Trek in the Park

It's the fifth year of Trek in the Park.  That is where a theater company of sorts, Atomic Arts, recreates a full episode from the original Star Trek series.  They play it straight and have gained a huge following over the years.  Atomic Arts has decided this will be the final year of Trek in the Park and so Matt and I attended the final performance of "The Trouble with Tribbles."

We were not alone, as evidenced by the many people just in this picture alone.  The white triangle in the center of the picture below is the stage.
 

The people watching was good.  Nerd-tastic.
 

And more people.
 

By peering through this opening, I could see the stage.
 

Another view of the crowd.  Did I mention it was a cold and rainy day?  It didn't keep very many people away.
 

Here's the opening.  I love the musician's outfits.
 

Spock and Kirk are easily identifiable.
 

Recreating the theme song.
 

It was a stage with props, but they were minimal.
 

One of the fans.
 

Klingons.
 

The tribbles have started to proliferate.
 

And they engulf Captain Kirk.
 

Final scene.
 

A teary thank you from Atomic Arts.
 

This being the final show, they sold the tribbles for $1.00 each.  This was the line for tribbles.  We did not wait in it.
 

Thunderstone Advance

We've reached the T's in our quest to play all of our board games from Z to A.  I'm not thrilled with this section of the T's, because it contains Thunderstone Advance and Thunderstone.  Both are deck building games and I don't love deck building games.
 

At around hour 2.5 I started to wonder just how long this game would last.  Checking the box:

I protested loudly.  "45 minutes! No way!"  I think there should be truth in labeling.
(Also, Matt won by two points.)

Room transformed

It's still a work in progress, but here we are at the end of the weekend.

From the door, you can see the new shelves and bookshelves, as well as the side of the stand-up desk (a.k.a. the sideboard).
 

From the outside door corner you can see how there is suddenly room for a full-sized bed, which will be coming eventually.
 

From the closet door corner you can see half of the sideboard/desk and the small shelf for storage.  Also pictured is the other set of shelves.
 

From what was the desk corner, you can see the shelf for the monitor, as well as how the two upper shelves come together.
 

However, Internet configurations require me to switch around my room now.  Here are the before shots.

From the inner door corner.
 

From the outer door corner.
 

The closet door corner.
 

And the remaining corner.

"After" shots coming eventually.

Requiem: Matt's Desk

I bought this desk soon after Matt and I moved in together.  He brought to the relationship a tiny student desk which we both agreed didn't work and was discarded during the move, though one of the drawers lived on as a bookshelf for many years.  I found this desk, along with our first couch, at the Catlin Gable Rummage Sale, which was a fantastic event held each year at the Expo Center.  For (I think) fifty-five dollars I brought home this desk and a couch.  I had to call my brother to see if he could bring the truck to haul them home.  He could, once the game was over, and so this desk entered our lives.
 

I've always loved it's mid-century styling: the light colored wood, the really cool woven front.  It's also massive, as Matt is proving by sprawling across it.
 

Its size, however, proved to be its downfall. Just as my beautiful orange metal desk was too large for our new house, so is this desk making way for a smaller footprint.
 

The desk sat at the side of the road for a week--a very long time in trash picking epochs.  Matt finally snapped a picture and put it on Craigslist and it was gone in hours.   I hope its new owner appreciates it as much as we did.
 

New Room in progress.

The first of many shelves going up on the wall.
 

First bank of shelves completed.  Sentinel is observing from the window.
 

Getting ready to "build" the sideboard.
 

When I assemble Ikea furniture, I like to unpack everything and take inventory.
 

Right down to all the hardware.  I've never not had all of the hardware, but I like to know at the outset that everything needed is present.
 

Sadly, despite all my prep, I erred making this one.  I pounded in the wrong side dowel connector and then had to do a combined hacksaw/drill solution to reopen that hole.
 

But I was successful!  Sideboard complete!  I hear some of you wondering why Matt needs a sideboard in his room.  Just you wait!
 

Bookshelves!  Two of those were built too.  In this picture, Matt is working on removing his desk from the room.

More to come.  Stay tuned.

Matt's room. The "before" photos.

 Thanks to Linda, Matt's Mom, Matt is in store for a whole new room.

Here are some establishing shots:

From the doorway.
 

The corner with the other door.
 

The closet corner.
 

The "desk" corner.  This picture is blurry because I had to lean back over the desk for the photo.

Hold, please, for the transformation.

The elusive nose covering, captured.

Hah!  I was super sneaky and managed to catch the kitten with his nose covered.

Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Matt and I stopped outside of Baker City to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.

A view of the landscape.  I find this landscape beautiful, but I get to speed through it at 65 mph.  I avoid the up-close and personal view the early Pioneers got to enjoy, when they took an entire day to travel 20 miles.
 

The center is perched on the top of a bluff.
 

There are some great life-sized dioramas of life on the trail.
 

Studying them, I had the realization that I was looking at some really great taxidermy work.  I wonder who did it, as they weren't credited anywhere.
 

This was the point where they illustrated how the pioneers jettisoned so many things.  As a child learning about the Oregon Trail, I couldn't imagine just abandoning things along the way.
 

And we are home!  Our car came with this indicator.  When we picked it up, the average speed was 38 mph.  We managed to push up the average speed to 42 mph.  This made me very happy.
 

Wedding aftermath.

When one doesn't wear a watch and one's cell phone has died, how does one tell what time it is?  One takes a picture of a random thing and then checks the playback information to see what the time stamp is.  This is one of those pictures.
 

After making us a delicious wedding dinner the couple with the incredible grill/trailer cooked us up a delicious breakfast.
 

Cindy and Karen the morning after.
 

Bill and Mary in the head-in-a-hole.
 

Casey and Cindy posed both ways, so we could decide who was the better bear and who was the better deer.
  

 

The wedding jeep, all decorated.
 

Finally, a picture of the wedding cupcakes!
 

One final picture on the porch before we left.