Moby Dick

Bill and I keep coming across projects that we dub "White Whales." Here's the old walk in cooler that I had to demolish and it took about 2 weeks start to finish. fortunately the compressor and vent were salvageable and we'll install a new cooler in the basement. I am now a master of the sawzall!

Spaten

I love this shovel. We found it in the basement during the cleanup and it has proved to be the most useful tool in the shop. Brooms break, dustpans crack, but this champion keeps on scooping. Thank you shovel. I love you.

This is my shovel. There are many like it but this one is mine. My shovel is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my shovel is useless. Without my shovel I am useless.

Tatanka

This is all that remains of the kitchen grill hood. Its the ductwork for the exhaust. I stood atop a rickety ladder and using my new favorite tool, the reciprocating saw, cut thru the mother to set it free. It vibrated so hard, was so loud, and i was so scared with the process because the yellow rope holding it up so it wouldn't fall when i cut thru it, was right at neck level with me. When i finally cut thru it and got off the ladder i couldn't stop shaking for the next 5 minutes. But its done, and the dude who took out the grill hood for me is also a junk metal collector so he'll be back to take this behemoth out of the shop this weekend. As Bill puts it, use every part of the buffalo. mmmm, buffalo.

The Banquette!

So after reading about German engineering getting the banquettes to my bar I thought you might like to see a picture of one. I left my bag in the picture so you have a frame of reference as to how frickin huge they are. What i forgot to mention about the day of the great banquette move was that they are soooooo big that they did not fit through the door. We had to take out the front windows not only at my bar but at Barette to move them.

The Bane of my Existence

Behold the Grill Hood. Yes, the Way Station was once upon a time a Jamaican Restaurant and they left behind this giant 10 foot long grease filled grill hood for me to get rid of. Currently the banquettes are underneath it and in an attempt to not kill my customers when the fire suppression system accidently goes off i am trying to give it away for free on craigslist (you remove it, its all yours). So if you know anyone who would like a grill hood for their apartment, back yard or office, have them get in touch. Makes a great wedding gift!!!

German Engineering

So last Thursday was the big move. I bought the banquettes and benches from Barette on Vanderbilt and organized a team of ten to help move the furniture the 4 blocks to Way Station on Washington. Sadly, the banquettes were too big to fit in the van I hired. The solution, strap them to the roof of a VW Jetta that belonged to the owner of Barette. Imagine a Jetta with another Jetta strapped to its roof. That's basically what it looked like and suprisingly we were able to move all four banquettes without a hitch.

Behold the master plan for Way Station! Katie and Twain, both with architectural backgrounds were kind enough to put this together based on my chicken scratch design in exchange for a bottle of single malt whiskey.

I like the way they work. Let me break this down for you. To the left is the bar side. It is divided by a wall from the venue side where i have all of the beautiful furniture from Barette. The stage is that 1/4 circle near the top. Now the challenge is to see how close i can get the raw space as it is now to match this plan.