Winter weather in Houston

It is snowing outside. Not sticking to the roads yet, but it may get cold enough to do that before the day is over. If so, Houston will be paralyzed by traffic accidents. It will all melt by tomorrow though.

A few days of vacation

I just got back from a business trip to central Georgia, just south of Macon. The conference I attended was the Warner-Robins Requirements Symposium, an event designed to encourage businesses to learn about the US Air Force's upcoming business opportunities and to then submit proposals or quotes in response to published requirements. The event was much better than it was last year. The various categorical sessions I attended contained usable information, such as what the government is planning to do, what kind of contracts, what kind of work, in the near and not so near term. My business-related travel seemed to ramp up a bit in the fall after a nice lull in the summer. I think I have one more trip this year, a week in northeastern Michigan, helping to prove a device to measure thrust works reliably and accurately.

But this next week I have three days of vacation and a couple days of holiday to enjoy. So my lovely wife and I will get at a task we have purposely left undone since moving to Texas, which is to go through some boxes of holiday-related stuff we have been taking with us through several moves. It will be interesting to uncover things we haven't seen for years, and recall the memories associated with holidays past. Some of it, I'm sure, will be worse for wear, but I'm looking forward to the few gems that will be proudly displayed once again.

I think we may also make a day trip or two, and visit some friends who live a few hours away. I'll post again next week, and let you know how it went.

What's been happening...

Since my last post, we have stayed pretty busy. My mother-in-law came to spend a week with us from Milwaukee along with her sister and niece from Italy. We had a great time showing them around the Houston area, and even took an overnight to San Antonio. The Italians were actually familiar with the Alamo, and Davy Crockett, probably from earl '60's TV.

Shortly after they went back to Milwaukee, I had a business trip to Orlando, for the NBAA convention. (National Business Aviation Ass'n) And within a few days of that, I had a week long trip to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It was my first visit to Malaysia, and I was very pleasantly surprised with how cosmopolitan the city was. The Petronas Towers at night are very dramatic, rivaling the spectacle of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I had been to Singapore before, but it too is a very cosmopolitan city. Lots of shopping, traffic, and many peoples from all over the world living and working together in apparent harmony. I am not saying it is perfect, but rather, that people can actually get along with each other, enjoy each other, in close quarters.

Since then, it has been back to the ordinary grind of daily work, highlighted by the fact that our house in TN looks like it has been leased by someone for year. Not as great as selling it, but after a year on the market, we are happy with this.

Today I had to change one of the rules for posting, because some jerk decided it was a good place to post Viagra ads. I edited it out, but now you will have to sign in to comment. Sorry.

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

The popular show on the food network hosted by Guy Fieri showcases cool little joints around the country. Guy Fieri's enthusiasm is infectious too. A couple weeks back, the show featured Kenny & Ziggy's New York Deli here in Houston. Yesterday, we went there for lunch. It was around 1:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon, and we had a 25 minute wait to get in. It was definitely worth the wait.

Bonnie, our waitress, was charming. We each chose a classic deli-style sandwich, me a Reuben, and my wife a corned beef on rye. We each had a Dr. Brown Cream Soda for a beverage. The sandwiches were more than we could handle at a sitting, so to-go boxes were necessary afterwards. The restaurant transported us to New York in its atmosphere and ambient noise. We will definitely go back. The food & service were great!!

Stainless Steel in the kitchen

As previously promised, here are some pictures of my handiwork of installation.

Kitchen Refresh

Since we bought the new house in Sugar Land, both of us have had some niggling issues with the kitchen. I was unhappy with the shallow double sink and low faucet. It made cleaning up after meals (my normal duties) an aggravating task. And my lovely bride was unhappy with the performance, or lack thereof, from the Jenn-Air downdraft cook top and Kenmore wall oven.

So we embarked on our own little campaign to stimulate the national economy. We bought new appliances at Sears and a new deep-bowled single sink with high neck faucet at Lowe's. Did I buy installation as well? Of course not. After all, I am an engineer. I can do anything!!

