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2005 Personal News Archive

2005 - A Year in Retrospect Posted: 31 December 2005
Santa Claws
Santa Claws

In a year where it felt like not a whole lot happened, it’s always interesting to look back and see just how many things you’ve actually accomplished and seen. What seemed like a year of far too much homework and work-work seemed to still manage time for a variety of interests and pursuits. Everything from a season of softball to dabbling in Iaido and learning how to build a miniature water-mill; and I even managed to squeeze in a week in rainy Orlando and another in the not-so-cold-or-mountainous part of Switzerland.

Rowen's 2nd Christmas
This Christmas thing is pretty cool...

I finished my B.S., and started my M.S. I’ve watched my niece grow in leaps and bounds in her first year and a half, and I’ve watched as my 10-year old dog has gotten older and more content to lay about with a solemn look on his face. While in some respects it feels like time stands still, in others it seems like it’s in running in fast-forward.

I managed to take part in not one, but two recording projects this year, and got one of my drum scores accepted into the repertoire. I’ve been able to stay in the pipe band scene by teaching and writing drum scores for a pipe band on Cape Cod, and taking care of the Feadán Ór, Highbanks Celtic Gathering and Kintail School of Scottish Highland Dance Web sites from afar. And, I redid my own Web site (always a big accomplishment) and I’ve managed to keep it fairly up-to-date!

Models/Miniatures Update Posted: 31 December 2005
Medieval WaterMill Update
Roof is on, bricks are done
Medieval WaterMill Update
... well, on one side they are.

I keep promising to put updates of my house on-line, but haven’t. But, I figure even if I haven’t gotten very far, this picture at least shows that the roof is on. ;-) I just need to finish the walls and paint them, and then I can start on the roof shingles. After that, I need to consult with my pictures to figure out what to do with the whole water-wheel area and road.

Japanese Tea House Model
... my Japanese Tea House!

Never one to finish a project without starting a smaller one in the middle, I’ve started this Japanese Tea House model, as well. My pen-pal Makiko sent it as a Christmas present, so I promised her a picture! I still need to finish the water and take a better picture, but it’s mostly done. It has “rice” grass that grows in the water areas - kind of like a Chia-pet.

Matt says my rocks are realistic. It’s good to know I learned something from the monster-house project that I can apply elsewhere!

Vacation in Fantasyland Posted: 15 November 2005
Medieval WaterMill by Rik Pierce
This is what it’s supposed
to look like...
(Done by Rik Pierce)

Last week I went on “vacation.” I drove down to NJ for a week-long workshop where I’d build a “medieval watermill” - very cool. Classes were listed as 8am-5pm M-Th, but they ran more like 7am-midnight+. I was the slowest one. I’ve never been the slowest at anything - except sports. The teacher said I was just “meticulous.” I told the others in the class that if I was going to be spending the next X years staring at this big thing in my living room, I don’t want to wish I’d done it better. But, it’ll be something I continue working on for a while.

My Medieval WaterMill
...and this is mine

When it’s done, I’ll have the corps come over and look at it. Bill says, “So it’s like a house you live in? Or a dollhouse?” I said, “It’s a house for mice and rats.” “Oh, well a mouse and rat house would be cool.” “I don’t do dolls.” I actually found that once you meet some of these miniaturist people, you realize it’s got very little to do with dolls. They make miniature furniture, and food, and plants, and just about everything. For me, “It’s more about the architecture.” A lot of others agreed with me. I never liked Toys-R-Us dollhouses because they were so... plain, unrealistic, plastic and boring. What do you do with a dollhouse? Shuffle around furniture? Play “the Stepfords” with dolls? I never got that part. It was more interesting to me to build a house out of a box and construction paper. If I want occupants and drama, that’s what “The Sims 2” is for.

Delinquent Pigeon
This is where those delinquent
pigeons hang out and smoke...
(Taken from a church bell tower
in Basel, Switzerland)

I’ve decided on at least some of the occupants when I’m done. I’ll need pigeons. Lots of them. I’m going for authenticity, and those suckers do a lot of damage to buildings. I’ve blackened up the brick and plaster above the fireplaces, burned the mantles, and there’s pigeon-poo all over the chimney, gargoyles (grotesques), and everything else. Again - what’s the fun in dollhouses if they’re pristine and not realistic? :-) But, other than pigeon poo and soot, I’ve still got a lot of work to do on the outside filling in the bricks and stones.

As for other occupants... I told Matt I was going to build him more tudor-style structures so all his transformers and Gundams have a place to live. He said, “There’s a web comic out there just waiting to be written about that...”

