Umami Burger Culinary Heaven photo 32110 666 0 right Matt Woody Woodson enjoying his Umani Burger photo Although I ve never attended a a href http www houstonburgerclub com 2010 06 umami burger los angeles ca Fellowship of the Bun a meeting I have been keeping close tabs on the group and would like to share my experience of an absolutely fantastic burger I found in Los Angeles The name of the restaurant is Umami and although I believe the original is somewhere on La Brea I dined at the newer location on Hollywood Blvd in the southeast part of Los Feliz near Silverlake Hands down this is perhaps one of the most delectable burgers I have ever tasted Starting with the bun the bread is lightly toasted and has just the right amount of fluff to it Best I can guess it is a semi sweet type of bread and maintains its consistency throughout the entire meal All burgers in the restaurant are prepared medium rare and in light of this I can only assume part of their perfect taste is an extremely high grade of beef The burger is incredibly juicy but somehow not at all greasy It is topped with cheese sun dried tomato caramelized onions and a light homemade sauce From start to finish this burger is perfect Although side items are sold a la carte the sweet potato fries only add to this all around perfect meal They are lightly salted and from what I can tell also have a hint of brown sugar and or cinnamon added I m not a huge fan of the restaurant itself It has a very LA ish vibe and by that it is trendy overly pretentious and a bit pricey But if you can set that aside the burger will not disappoint Expect to pay about 16 00 18 00 for the burger fries drink tax and tip

2nd Debate Challenge to Dawnna Dukes Last week I a href http www ludlow2014 com blog 509 challenging dawnna dukes to a local debate created a video a challenging my opponent 19 year incumbent Dawnna Dukes to a debate I posted the video to her Facebook and Twitter accounts and also sent her campaign a personal email with the request One week later and I still have yet to receive a response I did discover that I ve been blocked from her Facebook wall This seems a little unfair given that she em is em my current State Representative and I ve only contacted her three times throughout the entire campaigning process But then again it seems she is intent to ignore any competition In this second video I focus on HB359 a bill which ultimately authorizes school districts to use corporal punishment on students unless a parent or legal guardian opts the child out in writing Much to my surprise a href http votesmart org bill 13234 36569 5448 corporal punishment in public schools VBP9SefvV9k Ms Dukes voted in favor of the bill a a position I most certainly a href http www ludlow2014 com compare do not agree with a I also illustrate once again how the the Democrats have been attacking Attorney General Greg Abbott for turning down a debate with Wendy Davis Will Hailer executive director for the Democratic Party of Texas went so far as to say Attorney General Greg Abbott is a coward he and his team have a fundamental disrespect for Texans and he is unwilling to have his ideas questioned by the press and everyday voters I hope he feels the same way about members of his own party being unwilling to debate their opponents If you can spare five minutes of your day please encourage a href https www facebook com dawnna dukes2 Ms Dukes and her campaign team a to take me up on my offer I believe the citizens of Texas House District 46 deserve to hear new political ideas iframe width 520 height 293 src www youtube com embed vC61bV1YnFc frameborder 0 allowfullscreen iframe

Hank on the Treadmill I was at Dreux s house earlier today and saw the most amazing thing his Boston Terrier Hank actually enjoys walking on their treadmill It was one of the funnier things I ve seen Anyway I shot some video of him doing it and stitched together a little movie iframe width 519 height 294 src http www youtube com embed Cs0 PctZ2Uw frameborder 0 allowfullscreen iframe

Advertising for Ron Paul We used to always write on one another s cars in high school with shoe polish and so I figured it would be just as useful for an election iframe width 420 height 315 src http www youtube com embed pux8rvhz8ts frameborder 0 allowfullscreen iframe

Jason Kujda Banana Skier This one pretty much speaks for itself iframe width 420 height 315 src http www youtube com embed DG9ZsJJ_Bcg frameborder 0 allowfullscreen iframe

