Party Prep

[ehowton]

This Thanksgiving Weekend has given me plenty of time to get everything ready for the party despite the 70-degree evenings evaporating overnight late last week. Bummer. Now I'm hoping it will be dry. I've spent an inordinate amount of time tweaking my playlist. I want to set it and walk away. I don't want people fiddling with it. I've made additions and deletions, added more scores (only the short, immediately identifiable tracks, I promise) and dropped in a couple of handfuls of movie sound bytes dialog. I've tweaked the settings of iTunes (what there are), adjusted the EQ, and triple-checked the playlist for album art. I've decided on full-screen Cover Flow over insipid "visualization." Everything looks, and sounds awesome on this end. I'm pumped.




I anticipate most of the party taking place in the garage. We'll have one of the garage doors open allowing access to the front yard, allowing easy access to the keg (which I presume will be bone dry approximately 90-minutes after tapping it) to allow Mother Nature's assistance in keeping it iced. There will be a buffet table in the garage as well, with three crock-pots (one of them a veritable vat) of Texas chili and two of queso. Everyone's been so helpful in pitching in to ensure everything is covered. The number has swollen to nearly 50 confirmed, with the possibility of an additional twenty or thirty still unaccounted for. Yes, I could potentially have 80 folks at this party.

My wife decided the foyer would benefit from my rugs this time around. The largest middle rug was my first - I picked it up in Saudi; its my only machine-made rug. The rug to its right is a handmade rug with the weavers name (in arabic) sewn into as a signature centered near the bottom. The white highlights are silk. The one to the left of the big rug I picked up in Korea, its a handmade Pakistani rug. The other two are much smaller hand knotted rugs, both of them having been purchased in Virginia, one of them Indian made. They go somewhere different in each house I've had. I've never split them up before (I usually hang all five in a row) but I think they really invite you into the house here. The wrinkles are from being used as packing material for six months.




And while I anticipate the garage and front yard being filled with happy, drinking people - the interior of the house is not off-limits. I'm going to have several internet kiosks around the house so people can get online whenever they want to. I want them to be able to access the lj 'Guestbook' as well. Nonetheless, I took great care in getting all the unnecessary junk out of my office, vacuuming & cleaning it, and even hanging some things on the wall. I'll move in some more chairs the day of the party. We're down to the last five days, and I take my boy to Cub Scouts tonight. Time is fleeting.

Comments

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

WOW! It just keeps getting bigger and better everyday!

I'm sure it'll become legendary!

Can't wait to see you! 4 more days!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Its going to be magical.

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

Yes - I believe the whole week will be!

[leonardii.livejournal.com]

Yes, sir... I do indeed believe the evening will be a memory not easily forgotten.

Thank you for doing this. We all owe you our gratitude for bringing us together this way.

I know it will be a gala event!

Lena & and will be out tomorrow shopping for some new clothes to wear. She wants to look extra lovely. And so do I! :)

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

I can not wait to sit up all night and tell stories! Sleep is for the weak! See Ya Soon!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Would you like some Scotch with that, sir?

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

No one sleeps when photogoot is in town!

It's officially a rule now! :)

Can't wait to see you stranger!

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I'm still all a-titter! Can't wait! Work sux!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Why are you still there?

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Because my plane doesn't leave for another four days.

P.S. Great avatar. I'm jealous.

[irulan-amy.livejournal.com]

Internet kiosks?! Cool. :D

I really like the hanging rugs - they are really lovely, and what a wonderful idea so they don't get worn.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Internet kiosks! In a variety of operating system choices...Just this past weekend members of the Tribal Council were trying to figure out how to get you down here :P Then we lost a key member to a business trip :(

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I say we go to LA and kidnapp her.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I like the internet kiosk idea. I have withdrawls if I'm away from a computer more then a few hours. However, it's kinda odd: what I normally keep staring at my inbox for is LJ comment notifications. I don't suppose I'll get many comments while I'm in Texas and I can get them straight from the donkey's horse's mouth.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Maybe you'll have a chance to put up small posts (there are such a thing, trust me) from Ground Zero while you're here.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Do you think that we could get some celebrities to come? How 'bout G.W. Bush? :D

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Do you think that we could get some celebrities to come?
Both drax0r and I will be attending galinda822's party, yes.

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

Love the SUN colors in the office. Very classy indeed, not to mention BOLD. I remember the days of you building play lists on a VHS tape to be played on my early sony stereo VHS player. The reason for this was the same as you articulate here, to set it on play and walk away for the duration of the party. The more things change the more they stay the same. I can not wait. Hey I just found a hard copy image of the ...Tower of Power... yes it is true it may be the only photographic evidence of the beast as it was, aside from your video... which I wish to never see again. I can not get there fast enough and am really looking forward to seeing Lady L and Miss galinda822 too! I can not get my head around how enormous this event has become. This will be epic!

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

We will also need to discuss the frequency of image uploads to keep those not fortunate enough to be present. Although I am not a video guy and not wanting to distract from the beauty of the still image, which I believe will always reign supreme, I find myself in the strange position of asking have you considered a live video feed? If nothing else it may be amusing for irulan_amy.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry - why have you not already scanned the picture and sent it to my Inbox?

BSG Season 3 DVD Update

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

BTW, I have been informed by my local retailer season 3 of BSG will be available on DVD 4 December! Finally I can get caught up.

Re: BSG Season 3 DVD Update

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I'll inform the spousal unit directly.

Re: BSG Season 3 DVD Update

[irulan-amy.livejournal.com]

Really?! Last I heard it wasn't going to be out until spring. That would be so awesome!! :D

[codekitten.livejournal.com]

i just painted my foyer that exact purple.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Mine was Ralph Lauren Studio Purple.
Really makes a bold statement doesn't it? Did you use it as an accent or balls-to-the-walls all over? If so, what was your accent color to it?