Fear the Crab

I know I said that I would focus on completing the Grey Knights miniatures in my possession, but that was after I spent two weeks painting this figure:

Sisters of Battle - HQ

Continued ~

I’ve been painting Games Workshop miniatures on and off during the recent couple of decades. It’s usually been a sporadic affair, casually shoved into the skein of my life whenever fancy took me. As expected, the results of such endeavors feature little worth displaying, particularly since I don’t consider myself to be qualified for competitive painting; no Golden Daemons or Slayer Swords for me.

Continued ~

The bathroom fixtures were finally installed. One more step closer to completion!

We went with Grohe because of reports of durability, and many positive reviews. And yeah, those pluses mean higher costs. The faucets are from the Talia line, with matching Volo handles. We didn’t install any type of aerator, so the water comes out quite strong. We’ll have to make sure we don’t waste any.

The sink

Inside the tub, we have a Grohe Tempesta handshower system, with Talia valve trim and tub filler. We found out that normally people have a fixed shower head, with a diverter to a handheld, but my bathroom never really had that feature to begin with. I don’t think I’ll be missing out.

The shower and tub

The toilet is a 1.6 gallon flusher, from Toto. Previously we had a 40-year-old behemoth that probably used upwards of 5 gallons per flush, 10 if you laid a real stinker. The new toilet seems much more powerful, at a fraction of the resources.

The toilet

I only wish that fraction extended itself to my wallet. I haven’t calculated how many flushes it would take to balance out the high price for the toilet, but I intend to sit on that throne until I am a dessicated shell of a man, held together only by sheer force of will.

And maybe constipation.

Today the dog ate half a pizza while our backs were turned.

The Little Bitch

Continued ~

So far that I’m aware, this is a real product sold by a real company:
Petite Computer Desk from ComputerDesks.com

Seems pretty awesome, don’t you think? Or, you don’t see what’s so special? Let me enlarge it a bit, using the ComputerDesks.com’s in-house zoom feature:

No? Still don’t see it? Or maybe you do, but you just want some validation. Well, let’s have the knowledgeable little scamp in red “point” it out to you:

Cue music.

* * *

EDIT: One day after the discovery of this glorious find, ComputerDesks.com has updated the product picture. Clicking on the direct link above will show a tame version that I am sure many prepubescent boys are disappointed about. The pictures here, however, were screenshots of the product before the modification.

It’s all starting to come together!

Day Six of the bathroom remodeling actually took place Christmas Eve, when the new cabinets were installed.

Bare cabinets

The old countertop was removed, hence the traces of glue and paper backing against the wall.  That little block under the mirror is just to hold the whole thing up, since before it was resting on the backsplash.  What’s new with this countertop are the extra shelves to the left to give us more storage space, while still retaining a bit of leg room in the vanity area (not that any of us actually used that area for vanity purposes).

Day Seven was today, when the Corian countertop and shower walls were installed.  The nice-ness is freakin’ awesome!

Corian shower walls

Corian counter and sink

The shower walls go all the way up to the ceiling and lie flush with the window, ensuring a somewhat-secure seal. The installation couldn’t wrap into the window frame given the way the hardware was designed, so this is the next best thing.

The sink is part of the counter top, making it a smooth transition that will be easy to clean.  We also requested that the backsplash be made “one-piece” with the counter so that no water can stain the grout.

The plumber has already been notified that the fixtures can be installed.  We’ll also get a nice finish of dark-colored Formica placed on the cabinets, for a contrast against the light-colored counter and walls.  As for the floor, we’ll probably install the same design so that it matches the rest of the house.

This year is the first set of winter holidays spent as a married couple.  It’s not that much of a dramatic change, since the “courtship” years prior saw me dividing time between the in-laws and blood-relatives.  Perhaps it is the new living arrangements, however, that makes this year seem different.

We’ve inherited the artificial tree and lights, but the decorations have been retained by my parents for use at their new home.  This leaves Maile and I with a clean slate to make this tree our own, and right now we have a total of seven decorations.

Dog not counted as decoration

Worth mentioning are two ornaments we received as wedding gifts, each a special hand-crafted item made out of an eggshell covered in reflective bead-work.  Despite its implied fragility, the glue and/or cotton stuffing keeps it quite sturdy.  A section of the shell is open so that one can insert a small photograph, while the cotton supports it from behind.  Right now Maile and I have each of our pictures inside, but later we can swap them out for others.

The other decorations are a hodgepodge of items, individually purchased or gifted without semblance of theme.  It is a habit picked up from my childhood, where the old decorations were souvenirs or knick-knacks collected throughout the years, from a variety of locations.  Some of the items were crafts from my elementary-school days, such as stocking-stuffed dolls or styrofoam sno-cones.

The overall effect was a patchwork quilt, an eclectic ensemble of odds and ends which Maile felt gave a “homey” atmosphere.  Since those decorations are not available to us anymore, we’re looking to recreate and capture that same feeling with our own collection.  We started with a few items from earlier in the year, and recently purchased two more decorations to represent 2008.  We will likely seek to acquire one or two each following year until we’ve assembled our own set of holiday cheer.

Drywall!

The Corian shower walls will go over this, and stretch all the way up to the ceiling.  Hopefully we won’t have to worry about water getting into the wood after that.

Corian is what we’ll also have for the bathroom counter, but we won’t need drywall on the cabinets for that.  I think.

