34 miles of pipe are in the ground....now what?

It has been a long time since my last contribution to this blog so here it goes. As many of you know I am still in West Palm Beach, FL overseeing the installation of 34 additional miles to our natural gas pipeline. This gas line will feed the new FP&L (Florida Power and Light) plant being constructed by Zachry, the company John Wilke works for. Up until this morning I really thought I would be starting my drive back to Houston either the 15th or 16th. Now that is in jeopardy. Upon completion of laying the pipe, a hydrostatic test is done to ensure the line's integrity. The pipeline failed it's first attempt miserably, but then passed a 2nd hydro test this morning. How could this have happened? Good question, and that's why my boss is on a plane as we speak. A logical theory is that we were experiencing a very strong temperature gradient, due to various sections of pipe being buried at varying depths ranging anywhere's from 3-30 feet, and the pipe just needed more time to allow temps and pressures to stabilize. Experts have told us that what we experienced is not uncommon, but the problem is proving a temperature gradient was the cause and not a slow leak that may not exist at lower pressures but then rear it's ugly head at test pressure (2220 psig). Needless to say, this "little" problem does nothing to facilitate my return to Houston. The 15th / 16th is still possible, just less likely.

Something else happened yesterday that hadn't happened in over 5 years. I got a speeding ticket!!! 10 over. Really? 10 over? come on, your sheriff buddy just passed me and you let him through. Oh well, I just completed the 4 hour online course to make sure it doesn't go on my driving record and keeps my insurance rates from going up. Even with the reciprocity rule between states, there's a good chance the FL ticket wouldn't get connected to my TX insurance policy but I'm not taking any chances. 5 months and no tickets. Then with less than 2 weeks left in the state I get slapped for 10 over in a 55mph zone. Whatever.

I sure am glad that Nujoud is re-doing our bathroom. I really hate painting. My goal is for her to have it finished before I get home so all I have to do is enjoy the fruits of her labor. We still need to hunt for a shower door replacement but other than that all the hardware is either installed or on its way to Home Depot for pick-up.

Yo! Where's my Gurt?

I went grocery shopping yesterday and one of the things I frequently eat is yogurt, plain, fat-free, and good, often with fresh fruit mixed in. I usually buy the individual serving containers so they can stay sealed and won't go bad like a large container will before I can finish it.

When I got them I thought they seemed small. I got home and still had one in the fridge, sure 'nough, they are now only 6 Oz!!! vs. the original 8 oz. So lame, here's is your grocery costs rising, smaller packages, same price. I'd rather pay more and get a real 8 oz serving personally.

But what was especially annoying, was the "New Creamier Recipie" advertised on the package. I was skeptical to start and once I opened it, it really was just more "watery" and instead of having some firmness like yogurt should. It seemed like their cost cutting has just thinned out the yogurt and now the quality suffers. So I guess I will be finishing these and then finding a new brand, Lucerne just lost a yogurt customer.

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall...

Tonight I finished grouting the mirrors for the bathroom remodel, work completed courtesy of the "hurrication" day. I think I will have to call this my Edouard-ian style mirror. The grout is still drying in these pictures and will actually be bone color when dry as opposed to the beige it is wet. These will go up over the bathroom vanity, that is when the vanity arrives and gets installed at least.

Note to future DIY-ers: This is a really inexpensive way to make nice mirrors or frames. I spent around $50 on the tile/grout/glue and $30 for the pair or mirrors from Ikea. So for the whopping price of $80 and some time, I came away with what I think are good looking mirrors that would probably run $100 or more each from a store. Cheaper tile could also be had, but this was the style I was going for in the first place.

What Can Wright Do for You?

It's ARRIVED!!! Here it is, my actual United States Federal Aviation Administration issued Private Pilot's License!! I think I'll have to take this baby out for a spin this weekend!

