Sorry, but this is yet another long episode. And I didn't meant for it to be one! I was chatting with JD from the Nerf Herder Council, and well, before you know it, an hour had passed! It started as a Podcasters Spotlight episode, turned into a LT12P Conversations episode, became a Solo review, a Celebration planning session, and it kept going from there! None the less, I hope you will give it a listen. Stick around to the end... I promise you there is some good stuff at the end.
I also promise that I will get back to the short shows tomorrow, and the days following. Thank you for your patience!
If you haven't grown tired of online nerds yammering on and on about Solo yet, then we have the show for you! It's an hour long discussion and review, full of spoilers, insights and fun! Have a listen as I am joined by my old pal from The Expanded Fandomverse, Jason Collier, AND, show Patron and all around cool guy, Ryan Dassing. We all come to the table with different takes and opinions, and that leads to a great conversation.
Warning! This episode is an hour long. Not your normal episode of LT12P, by a long shot! So, pace yourself, take your time, and enjoy!
Since I am just hours away from seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story for the first time, I thought I would share my "first time" experiences with all the other Star Wars films! Well, except for the original Star Wars, because I told this story last year. You can hear that story HERE.
I couldn't tell all these tales in less than 7 minutes, so today's episode falls under the "Bonus Episode" umbrella. Enjoy!
Sorry 'bout that, time sorta slipped away from me, and before you know it, it was two weeks since the last episode! So, to make it up to you, here is a long boring episode where I babble a bit about all the Star Wars news I've missed in the last two weeks. Normally, I would end this post with "Enjoy!", but instead I'll wish you luck and say "Endure!". ;-)
Big News Today! So big, it's a proper LT12P Bonus Episode! What is it? I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to listen to find out! All I'll tell you it's that today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Less Than 12 Parsecs! Enjoy!
Today's episode is a Bonus Episode, because it is longer than 7 minutes. Waaaaay longer!
I sat down with friend of the show, Mr. Ryan Dassing, and we just nerded out together over the newest film in our favorite saga, The Last Jedi! We're not all that deep, and I'm not that articulate, but if you like listening to fanboys gush, then this is the show for you! Beware, here there be spoilers!
AND, if this episode wasn't enough for you, I can be found doing the exact same thing with my old pal Mr. Jason Collier, over on my old show, The Expanded Fandomverse. It's another hour of nerdy chatter amongst friends!
Part of what I was doing while Less Then 12 Parsecs was on hiatus was converting part of my basement into a "fan cave". (Thank you to Ryan Dassing for that moniker!). This is not a typical "finished basement" as you often find in suburban American homes. No, instead, what I did was cordoned off a corner of the basement, laid down a false floor, and put up four walls. Basically, I made a room to call my own.
A little history here... when my wife and I purchased our home, it was plenty big enough for the two of us. Compared to the apartments we had shared, this place was darn near palatial! In fact, we both had extra rooms we called our own. Not bedrooms, but dens. Studies. Man-caves. (call them what you will). It was great!
Then, the kids came along...
It's amazing how much room kids, and all their stuff, takes up!
So, I gave up my room for my daughter, and told myself that "someday" I'll get that space back.
Well, I grew tired of waiting for "someday" to come, so... I went into the basement, and made a corner of it my own. That's the stereotype anyway right? We nerds all dwell in basements according to popular myth! ;-)
This post is a series of photos of my build process, followed by a video tour of where things stand now. The room is about 90% complete I'd say, but I wanted to get this out there. (I wasn't going to bring LT12P back from hiatus until I was 100% with the room, but I'm not sure that day will ever really come!)
I should have taken more photos, but here is what I remembered to make note of...
The first task was to clear out the junk in the basement. This was taken after 99% of the stuff we had stored down there was gone.
The wall on the left caused my first problem. I found that it was leaking, in part because there weren't any rain gutters on that side of the house (that's another story for another day). So, the first thing I had to do was a bit of masonry.
(I did research for each step of this building process, but I'm not a contractor. Far from it! I'm sure I got a lot of it wrong. If you see mistakes on my part, please don't tell me. My ego doesn't want to hear how poorly a job I did!)
This next photo is of the corner of the basement after the wall had been repaired and painted. Also, the ceiling has been painted at this point as well. These first two photos were nearly a month apart. I had to wait for the cement to cure before I could seal and paint it. That was unexpected, and annoying, delay.
