Project Sleipnir - The Requirements

Part 2 of 7 in Project Sleipnir

Quite simply, I don't fit my bike. 

At its root, getting a proper fit is pretty simple. There are only three places where your body touches a bike:

1. Feet
2. Butt
3. Hands 

Feet

If you think about it, spinning a crank on a bike is a lot like climbing a flight of stairs. You essentially take a step up, then another, then another. But cranks (just like stairs) are only made in a size that fits the majority of people. But what that means for somebody like me is that if you want to go up quickly, that you have to take all these tiny little bitty steps really fast. Or you can do what most of us taller folk do, you can go two steps at a time. It's easier on the body and faster at the same time. 

This same basic principle should apply to spinning cranks too. Longer legs can and should move further per step than shorter legs. Unfortunately due to the nature of mass-marketing things to people they bless us with making 2 standard sizes of cranks: 170mm and 175mm. If you're lucky enough to be 'normal' then these sizes are great. 5'8"-10" are perfect. But this means if you're 5' tall you have to push and pull much further than your body would really like. And if you're 6'6" tall you have to make these movements that are much smaller than you should make.

But then the question is "How much bigger is best?" 

There's not a perfectly solid answer on that, but there are a couple of interesting pieces out there to help find that answer:

Zinn's Custom Cranks - 205mm

Custom Cranks from Germany - 199mm

Both of these (and many other sources) indicate something in the 20-21% of inseam is the ideal length. And when it comes to proportions I'll trust a percentage or ratio any day over somebody saying, that a 5'9" and 6'6" person need the same size crank. Similarly if you look at the size difference between the tall person and the normal sized person you'll see that the tall person is about 113% (78/69 = 1.13) the size of the normal guy. Apply that math to the normal cranks (175mm * 1.13 = 198mm), and you'll find the tall guy would be better off with something in the 200mm range. 

That number is surprisingly close to what I needed based off of various crank calculators. And now we have the first requirement:

Requirement #1 - Bike must fit 200mm cranks

That requirement actually poses a whole host of issues which we'll work out later.

Butt

One part of fitting properly on a bike is making sure your knees are not too far in front of the cranks. Doing that would put a lot of extra strain on a hyper-flexed knee joint and that will lead to lots of problems later. But to make that work on somebody with a long femur that means you have to push them back...way back.

There's a couple of problems with that. If you go back further your handlebars are now too far in front of you. Additionally because the person with long legs will also need the seat up really high and the angle of the seat tube you can end up with the butt's contact points being almost directly above the rear wheel. 

Being so far back actually changes the handling of the bike. Even on a flat your weight distribution is greatly changed from the optimum that's been honed over the past 170 years of the bicycle. But things get much worse on a slope where you actually end up pulling wheelies, which can get nerve wracking.

I made a simple diagram to show this below 

Figure 1: As the seat-tube gets longer and seat has to slide back the relative position of the rider's weight in relation to the rear wheel is adversely altered.

Therefore we now have the basis for the second requirement:

Requirement #2 - The position of my butt must remain the same relative distance from the rear hub as on a normally-sized bike

Hands

The final fundamental piece of fitting properly on a bike is where are your hands relative to the rest of you. Since the fundamental center of a bike is the axis on which the crank rotates, the best way of determining where your hands go is based on how high up your seat goes and then how far forward your arms and torso go.

The whole premise is summed up well by Lennard Zinn in this column on Stack and Reach

Figure 2: Stack and Reach for Frame and Handlebars

How this relates to the dynamics of riding that bike:

1. If you stretch too far up and forward your shoulders and neck will ache terribly. 
2. If you go too far low and forward and not only will your shoulders ache, but you'll also cut off blood-flow to your baby-making fun factory. 
3. If you go too far up and back your handling is worse and it's hard to go fast.
4. If you go too far low and back your knees hit the handlebars...which means you don't go anywhere.

