Nana nana nana nana na! Man-cave!

Wheee! Horray for me! Man-cave ahoy!

Last year my wife and I discussed how to keep our son safe from various dangers around our house. One of the big ones is my nerd-hole. I have scalpels, super glue, apoxy resin, hot-wire cutters, drills and all manner of small, easily swallowed pointy things littering the place. Not only that but I can be a very messy individual and as such my nerd-hole gets rather, shall we say, cluttered. All right it looks like a bomb hit it most of the time.

So my suggestion was that my Dad and I build in a section under the house for me to use as my nerd-hole. My wife's suggestion was to build a garage in the back corner of our garden (which at the time resembled certain untamed wilderness areas of South America). She insisted as she didn't want to hear me swear everytime I hit my head on the low beams under the house. Fair call. Also the garage will add value to the house. Garage it is, then.

We call in various suppliers and eventually go with Titan. While they aren't the cheapest up front, they wound up being so as they included full insulation and council fees with the total cost. Who knew that the best-in-the-business could also be the cheapest? Before we finalise anything, I mention to the guy that I know that our sewer line runs towards the location we chose for our garage. His reponse is to check with the council and make sure we know where the pipes go. If there is a line there, we need a special slab poured which will make it more expensive. We check and find out that not only does out own sewer line run that way, but so does the main line for the entire street!!! Bugger. We also find out that to avoid the extra cost of the special slab we need to get at least 2 metres away from the line. Double bugger.

So the garage is placed right next to the house behind our carport. In all, a better spot as it looks good there and I have less distance to travel to get to it. Nice. New problem: our land has a 0.5metre drop off at the point. We need a retaining wall and fill to make it level. That adds aout $3000 to the cost of the garage (cheaper than the extra $5000 that the special slab would have cost). New bugger. Still, in the end my Dad and I built a retaining wall (a very satisfying accomplishment) and it got filled and slabbed.

Last week, the garage went up. Yay! To say I'm excited to have my Man-cave is a bit of an understatement. I'm a big believer that everyone needs their own space. Somewhere they can say: this is my space, my stuff, my rules. Now any parent will likely know that it can be tough finding that kind of thing for yourself. Kids have their room. Parents usually share one with each other and, inevitably, their kids so having your own space to hide in every now and then is really, really important I feel. The added bonus of my Man-cave is that the space in the house I vacate will become Tash's Lady's Lounge. We intend on putting a lockable cupboard and new desk in there and she can start on her crafty stuff again. I can't wait until this weekend when I plan on setting up the Man-cave fully with power, lights and all my crap. Pics will follow soon.

Nana nana nana nana na! Man-cave!

Nerd Ragin'.

I'm a nerd. I have been for as long as I can remember. I read books on facts out of sheer interest rather than being required to as part of study or work. My favourite TV show is QI. I can remember dialogue from movies or TV shows after having watched them only once. And I love wargaming. Pushing my little mandollies around the table and rolling dice in anger is just so much fun for me (well, usually). So I don't get the level of nerd rage that is being spewed at my current favourite games company: Privateer Press.

About a year ago their flagship game Warmachine(TM) (and its partner Hordes(TM)) is floundering under too many rules. So many new figures with new and funky rules have been released over the years that the game is drowning in errata and clarifications. The errata document was over 70 pages long! So the company announces they are re-releasing the game as Mark 2 in an attempt to streamline the game and make it play better than before (and it was pretty good the first time around). They have been developing it for the last year and are nearly ready to send it to the printers but they want the input of their gaming community. They want their customers to try out the new game and provide them with feedback on what works and what doesn't. And they provide this to us for free thanks to this wonderous digital age we live in. I've been gaming for nearly 25 years now and I have never encountered a miniature games company that has ever done this. Usually the first time you hear about a new rules set is about 6 months before it is to be released and by then its been at the printers for at least half that time again. This is a pretty big thing.

So we test their game and they make changes based on our feedback. And then we wait. We know the game will be released in all its glory come January 2010. But as a new version is coming, the gaming dies down as everyone waits for the new version. PP knows this is a problem from both a PR perspective and a marketing one so in September they give us the new rules for free to download. These will be the final rules and there will be no changes. Yay! We all start playing again. Some models still aren't as 100% awesome as we'd like but they are locked in now.

So now its January 2010. All we PP nerds buy our shiny new book and look at the models that are available in there. Shock horror! Some of the stats have changed! Now all the changes are, IMO, for the better. Yet some gamers are crying foul that PP have lied to us and that this is ruining the game. I mean, they are really, really upset like the sky is falling or that armageddon has arrived. What the..? I just don't get it. So PP made an error and told us that the free rules they gave us were set in stone but just before printing, they made some minor changes to models that weren't as awesome as they could be. I'm passionate about my gaming but in the end: its just gaming. I'm just pushing my mandollies around a table and going "pew, pew!" at my opponent with them.

Some people need to take a pill and have a good lie down. Why, oh why does the internet generate so much rage in people. Is it a side effect of the 'net itself or is a reflection of the way our society is heading? It makes me wonder...

And so another year begins...

So now its 2010. Ye gods. I know a lot of people say this but where did that year go? Its like I was told not long before Alex was born: "With kids, the days are long but the years are short". All too true! 2009 held days for me that I thought would never end with many sleepless nights and long, long days yet i sit here now and wonder what happened to the year.

I sit here at my desk and watch photos of my son and wife roll by on the digital photo frame and I am amazed at how much has happened to me in the last 12 months. I'm getting pics of Alex when he was 1 month old being quickly followed by pics of him at 11 months and I marvel at how much he has changed. From virtually bald to a head full of very curly locks (which is unusual as neither my wife or I have curly hair), from no teeth to four nasty sharp ones at the front (trust me, they draw blood) and from a little bundle wrapped in a blanket that slept most of the day (and stayed awake most of the night) to the boistrous bundle of beans that crawls around the house getting into anything that has a power cord and then smiling innocently at you when you berate him for it.

I also note the changes in my wife and see that while she looks a little older and more tired, she also looks happier than I have ever seen her. She smiles a lot more now that she's a mother and I can't remember a time in our lives together that I have ever seen her smile as much as she does now. Anyone who knew Tash five or more years ago may realise how strange that is. When we first met she was adamant that she would never, ever have children. Now she can't imagine life without Alex. I always knew I wanted to have children. I like them (well, most of them) and knew I wanted one of my own. Tash was confident that she didn't (which may seem strange that I would marry her but you can't pick who you fall in love with). But after many years together, she grew older and wiser and eventually decided that she was ready for children and so we have been blessed with the wonderful little boy we have now.

2009 was a turbulent year but when all is said and done, for me it was a good one. I say bring it on 2010. I'm a lucky guy and I'm looking forward to seeing what you hold for myself and my family.