Sidewalk Construction - Day 2

The crew decided to work on Saturday to catch up on our project. It was a very productive day as all of the old concrete was removed (a new saw blade really helped), and most forms were installed. All new concrete will be installed, except for the patio. Since the existing patio is in pretty good shape, they'll cast new concrete on top. But, instead of having one step near the house, and the second step to the sidewalk, we'll have two steps to the sidewalk in order to increase the patio size. There were several inches of gravel under the side patio that we'll re-use for the retaining walls. Tomorrow the guys are going work a half-day to finish up the forms in preparation for the concrete pour. With the weather, I anticipate that'll be Friday. We've decided on a ashlar slate pattern, sandstone concrete color with a dark brown release. The best part will be the compass stamped on the patio.

Sidewalk Construction Begins!

After weeks of anticipation, our sidewalk contractor, Camocrete, finally started work on our new patio and sidewalk. Work began with removing the patio slab adjacent to the house. This patio was added by the previous owner. After living with it for a year and learning that we were not front patio types, we decided to have it removed. More importantly, we having our cracked sidewalk replaced. Here are some pictures. After a full day's work, one half of the side patio was removed. It's definitely not easy work, especially given the thickness of the slab. The goal tomorrow is to remove the rest of the patio and sidewalk, and hopefulling start building forms.

"Yer not frum 'round here, are ya?"

Sorry to both my blog fans out there for my absence. I just returned from a 3 day business trip, and can now recap our holiday weekend.

Cendy and I decided to take a mini road trip for Memorial Day weekend. We wanted to stay within a 3 hour drive, so after some Internet research on the Visit PA website, we settled on a trip to northeast Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains. The trip was designated a "Shunpiker" tour...so what the heck is a "Shunpiker"? Basically, it's a traveler who prefers the off-the-beaten path.

Not that we like travelling to the boonies, but with the busy beach weekend, we decided to avoid the traffic. The trip started with a 3 hour drive to the bustling town of Wyalusing (pop. 700). We drove the length of the Northeast Extension (Rt 476) and exited onto Route 6. As we travelled west, we gradually left society and entered Smalltown, USA - where every town has an ice cream shop and everybody knows everybody.



We arrived at the Wyalusing Hotel, where we planned to stay the night. The only problem was that the front door was locked. The nearby friendly biker noted that we needed to use the side entrance...to the bar. So we head into the bar, and the lovely bartender checked us into our hotel room. We dropped off our bags, and checked out the room - OK, not bad. We then ventured out to the town to grab a bite to eat. Then we realized that the only place to eat was the Hotel's restaurant.

After a late lunch, we ventured out to Towanda, the next town over (about 20 minutes away). On the way, we snapped this picture at a scenic overlook. Little did we know that we would be kayaking on the river below the next day.


The Shunpiker guide recommended a stop at Towanda's Red Rose diner. After a couple laps down Main St, we found it and settled in for a piece of pie and coffee. It's a nicely restored diner, and the owner gave some history of the establishment. The early diners only catered to men, so back in the day, this diner actually welcomed women (hence the sign above the door). If you look closely, you can see Cendy waving in the Rubicon.


We then headed back to rest up before venturing to the hotel bar for the evening. I wish there were some good stories to come from the night at the bar, but it mainly included some low-key pool games, exclaiming "Good song!" at all my jukebox selections and lots of "Yer not frum 'round here, are ya?" looks from the locals.


The next morning we decided to try the kayak rental place across the river. We avoided renting a double kayak where we both paddle the same boat (also known as a "divorce boat") by renting our own single kayaks. The river was calm, the bugs minimal, and sunshine abundant. I only had to abandon ship once (think Austin Powers attempted three point turn with the cart in the hallway), so it was a successful expedition at sea, er river.

During the 7 mile paddle down the Susquehanna River, we stumbled upon a gentleman who had a unique way of fishing - with a bow & arrow. Right after this picture was taken, my question to myself, "how does he get the arrows back" was answered. Think of the arrow as a harpoon, with a line attached to the end. He didn't catch anything, but it wasn't for lack of trying. We made sure to keep our distance.