There's actually a narrow range of what works to make you both fast and comfortable. Unfortunately this is one of the top areas where I currently suffer. Because the seat is so far back I have to stretch too far for the handlebars. Because I'm tall and my current bike isn't, I have to go low...making man-bits suffer and shoulders ache with creaking fire. Since that is unacceptable I've had to compromise a lot on bike handling and get up and back to the point of the near-ridiculous. This also puts me even further back on the bike exaggerating the problems seen in Figure 1.

The final requirement is actually pretty simple and the gist of the whole project:

Requirement #3 - The bike needs to fit my body

Requirements Conclusion
Looking around there wasn't a single bike or frame available for purchase that met all 3 of my requirements.

I actually almost lucked out with the KHS Flite 747 as it is the only production bike that meets Requirement #1. And based on the measurements it likely meets Requirements #3. Sadly Requirement #2 was sacrificed at the alter of mass-marketability. And another problem with this bike is that nobody has one of these in stock. They're pretty much a buy-and-pray-it-works bike. Combine that with a few features weren't what I was really was hoping for and it's off the list.

Fortunately for me I actually did find a bike that fit my body much like I wanted it to. The Specialized Roubaix in a size 64. Unfortunately although only the 3rd requirement was met and Requirements #1 & #2 were completely ignored. Still good news though as I was able to find some basis for what kind of fit my body needed on a bike. Plus with a $4000 sticker price, no used ones for sale ever, and the fact that the components were not really my preferences it would be a big bill for something that wasn't quite what I'm looking for.

Therefore since nothing exists on the market that meets my requirements that means that I would need to have my next bike custom built.

...and if you're going to custom build a bike you may as well unleash your imagination a bit and see what you can make.

Project Sleipnir - The Intro

I've really gotten into biking lately. Love it. I commute when possible. I ride on the weekends by myself. I ride on the weekends with friends. I ride with my dog on trails. I ride by myself on trails. I ride during my lunch breaks with coworkers. I ride when it's wet. I ride when it's cold. I ride when it's ridic hot. I ride up all the hills. I ride into the wind. I ride into town for errands. I ride in the mud on purpose. When I'm not riding I'm probably thinking about riding. Or I'm talking about riding with people on the internet. I've ridden my bikes thousands of miles a year for at least the past couple of years, and that's a number I hope only goes up.

Bottom line
I love riding bikes. Always have.

The only real downside of riding is a problem I have with everything else in life (chairs, clothes, cars, shoes, etc.). Because I'm so tall I don't really fit well on anything you can just run out and buy at a store. I can get close mind you. But no matter which way you look at it, there's a difference between rolling up all your sleeves because they don't go all the way down to your wrists and having a shirt that just cuffs at your wrists instead of your forearms because it was tailored to you. And that's what I'm looking for in a bike. Sure I can ride just about any bike out there and I'll have fun, but there's always been a yearning for something that fits me right and from that yearning Project Sleipnir was born.

What is Project Sleipnir? Sleipnir is the Norse God Odin's horse. Sleipnir rode to Hel and back and kept his rider safe the entire trip. Sleipnir was huge. Sleipnir was the best of all the horses.

Huge, the best of all the others, and can take me safely to Hel and back. Sleipnir is what I am looking for in my future steed.

About mid-2011 the dream of building a bike that just fit took me and wouldn't let go. I wanted to make something that was uniquely mine and also a bit of a work of art and science. I certainly didn't want to just go grab something off the shelf and say, "This'll do." I wanted to be involved with the process from the ground up. This project comes to its completion in a week or two; therefore, I wanted to document a bit of the overall process that's consumed me for the past few months.

I'm going to break this story into the following chunks:

1. The Intro
2. The Requirements
3. The Desires
4. The Search
5. The Set-Backs
6. The Build
7. The Completion

Wide-Profile Rims for 25mm & 28mm Tires

Currently there is an innovative rim in the road-cycling world made by HED called the HED C2, or as a wheelset it's known as the HED Ardennes. The cool thing about these rims is that they are much wider (23mm) than most rims sold (19mm). This has the following advantages:

• Makes the rim stiffer and stronger
• Flattens the profile of the tire giving you a better surface contact patch
• Increases the tire volume, meaning you can run lower pressures
• Smooths the airflow between the tire and rim giving a more aerodynamic profile

Or in a single picture it does this:

So in general this is everything you could really want a rim to be and with no real disadvantages. 

