Workbench of a Madman

2012-06-25 22.26.35, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

It has been a whirlwind summer so far. The wife and kids left for Germany even before school was out-- but no rest for the wicked, as days later, I was off to Las Vegas for a work-related convention.

(Highly amusing (to me, anyway!) photos of me with pretty waitresses in Las Vegas removed as they were showing up in Google image search for my site! Oh well. All those pictures were e-mailed to my wife to irritate her! ;-) )

Oh yeah, I visited the Hoover Dam, as well. Anyway, all of that meant I had absolutely no down time. I got back home and managed to rest three days before I was off to the real thing, meeting the family in Germany for the in-law's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. We did that, had a BBQ, had Thai friends cook a Thai feast, had my daughter's 13th birthday, visited two different castles, and topped it all off by spending a few days in Switzerland.

Switzerland was alright-- well, actually, it may be the most beautiful place I have visited on this Earth, right up there with Paris and Gilley's. It was incredible.

Anyway, back home, with a seven hour layover in Newark which puts me at home at almost 11:00 PM-- thanks to Mik for the late night ride home. As I unpack, the weight of my clothes pulls a wire shelf in my laundry room out of the friggin' sheet rock. There are quarter sized holes in the sheet rock where the rinky dink little plastic sheet rock fasteners have pulled through. Grrrrr. So, for the next two weeks, outside of my normal work days, I spend all my time patching that up and remounting the shelf IN ADDITION to my previously scheduled chore of replacing all the screen on our patio and restaining our deck. OH MY GOD am I tired of it all.

Anyway, in my unjustly limited spare time without my family, I did manage to get a little productivity, though.

The Mines of Moria fellowship were about half completed before this all started, and I got them done. A 40mm skirmish project was bandied about the gaming club before being dropped, but it got me motivated to paint up some of my Sash and Saber FIW British line. I'm very pleased with these figures!! Better pictures will come later. And, as I can't even relax in my down time, I started finishing the four 15mm Stugs that have been sitting on my painting table for six months, as I am taking figures to Historicon for Dave Maupin to run S-143, “Tough ‘Ombres” – Piquet Field of Battle WW2 October 1944, Saturday at 9:00 AM:

S-143 “Tough ‘Ombres” – Piquet Field of Battle WW2 October 1944
WWII: 9 AM: Length: 3: Hosted by: David Maupin: Scale: 15mm: Rules: Field of Battle WW2: No. of Players: 6.
The US 90th Infantry Division has been racing across France at a breakneck pace. Your regimental scouts report the Germans have decided to make a stand a few miles in front of you, but you can’t let the enemy slow you down. Somebody needs to end this war. Learn Piquet’s Field of Battle WW2 rules and the friction and chaos they can cause. The scenario will be run multiple times as beginner workshops with plenty of time to start over or switch sides. Try it out!

Anyway, I'll post better pictures of all that later, as time allows...my family is getting back tomorrow night, AND I have a boy's weekend this weekend, and then it's the 4th of July, and I STILL am not actually done with the friggin' porch yet...

And, oh my god, it's so irritating-- after being in Germany, Google is stuck in German for me! I DON'T SPEAK GERMAN!!!!1!!11!!

Lots of fun, and lots of work. Lots and lots of stuff, non-stop. I need a vacation. Thank god Historicon is something like four hours closer this year...