A · Day · in · the · Life...

So, this is the first year that the family Thanksgiving is away from the old homestead. All during my growing up years, we held the holiday feast at my great-aunt Mabel's house in Painesville. That's where we sat watching the Star Trek marathon that Channel 43 played on Thanksgiving (because none of us cared about football), and it's where I learned to carve a turkey when my great0uncle Sam got grumpy and refused to carve. People said "Sam, just carve the turkey!" and I walked over, picked up the knife and, eventually, got the flesh off the carcass.
When my great-aunt went into assisted living, we held the dinner at he AL home once. It was nothing like the traditional family meal. The kitchen did a nice job, but it was an institutional kitchen and we shared the conference room with another family group, and everybody was sort of subdued. And we couldn't sit around the dinner table for hours drinking coffee and re-telling ancient family anecdotes, because someone else was scheduled to use the room at 6pm.
So the family gathering settled at my parents' house. We held it there the Thanksgiving after they passed away, and then I hosted at my grandmother's house last year. Since my brother moved into that house this fall (and is still unpacking boxes), there was a suggestion that we just hold the dinner at a restaurant somewhere, for simplicity's sake. I have to admit that all of the push-back on that idea came from me. So I volunteered to host. Hey, the house is mostly clean and I like to cook. :)
I'm a traditionalist. Yes, "We've always done it that way!" is a battlecry. And while I know that we won't always do it that way, there's nothing wrong with trying to keep some things similar. Sure, there are differences. First, SarahJo is going to be at my side this year. (And it's a big change for her - it's the first Thanksgiving since her grandmother, who hosted every year - passed away.) Second, it's in my new house. It's a little smaller than Exeter, without the same gracious sweep of windows and with a smaller dining room, but we'll manage.
So tonight I'm peeling carrots and rutabaga, toasting bread for stuffing, roasting chestnuts and parboiling brussel sprouts for the side dishes and getting the last of the drinkables (and some port wine for the gravy). I ahve to get the good dishes out of their travel packings, and all of the silver as well, and doubtless some of it will need to be polished. There are knives to be sharpened and linens to iron. I have to find the candlesticks, and candles to go into them. Family and guests will start to arrive at about 2pm, for a sit-down dinner at about 4pm, so my timetable is being carefully arranged. I want everything to hit the table at about the same time, hot and ready to go. And I think I can pull it off.
So, despite changes to the list of attendees, and a new location, and various new things and recipes, it is still the Pearce Family Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it went.

I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my job, my future and for everyone who helped me to achieve these things. Have a good holiday, folks.

So, today I begin my 43rd year. I've got to say that this year is looking pretty good. Good job, new house, lovely lady, solid plans... How did I get this lucky? This time last year, I wasn't foreseeing a lot of joy, but it happened anyway.

To all my friends who helped along the way, thank you. To my many friendly acquaintances who've been supportive, thank you too.

I got home after a crazy day at work, and SarahJo had made dinner and baked me a cake. We had dinner by candlelight and then I whipped up an oversized batch of sour-cream cake frosting (Elizabeth, you may turn away; Sunny, you can take a fistful of your Lact-Aid pills): 1 cup heavy whippping cream, 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup confectioner's sugar, dash of vanilla extract, dash of lemon juice. SarahJo kept apologizing that I had to frost my own cake, somehow ignoring the chortlings of glee and the surreptitious "quality control" sampling as the task progressed.

We watched John Ford's "The Quiet Man", which was a beautiful movie and ends with one of the biggest cross-country knock-down-drag-out fistfights in movie history. I highly reccomend it.

So, a good birthday.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

So, it's not the flu, just a nasty cold (like I get every fall, it seems), and Lady Ilsa was progressing in lock-step with me through the stages. This is a bit of a relief, since it means that the one "well" individual isn't shunning and cowering away from the "sickie", trying to avoid the contagion while knowing that they'll get it eventually. (And then railing about "you made me sick"...) So it was a fairly companionable weekend, with mutual resting on the sofa with hot tea with honey and brandy...

Certain chores actually got accomplished. The remaining impedimentia being stored in the neighbor's garage got moved into the basement, and exchanged "hello" gifts with the new neighbor. All the laundry got done. We did not manage to get the wireless internet connection working - something to do with USB ports on my computer acting up, far beyond my comprehension - and we watched a couple movies.