Except for one: I'm pretty heavy. Not fat mind you. Just heavy for a cyclist. Once you add up me, my bike and the backpack with a laptop, clothes and lunch, I can easily hit 265 lbs on my wheels. Which by the best and most scientific guide I've found means I would need to run 23mm tires at 170psi on the rear. If I rode a 23mm rim I could run 10% lower pressure, but that's still up at 153psi on the rear. And the challenge is that most tires are only rated up to 120psi, so I have a problem.

Because I'm heavier, I have to go for a wider tire. 

1. The best option is really a 25mm tire.
   These tend to not have too much of a weight penalty over a 23mm tire, but can still take higher pressures (~120psi). The downside of a 25mm is that I'm still on the cusp of needing too much pressure (140psi, or 125psi on the 23mm rim) 
2. The other option is a 28mm tire.
   These tend to have a fairly large weight penalty though. Few manufacturers make their best tires in this width. And once you get to this width the max pressure typically drops to <100psi. For a guy of my weight I need 115psi on this tire, and I've been fortunate to have found 2 or 3 tires that can handle that and it's what I ride now.

So why don't I just get a 25mm rim for a 25mm tire and similar for a 28mm tire and rim?

1. Brake calipers on bikes barely fit 23mm rims, so any larger isn't an option.
2. Just because the scaling on one tire works well doesn't mean it will work on another.

Problem 1:

To get around problem 1 you simply have to use disc brakes instead. This opens a whole realm of wider-profile XC 29er rims. If you don't want to go disc, then you're stuck with 23mm HED C2 rims being the largest you can hope for at this point in time.

Problem 2:

That's what I hope to explore.

Problem Statement:

I want to run 25mm or 28mm tires on a rim that gives the same profile and advantages of using the 23mm tire on a HED C2 rims.

Assumptions:

• Surface area of a tire will remain constant once pressurized
• Profile of the tire will remain as round as possible regardless of how wide or small a rim is
• Bead-hooks vary in size and profile by rim. So what really creates the profile of the tire is the inside width of the rim, not the outside width.
• Aerodynamics aren't really that big of a deal for my style of riding or size, so I'm going to try to optimize for increased volume and cross section profile, not on matching flushly with the rim
• However, say I end up with a 24mm rim on a 25mm tire, that's still closer than a 19mm rim for smooth airflow, so I'll likely get some advantage.
• A standard road-rim has a 14mm inside width
• After emailing HED they informed me that the inside width of the HED C2 rim is 17.6mm

Analysis:
I explored 2 possible solutions:

1. That the scaling of the rim is scaled linearly from the ratio of 17.6 to 23 and then apply to the 25 & 28mm tires.
2. That the main goal is to keep the tire profile and surface area constant and see what rim would apply.

Solution 1:

Scale the rim linearly from the ratio of 17.6 to 23 and then apply to the 25 & 28mm tires.

For this it's rather simple:

• 17.6mm / 23mm = X mm / 25mm => (17.6/23) * 25mm = 19.1mm
• 17.6mm / 23mm = X mm / 28mm => (17.6/23) * 28mm = 21.4mm

Pros: This solution seems to very closely match existing inside widths for XC rims. 

Cons: This solution seems almost too simple a solution, and after mocking up the profile it does not have the same profile as the HED C2 rim with a 23mm tire.

