also a good thing that we are on the new software because to correct some of those same problems quickly with our old software package would have been a nightmare. Ali turned in a fantastic time for the run, especially considering the course had 17 hills.  I am really impressed with how far she has come with her running in a relatively short period of time.

I had a very awkward/embarrassing moment after the race.  The race director made a request for me to make a last minute change to the awards like I mentioned.  He was thrilled I was able to accommodate him so quickly and unexpectedly threw out his hand for a handshake . 

Jeremy is well aware of my handshake dilemma.  What is the dilemma you ask?  Well let me try to explain.  I have a real problem determining what handshake method a potential shaker is going for.  I have always done almost exclusively the traditional, thumb at 90 degree variety.  When someone comes at me looking for any other sort of hand interaction it throws me for a loop.

Well like I said the race directors handshake was unexpected and I didn’t glance down to see what type of handshake he was going for.  I guessed it was the cool, thumbs at 45 degree angle variety, a method I am not very good at.  I guessed wrong, he was shooting for a conventional shake.  Our hands collided awkwardly and I quickly tried to readjust but it was to no avail.  First my fingers were clenching his palm and then it migrated into a weird wrist grab.  It was embarrassed by the incident and said “Your welcome” as I jogged away, acting like I had something urgent to attend to.  So the lesson here is if you meet me, just stick out a fist so we can bump, it’s way easier.

On the way home both mom and Ali were hungry and I wanted coffee so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts.  We got home later than normal for a race so we were a bit worried about the dogs but there were no disasters waiting for us, yay.  I immediately dug into my various post race duties like transferring the data to our home network, updating the club web site with the results and putting the various equipment away.  After icing her knee, Ali quickly retreated to the bedroom for a nap.  Mom laid down as well. I decided to go napless as usual.

I headed outside and worked on a number of projects with the dogs as my companions.  I kept busy for a few hours while the women rested although Mom was doing more resting than napping.  I took a cute picture of Sadie sleeping on the bed with mom.  

Once everyone was up we got ready to go out for a belated combo birthday dinner, late for me (16th), early for Ali (22nd).  We went to Carraba’s but instead of going to my favorite location in Naples, mom suggested we go to the one in Bonita since we were dropping her off after dinner. (Mom always is thinking of the way we can unload her the fastest)

When we pulled into the parking lot there were NO SPACES at all.  I fully assumed we would be waiting forever to sit.  The only hope I had was Carraba’s shared it’s parking with the next door Outback, perhaps this is normal? 

So after parking in the IHOP parking lot a few hundred yards away I headed inside and met up with Mom and Ali who I dropped off at the door.  I was pleased when I saw there were not a ton of people waiting and even happier when Ali said the projected wait was only 20 minutes.  We arrived around 6 so we had a full hour of happy hour 2 for 1 drinks which I liked.  I took advantage by drinking four Miller Lites in rather rapid manner, I was feeling a bit happy.

While we were waiting I decided to snap some action shots for Facebook.  i think this one turned out the best.  It’s not easy shooting quality pics with the 3G’s shitty camera in low light. 

One of the things I don’t like about this particular Carraba’s beside the cookie cutter layout that all of the newer locations use is the number system they use for people waiting. I much prefer when you are handed one of those devices that vibrate and flash when your table is ready.  For some reason this location instead hands you a piece of paper with a number on it.  This requires you to constantly keep tabs on the LED on the wall,  waiting for your number to flash up there.  It annoys me enough to make me not want to go to any place that uses such a system.

Our wait was probably closer to 30 minutes instead of 20 but it was fine, I didn’t mind hanging out while I did some people watching.   We sat down and were greeted by a nice kid waiter named Mitch.  He was polite, attentive and friendly, which is everything you want.  Since it was a birthday meal I went extra crazy and besides the bread and minestrone I normally eat, I also ordered a calamari appetizer that mom and I munched on.  By the time the main course arrived I wasn’t very hungry at all, half of the meal came home with me in a box.

We didn’t opt for the birthday person spectacle where all of the wait staff comes over and sings, preferring to keep Ali and my birthday a secret.  To be honest I didn’t even really think of it until we were in the middle of our meal.  We all enjoyed our meal and we headed out to drop mom off.  Mom said she actually had fun helping with the race which I was happy to hear.  Hopefully we can have her tag along for some of our other races.  We told mom we would see her again soon, Thursday to be exact for her Christmas visit.

Sunday morning Ali opted to skip spinning because she had so much to do.  I had to laugh when I came back to the bedroom to find her buried back under the covers. 🙂  I headed outside into the brisk air to knock out a few to do’s.  Once of them was to start up the Moto Guzzi to let it run for awhile.  I had tried to start it on Saturday afternoon but the battery was too low to crank it for very long.  I charged the battery and then tried to start it again Sunday.

The bike started up but it didn’t want to stay running without my baby sitting the throttle.  I used the cruise control to keep the rpm’s up above a non-stalling level.  I let the bike run for a good 15 minutes.  I want to try to run the bike every week to prevent the carbs from getting gunked up.  My dad put a lot of work into getting it running again, I want to make sure it stays in that condition.

