Night Work

Early this morning, I headed out to the final bridge deck pour on one of our projects. The pour started at 2am and when I arrived at 4 am, the crews were almost half way done with the deck. It's an amazing process to watch as the rough, rocky mess of concrete is turnedinto a smooth deck by the screed (smoothing/leveling machine) and the hand work done behind the machine. Now I'm a geek for construction so it was definitely worth getting up really early and spending two hours watching our very skilled crews create a beautiful product.

Now why did the pour have to happen in

the middle of the night? By state specification which considers the integrity of the bridge, the concrete cannot have a temperature of more than 85 degrees. In order to obtain a lower temperature, the pour is conducted at night and ice is added to the concrete. Last night, the air temperature was 82 (yes, at 4 am) and the concrete hovered between 81-83 degrees. The state provides contractors with a computer program to determine proper pouring conditions. It's a very helpful tool that helps guarantee proper concrete hardening and limits potential structural problems.

Once the pour is complete, the crews place evaporation retardant on the deck, cover the deck with blankets to assist in moisture retention, and call it a day. Over the next 10 days, the deck will be carefully taken care of to ensure proper hardening and then saw cut to put the required grooves on the deck. The next steps include pouring sidewalks and railings, removing wood forms, and finishing the approaches. Within the next few months, it'll be open to full traffic and our work will be complete.

After a few hours observing the process, I thanked our concrete manager for the informational session on the pour and headed off to find a little breakfast.

Until then, happy travels and many laughs...

Bowling & Some East Side Grub

By now, you all know that I really, really love to travel and am pretty much ready to go wherever, whenever. However, what you may not know is that I truly enjoy the weekends at home in Austin, Texas. It's an amazing city with more things to do on a week day than some places offer in a week.
So on a recent weekend, Bitch B, Bitch C, J1 & I decided to knock down some pins and enjoy dinner at one of Austin's new establishments.

Knock 'em Down, Set 'em Up

Our first stop of the evening was Dart Bowl bowling alley located in north central Austin just off Koenig Lane. It's a little older, but still a nice bowling alley. When we arrived, the place moderately busy and the A/C was definitely working. C found a coupon on the alley's website for a free game, so we cashed in our coupons, picked up our shoes, were assigned a lane, and headed to find the perfect bowling ball. Then we had to get refreshments! I mean, what is bowling without something cold to wet your whistle and assist with the trash talking that comes from a lively game with friends? You don't talk trash to your friends whilst knocking down pins? Uh huh. I thought so.

The bar at Dart Bowl sells cold beers and mixed drinks and if you get a chance, check out the Dart Bowl Steakhouse. The restaurant serves up killer nachos, tasty burgers, and one mean plate of enchiladas! So if bowling isn't your game, the food is definitely worth checking out.

Now our bowling game is less than perfect, but we have one heck of time while doing it. J1 bowled lights out (well for him anyway) the first game to narrowly defeat B. C decided one game was enough for her and during the second game, we all bowled a little worse and I brought home the victory. With a couple of fun hours down, we were ready to find some grub.

Moving on Over to the East Side

J1 suggested trying out Contigo, a new place he's been to a "few times" (understatement) on the East Side. I've been eager to try it out too, but considering the restaurant is 90% outdoors this HOT weather has won out over trying it. But on this night, why not? We headed over to Anchor Lane to try out this new place modeled after a South Texas ranch by the same name. Even in 99 degree weather (it was 7 pm after all), the place was packed, so we put our name on the list for the short wait to be seated. The drink menu includes both house specialties, the Eavesdropper, to standbys, the Old Fashioned, to beer and wine. Once seated, we perused the menu and found an array of tasty apps and main dishes. Contigo seeks to provide local, fresh ingredients and the menu reflects a seasonal spin.