Additional details. After using SketchUp, I was able to find the following info:

23mm Tire on 17.6mm Rim:

(In parenthesis indicates dimensions for same size tire on a 14mm rim)

• Surface: 57mm (same)
• Maximum Diameter: 24.3mm (23mm)
• Cross-Sectional Area: 408.4mm² (388.0 mm²)
• Pressure vs. 14mm Rim: 95%

25mm Tire on 19.1mm Rim:

(In parenthesis indicates dimensions for same size tire on a 14mm rim)

• Surface: 68.3mm (same)
• Maximum Diameter: 28.4mm (25mm)
• Cross-Sectional Area: 572.2mm² (464.5 mm²)
• Pressure vs. 14mm Rim: 81%

28mm Tire on 21.4mm Rim:

(In parenthesis indicates dimensions for same size tire on a 14mm rim)

• Surface: 73.3mm (same)
• Maximum Diameter: 30.8mm (28mm)
• Cross-Sectional Area: 668.1mm² (592.2 mm²)
• Pressure vs. 14mm Rim: 89%

Solution 2: 

To help myself better visualize everything I mocked up a 23mm tire on a 14mm rim and a 23mm tire on a 17.6mm rim.

Finding of Note: I found is that if you put a 23mm tire on a 17.6mm rim that from the center of the tire to the edge of the rim was a 45 degree angle. This symmetry seemed more than just coincidental.

I used that symmetry to come up with the following equation to simplify things. 45 degrees to each rim meant there was 90 degrees of of 360 degrees taken by the rim and 3/4 of the circle taken by the tire.

• Max Diameter of Tire * Pi * 3/4 = Cross-Sectional Surface of Tire

Unknown in this equation is Max Diameter of Tire, so solve for this:

• 25mm: 68.3mm / (3.14 * 3/4) = 29.0mm
• 28mm: 73.3mm / (3.14 * 3/4) = 31.1mm

Make circles with those dimensions, then  make a line from -45 degrees on the circle to +45 degrees on the circle and you  find the following optimum rim dimensions:

25mm Tire on 20.5mm Rim:

(In parenthesis indicates dimensions for same size tire on a 14mm rim)

• Surface: 68.3mm (same)
• Maximum Diameter: 29.0mm (25mm)
• Cross-Sectional Area: 594.9mm² (464.5 mm²)
• Pressure vs. 14mm Rim: 78%

28mm Tire on 22.0mm Rim:

(In parenthesis indicates dimensions for same size tire on a 14mm rim)

• Surface: 73.3mm (same)
• Maximum Diameter: 31.1mm (28mm)
• Cross-Sectional Area: 684.6mm² (592.2 mm²)
• Pressure vs. 14mm Rim: 86%

Conclusion:

It appears that Solution 1 would produced more conservative values than Solution 2; however, I believe (at least mathematically) that Solution 2 is the more optimum of the two possibilities.

• 25mm tires should be on 19.1mm to 20.5mm rims
• 28mm tires should be on 21.4mm to 22.0mm rims

One other point of note is that 25mm tires seem to gain proportionally more cross-sectional area than either 23mm or 28mm. I would have thought that things just got linearly more and more in favor of the large-diameter tires. If I had time I'd try to create a mathematical model and see where the actual minimum is. However, seeing that I can reduce tire pressure on a 25mm tire by 19-22% is a really big deal for me. That means I can instead of run a lighter stronger and generally better 25mm tire with the same lower pressure that I can run on 28mm tires in a  normal setup. This actually exceeds my expectations and makes me quite excited.

What Now?

Finding the inside widths of rims is actually surprisingly hard. Some manufacturers like Mavic say it in the name (TN719 is 19mm inside), but others don't tell you unless you ask directly or do a lot of searching. Trying to find something as specific as 20.5 will likely be very difficult, so I'll just do my best to find something in the desired range. I'll likely end up with either something that says it's 21mm, but is really a little less, or something that's 19mm, and be glad I'm at least way better off than if I was on a 14mm rim.

Real-World vs. Theoretical-World

I want to see if I can get a bike shop to loan me or let me try mounting a tire on a rim of that width. This should allow me to see if things really work. But finding a shop that A) Would let me do that and B) Wouldn't just say, "You can't do that, the specs say it doesn't work."; is going to be really hard to do. Fortunately I know a few bike shop guys that I think are willing to put rules aside for some experimentation so hopefully I'll be able to report back with some results soon.