Last weekend, I installed the sink. We have granite counter tops, and I was very careful to buy the replacement top-mount sink in the exact same (standard) size of 22x33. Taking out the old one went quickly and easily. ("This is going to be a snap!", I thought.) I unpacked the new sink and tried to set it in. You guessed it: the opening in the (rock-hard) granite was too small. I trundled off to the Home Depot (Lowe's is about the same distance but in a higher traffic area, and besides, its important to spread the wealth in a campaign to stimulate the economy.) to buy a tool to enlarge the granite opening. I was unable to find a tool which could both cut through granite and not produce any dust or suck it up in the process, so I settled for a 7" blade for my circular saw. When I started to cut the granite, I noticed that the amount of stone dust created by the whirling, diamond-coated blade was prodigious. So I got the vacuum cleaner out and held the hose near the blade while cutting. It didn't work so well. Ultimately, I got the sink installed. Then I spent the next several hours cleaning up stone dust.

My wife came home, it was dark, we were tired, we went to bed. The next morning, I took off on a business trip. I called when I got there, and she was somewhat less than thrilled by the presence of stone dust throughout the house. I apologized and promised to help clean when I returned.

By this weekend, she had cleaned up most of the mess I had created the previous weekend. She went off to class and I started in on the next installations. The LG stainless steel dishwasher went fairly well. It took a bit longer than planned, but no serious problems, and only one trip to Home Depot for some pieces of hardware. Next, I removed the wall oven and microwave. Easy. I took careful measurements of the new stainless steel Kitchen Aid wall oven with upper mounted microwave/convection oven. I had to make some modifications to the cabinet to get the mount shelf at the right height and the opening wide enough. But no serious problems. I had to help from the lawn guy to lift the oven up and into the opening. It is about 200 lbs.

Finally, it was time for the cook top. The old Jenn-Air came right out. Of the granite-topped island. You guessed it. The new glass-top downdraft Kitchen Aid cook top (black with SS Trim) is the same overall size, but the under mount part is 1/2" wider. But this time, I was smarter than the first. I emptied the cabinets of the island, masked off the areas outside the well below the cook top opening, and then built a tent out of the plastic sheeting that surrounded the wall oven. I put on a dust mask, and climbed into the tent with my trusty circular saw, and cut the opening a bit wider. Clean-up was so much easier, just me and the island area inside the tent. And the cook top slid right in. One more trip to the Home Depot for some 6" ducting to get the exhaust vent connected, and it all worked the first time. I was quite relieved, and proud of myself too.

I'll post some pictures this week some time after my muscles stop aching.

Inevitable that I should comment on Bret Favre

I suppose since I spent so much time on Michael Vick, I should at least mention old #4. He actually looked pretty good during the first half of last season with the Jets. The torn bicep, or whatever it was, made the end of the season pretty tough for all of us who loved watching him play so much during his career.

But there is no arguing that we all grow older, and part of that means we are not as resilient as we used to be. Even Lance Armstrong discussed it very frankly this year. He is still very very good, world class even, in that he certainly competes with the majority of the riders out there. But he admits that he is probably not the "best" anymore. Younger guys (and gals) have prepared themselves to compete at the highest levels, and they are more resilient, able to reach deeper for that last ounce of energy necessary to win.

I think the same parallel can be drawn with Bret Favre. He is still very very good. But he will not recover from a hit as quickly as he used to. He is more susceptible to a break or tear. He is less resilient, less able to reach deeper for something that isn't there anymore: the energy of youth. He must rely on cunning, knowledge, and trickery, just like the rest of us old codgers. He may have a season or two left in him, maybe even more if his linemen can protect him. But a middlelinebacker is going to break through on a blitz one day soon, make a clean hit, and ring Bret's chimes. Perhaps he will then understand that he is no longer invulnerable. I just hope he does not suffer a serious or permanent injury to learn this lesson.