As my vinyl collection has grown my storage options have evolved with it. Currentyly I’m using a three-tier shelf made with half-inch MDF. What I’ve noticed is that once a shelf is full it begins to sag in the middle. Being paranoid as I am just a few degrees of flex makes me uncomfortable so the kernel to build a replacement began to grow. I had intended to do some other projects before building the shelves but still decided to do preliminary research. First I looked into existing designs that were available for purchase. This way I had a reference for what typical pricing is as well as inspiration for my own solution.
From there I started sketching out ideas and getting reference measurements from my existing storage. Vinyl albums are 12 3/4″ square and my shelving has 1/2″ of allowance and I kept that distance, giving shelves 13 1/4″ of vertical space. At a minimum the shelves would be 26 1/2″ for two tiers, plus any overlap with the top and bottom (two 3/4″ pieces). This meant a height of 28 3/4″ for me. My turntable is between 14-15 inches long so I wanted the shelves to atleast be that deep, and my current shelves are 24″ wide so I wanted at least that. So I decided at minimum it should be 14″ x 24″ x 28 3/4″ (LxWxH). Once I’d settled on a design, complete with measurements, I moved onto pricing out the materials. This is when I caved and decided to go for it as my other projects would be more expensive. To make this happen I found some affordable 3/4″ cherry plywood sheets that I could order pre-cut, saving me hours of hand sawing and heartbreak (I don’t expect to cut very straight with my current saw).
I mentioned this to my dad and sent a picture of my sketch. He suggested a Kreg pocket jig and asked how I’d handle the plywood’s exposed edge grain, I still don’t have an answer; maybe veneer tape. Some time later he actually called to confirm my plan and my measurements. This is also when he suggested I put a backboard on to help resist torsion. So I ordered my wood cut-to-size, a pocket hole jig, and a 1/4″ sheet to act as backing.
While waiting for pieces to arrive I did what research I could about assembling shelves, making/using pocket holes, really anything relevant that seemed worth my time.
Much to my relief the extra cuts from my cut-to-order were included so if I paid for a 8sqft I got 8sqft of plywood. I put the pieces together just to make sure the pieces actually fit flush, though I do admit if I were to re-design I’d go 15″ long and 30″ instead of 24″ wide. Hindight is 20/20 or atleast better than my natural eyesight. Before I did any drilling I practiced with my jig as I’d never used one (pocket hole jig) before, given I had some extra 3/4″ from my order it provided the needed material for practice. Not wanting to run the drill while the baby is sleeping I postponed assembly ’til the next day though I did continue to measure and draw in my drill spots.
With a 14″ length I decided 4″ in from each side was close enough to 1/3 to carry the burden. I ran a (too large) bead of wood glue at each joint before tightening down. Even though it put my pocket holes exterior I wanted the screws going into the “meat” of the wood. I used the 1 1/4″ coarse screws included with my jig kit.
I assembled it in halves first, then put the halves together. With the outside box finished I contemplated the dividers. Here’s where paper and real life differ: my drawing was wider than taller so the insinuated spacing for the dividers was actually much smaller in reality. Realizing this I adjusted to only a single divider for the bottom. I smeared the cut divider with a thin layer of glue before sliding it in and drilling the top in. It was then I noticed I hadn’t put in pocket holes in the bottom of the divider which now had a gap along the bottom. Miraculously I was able to put in an ad-hoc pocket hole inside the cramped shelf space without ruining all my labour.
Feeling very proud of myself I gave it some time to set while I trimmed a 1/4″ plywood sheet for a backboard. I glued the back face of the shelves and then lined up the back board on the corners. Then starting at the corners I hammered in 1 1/4″ nails to fasten it tight.
Structurally finished I called it a day and now ponder the final touches. I’ve wiped it down with a damp cloth but my next step is to sand the faces flush, wipe down again, likely stain and finally decide on how to cover the visible edge grain.
Much to my chagrin I must admit I went a little overboard on vinyl acquisitions recently but nothing too dangerous.
I found most of System of a Down‘s discography for a decent price. Eventually I do plan on getting their first album. What I do have here though is all pretty great. Thinking about whether or not to buy them made me realize just how consistently good SoaD is. They have a distinct sound that drastically evolved across their releases, with each album being listenable all the through.
Pretty self-explanatory, the soundtrack for Banjo-Tooie. I have the OST (or is score the more appropriate word?) for Banjo-Kazooie already so this is a relief to have before it sells out. It actually came as a surprise, I was bored and checked Fangamer and there it was on the first page, impulse beat logic and now here it is. I may end up doing a comparison of the two games OST’s included.
