Geek cool Dr. Jamie complained I never update this blog. Which is true, but today someone suggested I blog an event that happened so... here it goes:

My daughter was recently taking ice-skating lessons, and at the mall with the ice rink there is a Games Workshop store. We were walking by and Alice wanted to go in and check it out. If you aren't familiar, Games Workshop makes miniature doodz to fight with. That is to say they craft 32mm scale sci-fi and fantasy figures that come with rule books to recreate sci-fi and fantasy battles (in miniature). Anyway, while we were walking through the store Alice started asking me questions and the reaction from the dorks doing table-top battles was great:

A: What are those boys doing!?
M: They are playing with their miniatures.
A: Why are they playing with their m- misatu- ... why are they playing with their little toys?
M: Some boys like to play with their little toys honey. [Glares from assembled dorks]
A: What are they going to play?
M: Well it looks like they are going to have them fight. [Rolling eyes from dorks]
A: What are these dices for? [picks up a d6]
M: Dice. They are to see who wins the fights.
A: Oh. I hope this horsey wins. [reaches for Bretonnian Knight]
M: Me too honey, but don't touch their toys.
A: But it's pretty.
M: Oh yes honey it's a very pretty horsey, but that boy is playing with it right now. [said dork nervously eyes child near his knights, presumably afraid she might mess up his formation. Actually at this point everyone in the shop is staring at us, and I get the uneasy sense that I don't belong.]
A: [to another dork, while pointing]. Hey, I like your dragon!
M: Actually honey that's a Wyvern. [Everyone immediately returned to their games, the non-dork had outed himself as one of their own.]
Dork: Thanks. I painted it.
A: Oooooh it is very pretty. Can I pet it?
Dork: [nervously.] Sure.
M: Be careful honey they are delicate.

We looked around for a Griffin but not finding one we left the store. In the interest of full-disclosure, I'm a huge dork (both quantitatively and qualitatively) and I even used to play with miniatures as well, but not in the last ... five years or so.

Labels: dork

  ¶ 09:53 1 comments links to this post

  This one is for Aunt Debbie A direct link to our public gallery:

HERE  ¶ 14:47 0 comments links to this post

  Wine at Face Value: Mallow Run Chambourcin Wine at Face Value: Mallow Run Chambourcin

My Wife has started her own blog. It is a blog of the various wine's we try and her facial (non-)expressions after tasting each wine. I think it will be a fun way to track our wine consumption and track which ones we like.  ¶ 17:25 1 comments links to this post

  It's a Boy!

Rhys Thomas Harden was born at 3:43AM on Friday June 29th. He weighed eight pounds and fifteen ounces and was 21 inches long. And he's my baby boy! He had been scheduled to be born on Sunday morning at 6AM, but he came to us early. The last couple of days have had me running all over the place, grandmas have come to visit, and Alice has been ferried back and forth from the hospital a few times. She really loves her new baby brother and likes to hold and touch him. Mary is doing fine, her pain is way down and she is up and walking around and everything now. If things keep going well then they'll come home on Monday! There are more photos in my picasaweb album.  ¶ 20:59 3 comments links to this post

  Handy Man The title of this port refers of course to my recent forays into the use of tools to repair and install things; not, as you might have first thought, to my nickname at highway rest stop bathrooms. Recently I made the switch from Cable to DSL for my broadband internet. This move was motivated by the $30 difference between cable internet and DSL, although I get about a 10th the downstream and half the upstream that I used to have. The other problem I had is that not one phone jack in my house worked after the AT&T technician activated the box on the outside of my house. I called AT&T, and they told me they'd be happy to install a jack for me, for only $250. That's what I call motivation. A new Lowe's opened up the road from me so I decided to tackle it myself. Some of these tools and supplies I already had, and some of them I bought.

Tools and Supplies:
Cordless Drill (Ryobi 12V)
3/8" Installers bit (It's like a foot long)
1/2" Spade bit
Tape Measure
Phillips Screwdriver
Stud Finder
Keyhole (drywall) Saw
Spool of 6-wire phone cable
Flashlight
Dowel Rods
Wood Glue
Low-Voltage interior wiring box
Phone-jack wall plate

I cut and stripped one end of the cable and wired up the tip and ring
wires for line one (red and green) and two (Black and yellow) to my
phone box (although I'll only be using line one). I ran the wire to a
whole int he foundation where the AC piping runs and fed it into the
crawlspace. I found two studs between which I wanted to mount my phone
jack and traced the wiring box on the wall. I drilled two holes in the
drywall on the topright and bottomleft corners of the box, then cute
out a rectangle with the keyhole saw. Then I Measured from the inside
and outside and determined where I should drill up to be inside the
wall of the computer room below the new hole. Mary tried to help from
upstairs while I drilled, I made two holes with no luck, through the
third I could see a spot of light. Mary determined this was in the
kitchen and I was poking out of the floorboard. Adjusted about a half
inch, and came up in the right spot and fed the wire to Mary. I used
doll rods and wood glue to plug the other holes I made just in case.
Back upstairs I stripped wires and wired up the jack and mounted it to
the box int he wall. hooked up a phone and had Dialtone. Huzzah for me
the wire runner.

But wait, that's not all. The Hatch on the back of my Prius has been stuck for a few weeks, it hasn't been a big deal so I was going to wait till my next oil change and have the guys look at it. But they told me they couldn't fix it, and I'd have to take it to the dealer and that it would cost hundreds of dollars. With my new found confidence after the DSL, I decided to DIY. Or DIM I guess. Anyway I had to take off about 6 panels in the back while I was wallowing over the folded down back seats. Then I was able to pry the latch open. I then could un-bolt the whole latch assembly, unplug it un-route wires and remove it. So under closer scrutiny I found a small thin metal wire like a ... maybe like a staple form a staple-gun, but it was about three inches long and had wrapped around the mechanisms that release the latch. After removing it, I still had to bend a piece that had gotten distorted by the stupid wire. And grease things up so that it all moved smoothly again. After putting it all back together I was pleasantly surprised that it worked. HA HA!  ¶ 19:32 1 comments links to this post

  Getting my Summer On It's summer now and there are things that are done in the summer.

First and foremost the due date for little Mr. Harden is July 1st, although he is quite big already so he might show up early. Anyway we are excited and are getting the house in order for everything. My Cousin Adam is moving to St. Louis for his residency and with his moving truck my Mom is sending all kinds of baby stuff including my crib. So that's all good.

Other big news is that I got a part in a short horror movie that is shooting here. It is just a 3 minute short bt a local guy, but I got the part of the killer by submitting this photo.

And the rest of my time is filled by computer calls with flurries of neuroscience.  ¶ 12:09 0 comments links to this post

  Over the top Today we saw some sites. One of them was this white horse on a hill next to an obelisk. All of this is very old, but I don't remember the names of the places. Clerbinshire or Derbiskville or some such. Anyway we walked to the top of this hill. It was a rough hike for me, but I made it, thanks to hiking class at USI. In any event here are some photos at the top.
  ¶ 17:40 0 comments links to this post