Bosco's First Birthday

A year ago today Bosco was born.

Although we didn't get to see him until the day we picked him up.

Once we got there he said his goodbyes:

And then had a great trip home with us:

And while he was cute and flopsy:

He was also a vicious beast filled with razor-sharp puppy teeth:

Fortunately after being up for a few hours he would sleep:

Wake to explore his world some more:

Run around:

And would wear everybody out:

He managed to grow, and grow, and grow, but finally leveled out:

As he grew we tried to train him:

And taught him to fetch:

And sit:

And to be lazy on Sunday mornings:

Now that he's bigger he's made friends:

And has become the high-flyer of our family:

And we're the ones who get to see this face every day:

He's leveled out at 85 lbs and is 28 tall at the haunches and the withers.

Now that he's gotten older he's starting to run with us, but his max so far is about 2 mi of continuous running. His cardio's getting better, and I'm sure once it cools down he'll be a champ.

He is a bit freaked out by water, but I think that mostly is due to the drought and that it's only rained like 4 days his whole life.

Despite his unease with water we did find a fresh watering hole and teach him to swim. He's actually pretty good at it and one day when there's more water we'll likely take him for more swimming.

He's super sweet, gives us kisses all the time (but not sloppy wet ones thank goodness), he loves to cuddle with us, he has never destroyed anything that isn't his, very even tempered in new situations, nice towards others if they're nice, but he won't take unnecessary crap from aggressive dogs, let's kids jump on him without concern, super calm in the house, but loves to have fun outside. Really he's the best of all worlds and we couldn't ask for better.

So happy birthday little dude!

It's Easy Being Green

Being green takes many forms and flavors. You can reduce pollution in local creeks and lakes by using compost instead of fertilizers. You can save water by choosing a lawn that doesn't require (much) watering. You can forego having pets or children because they require food and fart CO2 and CH4. You can spend 1000s on a solar panel that might maybe if you're lucky one day pay for itself.

One of the main areas though where you can think big on being green is how to reduce the energy you use each day. 

Taking a look at the big picture looks something like this:

Just like when budgeting when trying to save, you should start with the big pieces. And when talking about Energy Use in the United States the big pieces are Electric Power and Transportation.

Electric Power:

When looking at your home you can do things like change the lightbulbs, or get more efficient appliances, or upgrading from a plasma TV, and while they help some the actual benefit is not nearly what the companies that market those products would lead you to believe (those 3 are responsible for only about 25% of home energy usage). 

Q: So where does the majority of power go in your home?

A: Heating and Cooling (cooling's the big one in Texas)

Step 1: Adjust the temperature. 

In the summer one thing that can have a large affect by getting screens, opening windows and using fans. You might well save 30% on your bills.

This winter one thing we used was small space heaters in the rooms we were in (living and bedroom) instead of heating the whole house. The heaters paid for themselves within a month, and by the end of the winter we were not only more comfortable than any year prior, but we had also saved about 30% on our heating bill.

Q2: But even that is just an incremental adjustment. So how can I make a big change?

A2: Get a smaller house. Even the greenest of homes if it's very large will suck way more power than a smaller and less efficient home. 

Step 2: Live in a smaller house

We actively made the choice to live in a smallish 1000 sqft home, and while we have a 20 year old AC, and single-pane windows, and no insulation, I'm continually baffled at hearing about how much some other coworkers who live in ginormous houses spend on electricity. Despite that they have the latest split-unit ACs, double- or tripple-paned windows, and great insulation. The simple fact is if you're trying to heat and cool a 3000 sqft house it is going to take a lot of energy. But if you have a tiny house it will only take a tiny bit of energy to heat and cool.

There are other 'green' benefits too. Such as 60 sqft of tile for your bathroom is way less expensive and greener than having to buy 600 sqft. You're not filling room upon room with new furnishings, and since most small homes are older you're not destroying land to put your house on it.

Transportation

The US is built for cars, I get that. There's not really an easy way to avoid them, but there are a few things you can do.