Beyond Creation is a band I’ve only discovered within the past year or so but their brand of technical ambient death metal is pretty palatable. I was introduced via their most recent album Algorythm and then worked backwards. I think Algorythm is more consistent while Earthborn Evolution has better moments.
Finally some pictures for albums i’ve previously mentioned (Archspire – Bleed the Future,Black Crown Initiate‘s – Song of the Crippled Bull and Selves We Cannot Forgive). Then Temple of Void‘s Lords of Death, an absolutely crushing death metal album with some inspired lyrical themes . It can be doomy, ambient, and even speed up to a gallop with some excellently placed clean vocals on one track. I’d really like to do a more in depth review of it some time. Next would beMichael Jackson‘s Thriller. Everyone’s heard the song. It’s one of the best-selling albums of all time at over 50 million copies. Yet I’d never listened to it front to back, let alone any of his music. It’s good 80’s pop, but i’ll have to listen more to form any strong opinions. Lastly we end with A Tribe Called Quest‘s Midnight Marauders, which is a great album with solid vibes all the way through.
Any day now I’m going to come home from the hospital with a baby girl as a new father. I feel anxious, excited, afraid, curious, and more. For the moment I’m just double checking everything, trying to keep the house clean, and my wife happy. My wife is ready to no longer carry a watermelon-sized person around her belly also. This has been the largest reason I’ve not found the time or motivation to write much of anything. Even now the words come only with much focus and thought to wring out something. Anticipation has always had a way of staying under my skin, making me overwhelmingly anxious. For relief I always end up going over all the details, even the only mildly related ones. The nursery is setup, I’ve re-organized the garage, re-evaluated and sold off part of my video game collection, re-organized and cleaned the kitchen, and put some finishing touches into my gardens. I think I’m feeling the end of this chapter of my life and I’m trying to finish what I can so I can start the next as unburdened as possible.
I have so much going on and so much to say this will probably be quite long, especially with some pictures. So it’s been broken up into pieces, mostly for my benefit. If you’re asking why I didn’t release smaller posts over time, that’s a good question.
Going forward I may talk about Zelda, my daughter, but only after confirming it’s ok with my partner. We’re almost at 41 weeks and my wife is ready to be done. Fortunately Zelda is for all intents and purposes in good health despite her late stay. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait for our local hospital to deliver a few other Summer babies before we can schedule an induction and a definitive end. One way or the other within a week I’ll be able to hold my newborn. My wife is abuzz with the possibilities for Zelda, whether she’ll be good at math, a natural swimmer or anti-social like her dad. How quickly will she learn to crawl and speak? Will she be noisy or quiet? Active or still? All I can hope to do is comfort her against all the possibilities and assure her Zelda will be fine.
Ironically by the time this post goes live, my daughter will have been born already. On July 4th close to midnight Zelda was born with no complications, and all the struggles my wife suffered for the past 40+ weeks melted into one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen her wear when they handed her this tiny, quiet, little girl. Two days later and we’ve taken the baby home for the first time. Here’s to a healthy baby and wife *drinks more caffeine*.
The Wife
Wild salmon, fingerling potatoes, and green salad.
My wife has found the dwindling end of our non-parent life together pre-occupying her mind. As a balm I suggested a long list of ideas for “Dates”, with extra attention to her limitations in pregnancy. While we were unable to do all of them we did knock off quite a few and having this list to work through made planning a fun day quicker.
Dinner for two by candlelight
Bake desserts and make ice cream sundaes
Picnic
Work on some artwork together
Day trip to an interesting nearby city
Try a board game, card game, or video game
Faux camping in the backyard with smores and grilled food
Watch a movie at the Drive-in
Food crawl through a town
Dinner at a nice restaraunt
“Movie Theatre” at home
Pictured below we were able to complete a “Paint-by-numbers” on canvas that we are now deciding where to hang. Most likely in the nursery.
The final product of our collaboration.
