Wheelie good time

We've been sweltering here under a mini heatwave with temperatures well up into the 90s (and a heat index over 100F). Yesterday we went to a friend's community pool and I'm not kidding the water was like getting into a bath.

I've got a new project as I was given an old mountain bike. It has seen better days but it's all there and it mostly works. Below is a picture of the bike as I received it and then there's a picture of an hour later...

The thing to remember with bikes is that 'left loosey, righty tighty' doesn't always hold true. Pedels and cranks have a left handed thread on them which means that they undo in the opposite direction. The "fun" begins as I prep the frame and forks for a paint job. Not sure where I'm going with the design yet, I want to put different handle bars on it, but that will necessitate longer brake and gear cables. I may cannibalise one of the other bikes we've got here and use the wheels off that as it has coaster brakes and do away with the gears altogether. Time will tell....

I downloaded a couple of demo PS3 games over the weekend; Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, PixelJunk Eden and LEGO: Indiana Jones. Guitar Hero wouldn't work with my RockBand guitar so unless I want to shell out another $100 I guess my days of joining the Toxic Twins on stage are numbered. PixelJunk Eden is just that JUNK, it gets good reviews but DON'T waste the 15 minutes it takes to download it. You'll never get that time back....ever. Now Indiana Jones is a completely different kettle of fish, this game is fun, fun and more fun and plays out the first three films pretty much in their entirety. I only played the first level in the demo but I WANT this game.

Starship Troopers...citizens v bugs

Scared the life out of me this weekend. Mrs P and I spent a couple of hours clearing the vegetable patch from the overgrown (and undersupported) tomato plants. While out there I noticed a black spider with a large abdomen with a red marking underneath hanging around in the rosemary. It was just like the one pictured below.

Red normally signals "danger" so I googled it and nearly messed myself when I found out it was a Southern Black Widow spider....and yes they are venomous! It was soon despatched 'Johnny Rico' style....

It's a 4 day week this week as yesterday was Labor Day and the US equivalent of a Bank Holiday. We went over to Grammy's house and celebrated with a cook out dining on fantastic homemade ground sirloin burgers. We also had hotdogs too, but not your average frankfurters...these had cheese built into them....my god they are good and definitely on my food "fit for a king list". If you wind up on Death Row and have one last request for a meal, I suggest BallPark cheese franks

I'll huff and I'll puff...

Well Tropical Storm Fay hung around far too long for my liking and delivered its promised wind and rain on Thursday and Friday last week. In some places they measured as much as 24 inches in a 24 hour period. They shut the office so I did at least manage to get a 4 day weekend, not that we could do much til the weather improved on Saturday. Apparently 9 people died as a result of the winds and rain but to be honest at least one of those was caused by stupidity. They died from carbon monoxide poisoning from running a generator inside the house...they must be a candidate for the Darwin Awards.



Saturday was Sofie's 4th birthday but with the bad weather still lingering we postponed her party til Sunday. The weather was perfect, being sunny and hot with just a slight breeeze. Everyone had great time and dined on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, fruit kebabs and cake! She got so many presents I've no idea where we're going to put them all now....I think some of the less played with ones will have to go. Not sure how I'm going to sneak them out yet though.....

If a butterfly flaps its wings....

...then no-one has the faintes idea what will happen. See today's update in Tropical Storm Fay which according to some predictions will head out to sea, gather strength and become a category 1 hurricane before returning to land in North Eastern Florida.

Forecast is wet and windy

Well Tropical Storm Fay is rapidly approaching and we're expecting some wet and windy weather. As you can see by the picture, X is a rough estimation of our location and so I've been outside this evening tidying up the garden and putting as much away as I can.

As for work we're getting down to the crunch time at the moment with an immoveable deadline on Friday when the notices have to go out the county residents. Then next week the fun begins as the queries come flooding in.

Weekend was too busy and we were rushing around all over the place. Tons got started but not a lot was finished although Mrs P made a fantastic lasagne. I ate so much that I thought I was going to burst open.

We watched some of the Olympics last night (cr@p night on tv) and we astounded by the final of the women's vault competition. I'm very much anti "sports" where judges decide the who's the best as its purely a subjective decision. They really have no place in the Olympics. Last night the Chinese girl landed on her knees after her second vault yet some how this was good enough to beat the American girl who landed on her feet both times. The eventual winner even landed outside of the landing lines and was deducted points yet was still somehow "good" enough to win. It was a total farce and FULLY justifies my stance on ALL sports where judging is involved.

Redneck Racing

All consoles need a good racing game and so being in the South, NASCAR is king around here. I downloaded a demo version of NASCAR 09 and let me tell you there is nothing fun about this game. There are no instructions but then none are needed, you just press the Accelerator button, hold it down while nudging the joystick slightly to the left to drive round an oval circuit. That's it, I started my one and only race on the front row, and led from start to finish. Graphics are ok, nothing special though and it just doesn't seem like you're actually in the car. Dull, dull, dull so I won't be buying that! Let's hope that Gran Turismo 5 is better as this sucked big time.

There was a new addition to the family on Friday when Mrs P's brother and his girlfriend delivered baby David into this world. He weighted in at 7lb 3oz and was born about 10:30pm on 08/08/08.

Take them back!

Just turned on the TV tonight and there's nothing much on so I'm flicking through the channels when I stumble across a program called Wanna Bet? This travesty of light entertainment is presented by the two geordie a*holes Ant and Dec, doing exactly the same kind of rubbish that they do on a primetime Saturday evening in the UK ! Just seen a kid trying to balance 10 spoons on his face and failing so miserably it was funny. Please take them back....

Anyway the "out-laws" have been in town for the past week and we've been hanging out with them a fair bit. They live in Texas and it's the first time I've met them and they are a good bunch. Hopefully we'll get out to see them next year and stay on their ranch!!! Yesterday we had a lowcountry boil where everything is cooked in the same pot and then poured out on to the table for everyone to help themselves.

Drama occurred late Saturday afternoon, when Mrs P had a double puncture with both tyres on the driver's side flat as a pancake. Managed to put the spare on for her and then use some Fix-a-flat to get the car moveable again but all the tyre places were shut by the time this was done. Had to spend all of Sunday morning running to and fro to the tyre centre getting all 4 replaced.