Ben, Ryan and David Gray

Up much earlier than usual on a Saturday. I was downstairs by 645am. Felt well rested. Why not?
Started coffee then played on my PC.
Headed out for a run near 830am. Mostly cloudy and near 45 degrees.
Ran 3 miles.
Mindy wasn’t up for a while.
We didn’t have anything planned during the day that I was aware of but we did have evening plans to join friends Ben & Ryan for the David Gray concert at the Palace Theatre.
Puttered around the house for most of the morning while Mindy did laundry and cleaned the house.
Near 11am I headed to the basement to knock out as much of the punch-out list that I could.
Of course the plumbing still needs addressed too, but I wasn’t ready to start that yet.
My first task was to add the nailer blocks to the stairwell just as Kurt suggested – 2’ on center.
The first one took the longest. I cut it a little too tight. IN hindsight I should’ve trimmed a little more off and found a way to hold it in place. Live and learn.
Installed six of those.
While I was busy with the punch-out work, Mindy headed off to the grocery store.
Next, I put in two studs Kurt recommended (again, he was very thorough).
The next task was cutting back the drywall on the existing stairwell wall 2 stud lengths to help solve for transition problem for the existing unplumb wall to the new plumb wall. That took an hour or so.
By then Mindy was home.
She shared that Ryan suggested we meet at their house near 6pm to have a few drinks before the show.
Only 230pm, I figured I might as well make some more progress in the basement
Ran the PEX plumbing lines after all.
Took far less than an hour to pull all the runs. Why not work on the stub outs?
I’ve been procrastinating the plumbing work only because I am a little intimidated since I’ve never installed PEX and push-on sharkbites before.
On the surface, not much to it, though the quality of the cuts and push-ons are everything. I was careful to cut at the premarked lines to help insure the proper depth.
Also a little tricky was mounting the sharkbite stubouts for functionality as well as not putting in unnecessary bind on any of the connectors.
Took maybe 90 minutes to get all the stubouts in. All that remains is cutting the feeds into the existing copper runs. That’ll be the true test.
Guessing it was near 445pm by the time I cleaned up my mess and headed upstairs for a snack and a shower.
By the time I was ready it was 530pm. We planned to headed out near 6pm. Before we left the house I packed a cooler with beer and Jack, and charged my phone and Canon S120.
Showed up at Ben & Ryan’s just after 6pm. Both Ben and Ryan’s moms were there, as was Ryan’s little sister, Victoria. They were just heading out for dinner.
Hopefully they weren’t bailing on our account.
Always good to hang with Ben & Ryan. Always something unique. This time was no exception. Ben went to the basement bar returning a few minutes later with a couple whisky sippin’ glasses with brown booze. Asked that I sip and enjoy then share what I thought it was.
Smelt like whisky or scotch. And it tasted the same. I guessed whisky then scotch. Nope. Ended up being Guatemalan rum. – Ron Zacapa Centenario. Good stuff!
After sipping my rum, I cracked a rocket of Gangster IPA from Hoppin’ Frog.
At the same time, Mindy and Ryan sipped wine. They put together some snacks of cheese and crackers too. Yum!
Checked out Ben’s latest retro stereo and then the new door Kenny installed in his garage. Nice!
Left for the David Gray show near 715pm. Ben drove.
Parked on level #2 in the Leveque parking garage which is just north of the Palace Theatre and very, very convenient.
Nice crowd – an older, more subdued crowd than, say, Edward Sharpe. 
After entry, I somehow got separated from the other three as we were making our way to the bars for drinks. I ended up standing in a rather long line at the bar just inside the door. Not sure that’s the best place for a bar – I mean right inside the door.
Kept an eye out for the others but no dice.
Two drink limit, so I got myself a Jack & Coke and Mindy a Merlot – both doubles at the prompting of the server. $24. Holy smoke! I headed in to find our seats thinking they might already be inside. Found our seats but not the others. Hmm? Slowly making my way back out to look harder, I happened upon them just coming in.
Soon at our seats – row “Q” seats 8, 10, 12 &14.
Warm-up act was David Kitt. Good. Played three or four songs, that’s it.
Pee break, 2nd drink break.
David Gray began near 820p, best guess.
Great show. Played for 2 hours. David Gray – a raspy, bluesy, Bob Dillon, Billy Joel, or Harry Chapin mix.
After the show, we headed north up Neil Avenue for Adriatico’s Pizza on campus. Had their pizza before but had never been to the venue. Thick, New York style pies. We waited for our pie outside the place. Ben bought two Cokes to mix with the two mini-bottle of Jack Daniels I brought along. Yum! Near midnight by the time we returned to Ben & Ryan’s home.
There we enjoyed the company, the Adriatico’s pizza, and another beer.
115am when we left for home. Where had the evening gone?
Off to bed almost immediately in the door.