Rowen's 1st Birthday Posted: 29 August 2005
Rowen's 1st Birthday
Rowen’s 1st Birthday

Baby Rowen is growing up! I went to visit for her 1st birthday, bearing lots of Weebles, but more interestingly, various packaging, boxes, and wrapping paper. I got to have my own private party, as the “real” party was scheduled for Sunday night, when I’d have to be driving back. It might’ve been for the better anyway, as we tired her out after an hour. But, she was entertaining as usual, even if she’s still not sure who this auntie-Janis person is with her weird electronic gadgets (video/still cameras) pointed at her.

Switzerland (Part 3) Posted: 25 August 2005
Drum & Death Mask
Drum & Death Mask

Click here for the Switzerland Page!

My Switzerland memoirs are just too big and graphics-intensive to put on my home and news page, so I’ve created a separate page for them. Check back often for updates as I finish them!

If you’ve already read part 1 & 2, click here to start from part 3...

Personal News - A Brief Hiatus from Switzerland Memoirs Posted: 25 August 2005

OK, so I lied when I said I’d finish the Switzerland page in another week or so. The truth is, I’ve been busy updating a Web site for work. A Web site with over 8,000 pages... so give me a break. ;-) That, and applying for grad school. I got in! Woohoo! I’m now officially a student in the Masters Computer Information Systems program at Boston University Metropolitan College. I forgot how much of school wasn’t the class work, but various paperwork before and after the semesters.

Switzerland (Part 2) Posted: 8 July 2005
Frogs' Legs
Frogs’ Legs! Yum!

Click here for the Switzerland Page!

My Switzerland memoirs are just too big and graphics-intensive to put on my home and news page, so I’ve created a separate page for them. Check back often for updates as I finish them!

If you’ve already read part 1, click here to start from part 2...

Switzerland (Part 1) Posted: 28 June 2005
My own personal photo shoot...
My own personal photo shoot...
Photo By: Matthew M. Lug

Click here for the Switzerland Page!

My Switzerland memoirs are just too big and graphics-intensive to put on my home and news page, so I’ve created a separate page for them. Check back often for updates as I finish them!

Graduation (Part 2) Posted: 6 June 2005
Oldah Sistah Graduates
The almighty
piece ‘o paper — finally!

Well, it only took 12 years, but I finally finished my undergrad degree! According the program handed out at the ceremony...

The term “bachelor” derived from the Latin for “cow herder” (surviving with its original denotation in the Spanish word “vaquero”) and denoted an unschooled individual who had no specific occupation and few prospects for gainful employment.

...So what was I before?! ;-)

Click here for photos from the University of Massachusetts Lowell 2005 Graduation (Ok... most of them have me in them...) So, plans for the future? I’m going to take the summer off! That is, I’ll go to Switzerland with Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums to play at the Yshalle Tattoo, play the usual abundance of gigs, continue working full-time... and then... in the fall... I’m going to try to do it all over again! That’s right - now that I’ve got the momentum going, why stop now? So I’ll be starting my quest for a Master’s Degree (hopefully) in the fall. One of these days I’ll actually stop spending 1/3 of my life doing homework.

Graduation (Part 1) Posted: 1 June 2005
Lil' Sistah Graduates
At least one of us could do it in 4 years...

I went out to Syracuse a few weeks ago for my sister’s graduation from SUNY ESF (Environmental Science & Forestry). She’s now got a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Forest Biology. So if you need to identify a fungus, she’s your girl! Stay tuned for part 2 - Janis finally gets her B.S. degree after a 12-year long epic journey. BTW - I’d like to thank everyone who seems to think my “Metamorphosis” essay is worthy of referencing or plagiarizing, although I hope you’re not doing the latter... after all I had to read and research the darn thing and ponder in the shower what it means to be a giant bug, so I hope the rest of you are as well, and are merely using it to get the creative juices going for your own research projects. In any case, it’s the #1 hit generator on my site, because everyone finds a postmodern work of fiction where a guy turns into a bug much more fascinating than fife & drum, my dog, or me. ;-)

Here Comes Peter Cottontail Posted: 28 March 2005
Baby Rowen
Baby Rowen’s First Easter

I just got back from seeing my family over Easter. My niece is on the verge of crawling, and has started eating toast and teething. Agreeable as always, she had a few big smiles for her auntie. A couple of weeks ago, we went to “sunny” Florida on vacation, and I picked up a little T-shirt for her (among other things) that says, “I LOVE MY AUNT! *(This ad paid for by my aunt)”.

Sunny Florida was not, and I will have to rethink ever setting foot in Logan Airport again. To say they’re disorganized and clueless is an understatement. When we finally arrived in Florida 23.5 hours after we were supposed to, we got to spend the week at the EconoLodge Hawaiian Resort in Orlando. The only thing (other than the frat boys next door) wearing grass hula skirts were the 3” cockroaches. Oh - did I mention the giant inflatable Elvis out front? Class at its best!