Thursday, January 04, 2007

Season's Greetings!

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! We hope you all received our X-mas card!?

We hope you all had a nice holiday and were able to take some time off from your work. We were very busy, and being back at work almost feels like a vacation compared to the last 2 weeks. It began with the builder of our new home coming in to fix the problems with our new home that were not finished/fixed prior to our closing. Which they are still not done! We then had our family X-mas prior to leaving home to visit the families. Then it was off to Michigan.

Our 1st stop was across the street from our previous home visiting our good friends Bernie and Nikki. They were kind enough to have us while we were in-town for Julie’s doctor visit and my dentist visit. I had chipped a molar that was previously done with an overlay, similar to a crown, back in September while eating dinner in China. Then about a week before the X-mas break I discovered another piece just fell out. This piece ended up creating a void between the molar and the wisdom tooth for food to compact into. Well Long story short the dentist here wanted to pull the wisdom tooth and re-do it with a crown and the previous dentist fixed it as is and for free!

We then left from there and headed to Ohio to see the in-laws. The 3 of us all came down with a cold, mine was drainage of the sinus’ which caused a caugh. This was bad as every cough made it feel as though my tooth was popping out! It finally subsided by X-mas. We also visited with my sister and family, as Tonya is preparing to head back to Iraq for another tour of duty. This trip is to be at least 6 months. I think she is heading to Tikrit, north of Bagdag. This will be her longest tour yet, and I think it is her 5th, all previous trips have been no more than 2 months. My parents get the joy of watching her 2 kids at her home in Ft. Wayne. They are not happy as they should be in their new home enjoying retirement in SC on the lake. We then left returning home the afternoon of the day after X-mas.

Once home we tried to relax for a day and unpack from the trip. We forgot a fish tank for Thane that Bob and Judy gave to us while we were loading the truck. So, after getting all excited, we had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a small tank for the interim. They plan to visit in a few months and they will bring it with them.

I’ve also started working on finishing the basement. I have a main dividing wall in place and I am nearing completion of the bike shop area in the rear of the basement. I also painted ½ of the garage floor and the bike shop area. I plan to paint the other half of the garage possibly this weekend, since the temps are to be approaching 70 and no lower than 50! I sure don’t miss the MI weather!

Also in the house I have ran the surround sound system and had internet installed. We just need to find something to cover the wires to be able to paint them to match the wall color to have them blend in and not be as noticeable. I also ran a coax cable from the TV into the basement so I can watch the Bowl games while working.

Tonight I’ll be working on the Vette again. Matt will be coming over after work to lend a hand. I have a small leak at the rear of the engine where the intake meats the block. I need to remove the intake and re-install it. This time I will not use the rubber gaskets, only silicone and the crush gaskets. I also still need to get the oil pressure gauge and temp gauge connected to the car’s gauges. This is a top priority before I begin driving it long distances, as I cannot tell how warm the engine is getting.

One final note…After returning from a short 30min road ride last night I discovered that I received an email from the 24Hrs of Adrenalin. I’ve been invited back to the World Championships. My last race with them was 2yrs ago at the US Nat’ls where I let a mechanical end my race. I truly believe I was the best racer, and If I’d finished I would’ve easily won the race, but that’ll never be known. Anyhow, this year’s event is to be held at that same venue at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. This course is a great flowing course and the climbs will be very manageable for me while competing on a Single Speed this time! Julie and I are still discussing it and plan to make our decision by the end of the month! We’ll be able to fly there on my flyer miles so the cost of the trip will be fairly low. Maybe I’ll be able to solicit an event sponsor to pick up the tab for the rental car or entry fee!? Let me know if you have any interested parties!

I’ll be posting photos again within a few days of things noted in our update. Keep in touch!

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