Next is the framing for the false floor I laid down. We've had one small basement flood in the 20 years that we've lived here, and I am paranoid it is going to happen again. I even laid down a heavy tarp on the floor as well, and a tarp along the wall (with heavy foam insulation behind it) to keep out the cold. I wasn't able to build all the way to the far wall (the white wall in the photo) because of the water-do-hicky-thing. I don't know what it's called, but that's were the water line comes into the house. I could have built around it, but I thought better of it.
To keep the draft out (our basement gets quite cool in the winters), I put down a lawyer of fiberglass insulation.
'
And then next is the ply-wood sub flooring. Here's a find fact I didn't figure out until I was nailing in the last piece... One side of this type of ply-wood is smooth, and the other is rough. Guess which side I have facing up? Yup, the rough! Oh well. --- Because I was trying to keep the cost down, I didn't put any additional flooring material over this. I just painted it with a heavy duty floor paint, and then threw down a could of cheep throw rugs.
Next, I started framing the walls. Because our house is hold (from the 1920's, and because the basement floor wasn't even close to level, this was a pain. I swear, every one of these studs was a different length. So there was lots of measuring, and remeasuring, and then measuring again, to make sure I got things right. (and even then I didn't always get it right, but I got it "right enough".)
This is after the walls went up, and I put together the first of 11 bookshelves. I just put up the cheap, 1970's fake wood paneling, and then painted them. I ended up using 5 different color paints in total. The ceiling is a very light grey with a satin sheen (to reflect the light, since there are no windows in this room), three of the walls are an eggshell medium grey, then the floor is a matte black. The desk I installed was a darker, putty grey, and the wall behind that a flat white. Because every decorator knows the power of an accent wall! -- I tried to complete this project "on the cheap", but buying all the different paints was my one extravagance. A treat for myself.
Here are the brackets for the kitchen countertop I purchased, to use as a desk. I also purchased
the same type of brackets (in a smaller size) to use for a shelf that rings the room. --- I screwed up two of these brackets, as they are not quite the correct height. I think I'll be ok though.
And these here is the countertop, all installed!
And finally, here is a panorama shot of the room, before I started to move in all my books, computer, lights, and Stormtroopers.
All in all, I am quite happy with myself. I did this project completely on my own. I believe my wife thinks I am crazy for doing this, (and that I spent too much money), and she is probably right (on both accounts), but life is short, and you have to find ways to enjoy it while you can. And so, that's what I'm doing!
And now, here is a video tour of the room, now that I have moved in. Enjoy!
Hey there, I am back. Sorry, I've been away, unexpectedly. Sadly, my mom passed away. So, I've been away dealing with all of that.
Today, I felt that I should share a few Star Wars themed stories about my mom. Thank you for letting me share. After this, I promise that LT12P will be back on schedule! Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Today's episode is nearly 10 minutes long, thus it's a bonus episode. That's the LT12P way; any episode over 7 minutes is labeled a bonus episode!
Today I get more personal than I ever have before, and answer a question that multiple have asked me. I'm not that great at "sharing", so please forgive me as I bumble through the story I have to tell.
This episode is built out of my own ego and pride, and may not be enjoyable to anyone but me. Sorry, but I ya know what, sometimes you have to do things just for yourself! :-)
(Note: This episode went into my feed last night, but I did not have time to post to the site until today.)
Today we lost Carrie Fisher, far too soon. This episode is not that deep, it's just my memories of her in my life over the years. I'll leave the indepth essays about her character, strength, wit and talents to others. This is just my recollections and nothing more.
(My apologies to Jason Collier for stealing his show title.)
It's another bonus episode! Remember, any episode over five minutes long is a bonus episode. --- Part of why this episode is so long is because I needed to tell the back story behind the episode. Then, my special guest and I then discuss the awesome Star Wars Radio Dramas. Who's the special guest? Sorry, you'll have to listen to find out!
Today is the very first BONUS episode of Less Than 12 Parsecs! What makes it a bonus episode? Well, you'll have to listed to hear the explanation!
Jason collier, my friend from The Expanded Fandomverse is on the show again today, to tell us about a big announcement about my old show! And then, I make him answer trivia questions about is own show! How well does he know if own work? Listen to find out!