People might notice that although this is the fifth day of work on my bathroom, it’s been over a month since the last time we visited this sanitary sanctum in progress.  Situations like these, I just remember what my coworker said about construction, particularly when done by family or friends:

“Good.  Fast.  Cheap.  Pick any two.”

A few years ago, I expressed an interest in figuring out what my family’s kamon was, or even if we had one.  My paternal grandmother has three kimono in her possession, each given as a memento.  Two were very formal kurotomesode (picture) from her mother and her mother-in-law, worn by each at her wedding.  At the time, she told me this was the kamon of her mother-in-law:

Chou

I figured this must be the crest of my grandfather, since it came from his side.  However, my grandmother can no longer remember which kimono was whose, so there is a chance she mixed the two up.  Maybe it was this crest, from the other kimono?

Myouga

The point might be moot, though.  I learned later (through a source I can no longer remember) that women were not obligated to wear their husband’s crest on their formal kimono, so I cannot state definitively whether or not my inherited crest is the butterfly, or the ginger, or neither.

For reasons unknown, I put off the search for other pursuits, and when I resumed it recently I went back to my grandmother, who showed me the third kimono, a gift to my uncle (my dad’s brother) for boys’ day.  Since it was a formal kimono with five kamon on the sleeves, chest and back, I felt that perhaps this one was the true crest of my family:

Sasa

The kimono even had protective paper over the crests, perhaps indicating a custom-make.  However, from everything I’ve been able to glean about kimono, kamon, and my family, there is a very good chance that this kimono was simply purchased as-is, or perhaps already in possession of someone who decided to hand it down to my uncle.  Which meant that this crest could potentially be mine, or representative of a completely different family (related or not).

In order to be sure, I hired a local company that offers research into Japanese family crests.  I figured if a third-party could confirm or deny my findings, it might be worth it to know for sure.  I sent in the required data of family name and region we came from.  I even added these pictures of crests as well as the kanji for our family name, as it might help narrow the field.

* * *

One month later, I get the result:

Meyui

For me it was completely from left field.  I did not expect a totally different crest, though perhaps I should have, given the rather arbitrary mutability of kamon historically.  I wish the researcher who found this crest included some kind of statement, even if it was as simple as “I don’t know whose crests the others are, but this one is actually yours.  I found it at Someplace, Somewhere.”

By “arbitrary mutability,” I mean that kamon often underwent small changes as it passed from father to son and beyond, usually an indication of the later generations attempting to establish their own significance.  Kamon also held more weight in the past, but with time people kept taking new ones or making them up as they went along. It stands to reason that at some point in my family’s history, someone somewhere picked up this crest.  It could have been adopted a very long time ago, or as recently as those that sailed the Pacific to settle here.

I still can’t definitively state that the above is actually my family’s crest.  Even though the result comes from a third-party, it’s possible that they just slapped any old design on fancy paper and called it mine.  Or they’re completely legitimate and after extensive and thorough research via family temples and graveyards, they have discovered that this is the true kamon of my familial name.

Maybe it doesn’t matter.  What does the kamon represent?  Is it a link to the past?  Does it regale with legends of old, of battles won and lost, of honor and glory found?  Is it something I show to people and say, “Hey look, this is my crest, it means awesome?”

If the kamon is a representation of the family, I think what matters more is what I do with it now.  Perhaps the true significance of kamon is as a visual symbol of how I lived this life, what values I upheld and what people remember of me.  Perhaps the kamon is as much a reminder as it is a symbol, that what I do and how I treat others has consequences.  Like the corporate logos of famous brands, people may associate this kamon with my current and future deeds, and that is certainly something worth remembering.

The new Americast tub was installed today.

The tub

This type of tub doesn’t have legs and relies on a 2×4 secured against the wall underneath the back ledge.  Apparently that length of wood is what supports the tub, along with the wall itself.  The plumber told me something about putting some kind of material underneath in the space between the tub and the concrete base, but I didn’t quite understand whether it was for support to dampening the sound of water against the surface.

One thing I was not aware of when I bought this tub was that there are certain no-nos when it comes to cleaning it.  I can’t use Brillo pads or abrasive cleaners like Comet.  Instead I have to use a sponge or rag with mild cleansers such as dish-washing liquid or Liquid Tide.  There are also peculiar strips on the bottom of the tub, whose documentation indicates they are to prevent slippage, but apparently they also prevent dirt from being cleaned off.  The plumber said that no matter what I do, eventually these now-semi-invisible areas will become quite noticeable.  I can only hope the staining matches the walls, to make it look intentional, you know?

The plumber also installed new copper pipes for the water, as well as the Grohe pressure valve designed to regulate it all.

The shower pipes

The line for the shower head is off-center to accommodate the handshower system we purchased. The plumber will install the bar in the center so that the shower head is situated in a more-natural position.  He remarked that most showers actually have a fixed head and a separate hand-shower, using a diverter valve to determine which one water will flow through.  I told him that my experience has always been with a single outlet for water, whether it was a fixed shower head or a hand-shower.  He didn’t seem that impressed.

Here’s a closeup of the shower valve.

The pressure valve

This thing is super expensive, but it’s supposed to last a long long time, so hopefully it will pay for itself in the duration.  I don’t know if that black cap will stay on, but on the outside, this particular trim will cover it.

From what I can understand, the pressure valve will maintain a constant flow, and the handle is used more to determine the temperature.  This is slightly different than what I am used to, in which the handle controls the flow and a separate knob (often set in the handle) controls how hot it gets.  I’m sure I won’t mind either way.