After finishing up outside I headed inside to work on a few things.  Ali had started in the kitchen on Christmas cookies.  It was the start of what would be a very long day in the kitchen for her.  She made the cookies, banana bread and made the dogs vegetables. She was in the kitchen for hours.

The Eagles game was bumped back to 4:15 because of the snow from Saturday.  The Eagles have been on a surprising hot streak lately.  What a far way they have come since losing to the Raiders, the low point of the season.  They have put together a 6 game win streak that has them sitting pretty.  I would have NEVER figured they would be 10-4 in week 14, never.  They took care of the Niners relatively easy.  If they win next week against the Broncos it could set up an awesome final game against the hated Cowboys.

Wow did you see the end of the Steelers/Packers game?  Wow the Steelers caught every break possible during that final drive and the catch to win it with time expiring was reminiscent to the Super Bowl last year.  Could it be the spark that saves the Steelers season? I doubt it.

Over the weekend I dug into a couple of my new Wii titles, Wii Sports Resort and Punch Out.  I like both of the titles a lot.  I was able to get to Great Tiger in Punch Out before I took my first loss.  I am using Wii mode instead of traditional controller mode which I may do better at.  I haven’t tried all of the games in Wii Sports resort yet but so far my hands down favorite new event is Ping Pong.  The realism of the movement is fantastic.  You have the ability to put vicious top spin and back spin on your shots which I LOVE.  I have to dig into Wii Fit Plus yet.

On Sunday while I was at the store getting cookie ingredients for Ali I went on a mad gift card buying spree.  This is the normal pattern for Christmas shopping for me.  Once you are in the final stretch before Christmas there is little to no logical thoughts about the dollars that are spent, I just want the task of Christmas present buying to be COMPLETE, just like my infamous weekend to-do lists.  We are practically done, all that remains is one more purchase. 

I am looking forward to my short week followed by 6 days off.  During the time off I am hoping to erect a pull up station in my backyard.  I have ambitions of hosting the first annual 300 challenge in January on my property.  It’s always good to have a home field advantage.

Although I haven’t looked forward to a birthday since my 21st, as far as birthdays go my 42nd wasn’t bad. Holy shit I just realized that I turned 21×2, now I am depressed.

Anyway I was deluged with Facebook birthday greetings throughout the day and then I got calls from my Dad, brother and sister all wishing me happy birthday.  I got my first ever all Spanish birthday card from my dad.  He said he was preparing for the future.  Dad is such a comedian.

Ali did all she could to make my birthday a good one.  She bought me meatloaf and lima beans for dinner as well as making the world famous chocolate cake.  We spent the night watching the uncensored version of Christmas Vacation and loved it as always. Have you seen Chevy Chase nowadays? Looks old.

I opened up my birthday presents.  I opened up THREE Wii titles that included, Punch Out, Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus.  I look forward to digging into the titles over the holidays.

As far as birthdays go at this advanced stage of my life I can’t complain at all.

My eggs and milk sales in WoW are still going strong.  In total  I have made probably around 600g all told of pure profit just by capitalizing on pure unadulterated laziness.  The cash I generated allowed me to accumulate the fund to buy an epic flyer for my horde rogue, a nice virtual birthday present to myself.

I decided to celebrate my birthday 42 years ago by running a tenth of a mile for every year I have spent wandering the planet which adds up to a 4.2 mile jaunt on the treadmill.  I have not run 4 miles since Thanksgiving of 2008.  I have not run more than 4 miles period since Ali and I started running some 4 or 5 years ago.  I don’t think I EVER ran 4.25 on the treadmill. Pile on top of that the fact that my lower body was still feeling some soreness from the silly weekend athletic competitions.  None of that mattered, I had it in my head I wanted to get it done.

I got it done at a not so fast 6.5 mph pace.  Aerobically, I am fine exercising at that level for nearly 40 minutes, my breathing never gets labored at all.  My legs are what fail me first, they just get tired eventually.  I was quite glad to hit the stop button.

When I was about 1.5 miles into the run my mind had already started to wander.  A younger girl got on a machine in front of me.  The back of her shirt had writing on it.  When I looked at it I read:

TEAM FJSSCCA
            51
2008-2009

Instantly I am thinking to myself, “WTF?  Who is Jessica and why does she have a team of people f’ing her?”  I looked again more closely and realized it was actually ‘FJCCSSA’  This happens to me on a pretty regular basis, on first glance I will reverse letters or entire words.

Earlier in the week I had another weird moment.  I was on a flat bench getting ready to do chest flies.  Next to me standing by a bench were a young girl and two guys. From the looks of them I quickly determined two things, they probably weren’t old enough to drink and they don’t spend a lot of time in the gym.  The girl was standing almost right next to me.  I would have hit her as I did my reps so I quickly blurted out “Excuse me, I don’t want to bang you.”

Now of course I should have completed the thought and added “with the weights” but I didn’t.  The girl just said ‘Oh!’ and moved over.  I’m sure she knew what I meant but it sure came out sounding stupid, and creepy….