Silent cry is the worst...

The afternoon shift didn't show up, but we still managed to get the laundry room done today - in fact, the first test-load is complete. You gotta love a full laundry in the master closet. Sweet!

Now, where did I put all that Christmas tree stuff? hm, must have been lost in the move.



- oh, that subject line? Just as I was typing a subject line in, one of the students here slipped on their roller skates and banged their head on the kitchen floor. It was one of those cries where the face is all contorted and turning red, the body is completely still, the mouth is turning purple and making wailing motions, but no sound is coming out. Yeah, that's the worst...

Paint/Baseboard Bender

Progress as of 1:00. Dang - gotta run!

Primer Bender

As of 10:00 am, the morning crew has made some progress.

I feel the shadow of a Christmas tree looming over me.....

Drywall Bender

The drywall team here at the Academy has taken to shift work. Its a good thing we're not a union shop. This is the view at 3:30 am. Next shift comes on at 8:00.

Tomorrow: paint, baseboards and appliances.....

Tuesday: Christmas tree. And that will take more shifts than I care to think about.

Columbia Homeschool Community

Tonight the Academy attended the Christmas Gala for the Columbia Homeschool Community. The kids performed their Christmas play and various other talent skits. To me, what's on display more than anything at these events is the talent, patience and energy of our homeschooling parents. It never ceases to amaze me.

The Academy is so proud to be associated with such a fantastic organization, and with such a wonderful, talented and bright group of students and parents.

Mature Audiences Only

Every night I watch yesterday's TIVO'd taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Nothing makes me laugh the way this show makes me laugh. Sure, its the same stuff hashed over and over, and its all very predictable after a time, but there are certain people that just cannot be made fun of quite enough. And Stewart's "News" team certainly does a good job of that.

The night before last, Jon's guest was Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan. I know its wrong to think of Pakistan as a third-world country, given that they aren't (I mean, having nuclear weapons earns them the right to sit at the table with us, doesn't it?). But I couldn't help being impressed with how well-spoken, articulate and thoughtful this former General was. Now, I'm not pointing at anyone in particular, but it sure made me nostalgic for the days of articulate and thoughtful leadership.

Last night's guest was Tom Waits. Even if you cringe at his performances, you simply have to admire his writing. He must be one of the most covered artists on the planet. Plus, he appeared in one of my favorite Jim Jarmusch films, "Down By Law", and he wasn't bad. Anyway, seeing him being interviewed was a treat.

One of the great things about TIVO is that you can fast-forward through all the commercials, and therefore you can get through a half-hour show in just under 10 minutes.. sigh. Last night, I was occupied when the commercial break began, and caught just a little of the first commercial. It was for a new XBox video game called "Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball". Given the name, you'd imagine some Mad-Maxish take on the sport, played in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian beachfront landscape. Nah, its just the real game, played by what appear to overdeveloped, underaged girls, wearing next-to-nothing. A disclaimer was given at the end of the commercial - this video rated "M", for mature audiences only. Hm. Naturally, I was curious to see what elements this game had to offer a mature adult such as myself.

I checked out the game's description on the company's website. The basic premise is that a handful of girls have been summoned to a private resort island by a rich patron. The girls are actually characters from another of the company's games, "Dead or Alive", which is a violent fighting game - pointless male violence always attracts beautiful girls as spectators, doesn't it? In the game, you choose a girl character and take her through a 14-day vacation on the island. One of the biggest elements of the game is shopping for things like skimpy bikinis, jewelry, handbags, hair clips, shoes, wristbands and hats. So of course its important to get to know your character's inner-most secrets, like her favorite color, her hobbies, her most embarrassing moment - all of which is available on her profile page. Once you get to know her, you take her shopping and then dress her up for her big day at the beach, playing volleyball with the other girls.

And that's.... pretty much it. You do this for 14 days, and then you start the game over and do it again. So it made me wonder, just exactly how mature do you have to be to play this game? And that made me wonder about the audience for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

And that made me wonder about me.

Double your pleasure...

A laundry room in the master bedroom closet takes shape. New electrical circuits, water lines, drain lines. HVAC vents relocated. Totally insulated for sound. The only thing remaining is the drywall and baseboards, and a dryer vent line to go through the gaping hole I drilled through the floor, into the basement and out the west foundation.

The students and the faculty are excited to have a laundry room on the main floor. The Headmistress and I are allowing them to bask in their delusions for the time being. That will make it all the more satisfying when I finish the room and we break the news that the new laundry room is OFF-LIMITS to the students and the faculty. Ha! Its the small victories that bring such pleasure.