Step 1: Live, work, and play in the same area. 

If you have an hour commute you're using a lot of fuel. For comparison person A drives a Prius and lives 40 miles away; person B drives a jacked-up monster-truck wannabe and lives nearby-ish at only 3 miles away. So who's being greener? In this case the monster truck actually produces both less smog and less smug.

Step 2: Use alternative transport when possible

While not possible for everybody I try to bike in a few times a week to improve my health and stretch my gas money. Additionally though, think about not using your car when you're at home. Can you walk to that store instead? Can you bike down to that bar you like instead of drive? (Plus you'll be less likely to worry about cops on the way home) On the weekend can you make a day-long excursion downtown on your bike instead of driving? (Think of how much time you'll save trying to find the elusive free street parking!)

Every time you choose to leave a 3000+ lbs piece of steel at home you're saving that much fuel, and often you're getting to spend more quality time with the people you're traveling with, getting some exercise, and soaking in the city and sights around you.

Conclusion:

When it comes to energy usage if you're going to go green you should aim for the big targets. And often it's the choices we make of where and how we live that really have the greatest impact.

What Dog Breed is Best

A friend of mine recently asked the question, "What breed of dog should I get?"

I spent awhile drafting a response and wanted to save it, so I'm posting it here:

This is actually a really big question, and largely depends on what you want in a dog, and how you want to live your life.

First start with some dog-finder quiz to see what breeds you should look at. This quiz is actually pretty good:
http://www.selectsmart.com/DOG/

Keep in mind though, that if you get a pure breed you can run into some weird (and expensive) issues due to inbreeding. For example, I've spent about an extra $3k on my wife's dog in the last 2 years because of issues that wouldn't be present in a mutt. But she's a great dog and totally worth it.

Additionally, a lot of breeds that are really popular don't necessarily make the best pets:
Labs - Have lots of weird OCD and anxiety issues
Beagles - Might be cute while you're there, but will bay the whole time you're gone (making some peeved neighbors)
Goldens - Can make an impossible-to-clean layer of fine hair on everything
Herding dogs - Are so smart that they go crazy if you don't constantly challenge them mentally
Pits - Will eat childrens faces off
...you get the idea.

I have a German Shorthaired-Pointer, and think it's the best breed in the world. But they do require a lot of attention and exercise. So if you come home from work and don't want to go running...well, you have to anyway. But if you want a dog that can do well with kids, adults, doesn't bark much, easy to clean, and can go run alongside you while you're mountain biking all day, then there's no breed better.

Mutts are often the best way to go, they need a home, they often are past that annoying (but cute) puppy phase, and they'd be killed if you don't get them. There's also some cool DNA tests you can do now to see what breeds your mutt is made of so that you can find out how to best train them.
http://www.biopetvetlab.com/

Finally, every dog is different. You might find a sedate chihuahua, a dumb border collie, or a lazy GSP. Find the one that best works for you, love it fully, and train it well and you'll wonder how you lived your life without one.

Dear Bank,

You remember how a few months ago, I asked you if there was any way to renegotiate our mortgage so that I could get a better rate and drop PMI? You remember how you made up these really dumb astronomical numbers trying to keep me from redoing the loan?

Well, turns out the joke's on you. I went elsewhere to refinance my loan, they got all the money, you got none of it, and then you know what? You bought my exact same loan back from me! You could have made a lot more money, processed a lot less paperwork, and reduced the number of pointless middle men (I'm looking at you Title Insurance company!) by simply working with me. Instead you lost out big, and you're stuck with the less-profitable loan anyway.

In fact, you're so dumb, that just on your imbecilic actions alone, I think I might just move my regular account (which was also with you) to a credit union instead.

Meanwhile, I'm happy that I'm no longer paying you that old rate, no longer paying your stupid mortgage insurance, and no longer letting you earn even more interest on my money in an escrow account.

You stood to gain so much more, but instead your short-sighted greed meant you gained nothing and passed the buck on to a bunch of other people instead.

