Not Abandoned!

You thought I abandoned this, didn't you? C'mon, you can admit it. You thought it.

Well, I didn't. I've just been so busy with work I didn't have time to think about anything else.

But, I'm back now!

And I will be posting over the next little bit about everything that's been going on. Kitty troubles, pictures of the new building I have been working on, progress on my home theater...lots of stuff.

For now, let me give y'all the Readers Digest version:

We had some troubles with our kitteh famileh. Some members were not behaving themselves, and many changes have been made to accommodate them.

The building project I talked about in June is finally open and running. There are still a few minor issues to work out, but all-in-all it is working well. Pictures of the new datacenter are forthcoming.

We demoed our basement (with the help of my folks, thanks guys!) in preparation for rebuilding. One of the spaces planned, as you know, is for a home theater. There is also a space for my office, a rethink of the current laundry area, a new bathroom and possibly a second guest area. This is the eleventh iteration of the plan, so far. We'll see how much money we can scrape together as the project goes along. New plans will also be forthcoming.

It feels good to be writing again. It feels like everything in my personal life was put on hold for the last few months, while I devoted all my waking brain cycles to work. Sometimes it's just what has to be done, however I'm glad to be on THIS side of it for sure!

So, TTFN and I will continue gathering images and such to post in the next little bit.

--Sundown, Out.

And So, It Begins...

Well, I've been thinking about it for years, been planning for months, and now progress has begun on my most ambitious project to date. The building of my home theater!

During our recent house-purchasing adventure, one of the criteria in selecting a suitable domicile was that it have room somewhere that could be converted to a theater. This house had ample room in the basement, and it wasn't being utilized very well as it was. So ESM and I decided that was an opportunity to remodel the whole basement space into something that worked better overall.

I have been in the planning stages since we moved in, and have done several plans, some of which I have shared here. We have more-or-less decided on a design, after a dozen or so iterations. Follow the link to my Picasa album I have dedicated to the basement remodel, including my theater. I have a copy of the current plan there.

Yesterday, we began demolition of the old basement space in preparation for the remodel. We demoed about a third of the basement walls in about six hours. Not too bad for just the two of us. The furring walls are still up, but they are coming down next. I am planning to build/rebuild furring walls all the way around the outside of the basement and insulate them. Right now only part of the walls are built, the rest of the basement is the bare concrete foundation walls.

When I am all done, the plan is for a 13.5' by 10.5' theater room with a 95" by 40" Cinemascope-aspect (2.35/1), acoustically transparent screen with the front speakers in a small space behind it. I have the projector picked out, unless something better comes along between now and when I buy it! *grin* I will be using a Panasonic PT-AE4000U 1080p LCD projector. It has all the features I want, including an innovative lens zoom memory function which allows the unit to detect Cinemascope aspect media and zoom out to fill the full screen. Very cool device.

I will keep up with my progress here, and I will also be starting a post on avsforum.com to keep up as well.

EDIT: I somehow forgot the best story from the demo! I think I was distracted by helping ESM with Mr. Hubbard and his various maladies.

Before continuing, and given the current nanny-state country we seem to live in, I feel I must warn you. This story is not suitable for younger viewers, those with heart conditions, weak stomachs, or anyone who is easily upset by general weirdness. May also be NSFW. YMMV. Burma Shave.

Still here? Read on!

Part of the demo included taking down a thirty-someodd-year-old fiberboard tile ceiling. You know, like the ones in everyone's grandma's basement. Of course, when those were put up, they interlocked together and were then stapled up to supports on the joists. Makes them a pretty sturdy ceiling.

So here I am, up on the step-ladder pulling down these tiles. As I took down two in one corner, I noticed something laying up in the ceiling. When I reached in and pulled it out, I found I had discovered someone's "special" hiding place. It was a hardcore porn mag with a copyright date of 1978. Now, this was NOT Playboy, or Penthouse, or even Hustler. This was one of those you had to send away for from the back of certain magazines and came mailed in a plain brown envelope. The price on the cover read $7.50, which would be about $25 today!