Taking Donations

I was pointed to an article on this aircraft awhile ago, but my boss Jim just found it and came by to talk to me about it. I would love to be able to buy one of these when they come out in 2010 since they are half the cost of a new Cessna or similar. They sure would be a great way to fly and own your own plane with all the bells and whistles of a new aircraft and better reliability. If you care to help make that happen, I will accept any sizable donation.

www.iconaircraft.com

Edouard Stats

During the night Monday Edouard (which had been making a bee-line for Houston) shifted northward in its track and came ashore east of here over the Sabine Pass area. Good for us, even though we were prepared. With that shift, it pretty much just meant a strong, steady rain for about 4 hours at my place. The statistics for my part of H-town are 2.8 in of rain, wind peak at 21 mph, and peak gust of 37 mph. All in all, nothing much different than any other strong T-storm around here.

So what do you do with a free day off from work while it rains and rains you ask? Why you glue a few thousand tiny tiles on to a pair of mirrors. I guess I can thank Edourd for giving me the time to just sit there and get that mostly done. I still have a small section left to do on the second mirror and then grouting, but they are much closer to being done then they would have otherwise been.

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Edouard Over

Looks like Edouard spun up from a nothing to a something in about 24hrs and is tracking straight over Galveston/Houston, e.g. me. Since it's so close to land the prediction puts it at either a strong tropical storm (60-73mph winds) or minimal Cat 1 hurricane (75-85 mph). Either way, I am riding out the storm at home with the puppies. I live in a Cat 3 evacutation area, so I am quite comfortable for this one. Given the short notice and limited intensification, I am also not going to get the boards up on the windows, but I don't know anyone that is. I did make one very important hurricane preparation with regard to the garage, see below. Took a little work, but I monkey'd things around enough for this. I am well stocked on water and food and I have a gas stove and, if nothing else, a grill.

JSC and all the contractors shut down at noon today and we will be off tomorrow as well while the storm is at its worst. We'll see how this goes, but I'm ready for you Ed!

Not a Weather Guesser

Here in Houston the weather "forecasting" usually seems to be anything but accurate. The "chance" of rain typically has no bearing on whether or not it will actually rain on YOU. But they must be feeling pretty confident now. Check out Tuesday on our 5-day forecast. I would love for this hurricane to miss us mostly for the humor that they were wrong again.

Dynamite Dynamo

Saturday night I went to the Dynamo MLS soccer game with Melissa and Natalie. Great game, Dynamo won 2-0 over Columbus crew. The Dynamo are the two-time defending MLS Champs and still look great this season currently in second place. I love soccer, but even if you've never played it is a great game to watch and go hang out at.

Highlights of the game were Brian Ching's goal from a great setup 12 yards or so out and the poor Columbus defense. The Columbus keeper was very unhappy with the mistakes his fullbacks were making and that was obvious from the yelling he was doing. Here are a couple pics.

Bathroom Status

Just a quick note on where I've gotten to with the bathroom. I demo'd everythign that had to come out, of course, and then got everything prepped for painting first. I am almost done with painting, still have the trim to go, but I am ever so glad to be done with painting the ceiling as of last night. I'm glad it's just a bathroom but having to hand paint over your head for anything stinks and it had to have two coats to really look good.

As far as "reconstructing" the bathroom, the vanity is on order and is pending arrival. But I do have the new toilet installed already, YAY a working toilet! Tomorrow will be light fixture install. The other item I'm held up waiting for is the art supplies for the mirrors. Since I couldn't find what I wanted, I'll just have to make it. Will post pictures of those when they are done but its going to take me some time to finish them. Also need the materials to arrive so I can match a trim paint color to those.

All in all, its coming along. The vanity pieces should be at Home Depot around the 14th, so I'm still looking at a couple weeks before I can really finish it. It is sucking up most of my time in the evenings working on it though and weekend time too. At least, when not in the software lab for work!! It already looks much better though, I told John it looked better than before when all I had was primer on the walls since anything was an improvement over the floral wallpaper.

No pictures till I'm done.