After a fun afternoon on the water, we headed home. Noting that there was an ice cream shop in every town, we made a point of stopping on the way back - but not before we stopped at the Grovedale winery and then to a restaurant to get a bite to eat. The girl at the winery recommended Twigs in Tunkhannock, PA. After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at Twigs - a nice little restaurant in the middle of Main St, Tunkhannock. It was a nicely decorated establishment that you makes you feel bad you were dressed in a t-shirt and shorts (like me). Regardless, we were both starved and looking forward to eating.

I couldn't believe it, but the Gourmet Cheeseburger was the best burger I have ever tasted. It was a burger topped with boursin cheese and garlic mayo - but that's not what made it special - I think it was the Hawaiian-like bun and ground beef seasoning that made this burger so awesome. I am now regretting Cendy's offer to take my picture with the burger, so that I could cherish the memory even more. It was that good.

On the way back, we planned to stop at one of the seemingly 1,000 ice cream joints that we saw on the way there. After another 15 minutes of driving, a little panic set in. Will we ever find an ice cream cone before the Turnpike? Finally, we found Amy's Dairy Bar near Scranton, PA on Rt 6. I greeted Amy with a few excited honks of the horn as we pulled into the parking lot. Not only did Amy have ice cream, but she has a brand new 18 hole mini-golf course, 2 huge greenhouses full of flowers, a petting zoo and a playground structure. Amy is clearly a visionary businesswoman.

DC Specials: Back in Business

The DC Specials started their West Chester B-1 Outdoor Grass season yesterday. Our first opponent was Team X. The match started well with the Specials taking the first game. However we couldn't build any momentum, and lost the final four games by close margins. It was a hard fought match with almost everyone getting grass stains on their clothes.

Most grass stains were from diving for balls, but plenty resulted from slips and slides on the grass surface. I just bought some new trail running shoes from DSW, and recommended them to my teammates. They're a huge help. Let the record show that I only slipped once, but everyone else seemed to slip multiple times. I bought the blue/yellow version of these Adidas shoes. Visit your nearest DSW for your own pair.


I anticipate that Team X will be one of the stronger teams in the league, since they had the most wins in the past winter season. We were disappointed to lose 4 out of 5, as we didn't take advantage of some opportunities to win games. We're a steadily improving team, and we're always looking to improve. Here are three areas where I would like us to improve upon for our next match.

1. Improve blocking technique - our blockers could improve their blocking percentage by stretching their hands as close as possible to the opponent's attacked ball (without interfering with their hit, of course). Doing this has two advantages - first, with your hands being closer to the attack, you're making it more difficult for the hitter to angle the ball away from the block and second, if you do block the ball, it's more likely to travel downward onto the opponent's side of the net. Just don't touch the net!

2. Communication - Not only do we need to communicate when we're going to receive a ball ("I got it", "Ball", etc), we need to communicate with our setters to make sure they are placing the set in a good hittable position. Personally, I prefer a higher set. Also, we need to make sure we have a positive attitude with our encouragement of each other. This includes keeping a positive outlook on our own performances and not being too critical of ourselves. It's all about staying positive. If you keep thinking negative thoughts, they'll manifest themselves even though you don't want them to. For example, don't think about elephants. You just thought about elephants, didn't you?

3. Don't be overly aggressive - this is mainly for the back-middle player. It's natural to want to follow the ball. But for the back-middle player, they have to cover the whole back line. If they creep up too far, that leaves the whole back half of the court open for an easy point. This player needs to stay disciplined and hold their ground in the back.

I'm not singling out anyone here - I'm as guilty as anyone. I chose these three points because I know they are three areas that I can improve upon personally.

Next week is a bye since I'm away for business. We'll see you in two weeks for an update. One-Two-Three, Specials!!!

"I am a Moose..."

Yesterday the team of Jenna, Joe, Cendy and I competed as a relay team in the Delaware Marathon. Competing with the the team name "Get On Your Moose", we each ran a 6.55 mile loop to accomplish the 26.2 miles. What is the meaning behind "Get On Your Moose", you ask? The origins of the phrase are found in Joe's high school baseball playing days. It is simply a variation of the phrase "get on your horse", which basically means, 'hurry up'. During boring outfield defense drills, Joe and his mates would yell "Get on your cheetah" to encourage the faster teammates to chase a challenging fly ball. For the slower teammates, it was "get on your moose".