Sincerely,
Otis

Tribute to Abi

This week is Abi's last on the planet. So in memoriam I wanted to make a tribute to her and all that she's brought to our lives even though her's wasn't as long as anybody had hoped.

Ever since the start, I saw how happy you made my future wife, and knew you were something special.

Your goofy antics always kept things around here light-hearted.

You even did well in your beginning computer course, but failed once you learned how to work the mouse.

Helpful with yardwork

Focus of many a squirrel's nightmares

Rescuer of countless drowning sticks and balls

Even when you were bad, we still loved you and mostly wanted to laugh.

And while you never got over your fear of storms or beeping sounds.

You were always there to destroy our enemies

Be they squirrels

Or balls

You defended us nightly from the vicious laser

You were always up for a trip outside

To chase a ball with full tenacity.

And crash with equally as full force

Willing to make new friends.

Even though you weren't always willing to share.

But your love you did share, and gave cautiously but fully

You've been such a great dog, but unfortunately you drew the short straw when it came to genetics.

You almost died multiple times because of your various weird allergies. But we fixed those.

But the part we couldn't fix was your back. We didn't know that when you were hurting your feet, it's because you couldn't feel them anymore. That when you would make an accident in the house it wasn't cause you were lazy, but because you couldn't feel anything.

And finally, it became more noticeable that you were hurting and couldn't live your life fully anymore with your pack.

But now it's all become too much and it's time for you to go to Doghalla, where the rivers are clear, the weather is warm, the sticks are always floating, and the squirrels only have 3 legs.

We'll miss you, but never as much as you missed us

Sleep well...

Abigail

December 12, 2002 - August 26, 2010

Update (12/21/2009):
As a bit of a Christmas miracle Abi's health took a shocking turn for the better late last week. She went from being in pain and having lots of accidents and a poor quality of life for over a month straight, to being very joyful & bouncy and having only a few minor accidents. Because she's happy and not in pain, she received a stay of execution.

We don't know how long that this period of healthiness will last, but we're thankful for it, and it makes for a much happier holiday season.

Update (08/26/2010)
Things finally got bad enough to where we realized we had to let go. We took every step we possibly could to prevent her decline, but nothing could turn back the ticking clock.  And she reached the point where could no longer be the dog we knew she was.

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

From Remodeling 2009

The wife and I recently got gutters installed on our house.  Overall, they're really awesome, but there's this one place that's not right and needs to be fixed, but the gutter company has been dragging their feet on (fortunately it means I'm also dragging my feet on paying them, so at least I have some leverage).  Essentially the whole thing boils down to improperly explained for what a part was, and then not being able to take the day off to supervise the whole thing (something that's immensely important for really any work somebody else is doing to your place).

After playing phone-tag with the sales rep for this large gutter company we got in touch earlier this afternoon an I said I needed a do-over on some of the work, and asked if he could meet me out there to pull a new piece.  He then said, "No problem, I'll need to call into the office, see who we can get down there and get it taken care of for you."

Later this afternoon I got a call-back from him, I was pretty stoked at the potential fast turn-around and said, "[Contractor's Name] what's up?"

He then replies with the following:
"I got this customer [Otis] out here and he's being a little bitch.  Yeah, there's something he's just being nitpicky about and we already sent a guy out there*.  Frankly we can do it, but I'm gonna need him to be there cause I got no clue what he wants.  Trying not to be a dick, but don't need this from him.  When we get somebody in the area can we just swing by and fix the problem.  I mean, what do you think I should do?"

*They did send somebody, but they wouldn't allow him to do the job necessary because they wanted to see if the patch-job would work...it didn't.

My response:
"Well, first off, if I were you I'd make sure that I'm not calling my customer when laying into them."
[Begin stammering and jaw on floor]
"Secondly, I hope you realize I'm not trying to be a "little bitch" about this.  It's just that I spent several thousand dollars for your product and I want to make sure I'm satisfied with it before I consider the job to be done.  Most everything is great, but there's just one piece that needs to be fixed."