Tropic Thunder - I sort of expected it to be stupid, since I don't particularly like Ben Stiller, but it was really funny. I guess when you get a bunch of actors together to essentially make fun of actors, it unleashes something in them. If we take this as the 'anchor film' on a film festival trilogy with the theme "Movies about Movies", what would be the others?

Quantum of Solace - Kind of disappointing. I can see why it got bomby reviews. The title doesn't make sense, the pacing is wildly uneven, and all the action sequences are these frenetic, disjointed spectacles where the director and editor seem to want you to "experience the flurry of violent action" rather than really comprehend what's going on. (They felt like they were trying to "out-Bourne" the Jason bourne films.) And there were holes in the plot through wich you could drive a semi. Just how does A,B & C lead Bond to Q,L and V (in that order) and back to italy? I don't know and I don't think the screenwriters did either. It showed.

With the Floor Wars miniatures gaming convention coming up in 6 weeks (rather than 2 weeks as I'd previously believed) it looks like I'll have just enough time to prep the game I've wanted to run for a couple of years now - Venus and Back! - A Victorian Science-Fiction Odyssey.

I enjoy miniatures wargaming, though my own collection is pretty spotty - I got back into the hobby a couple years ago when Scott got interested in gaming the battles of the English Civil War, and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "If you help me paint my toy soldiers, I'll let you play with them." What grown man could resist? So we've played ECW on and off when time permits, even to the point of getting sick enough of the Warhammer ECW rules from Games Workshop for Scott to begin writing his own rules. I acquired forces and such to fight WWII infantry actions using the Crossfire rules, but I've kept looking back at an early fascination - Victorian Science Fiction.

Based on tales like John Carter, Warlord of Mars (by Edgar Rice Burroughs), VSF is clearly "planetary adventure" SF, with elements of the drawing room thrown in. For movie mashups, imagine Zulu, The Ghost and the Shadow, Star Wars and Pride and Prejudice all showing at the same theater. Good stuff. But how do you game it? I've always had a fondness for the roleplaying game "Space 1889" by Frank Chadwick, published in the mid-1980s and still occasionally available through a third- or fourth-party license since its original publisher's demise about a decade ago. The game's mechanical systems are awkward and irritating, but the back-story's a hoot: Thomas Edison invents an "ether propeller" to drive spaceships through the void and embarks on a proof-of-concept voyage to Mars in 1870. His return with proof of a Martian civilization sparks a scramble for the Solar System which plants Earth colonies on the four worlds of the Inner Solar System within a decade. It's European Imperialism on the Red Planet, with side-bar events going on on Venus and Mercury as well. Good times! The late 19th century has always been a period of interest to me, and warping it just ever so slightly by the addition of anti-gravity skyships, Martian potentates and the dinosaur-haunted swamps of Venus just makes it more fun.

More than two years ago, I bought a box of Games Workshop's "Skinks", light troops for their Warhammer Fantasy Reptile-man armies, thinking that they'd make good Venusian Lizardmen. I'd already won an eBay auction for several (discontinued) boxes of Space 1889 minis, enough to field a sizeable force of British regular infantry and somewhat smaller forces of Martians, but the "Sands of Mars" game will have to wait until I've acquired considerably more Martians - you need hordes of them to successfully threaten a force armed with stern British resolve and (more importantly) Martini-Henry bolt-action rifles. So I looked towards Venus.

I need to:

• Assemble, base and paint the 60 or so Lizardmen I have. This will be a great opportunity to test the "quick-paint" techniques I've been reading about.
  
• Base and paint the European civilians I have, to make up the scientific party that's part of the European force.
  
• Maybe paint up some of my British regulars in the grey-green of German colonial troopers, since the Germans are the preeminent Earth power on Venus. It would be fun to have German luftschiffemarinen as the European troops guading the scientists, but this is a low-priority item. If there isn't time, they'll be British red-coats.
  
• Assemble enough jungle/swamp terrain to stage a creditable board. I think this will involve fake fur as "swamp grass", as many cycad-like fern-trees as I can assemble, and a series of grassy islands laid out on a vinyl "groundcloth" that represents the swamp waters. I actually love making terrain.
  
• Get the rules pulled together, probably using the "Soldier's Companion" book from Space 1889, tweaked to suit my tastes.
  

