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We moved to our new office in the Seaport area of downtown Boston.
It’s pretty cool. Our space is the 15th floor of an 18 story building. The company has the 11th – 18th floors.
So far the commute isn’t terrible. On average it’s about twice as long as it used to be which only amounts to 45 – 50 minutes for us. Most of our co-workers have at least an hour and a half commute.
Can’t say I’ve gotten to experience much of the Seaport/downtown area yet, but that will come.
– b
Had our first real snow this winter.
We got about 6″ of heavy wet stuff with a layer of ice in between. Shoveling wasn’t fun. Thankfully our neighbor shoveled a bunch of the shared space.
The worst part was the single digit freeze that hit the next couple of days. Everything everywhere became ice. Made commuting to the new office trickier than you would have liked for a commute that requires lots of walking.
– b
After missing almost all of last year, we finally got out to ski (in MA).
Wachusett mountain is about an hour away from us. It’s taller than Bear Creek in PA, but not as many lifts/runs (I think). It’s a decent little mountain to get an afternoon of skiing in without it being too far of a drive or too cold.
We went last week, and then again this week. Last week was a little rough after having not skied for a year, but this week was almost back to tree skiing and racing.
It was a good time and all were thoroughly tired. It will be a couple of weeks before we go again. Hopefully it warms up enough to head to New Hampshire for even bigger fun.
– b
I jumped on the fat tire bandwagon and got a new bike.
It’s a 2018 Trek Stache 29+
As I mentioned in a previous post, most new bikes have fatter tires now. There’s the Fat bike standard of 5″, then what I’d call the + standard of 3″. Besides the difference in width, the height of the tire also kind of matters. As I understand it the 5″ width is pretty much reserved for 26″ tall wheels, while the 3″ is shared across 27.5″ and 29″ tall wheels. The advantage of using the 27.5″+ frame is that you can run a 3″ wide 27.5″ wheel or a standard 29″ wheel. This appears to be the best of both worlds for a rider like me, but I couldn’t find an easy single speed 27.5″ option.
So I got the Stache. It’s SS capable, but only runs 29+ tires. That means they’re huge. What’s the point? They’re super cush. We used to say with 29″ wheels you didn’t need rear suspension. Now with 29+ wheels you really don’t. The bike floats over everything. It makes riding bumpy slippery stuff a lot easier. The tires provide more suspension and traction at the same time. One could say it actually dumbs down the skill required to ride the hard stuff. I suppose I need to find harder stuff to ride.
I’ve ridden it once. It was definitely fun, but will take some adjustment for my riding style. I’m used to a more aggressive geometry that carves corners like a knife. I’m sure this will too. I just need to figure out how to position myself over it and keep the giant soft rubbers from folding over.
All in all, I’m pleased and looking forward to more time on it. In fact, I’ll likely be getting the girls similar rides in the spring.
– b
ps. I’ve named it It, because “We all float down here Georgie”
The sewer catastrophe remained a problem a week later. The house still smelled and appeared to actually be reverting to the original sewer smell over the Simple Green.
Something had to be done.
The first step was to shovel off the top layer of dirt (why we have dirt in our basement is still another post). Here’s where I hit another one of those “city problems”. Back in PA, I’d just fill the wheelbarrow and find a distant corner in the yard for the stuff. Here, I don’t have that kind of yard. All I have is a trash can and there’s limits to how heavy it can be each week. The solution, was to fill trash bags to a certain point, then stage them out over the coming weeks in the trash. It’s cold now, so leaving the bags in the back yard until they’re ready to go shouldn’t be a problem.
Step two was to cover the area with lime.
Between these two steps, it appears we’ve made a significant improvement in the condition of the basement and our house.
If I were to do a third thing, it would be to get some charcoal and place it throughout the house to soak up an additional odor.
The other concern (as terrible as it sounds) is that we’ve gotten used to the smell, and really don’t know if it’s gone. It’s definitely better than it was yesterday, but I’m not sure I can tell if it’s entirely gone. We might have to invite our neighbor over to do sniff tests for us. The last thing we want is to have a play-date or some new friends come over and wonder what the hell’s wrong with us (beyond the normal concerns of course).
Stay tuned.
– b
In 2018 we filled/used 4 different dumpsters. Three of them were in PA (I’d link or share photos to prove (again), but it’s late), and one here in Boston. The one in Boston was the smallest at 10 cu/yrds, but it was a dumpster still the same.