Canada to US Border Crossing photo 252021 740 200 right photo After visiting my friend Marciano in Montreal this evening Caroline and I headed south on CA15 US IH 87 towards the American border I ve been hearing more and more stories about how frustrating and un American this process has been getting and so it was interesting to experience it for myself I d been telling Caroline for weeks that she was certainly free to say anything that she felt comfortable saying but that I simply had no intention of answering questions regarding my life in the United States Simply meaning that I wasn t trying to sway her to my way of thinking but that I also had no real intention of altering my principles either We crossed around 9 40pm and the border was completely empty We pulled up and handed Agent Goodine our passports He started to ask a series of questions none of which were particularly relevant to anything Caroline was driving our rental car and did most of the talking We declared a bottle of whiskey we d just purchased at the duty free shop and told him we had nothing else Eventually he asked me where I was born to which I responded Am I required to provide that to you with that information He acted a little surprised though I doubt he really was His initial response to me was that no I didn t have to answer and instead could just go inside the booth so they could work it out After some quick jabbing back and forth I laughed and told him I was originally from New Jersey He had a good sense of humor up until this point and asked me why I was ashamed to be from New Jersey But shortly after this he opted to look in our trunk I wasn t sure what the law was on this and thus didn t try to argue it though I am somewhat regretful about that in hindsight I should have at least questioned the legality of it I was put off by his statement that he was going to search it rather than asking us if he could search it Towards the tail end of his snooping he did start asking some other questions to which we weren t answering I think Caroline probably wasn t answering him because the questions didn t really make sense but he took the lack of response to heart He gave us a brief spiel about how in the past thousand cars he had seen nobody had problems responding to his questions so he naturally found suspicion with us that we didn t have good answers to his questions He then started directing more questions specifically at me One of the questions was why we had three new boxes of Converse shoes in the back seat Caroline explained they were a gift though he seemed reluctant to believe this I didn t say a word about it but Marciano is the VP of Marketing for Converse Obviously I could have provided this as the simple answer but the fact remains that it s none of the government s business He asked why we were having such trouble providing him with simple answers Sensing that he was about to detain us and that Caroline was not going to be happy with that outcome I told him our collective lack of response was likely my fault and that I just didn t believe in answering these types of questions When he asked me why I felt this way I told him it was because I had libertarian values and I didn t feel I should be questioned to enter the United States as an American at least Comically he said he didn t know what being a libertarian meant He said something to the effect of does that mean supporting liberty Because I served in the armed forces to protect liberty Since my intent was not to inflame the situation but rather to avoid answering ridiculous questions for entrance back into my own country where I am a natural legal and tax paying citizen I mostly just sat quiet from this point on He did give us a brief lecture about how he didn t know us and if we refused to answer questions then how was he to know that we didn t have drugs or weapons with us I again sat silently After he finished this 30 45 second lecture he concluded with but I don t believe you pose any threat so you can go on He handed us our passports and off we went I guess a welcome home is not how the system works anymore I guess we can chalk that up to the terrorists too The entire experience was just a big show and definitely confirmed what I already had read about I believe very sincerely that the whole thing is just a conditioning experience It s brutish intimidation aimed at forcing people to comply with American authorities at the expense of their basic American and human liberties I know there are a lot of people who tell me that my reluctance to be openly complicit with American agents is unnecessary but I hope those people are able to understand that no type of abuse wanes with complacency As we drove off Caroline told me that she was actually surprised I didn t argue with the guy more She said she didn t think I had said much at all which was honestly my only intention In hindsight I do wish I had discussed the notion of liberty a bit more with him but I truly wasn t trying to get on a high horse about politics only to exercise my rights within the law Perhaps next time across I will be a bit more direct about that