From previous experience at Floor Wars, I should plan on 2 or 3 players, and I'd like a game to play to conclusion in about 2 hours. So some tweaking is required.

It's an ambitious plan, especially considering that in the 6 weeks before the con I'm also still unpacking from my recent move, fixing various appliances and engaging in general house repair. I'll keep you posted - hopefully with pictures...

We got a washer and dryer on Sunday, secondhand from a friend who's clearing out a house. They're in the basement and hooked up, though I'll need to acquire & install a belt to get the dryer fully functional.

The big project this weekend was getting the new telephone jack installed. The hard part was opening up the wall cavity to run the cables into the basement - the baseboard and the sill plate are each made of 90+-year-old yellow pine, hard as rock, and it took careful application of some fun tools (like my newly acquired 90-degree adapter for the power drill). Then I tied in the new line to the phone lines that were wreathed around the basement joists, re-arranging them and taking out egregious amounts of slack at the same time. It was a little nerve-wracking when I called up the stairs "I have just cut the main telephone line!", and very pleasing when I tested the outlet and got a dial tone. Next, DSL.

I'm really enjoying the feeling of capability - of knowing that you have the tools and the know-how to tackle projects that previously seemed too complex. I'm sure there are many people reading this journal who'll see this latest thing as small potatoes - no big thing. Fine - everyone develops their own capability at their own pace. But I'm pleased with this step.

Tonight - Troop 22 Court of Honor and potluck supper. My nephew Kirk is getting several merit badges from Summer Camp, and advancing to the next level in the troop! (The troop to which his father and I also belonged, lo these many many's ago!)

The bungalow that I've moved into was built sometime around 1919, and it shows. It was also hard-used in its earlier life and there are a lot of things about it that I'd really like to update and change. Now, clearly there are several limiting factors: time, money, available skill just to name a few. But that doesn't mean that I can't dream.

And make lists.

The first thing that absolutely needs doing is the installation of a new telephone jack and electrical outlet in the front room. SarahJo is making that her office, and it needs to be ready for her work computer by the end of the month. In a pinch, we can do without the outlet, since she'd only need a short extension cord, but the telephone outlet is a must. The actual wiring looks relatively straight-forward, but drilling around in the walls to run cable from the basement is a step up from what I've done before. I guess what I'm saying is, wish me luck. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject, and this, coupled with my established skill at plaster repair, gives me confidence.

I'm also getting DSL service, on the same time schedule. Installing a DSL modem and the adjunct software is something that I'll need to seek assistance with - and I'm willing to barter. Garb, mead, artwork - I've got a lot to offer.

The front rooms on the first floor will probably be the last to receive much attention, since they're pretty well put together. There's wood panelling that I think makes the rooms look dark & small - I'd like to tear it down and paint the walls, but that's purely cosmetic. The kitchen and the bathroom, on the other hand, are in need of serious work. Things work, they're just old, awkward, scruffy and inconvenient. The kitchen needs more lighting and outlets, new cabinets and countertops and a new floor. The floor's contiguous with the bathroom, so it should all be replaced at the same time. The ceiling was stained by a leaking roof some years ago and needs to be set to rights, and I'd love to install a built-in dishwasher rather than the roll-out my brother left for me. And a garbage disposal.

The Exeter kitchen had a lot more storage space, and I especially miss the loss of drawers. When I build the new cabinets, they'll only have drawers below counter-level - no cabinet doors. And since the house is more-or-less an Arts & Crafts-era bungalow, I'd like to keep the new kitchen in line with the feel of the style.

I'm not so good at taping drywall, especially overhead, so I'm contemplating a simple corbelled ceiling in the kitchen, with faux box beams framing dropped-in drywall panels (and concealing some additional insulation as well). I'm looking for visual notes on how that look fits the Arts & Crafts style... Hmmm.

The bathroom has a neat ball-foot cast-iron bathtub, which is a major bonus. Once I get a proper stopper, it will be the very place to lounge out in a hot tub in the winter.
And we won't even start on the second floor right now. Let's just sum it up in five words: "non-parallel kludge-built partition". Right.

