Working the Floor

               So when I was younger my Mother used to work for a small company. The company was run by a husband and wife who had a daughter just about my age. Every once in while while my mother would work, I would spend the day with her boss's daughter and we became great friends and a staple to each other's families.

     Fast forward several years after we went to separate schools and such:

             I get a call from my mother's old bosses (the Letti family). The Letti Family were changing their home office and wanted someone they trusted to help. Of course I said yes.

           When I show up they explain the situation a bit better which is that due to the use of certain chemicals the rug floor was no longer an option and they instead needed tile. I was there to move out the desks and cabinets, tear up the rug and post boards, re level the floor and lay the tile. Sounded fun to me so I got straight to work.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            The room wasn't too big but getting the stuff out was honestly harder because of that. I would have provided before and after photos of their actual office set up but I was not given permissions. Sorry guys.

                                                                                                                                           The rug cleaned up nicely. I slid a hook under the corner board and started the tedious task of carefully lifting the carpet. The Letti family wished to give the carpet to someone else so I had to avoid any potential tears.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Eventually Mr Letti came in to help keep the rug rolled while I taped it up. Same with the under liner pad. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The slow part was over. 

Now it was time for the post boards. These are really easy if you know what you are doing. The only tricky part is avoiding the small yet very sharp nails that cover these boards.

        In case you didn't guess, I used this opportunity to wear the Null Ridge pants in Kelp Khaki. They were light weight and comfortable. Their thinness does not provide terribly much protection, however their sturdiness and reliability was confirmed time and time again as I accidentally snagged the boards on myself.

   

 In these photos I am trying to capture the streaks on my pants left by nails and tools and such. It's hard to see with my phone camera, but even though I felt the nails occasionally stab and snag at me, the pants showed no wear. The only visible effect is the dirt of the nails clinging to the pants.

All in all another win for AidenOttis. 

P.s. The tiling and leveling portion was too busy for photos. It had started to get late and I really had no time; apologies.

Business Is Best Mixed With Pleasure

Warning Some Photos Feature Graffiti That Uses Crass Language

Recently I had a business meeting up in Washington D.C.. During that week I stayed with a friend of mine who lives in Maryland. Now prior to this trip I had been to the U.S. capitol only once so I thought the best part of this trip was going to be walking the National Mall and checking out the museums...boy was I wrong.

Though D.C. was amazing, and full of wondrous images and moments, the real place I was thankful to see was a forest in Maryland.

My friend and I were headed to an old abandoned mill when I realized that instead of driving a long and looping road, we could walk through the forest and reach the mill by following a major river.

This was definitely the right choice.

Because it was the turn of the season the weather was crisp and the leaves were changing colour. It was very refreshing considering down in Miami we don't have a winter and everything is an evergreen.

There were many small rivers that we had to cross. Unfortunately I have to admit I fell in one, on the bright side I learned that the material used for the Null Ridge pants dries really fast (unlike my shoes which were soggy for practically the rest of the day).

After about two hours we started to see remains of an old rail line. this is how we knew we were close to the mill. Turns out the Savage Mill used to be a cotton mill and was the main distributor for all local plantations. Now though the rails are not used and they have rusted away, forgotten.

  The mill was awesome.

Clearly we were not the first to arrive here and I really hope we are not the last. They made a mall out of the working quarters next to it so if you find yourself in the area it's called the Historic Savage Mill

Oh also there's a cool bridge.

Point is: I had a blast exploring the surrounding areas and my meeting went pretty well too. The Null Ridge pants may be my favourite item from AidenOttis so far.They breath really well, they have ample pocket space, the zippered pockets are a must have in my opinion and even though the cloth is sturdy and tear resistant, it's thin enough to dry off really quickly. Expect more testing of these pants specifically in the future.

Nature in the City

Even living in Miami, a rustling and bustling city, one can find themselves lost in nature. On this particular day my brother came down to visit and we decided to go to a 5+ acre public reserve hidden in the less urban part of Miami.

Beauty was all over, quickly however, we found ourselves exploring new heights; climbing trees for new vantage points and identifying plenty of plants and animals. We were mostly surrounded by Sycamores and Gumbo Limbos but we were graced by several Warblers, a Tropical Mockingbird and a rather large hive of bees making their home in a Red Bay tree.

AidenOttis coming along for the ride was definitely a good idea. I found myself cleaning my glasses several times with the microfiber lined pocket and those gear loops were perfect for clipping my first aid kit (can we also point out that the back pocket was the perfect size to fit it? Spacious pockets are great!).

Though the Riptide pants don’t breath too well, they really make up for it with the zipper conversion from pants to shorts. In this case however, I was thankful for the denser material. When you are in constant contact with rough bark and the occasional thorny Crataegus Crus-Galli, you prefer a material that will protect you and not tear.