My Dad came up in November and we removed some old stuff (yet to be posted). Most of which was dumpster worthy.
We originally tried to use a 3 cu/yrds Bagster, but they wouldn’t pick it up due to overhead wires. Ultimately we would have needed 3 of the bagsters, so the dumpster worked out best in the end.
It’s all over now with a couple of outcomes (yet another post to come), but yeah four dumpsters.
– b
Last weekend we had a little issue with our main sewer line.
One day is started dribbling, then eventually it got pretty bad.
After going through an expensive ordeal at our old house with snaking a line, we decided to do this one ourselves.
We had enough buckets and controlled the back flow enough to keep things relatively clean. When the back flow subsided, we snaked the line and things seemed ok.
A couple of days later I noticed the cap appearing wet again.
Fast forward to today and our neighbor (of our twin) is calling a plumber.
Apparently his side was backed up. Apparently both our sides join and flow into the street sewer as one. Apparently this happened 5 or so years ago. Apparently there’s no clean-out on his side or between the building and the street. The plumber had to use the same clean-out we used in our own basement. He ran 138′ to the street with his snake. The clog is clear.
But he wasn’t or couldn’t be as neat as we were.
For those that don’t know, we have a dirt floor area of our basement. It’s conveniently located under and behind the clean-out. All the grey water poured out and soaked into this dirt. It was nasty. It smelled up the entire basement and first floor of the house. The plumber’s only recommendation was to get a bottle of Simple Green and pour it over top. I got the biggest bottle they sold. It sort of worked, or our noses just stopped smelling the sewer smell.
To make sure this never happens again looks like we’ll be getting an annual plumber service contract. The plumber said they’d come out and snake the line as part of the contract every year. Without a backup, there’s no back flow, so they’d be able to safely snake the line without all the back flow.
We’ll see.
We could also remind ourselves to rent the industrial snake at Home Depot every year and do it ourselves…
– b
As part of the lead paint remediation plan, I replaced most of the basement stairs.
All the grey that you see was lead paint.
I removed all the treads, risers and the turning base and replaced it with new wood.
In addition I shored up the bottom.
Only paint left is on one of the stringers, which we’ll eventually encapsulate. For now it’s fine because nothing really comes in contact with it and the paint is not in a flaky state.
The treads are just 3/4″ plywood now and you’ll notice there are no risers. Once the entire basement project is completed, I’ll use actual tread and riser boards.
#140yearoldhouse
– b
It’s not the best angle for the picture, but the neoprene thingies on the handlebars are called pogies. They’re popular for kayakers, snowmobilers, and winter cyclists. I had originally gotten them for Abigail if she considered riding her dirt bike in the cold, but that never materialized. Instead I’m using them commuting here in Boston, and they’re awesome.
I’d say they add a single level of glove thickness to the temps – meaning I can wear the gloves one level lighter than I normally would for the temperature it is outside. This is good, because the thicker your gloves get the harder it is to do things like use the breaks. It’s also nice, because generally my hands are the first things to get cold.
Next up for winter commuting is studded tires. I have a set, but haven’t put them on. It hasn’t been entirely necessary, but there’s been enough days that I would have felt a whole lot better knowing I was scratching studs across slick surfaces.
Not to mention my commute is going to nearly double in 3 weeks time, when we finally move to the new office downtown. I’ll need all the protection and comfort I can muster for that duration
– b
We survived another holiday and in a new home.
Turned out pretty well for everyone I think.
The girls got a trampoline.
Definitely a great way to burn off some energy and strengthen yourself for an hour.
I managed to get out and climb some ice, which was great considering I missed all of last year.
Looking forward to the end of the month when I go again.
In addition to ice, I also got out mt. biking a number of times. Unfortunately my 12 year old suspension fork gave out and I’m back to rigid,
which isn’t terrible for the trails I’m riding. In general, as I’ve slowly made my way back into mt. biking, I’m finding the bike as a whole is severely outdated. The fork for instance, can’t be rebuilt and isn’t easily replaced. The technology just around the head tubes (the steering column so to speak) has changed so much, they don’t really make forks that fit my old bikes. You may have also seen more of what they call “fat bikes” in your area. Fat bikes have 5″ wide tires. They were originally designed for snow or sand riding, but more and more people are riding them in general for the stability and traction the wider tires provide. Can’t say I’ll go as far as a fat bike upgrade, but I am considering similar options.
– b