Static Puddles

(originally written 020513. Supplemented on 021013)

*Why is it nobody saw fit to tell me about something like the Aquabats earlier? Instead, I gotta find about them by trolling thru Netflix at three in the morning. Not cool.

*So far, I have managed to replace one of three lighting fixtures without electrocuting myself. Hopefully I will keep that streak intact tomorrow.

*I hate Ebay. Or maybe I love it. I'm not sure. I do know that when a complete copy of Fireball Island or Dark Tower comes up for sale and starts out at $120+, I hate it. But, when I find a copy of Sea Command starting at $3, I love it. The fool who has the auto snipe set on the copy of Monsters Menace America I could just punch right in the neck.

*Gonna open up the Blue Moai Room on Thursday evening. Hopefully shenanigans of some sort will ensue.

*Mom had her cataract surgery today.

*I still have yet to give Bart the specs on the dice tower I want him to build for me. Of course, I would also like for him to make me a game table. Guess I need to start saving my pennies.

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*Got the closet light replaced with only a reasonable amount of swearing. The light on the kitchen fan I opted not to replace, which was the best solution for that. The light over the dining room table....just sucks. They put a switch box in the ceiling, which is half the size of a standard fixture box. That means that I can't tighten the fixture up to the ceiling with the hanging bolts. It also means that the crossbar doesn't fit right. I had to step away from that one before I tossed the whole mess out the door into the back yard. We'll see what happens with it later this week. And for alll the doubters out there: not a single electric shock was had by this amateur electrician.

*"Mercury"--This is the biography of Freddie Mercury. Given the subject matter, I had thought this would be a fascinating, or at the very least, an interesting, read. Unfortunately, the author's rather odd writing style managed to overcome my enthusiasm for the subject matter. I gave up on this one after barely making it through a third of the book.

*The folks leave for their cruise to Hawaii on the 15th. Still have no reasonable plans on how I can stow away on their ship. (Or is it considered a boat? I can never remember...)

*Still not sure why it is that I am unable to convince the other person living in my house that a 40 blood sugar is a bad thing. But, the blackout she had Saturday morning might help to drive that point home.

*Asylum from Left Coast Brewing is giving Matilda from Goose Island Brewing a challenge for the top spot on my "Favorite Belgian Style Beer" list. Also looking forward to trying the Wee Heavy from Alesmith in the near future.

*Bad weather and illness kept folks away from the last open evening at the Blue Moai room. And it looks like it'll be a couple of weeks before I can do it again. No problem, since that gives me more time to acquire some new games.

*My copy of Carrier Strike is almost ready to play! For the moment I gave up on the idea of painting the wings of the planes and the decks of the carriers. I just decided to use the stickers that were in the box. Maybe later, if those start to fall off, I could go after giving them all a custom paint job. Also managed to get all the superstructures glued onto the carriers. Right now, I've got books stacked on the game board trying to get it flattened out. After that, should be ready to go. Unless....I decide to dry brush all the numbers on the pilot skill chips so they're easier to see.

*Hopefully all that is currently wrong with Sheri's car will be the battery. All the other possibilities are quite a bit more expensive to deal with.

*Thinking about taking out the big wall mounted workbench in the indoor studio. That would give me easier access to the windows. If it were easier to get more natural light in there, it make it more conducive to me spending more time there. Plus, that workbench is mainly a crap catcher. Maybe I could just take a folding table out of the other room to put there instead. Might be able to put up some more shelving. I could also move my drafting table to in front of the windows. Probably have to move the track lighting as well. If nothing else, getting rid of it would make the layout of the room a little more flexible. And hopefully more condusive to art work. Regardless, the comfy couch stays.

*Mom's eye surgery went well. Said she could see improvement the same day. Have to give her a call tomorrow and see how she's doing.

*Got our first decent snowfall of the season a few days ago. Nothing like what hit the east coast, though. But today I woke up to pouring rain, so it's going away almost as fast as it arrived. But so far, there's enough still down to keep the dogs from coming in with muddy feet.

*"V/H/S"--Most of the scary movies on Netflix are direct-to-video pieces of crud. This one, oddly enough, wasn't. It was pretty creepy. They kinda went bananas with the hand held camera cinematography, but I liked it. I liked the way the sub-stories were all separate vignettes just embedded in the main plot. A couple of them would have made decent stand-alone stories. Anyway, if I were you, I'd definitely watch this one in the dark.

*Why is it that I have such a hard time getting rid of old magazines? I must have 5-6 years worth of Games magazine alone sitting on my bookshelf, just taking up space. So I decided to get rid of them. Or at least most of them. OK, I decided to keep part of all of them. So I'm going through all the issues and taking out all the traditional game reviews as well as the rules for new games. The part that's left over gets pitched. Or recycled, in this case. That will just leave me with Skeptic to deal with. And Tricycle. And Smithsonian. Then there's Scientific American. Probably Mental Floss too.

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