Where have we been?

Its been so long, so much has happened....stung by killer bees, bit by my own dog, etc., etc.
we're just doin' the same-old-stuff.

Fire in the Hole!!!

Andrew's cousin Adam works for a demolition company here in Houston. This morning, we got to experience it first-hand. They imploded the Crown Plaza Hotel in the Medical Center at 7:15. We had to get up at 5:00am to be there on time, but it was totally worth it. Both of us felt that it was one of the coolest things we had ever seen. The only drawback...wish we had a video camera, because our pictures don't do it justice.

We were probably about 80-100 yds from the building. The countdown begins 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Fire in the Hole! Then the fireworks...a series of 16 blasts (close to 1300 pounds of dynamite) just BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...to the point that the pavement under our feet was shaking, and then total implosion followed by a giant dust cloud. It was awesome!!!

A true feat of engineering too. The buildings in the background are Texas Children's and St. Luke's hospitals...you know they don't want any collateral damage to those buildings. We kept thinking about the poor people in The Best Western next to our viewing area that were awakened this morning by dynamite blasts...hopefully the manager pre-warned them.

Needless to say, we're hoooked and can't wait to experience another one!! The video at the bottom is not the actual building we saw demo'ed, but I put it on here so you could get an idea for the sound...it's pretty darn close to what we experienced. Oh, and the last picture is our souveniers...fake dynamite filled with red hots :)

Feelings Check:

Man I sure am tired from the week, but I really have no agenda for the weekend other than riding some singletrack tomorrow morning. That already feels like a relief. The weather should be good and its a trail that I have never ridden. That thought relaxes me, it is a comfortable feeling.

Go Grease Lightning...

As a kid, I never really dressed up much for Halloween. Maybe because of my church background...I don't know...but, if I did dress up, I'm pretty sure I was always an angel :)

Honestly, though, I think it's much more fun to dress up as an adult. Too often, we all get caught up in the busy-ness of life. I say we need to act like kids more often. Being silly is great for putting a smile on anyone's face!!

So, we have a costume contest at my office each Halloween, and people get pretty into it. Thought I would share some pics from this year's festivities. And by the way, my department won "Best Group Theme"...makes it all worth it!!