The only question now is, will two full laundry rooms be sufficient to support the mountain of laundry the Academy produces each day? hm... doubtful. Perhaps a full laundry in every room?

Strangely enough, and most unfortunately, completion of the laundry room is on the critical path of the Academy's Christmas tree. This is due to the rather large washer and dryer that currently occupy the floorspace where the tree is to go, and the fact that there is no other place to store them.

Maybe if I drag this project out long enough, I won't have to put up a tree this year? Let's float that one and check the reaction of the Headmistress (and Uncle Myron). Fasten your seatbelts...

Wanted: Large Refrigerator

This is the artwork produced in one day by the Academy's Art Department. The following advertisement was placed in the local newspaper.

Wanted: Large refrigerator, 12 feet tall, 10 feet wide, standard depth. Must accept magnets. Pre-stocked with India Pale Ale is a preference.

Things I Like...

One of the things I REALLY like - timed circuits. Feel the love, people, 'cuz this stuff makes life so, so, simple.

One of the benefits of a whole-house rewire is getting the opportunity to plan out every switch, every circuit. And we designed three timed circuits for the Academy - one dedicated to the pool filter pump, and two dedicated to timed lighting.

Pool Filter
This circuit controls the, well, pool filter. It shuts off pretty much all night, which allows for water circulation during the hot, daylight hours, and conserves energy at night.

Low-Voltage Lighting
This circuit controls all the landscape lighting in the East and West campuses. This consists of staked walkway lighting, staked up-spots, and suspended down-spots. I set the timer, and forget it.

Line-Voltage Lighting
This circuit controls all the spotlights on the campus, and the entryway sconces. Some are switched, some are not. This allows me to switch certain sconces and spotlights off when I want. Some are also on motion-sensors. The sensors stay off during the day, and come on with the timer, at night. And some are on a dual-motion sensor - this means they come on at half-wattage when the timer activates, and then come on full-wattage when the sensor detects motion. You gotta love that.


My life is so much easier now. I only wish I'd spent some more time designing the timer unit into a subpanel, so that I could run ALL that stuff off one timer, rather than three. Then, they'd all be precisely coordinated, and when the power went out, I'd only have to reset one timer. Live and learn.

Things in my backyard...

This is a lousy picture, but I couldn't find a good way to approach this herd of deer without scaring them off. There were seven of them lying around the leaf pile in the back yard. As I approached, they bolted up and ran - two kept going, and five stopped to check things out.




And this is the growing mountain of construction debris that will sit and rot until Spring, when I can get a rolloff dumpster into the back yard to clear it out. The kids have been building forts among the twisted pile of scrap studs and paneling with rusty nails. We're livin' on the edge, baby.

Waves of Reality Against my Hull

The headmaster got precious little sleep last night. So many things to think about. During the day, the chaos at the Academy has a numbing effect on the brain. After cutting through the fog of another day, the mind wants to dock and run amok in port.

hm, I feel a strange urge to use maritime metaphors this morning.

Anyway, occasionally here at the Academy we announce a "School in Bed" day. On these days, which are precious few, we will lie in bed reading, discussing, and reviewing.

Can you guess which kind of school day we're having this morning?

Third (and ½) Pit from the Sun

We declared tonight "Faculty Night" and set up camp in the courtyard of the West Campus. The idea was that all adult staff would sit 'round the fire pit with libations of choice, while the students relaxed quietly in their quarters.

I am pleased to report that the students all cooperated beautifully..... NOT!

They came to the door at least 500 times, with silly questions like "How do you clean up a gasoline spill?" and "What is fire made of?". All designed, no doubt, to get us to come back inside. I wasn't biting. One after another the questions came, like a pajama parade. To the point that I had to spray the door hinges with some WD40 to stop the squeaking. They simply couldn't stand us being outside, and them being inside. At one point, a female student began appearing at the door with only a shirt on, trying to shock us into shutting the party down. Sorry honey, I've seen all the Girls Gone Wild videos."

So, at precisely 29 minutes into "Faculty Night", and only one day into our "Holiday Shopping Season", we officially kicked off Christmas by offering one of the gifts as a bribe - a brand new "Justice League" DVD was unwrapped and spun up on the dormitory television.

That worked for 10 minutes. Giving in, finally, one of the faculty went inside to keep the students in line while the Headmistress and the Headmaster continued their vigil 'round the campfire, drinking all the more heavily.

I can't wait for "Student Night". Revenge is sweet....

The photo of the firepit was taken from directly above, and a photo of the 5-day, waxing quarter-moon (courtesy John French, Planetarium Production Coordinator, Michigan State University) was superimposed.