From there on the rest of the conversation was in the following vien,
"I'm so sorry"
"God, today's just been the worst day"
"I've had like 10 bad calls in a row"
"I shouldn't have called you that"
"Oh man, there's nothing I can do to take any of that back now"
"I shouldn't have used language like that even when calling into the office"
"Oh, don't worry I'm going to get you taken care of"
"I'm so sorry"

Me, "Not a problem, I understand, stuff like this happens, let's just get it taken care of"

I think that was the conclusion of the absolute worst phone-call of that sales guy's career.  Fortunately I got a good laugh out of it, and hopefully we'll now get the work done right.

One Year in the House

The other day marked the one year anniversary of when we bought our house.

This past year has marked a lot of trails, victories, setbacks, learning, joy, exhaustion, satisfaction, fear, creativity, and confidence.

Here is a pretty comprehensive list of the things we've done since getting the house (original condition):

1. Replaced the roof (before, during, after)
   
2. Removed fake shutters, screen doors, house numbers (that banged my head), cheap hose reel, over-sized gutter (after)
   
3. Replaced locks
   
4. Repaired the foundation (before and after)
   
5. Tore out a wall (before, during, after)
   
6. Redid majority of the sheetrock
7. Rerouted lighting/ducts
8. Installed radiant barrier
9. Added supports in rafters
10. Created new washer/dryer area
11. Installed new electrical service (old)
    
12. Got new (safe) wiring to kitchen/bath
13. Complete gut & remodel of the bathroom (before, during, after)
    
14. Entirely new plumbing for all incoming lines
15. Installed tankless water heater
16. Refinished floors (before)
    
17. Painted interior rooms
18. Fixed all windows so that they are now double-hung
19. Replaced, repaired, or added fascia boards around entire house
20. Created support for sophet
21. Removed all boards that were touching the ground (aka termite highway)
22. Replaced back door
23. Replaced door to garage
24. Installed Crestview door kit (before, during, after)
    
25. Painted entry doors (before, after)
    
26. Replaced dozens of rotted/rotting siding boards
27. Added new corners for add-on section
28. Installed metal lathe and supports for skirting
29. Created a garden
30. Sanded entire house to bare wood
31. Used 33 tubes of caulk to seal up the house
32. Bondo'd cracks and divets
33. Cut down 1 tree
34. Trimmed all trees in backyard, including Ash (before, round 1, round 2)
    
35. Cabled the ash tree
36. Installed gutters & gutter screens
37. Painted exterior (before, during, almost there, after)
    
38. Removed scraggly bushes from front of house (before, after)
    
39. Dug pit for grounding plate
40. Undid jerry-rigged setup for fan in bedroom
41. Added setup for fan in livingroom
42. Created a bar between kitchen and livingroom
43. Added GFCI circuits where needed
44. Removed old waterheater closet
45. Removed mercury lamp on corner
46. All new exterior lighting
47. Insulated plumbing
48. Put up barriers in all rat-entry points
49. Added piping to divert water away from the foundation (before)
    
50. And fell through ceiling

I think 50 is enough for now. What I love though is how much we were able to get done while still traveling, working full-time, finding new eateries, playing in parks with the dog, brewing beers, seeing family, running, biking, watching BSG (hey, that's a huge time commitment), having friends over and just...living!

But, I think really the best thing is to look where we were a year ago:

And then look where we are today:

Big thanks go out to all the friends, family and contractors that helped us.
Family:
  Greg, Debby, Hannah, and Regina
Friends:
  Brian, Amy, Jeremy & Jess, Whitney, Rachel & Andrew, David, Kelly, Stephen, Pam & Don, Val & Paweena, Kasandra, Kristy, Heidi, Britney, and Danielle & Justin
Contractors:
  Bobby Platte, Bob Jahnke, ABC Handyman, Longhorn Roofing, Chango's Tree Service, Austin Gutter King, Mullen Electric, and all the illegals we unwittingly employed.

But most importantly to the Wife, for putting up with everything and being a good sport when things went wrong.