Old Air Conditioner Removed I really don t know exactly how this very primitive looking A C unit worked or IF it worked for that matter but it had to go The only real convenience it offered was a relay switch near the steering wheel for powering it on and off The downside is that it s 30 years old and doesn t really do anything Admittedly the fan does work but I m not sure it pumps out cold air Additionally and because it s been half assedly connected to the front alternator it s a huge drain on the electrical system photo 258408 258221 0 center A photo of the old A C photo br style clear both This old A C consists of 2 condenser units connected to sewer grade PVC pipes Each unit has a Freon tube that pumps into it and small fans that push the air out into the PVC The PVC is then routed into a tube that runs the length of the bus and evidently is supposed to push the air Presumably the air towards the back would be much stronger than the front but I never really tested it that thoroughly photo 258403 258221 0 center The Freon tubes connected to the unit photo br style clear both I wasn t really sure how to deal with these things I tried unhinging them but they had just been set for too long and wouldn t budge Finally I just wound up cutting through the lines I was terrified for a second as a pressurized gas leaked out but it was just for a second and whatever pressure was left was entirely drained photo 258399 258221 0 center The wiring harness of one of the units photo br style clear both I also had to go in and cut and cap all of the wires I figured that they re on a relay from the front so may as well keep them until I am certain they re not useful I also kept the condenser tubes in place so that I have the ability to hook them up to a new A C unit And finally a last look photo 258400 258221 0 center MUCH cleaner looking without that old A C unit in the back It s a little harder to see but we also finished removing and wire capping all of the light boxes that had been on the ceiling photo

Removing Coolant Hoses As a non mechanic there has definitely been some interesting learning here Basically I ve learned that the way most buses work is that they run long insulated automotive tubing from the engine towards the back of the bus Some of these hoses contain circulate coolant for heating the bus the others carry air conditioner from the compressor in the back to the front Well since we re modifying the bus none of this is necessary The old A C compressor is huge heavy and unnecessary I basically spent the entirety of my bus working day removing all of these old tubes and wires photo 258474 258221 0 center This is what the mess looks like from the back You can see the A C box towards the right photo photo 258475 258221 0 center This was the fan in the center of the bus that I removed last week Little did I know at the time that one of the hoses connected to it contained coolant Fortunately the bus had been off photo photo 258485 258221 0 center Just a side view of the bus at sunset photo br style clear both You can actually see the tubes hanging out the bottom on that last photo In all I m guessing I removed about 140 feet worth of tubing and probably more than 1 000 feet of wiring The only thing left to remove is the A C unit itself I m going to have a welder create a custom box there to house the generator a lockable cage of course

Pearl Jam Set List Reunion Arena Another bad ass set list from Pearl Jam I had the pleasure of enjoying this one with my friends Victor Perez and Michael Laidlaw We drove from Houston to Dallas for it Sometimes Last Exit Brain Of J Hail Hail Given To Fly In Hiding Corduroy Interstellar Overdrive Go MFC Wishlist Rearviewmirror Pilate Alive Spin The Black Circle Off He Goes Even Flow Mother Monkey Gone to Heaven Daughter Mankind Do The Evolution Encore 1 Jeremy Immortality Better Man Save it for Later Sonic Reducer

Removing the Internal A C Compressor After spending a few days in Kansas City it was nice to get home on a weekend and put a little time into the bus I started working on building out the interior when my neighbor Danny stopped by to help me out He had taken out the radiator for me while I was out of town and wanted to know if we could work on the engine some more Since I d spent about 3 hours trying to figure out how to trace the contours of the roof onto wood quite the challenge I thought it would be nice to have a little change of pace Since I had already removed the rear air conditioner from the vehicle we went ahead and removed the front cabin a c compressor just to make more room under the hood This in turn allowed us to cut a handful of hoses out of the equation as well Removing the compressor was a little tricky I first had to remove a few steel plates that protect it Unfortunately in order to do that I had to first remove the radiator fan Once all of that was out there were four bolts on the underbelly of the compressor One of them was particularly difficult to reach but I eventually managed We re going to remove the front air conditioning condenser next just to entirely clear up the front of the van photo 261249 258221 0 center A look at the engine after removing the air conditioner compressor photo photo 261253 258221 0 center The old radiator and passenger air conditioner compressor photo br style clear both Once we finished up and I got back to working on the internals of the bus I went ahead and installed the first wall and the first row of seats without padding of course It s starting to take shape photo 261251 258221 0 center The first wall and the first bench installed photo