It was a rainy, windy and cold day in Wilmington. When it looked like the rain would hold off for the race, the drops started to fall at the race's start. They didn't stop until our first runner, Jenna, finished her leg. Gradually the rain subsided, but the wind picked up. The second half of the 1207 connection, Joe, ran the next leg. Next was the wife & husband team - Cendy, then myself. We all ran fairly similar times:

Jenna: 1:06:47
Joejak: 1:01:10
Cendy: 1:05:38
Bill: 1:03:16 (4:16:50)

We finished 30th out of 36 co-ed teams - not that it was our goal to win, but it's interesting to note our relative position. We were proud of our times although there's always room for improvement. I hope that we can break four hours next year.

A common strategy for a long-distance run is repeat a mantra to oneself. I'm a firm believer in this technique, and use it every race. One of my favorites is "I feel good" which comes in handy when aches and pains start creeping into the legs, and I sense that the negative thoughts are affecting my performance. It sounds crazy, but I found that if my attention was focused on the aches and pains, it would only get worse. In this lies the power of the positive thought. Repeating the mantra "I feel good" helps me push through the most difficult parts of the race. My mantra for this race? "I am a Moose."

Barbecoa, black beans, hot salsa & cheese, please.

During the fall of 2007, I spent a few weeks in our Denver office for a special project. If you've ever been to Denver, you know that you can get a burrito at a different place everyday of the week within a one mile radius. Well, maybe not, but there is no shortage of Tex-mex restaurants in the city. On that note, it is the home of the Chipotle franchise. I ate lunch here every other day and this is where their burritos captured my heart. After returning home, I quickly realized how few good Tex-mex restaurants we have here. So a few months ago, I emailed the corporate office, and politely requested a Chipotle in the greater West Chester area. Little did I know that they were already in the process of building one located only 1 mile from my house. Here's the location:


View Larger Map

Obviously the Google Streetview is a little dated - now there's a nice brand new red strip-mall-esque building to house the new Chipotle. They are definitely creating a buzz in the area. They provided free food to the Henderson High School teachers on Tuesday. Yesterday, they ran a fundraiser for the high school seniors ($5 burritos with all proceeds to the class). And today, they were selling burritos at 100% off. FREE! Needless to say, I went for lunch and dinner. I may have to return tomorrow for the free t-shirt and burrito card for the first 100 customers after 3pm. If you've never been, make sure to visit soon. You can't go wrong with the Barbacoa (shredded beef) or Carnitas (shredded pork). Ole!

Fore!!!

All kidding aside, I have plenty to blog about. A round of golf in Minnesota has renewed my interest in golf. It probably helps that I'm not playing baseball this year, so I have a little more free time. So this past week, I searched for an inexpensive set of used clubs to get me started. After trying several different outlets, I had the most luck with craigslist. I missed out on a few sets that were sold before I could get to them, but then I found a former PGA golf legend in Yardley, PA who was selling his extra clubs for bargain basement prices. I got a full set for $45.

The clubs aren't anything flashy, but they'll get the job done. I had considered a starter set from Dick's, Sports Authority or Rock Bottom Golf, but it just didn't seem worth the $200. If I was to buy a new set, I would go with Rock Bottom. They have lots of good deals on everything golf. Thanks for the heads-up, Scott.

So who was the golf legend, you ask? None other than Mike Van Jones. His name is even embroidered on the bag. I can only hope that I can parlay some of his skill by using his old equipment. He had a house on the Delaware River, and gave me a demonstration and a few tips. The demonstration included teeing up a ball on his yard and smashing a drive 250+ yards soaring over the Delaware River. It didn't make it all the way accross, but it was close!

So what's next for this aspiring golfer? Hopefully a lesson or two, a few trips to the driving range, some par 3 action at Clayton Golf Course in Glen Mills and hopefully a full 18 hole course before the season is over. Hope to see you on the links!

Blogging is hard...

Wow, talk about bad timing. I've been sitting here for 2 hours trying to write my first real blog, and I got nothing. Nothing. Really, I can't believe this is so hard. And I just started. Please help - email me some topics I could blog about...or post a comment below. Thanks.

Welcome!

Welcome to Capn Bill's Log! Inspired by my friend's (gradually disappearing) blog, I decided that I needed one more hobby to add to my ever-growing list. This blog will be part journal, part Consumer Reports, part Best of Philly, part This Old House, part what I dreamt about last night, but most importantly, all from the heart of yours truly. I don't know if my blog will be funny, or thought-provoking - I just hope that you find it... interesting.

Stay tuned for my first official post tonight!