Gables Part Deux

Worked on the small gable today. Well actually finished it.

The first picture was pretty early this morning, maybe 9am. Just got done tearing off the old wood, scraped some old peeling paint and got the tar paper up.


This next picture is after all the siding is up and ready for paint. I had to give the caulking time to dry so I did some other touch-up painting around the exterior of the house.


Done finally. The results are nice. It's not as 'perfect' as I would like but it's good. Certainly good enough for prepping for sale. The new owners shouldn't find much to complain about.

I don't have pictures but I also painted the shed. It was an old barn red before. Now it's the same cream color as the house. It'll at least look like they go together now. I still have to paint it's trim white, but that'll be for tomorrow afternoon.

Things are getting close! Nearly done with all the work before putting her on the market.

Gables are a pain to replace

Well in preparation for selling the house the gables on the front needed replacement. So I began that project today. I also did some power-washing of the drive way.

As you can see from the picture below, the drive way was pretty dirty. I'll need to finish it up in the next few days.


However, the priority was working on the gables because they take much longer than I have time in the evenings after work.

This pile is all the old wood that was replaced. If you look carefully you might see some of the wood rot. It was primarily due to water damage rather than insects. Though, I did find, to my delight, a wasp (Polistinae)nest while removing the wood. They were not happy that I found their home but surprisingly they were not aggressive. I got the bug spray and went to town. A few flew off to return later, but they were quickly disappointed to find that they could no longer get to their home and I'd spray them dead! Muahahaha!



These last two pictures are when I was putting up the tar paper and finally being done with the main gable. I still need to do the small one over the porch. Hopefully that'll go much faster.

Action Figure Theatre Has Moved

I've moved the Action Figure Theatre to its own blog:
http://actionfiguretheatre.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Olympics

They've started, despite that we in the US won't get to watch the opening ceremonies until later tonight!

I'm glad to see that the comments surrounding the opening ceremony pictures that are floating around online are generally positive.

So where do I stand?

I will not disagree that China has done and continues to do things that are not agreeable to many people who believe in human rights and freedoms. I will not attempt to condone or excuse those things.

That said China has an amazing history of great and wonderful art, culture, ideas and beauty. To ignore those things is ignorance, just as it is equally ignorant to ignore their human rights violations.

Now put yourself in the shoes of the Chinese people. You are excited and proud to host the Olympics and yet many in the world are trying to steal it's golden moment for political gain or to make a statement about something not related to the Olympics. What if we (in the US) were hosting this year and much of the world protested the US for it's mistakes in Iraq and because of the BS that Bush has allowed in Guantanamo Bay?

My point is that so many people are forgetting what the Olympics stand for and are tainting them. Should the IOC have given China the right to host the Olympics. Maybe - Maybe not. That argument is past. It does not matter now.

Enjoy the Olympics for the sportsmanship and strength of human spirit stories and ignore the politics, at least for a couple of weeks.

What's Wrong with Business Today?

What's wrong? Public Investment is what is wrong.

Companies are no longer allowed to be the best at what they do. They have to increase profits quarter after quarter at the expense of employees, quality, integrity, and identity.

What is so wrong with a business growing to a certain size and staying there? If said company is profitable enough to keep everyone paid and happy why be forced to continue growing?

Public investors are only interested in the bottom-line. How much money will they make from investing in these public companies? Is that healthy to anyone but the investor? Nope, not at all.

This situation has crushed smaller companies and left our economy on the brink. Look at how many monopolies or near monopolies we have created in recent years. Public investors did that, at the expense of consumers. And so it creates a nasty feed-back loop, one that feeds on itself.

I'm not suggesting that all investment is bad. I think private investment is a good thing. It allows those individuals or groups to invest and thus help smaller businesses get going. I see this as more of a loan than an on going income for the investors. Once the company is strong and profitable, pay off the investor and move forward. There is plenty of private funding around for businesses to do this.

A positive side effect of this kind of investment is a more hands on approach to investment. Sure the investor is going to want the business to be profitable but they are less likely to be just sitting on the sidelines wanting profit at all costs. They will be more inclined to see the business succeed based on it's business plan. These are the investors that will be mentors as well.