ESM and I had quite a good laugh about our "find," briefly discussed various habits of teenage boys, both then and now, then started back to work. As I pulled down on the next set of ceiling tiles, something large and rather heavy fell out, hit me on the head and tumbled to the floor! I uttered several loud obscenities as I caught myself so I didn't fall off the step-ladder. When I looked down, it was a brown paper bag which had ripped partially open on landing on the concrete.

Y'all can see where this is going, can't ya...

It was a bag full of, shall we say, "used marital aids"...both male and female versions, along with other bits of pleasure paraphernalia. We were both glad we were wearing gloves, masks and safety glasses at that point!

Well, I guess we now know what THAT room was for! We did take a couple of digital pics, to document the moment for posterity. There was also some discussion of putting them back in the ceiling when we finished the space, as a sort of time-capsule for the next generation. However, the thought of storing such items, especially in a used state, for any length of time made us both oogy-feeling. So, we ultimately decided to get rid of them and press on.

It was lucky I was not seriously hurt, as I'm not sure how exactly I would have worded the "Cause of Injury" part of the accident claim form for insurance. "Hit in the head by falling dildos," just doesn't seem like something they would pay out for.

-- Sundown, Out

Game Night a Success, But With a Casualty

We had our first game night in the new house last night, and it was a rousing success. We started small, it was just a couple of friends this time. But I think everyone had a good time. There were plenty of snacks, sugary and adult beverages, and pizza to keep us fueled and functioning.

We played "Life" first...one of my favorites. But the version our friend brought is from the mid-nineties. In the early nineties, MB changed the game significantly, making it more "PC". I'm not a big fan of the new Life, I like the old rule set better. The old one has more "penalty" spaces, the stock market is a little more like gambling, and I am personally a fan of the convertables for cars rather than the more eighties minivans. I have a vintage late seventies copy of the game floating around, but could not find it after the move. I suspect it either ended up with my parents at their house, or is packed in some obscure box somewhere. I will have to find it. My ESM ended up being the Millionaire and winning. Good job sweetie!

After Life, we took a turn away from board games and played "Uno." One of our friends is an old hand at Uno, having played it a ton with his family growing up. Our other friend had only played Uno once, and that had been some time ago. ESM and I have played some. However, playing two player is much different, and much less fun, than playing four player. We decided to follow the rules exactly, since we had someone unfamiliar with the game. The rules in our version say to play until someone ends up with 500 points. That takes a LOOOOONG time if you're not hoarding Wild+4 cards to screw your friends with! We played for several hours and decided to call it after someone reached 350. Our friend who had not played Uno much, ended up winning by a 100 point margin!

After that we took a break and our friends asked about the plans for my home theater. So we began discussing that for a bit, and I went down in the basement with them to show them where we were at. As we were down there looking at the space, I opened a door we normally keep closed to one of the unfinished storage spaces. Of course when I did, I immediately had kittehs wanting to see in that room! So, I let them wander around in there for a bit while we were talking. When we finished, I had my friend help me empty the kittehs from the room and I shut the door.

Our friends then left, as it was getting late, and ESM and I headed up to bed. We got up this morning and headed down to feed "The Horde" their wet food. Normally as ESM is preparing it, she naturally draws quite a crowd of kittehs wanting their food. However, Rocky was mysteriously absent. I was upstairs in my office and I began to hear ESM calling for Rocky and not getting a response. This gets my attention!

So, I hot-footed it downstairs, and ESM says, with a touch of panic in her voice, that she can't find Rocky, but she can hear him! We listen for a second, and I hear him cry, faintly. Y'all can see where this is going, can't ya? I went tearing down the stairs to the basement and found him, locked in the storage space! How he got in there without me seeing him, I have no clue! But the space is a bit dim, and he is perfectly camouflaged in dark spaces. He must have slipped past me when I wasn't looking.

I am now feeling less than an inch tall, apologizing profusely to Rocky and ESM about locking him up accidentally. Luckily, he is none the worse for wear. He immediately came and ate his wet food, ran back downstairs and went to the litter box (shows you his priorities!) and then had a nice long drink. Sorry Rock-star!

We decided we'll open the door and leave it open for now, so that doesn't happen again. The sump for the basement is in that room though, and I really didn't want them getting in there. So, we have some kitteh-proofing to do first. Stay tuned!

--Sundown, Out