So it should be a learning experience, and interesting to boot. Fun, if that's your idea of fun. Lucky for me, this sort of is...:D

So the Pearce Family House Swap ran into a roadblock a week or so ago when the appraiser who was evaluating my brother’s house came back with a ridiculous low-ball value and the bank wouldn’t make a loan for any more than that amount. (The six “comparable” houses in the neighborhood that he selected were all sheriff’s sales, and he reached pretty far afield to find them, ignoring more standard sales closer – but the bank said they couldn’t go beyond the “less than half what we’d agreed” price the appraiser set as “fair”.) So we went looking for another bank to do business with.

This was supposed to be my Moving Weekend, which was first delayed because the appraiser took 11 days to come back with his BS number, and then delayed again by the switch to the second lending institution. I’m glad of the delay for a couple reasons. SarahJo and I had been working pretty much non-stop to get my parents’ house ready for occupation by the first week in August, and five-six weeks of “every night, all day on weekends” work had worn us down. The thought of going from that completed project to emptying and cleaning my house in only two weeks was daunting. Doing it in three weeks was only slightly less daunting. So we got to spend a couple nights this week just slowing down and spending time together, rather than hitting the ground running each evening with a work list as long as your arm.

As it stands, the second banker feels we’ll be able to get the deal in place and completed “in less than a month”, IE, Move Day will be in two to three weeks. When things settle down afterwards (like, late September or early October), I’ve got a list of plans for the new house: there’s paneling in the living room and dining room that make the rooms look terribly small, and I feel I’m equal to the task of repairing any wall problems that might be hiding behind it. So, the paneling comes down, followed by wall repair and painting. The kitchen presents a series of long-term problems – it’s useable, but not pretty and the city has had a few things to say about the condition of the ceiling in there. (Luckily, if I assume the violations, I have 3 years from the date of sale to correct them – time enough to get some real remodeling done in there.) I’m looking at magazines to find nice examples of simple kitchens that fit the overall age and character of the house. (It was built in 1920? And it’s quite clearly a middle-class house – so nothing vastly glossy. Luckily, I have a taste for the Craftsman style of woodwork.)

I’d like to thank all the folks who’ve volunteered to help with the move, and further thank them for their patience while we get the details squared away. I hope you’ll all renew your offers when a date solidifies, and the offer of pizza, beer, and good karma goes double this time!

So, the Pearce Family House Shuffle is a definite Go, and Moving Day (plural, actually) is set.

I'm loading out from Stately Exeter Manor on Friday 14 August, and then loading into Parkdale House on Saturday 15 August. My plan is to spend the day on Friday carrying as much as I can with only SarahJo to assist during the day, and then in the evening, to tackle "2-man" objects like dressers when some friendly volunteer assistants arrive. Ideally, there will only be a couple hours of evening work required.

The next morning, I'll motor the 4.19 miles to Parkdale House and unload the furniture and boxes in reverse order, into the new house, after which any friendly volunteer assistants will be treated to the traditional pizza and beer, and the spectacle of my cats freaking out in their new home.

I know you're all away at Pennsic now but hopefully you'll see this post when you're home again, tanned, rested and ready. And you'll think, "Hey, I could use some pizza, beer, and good karma!"

Please.

Please...

Apparently Yahoo.com posted this list of films you "must" see before you die. Attached is the list, with the ones I've seen underlined. (64, if you're keeping count).

Which ones have you seen? Which ones do you think they missed? Which ones on the list baffled you? (Fast Times at Ridgemont High?)

12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
400 Blows (1959)
8 1/2 (1963)
The African Queen (1952)
Alien (1979)
All About Eve (1950)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Battle of Algiers (1967)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Blow Up (1966)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Breathless (1960)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Casablanca (1942)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Die Hard (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Duck Soup (1933)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
The French Connection (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Goldfinger (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Graduate (1967)
Grand Illusion (1938)
Groundhog Day (1993)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
In the Mood For Love (2001)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jaws (1975)
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Lord of the Rings (2001,2002,2003) (Technically three movies, but whatever)
M (1931)
M*A*S*H (1970)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Matrix (1999)
Modern Times (1936)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Network (1976)
Nosferatu (1922)
On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Paths of Glory (1958)
Princess Mononoke (1999)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)
Rashomon (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rocky (1976)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Searchers (1956)
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Star Wars (1977)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Third Man (1949)
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Titanic (1997)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Toy Story (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Vertigo (1958)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wings of Desire (1988)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Women On the Verge of Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The World of Apu (1959)