I'm not saying that private investment is perfect either, but we have been destroying our own markets by making them so easily accessible and public. Any Joe with a computer can become a day trader. Does that mean his investments make sense or are somehow helping the economy? No. These kind of traders are only after the pay off, the reward. They are not interested in their investment helping a business grow or become better, only that they are profitable and produce dividends.

So when times are lean, such as now, companies trim the things that make them good companies because we wouldn't want to piss off the investors. You do that, as a CEO, and you risk being tossed out, even if you were the founder.

I'm not anti-capitalism, but something has gone horribly wrong with our investment system. It should be corrected soon before it completely crashes and the 1930s looks like a boom time.

On the Road Food

So I'm traveling for business. I don't travel but maybe a couple times a year (for work). So here I am in Springfield, MO. Not a bad city, traffic kinda sucks, at least where I am. That isn't what this post is about though. It's about FOOD!

Here are my impressions:

Texas Roadhouse
The atmosphere was friendly and fun. The staff smiled and showed interest. They were also quick to help and had no problems with special requests. I needed my beer separated from my food since I wouldn't be able to expense the beer. My waiter, Derek, did so without complaint or attitude.

The food was really good but way too much. The main dish was enough for two people alone and you get two sides plus rolls with it. Some may say that's silly to complain about but I would have been happier if the portions were halved. It would have made me feel as if I got my moneys worth. Though I only paid about $11 plus tip, which isn't bad.

I would recommend Texas Roadhouse to others visiting or living in Springfield.

Mexican Villa South
In a word, disappointing. The hostess showed me to my table but that was it. She didn't tell me who my waitress was nor gave me any more attention than was absolutely necessary. I don't recall seeing a smile from her. My waitress, Sara, was trying hard but was clearly over worked and it showed. She just could not get beyond the average. Not that average is bad but quality wait staff can make or break a dining experience, especially when the food is mediocre.

The beef was greasy and the salsa was more of a spicy ketchup. My burrito was smothered with cheese and sauce. The sauce and cheese were both tasty but they simply covered the weak burrito. The lettuce was bagged shredded. That is disappointing. It's not like buying whole heads of lettuce and cutting it fresh is really that hard. The tomato looked more like a tomato barfed on the lettuce. Not appetizing at all.

The bottom line is go to Taco Bell before this place. You can get better quality, better taste and save $5. My meal was over $11 plus tip.

Goodguys 3rd Nashville Nationals Car Show

CarShow 029, originally uploaded by TNVWBOY.

This pas weekend the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association had a car show at the LP Field in Nashville, TN. Well it wasn't actually on the field, but in the parking lots and grounds around the field.

I have no earthly clue how many cars were there but it was a lot. A decent variety too. Nothing much older than 1972 though, maybe a couple of newer cars but I suspect they would have been frowned on.

There were some very beautiful cars there. Let me break it down as I saw it.
Oldies Restored: There were a number of these great old cars. They were well cared for/restored. They looked original. I personally liked that. Sure they weren't hot rodding around or anything but they were classy.

Hot Rods: This group doesn't need me to describe it for them. They ranged from super expensive custom rods to old classic rods to WTF is that? I'm not a big hot rod fan but they were fun to see.

New Restored: I say new within the context of the cars there. Like 60s and early 70s vs. the oldies. These were really fun for me. There was one particular Mustang that literally looked like it had just rolled off the factory floor it was so clean. My buddy Dave who owned cars in this time frame kept telling me about how these cost only a few thousand dollars. Wow, if they did today the dealers wouldn't be able to keep them on the lots, even if they didn't have the greatest fuel efficiency.

Customs: These were very pretty cars too. Clearly lots of love and money were put into these cars and it showed. The best ones, in my opinion were the cars that looked like they could have maybe come off the factory but were in fact customs. Like the stuff that Chip Foose does. Respect for the original car.

Restored...NOT: These cars I didn't like at all. They'd look great from the outside, like really nice restorations, and then you'd see the engine and think, what? Why?! I don't know how many new Corvette engines I saw in classic muscle cars. Why? Even a crate engine would have at least looked more original. I didn't care for these cars over all. There were a few exceptions, but those were typically dragsters or some other kind of car that wasn't trying to look original.

I had fun with Dave and his son, along with Antonin and Nicolas from France, that day. I got a bit sunburned, but it was fun seeing all those cool cars. Maybe some day when I have a garage I can consider restoring an old car, but it'll likely be a VW.

See all the pictures I took from the show here.