Wakeboard Video

As promised here is a wakeboard video from my first weekend on vacation. It is my first introduction to uploading onto Youtube as well as using Windows Movie Maker so I still need to put sound to it but until I figure that out, here is the silent version.

First Weekend on Vacation

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend to come home. The temperature dropped since last week down to a cozy 75 degrees. It's been breezy and sunny and just downright gorgeous.

I got a lot of wakeboarding in the first few days of being home and I have plenty of it on digital video that I am editing right now and will blog it soon. Other than wakeboarding I haven't done much of anything but relax and enjoy the B-E-A-utiful surroundings with a beer in hand. It's nice to be home and see everyone again as well as re-familiarize myself with some of the delights of Pennsylvania such as Yeungling, Tastekakes, sweet corn, and summer weather that actually allows you to go outside.

For a quick glimpse into my weekend here is a slide show of pictures I put together.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cory1114/Vacation02

Shopping Spree

Next Thursday night I leave to go home for a week of non-stop wakeboarding. One of the hardest things for me to leave behind when moving here was my wakeboarding boat, I miss going out whenever I want. But someday soon I will either inherit my boat from my dad or I'll buy my own, until that day I'll just have to settle for waiting for that one week out of the year when I can go home and wakeboard everyday.

So in preparation for my big weak of skiing I needed some new equipment. Namely a new lifevest and some new boardshorts. Today Erin and I went to the mall and I bought a new pair of Jordan's, boardshorts, and new lifevest. So I felt like spending a little bit, it happens from time to time. Everyone deserves a treat every now and again. Here's the new vest and shorts along with my board, helmet, and rope.

I found the vest at "Sun and Ski Sports", and it's a really cool new type of vest. Usually life vests zip up the front and then have an overlapping set of buckles and is very bulky and cumbersome. This new vest is like and elastic t-shirt than you slip on but sewn into the elastic are a bunch of blocks of neoprene that will keep you afloat. It almost looks like some sort of body armor and it is quite comfortable and free-moving. I'm even more excited to go home now and use my new crap. Stay tuned for photos and/or videos from my trip home.

The Collection Grows

I think most of my friends already know about my weird fetish with shoes, but if you are one of those lucky people who didn't know about it here's a quick glimpse into my Jordan collection. I got my first pair of Jordan's when I was in 8th grade and to this day they were my favorite pair of sneakers ever, unfortunately the air pocket in them popped and I had to take them back but when I took them back there were no more to be found and I had to settle for some other pair of Nikes. I have since found the same pair except they are in all black and I never wear them because I'm afraid if anything happens to them that I will never find them again.

Here is said pair of Jordan's:

Since the 8th grade I have proceded to spend stupid amounts of money on select Jordan's that catch my eye. Sometimes it takes painful amounts of resolve not to spend my money on shoes but sometimes I just can't help it. Today was one of those "I can't help it" days. Here's the newest addition to my collection:

Here's the rest of the collection, I have a handful more of Jordan's back in Pennsylvania but they are really old and worn down, the collection that I have here are the pairs that mean the most to me.

Unfortunately I don't stop at just buying Jordan's, many other sneakers fall into my sneaker fetish so closet space is a struggle between me and Erin's shoes.

The Wall

I made some good progress today on the patio. The ever so tedious building of the retaining wall is practically complete. It doesn't look like it would have taken a long time but to get everything level and straight takes a lot of patience. The ridiculous heat doesn't help the process at all, I think I lost 10 lbs of water weight today in the 4 hours that I could stand to be outside.

Here are a few pictures of the wall:

All we have to do now is fill that large hole between the house and the block wall with 5 tons of sand and level it out. Finally, we'll have to lay down the blocks for the surface and that will be it!! I wouldn't quite call this the home stretch but it's coming along.

The Hill and the Hole

After our fifth day of working on our patio project, we've made some real progress. Thank god the biblical flooding stopped long enough to let us shovel. Now our back yard has a hill and a hole.

I present to you the hill...

....and the hole:

I was so happy when I finished sledging up the concrete, now we just need to fill the hole with 6 tons or so of sand then we'll lay the patio block. In addition to gaining more recreational area in the backyard I am also losing plenty of grass that I hate mowing, it's a win win.

The Patio Project

Just because I haven't posted anything in awhile doesn't mean that we don't have anything going on in our lives. Let's just call it extreme blogging laziness.

Well, this past weekend we decided to take the leap into a new home project. We've been wishing for a big patio in the back of our house pretty much since we moved in. So, on Saturday we bought all of the essentials required to dig ourselves a giant hole in the backyard. Here are a few photos of our progress so far.

I would have to say that the worst part of this whole process is breaking up the concrete slab that was built with the house. I'll just say that sledge hammers are blistering back breaking machines that should only be used in moderation. So, the hammering is my job and Erin's job is to dig out the dirt around the concrete which she is great at.

Does anyone know who I can call to come take away 6 ton of dirt and broken up concrete slab? Anyway, I'll post more progress in the next few days.