For starters, we enjoyed home made marinated olives and crispy green beans, which were amazing. It was like the green beans had been nicely sauteed but yet ever so lightly fried. With the perfect amount of salt, we gobbled up these delicious vegetables with a side of homemade aioli. For dinner, B enjoyed the Rabbit and Dumplings, C loved her chicken breast over sauteed Swiss Chard, and J1 enjoyed the burger and fries. I went for the special sandwich of the day, but can't remember the name of it. It was a delicious pulled pork sandwich with homemade cole slaw served with a side salad tossed in a light lemon vinaigrette. I passed on the fries in an effort to eat more healthy but I did taste one of J1's fries and they are great! All of the food (and the cocktails) was great and I definitely recommend trying this place, if you haven't yet.

What about the heat you ask? Well, it was a little warm for me, but the overall experience out weighed the sweat factor. The management informed us the misters and new fans would be hooked up the next week, so by now, I bet it's a little more pleasant under the covered porch. This place is going to be great when the cooler weather hits! And by cooler weather, I'd take 90 degrees at this point. I will definitely be back with friends to have some cocktails, enjoy dinner & talk some smack while playing a game of washers in one of the two washer pits Contigo offers.

With another fun evening accomplished, we said our goodbyes, headed home and I started planning my next fun adventure.

Until then, many laughs and happy travels...

A 6 Foot Metal Chicken

Some of you may have seen this blog entry on The Blogess.com. Thanks to Facebook this little gem showed up on my News Feed and immediately I had to share with all of my friends both via FB and email. This story made me literally LOL. The Blogess is a funny lady and I find her humor awesome. If you don't find her funny, that's ok too. But really. She's funny.

Ok, so to make this blog entry worth reading, I'll give you a couple minutes to click on the link above and go read this story. If you haven't read it, then my entry will not make sense.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Welcome back! Now on to my story...

One Saturday night, I showed up to J1 and Bitch C's house for dinner with Bitch A & Bitch B. J1's work load finally simmered down and he wanted to cook for us. (He's amazing in the kitchen!) Well B & I had discussed how funny it would be to try to find a metal chicken to take over to their house...because frankly, how funny would it be to put a chicken on their front door and ring the door bell? "Knock knock!!" But we ran out of time and didn't do it.

As we arrive to J1 and C's house, I notice the blinds to the kitchen are closed. Weird.

Then C pops out to greet us in the driveway. Interesting.

You see, typically the blinds are open and the welcoming is done just at the door. Hum.

C was in a particularly chipper mood and so happy to see us...so I just thought she was excited about the fun evening.

B & I enter the house like normal, greet the dog, hug J1 and go into the kitchen to put our purses down. Well, C is super giddy and watching us. I set my purse down on the side table and see...

A 6 FOOT METAL CHICKEN IN THE DINING ROOM!!!

"Surprise!!! Happy birthday!!!!!" exclaimed the couple.

Now my birthday isn't for a few more months, but I am floored. This chicken is awesome! We're all laughing and I now understand why C was so excited to see us. She was giddy with excitement over the gift.In the course of talking and laughing about how awesome it is, J1 comes up with its very own name, Ke$ha. Which works well, since she is a dirty bird. (Rusty that is, what were you thinking?)

Now even funnier, Bitch A showed up later than B & me. So when she finally does arrive, the four of us are excited to see her reaction when she walks in to the house and meets Ke$ha. So A comes in the house, puts down her purse and completely doesn't notice the chicken.

We patiently wait for her to see it.

Nothing.

We gently gesture towards the dining room.

Nothing.

Bitch B makes a comment about the elephant in the room.

Nothing.

We finally point out the 6 foot metal chicken to A and she FINALLY notices it. I think we may have laughed the hardest at the fact she was completely oblivious. (Camo blonde indeed!)

During the course of the evening, Ke$ha sat at the head of the table during dinner, had many photos taken, danced on the coffee table, and had an all around rock star night.

What seemed to be just another Saturday night, turned into an amazing evening with even more amazing friends. As Ke$ha settles into her new home in my backyard, she will serve as a constant reminder of that fun night and how lucky I am to be blessed with such amazing friends.

Until then...happy travels and MANY laughs!