The next we were able to do was try Anti-monopoly, a variation on the classic board game. It was the first time in a few years we had played a board game or anything like that together. On occasion she’s willing to play the video game Overcooked with me and it’s a bit of chaotic fun. We were also able to catch Everything Everywhere All at Once at a nearby Drive-in Theatre. We grabbed some mexican take-out and had a great time gorging and watching. Earlier in the year we had driven north to Napa, CA (the city not the county) where we roamed around taking in the sights and eating at a few places, this is the closest we got to a true food crawl. When I first moved out to California my wife and I were not married yet and were actually taking a break from each other. We eventually met for dinner at a nice local italian place and re-kindled our relationship that night. I was hoping we could go one last time before parenthood and we may still but it seems we won’t. Lastly my wife had received a small projector as a gift from work and with some tinkering I was able to setup our spare bedroom into a “home movie theatre”. The projection’s image is rather grainy but sharp enough for subtitles, a must for my wife. For our movie night I suggested The Grand Budapest Hotel, something we had meant to watch together for some time. This was my second viewing and her first. It’s a pretty fascinating movie with lots of stuff bubbling beneath the surface, she enjoyed it quite a bit so I’ve moved onto my next recommendation for her, Catch Me If You Can also a hit. Even though we worked through half the list we hit a point where we knew even amongst those limited options, our choices were fewer each day.
Just a funny aside, we have a local pizzeria that serves a “Prego” pizza. One that is claimed to help start labor, and my wife anxious to get things going advocated for it’s consumption. So I pickup what is essentially a combo pizza with extra onions, pepper, and linguisa added. She wasn’t a fan, she doesn’t like such “american” style pizzas so I’ve had pizza for lunch for almost a week now.
The Prego pizza
Myself
I’ve spent some time thinking about why I even have a blog and what purpose it serves. One conclusion is that being able to write about whatever I want with no real objective gives me the opportunity to organize my thoughts. Then in the writing of it I ask myself critical questions, which reveals more understanding. If nothing else having a place to speak even an empty room is conducive to my mental health and self-awareness. It’s my hope I’ll continue to think out loud and find more confidence in exposing more of my thoughts as I do so. Aside from my mental health I’ve taken a break from serious excercise to nurse a foot back into shape, but between an acceptable diet and limited activity I’ve lost another ten pounds in the past month. This makes 25+ pounds over two months. Down from 220+ to 195. The end of last month, June, was when I hit two months of no alcohol as well. Things are not perfect but I’m making the changes that I think are meaningful for now.
Video Games
Video game shelves
It’s weird that I feel so compelled to finalize things. Not only that but what I cared about or what mattered shifted quickly as the expected due date neared. This was most apparent with my intentions towards game collecting where I had streamlined my collection selling a good chunk of it. Cutting down on larger items like collectors editions and entire genres I’ve realized I just don’t like. Not only this but I bought plastic shells for all of my Nintendo paper game boxes as that finalized level of protection. In addition after a lot of shuffling around I’ve found a layout for my games that I find functionally effective and aesthetically pleasing. From the hookups for all my handhelds over on the left, to the ready-to-play PSOne between my genesis games, and everything else. I look at these shelves and see an interactive shrine to what gaming is to me. In an effort to make playing any of my consoles even easier I’ve started switching over to all wireless controllers. So far this covers the Genesis, SNES, and PS2 for the consoles that dont have first-party wireless controllers. So far it’s been pretty effective, I just need to document what combination of switches need to be activated for seamless component video out to my Retro-Tink 5x.
Vinyl
My vinyl setup
This push to tie the bow on my collecting also included my vinyl collection which saw two new additions with another three on the way. Most recently was The Black Dahlia Murder’s Ritual. I bought my first TBDM vinyl, Abyssmal a week or so before Trevor’s death and I had posted about not enjoying their recent music as much. I know I don’t have anything to do with what happened but it still left me with some guilt later. I only wish the best for those left behind. Continuing with the Death Metal I also picked up Black Crown Initiate‘s Song of the Crippled Bull and Selves We Cannot Forgive both excellent listens with a lot of variety, though I would like to say the former is more like one 21 minute long track that’s broken into four pieces. The latter goes to a lot of different places and most of the tracks have a clear identity picking only a few styles to blend each. The last Death Metal album is the newest release from Archspire who seem like a joke band because of how ridiculous some of what they do is, but every time I listen to their past two releases what I hear is some pretty great songwriting. Finally I was able to find an affordable copy of one my favorite 90’s east-coast hip-hop albums. It has this theme of a city bracing for a hurricane, the eponymous storm in the form of “Hurricane” Starang Wondah, Louieville Sluggah, and Top Dog.
For anyone curious about my setup, I’m using an AT-LP120XUSB so my audio is actually transmitted via bluetooth as I’m low on space for chords. At the moment I’m only outputting to a pair of decent Bose bookend speakers that’ve lasted me since High School. Given our house is mostly hardwood and vinyl planking the acoustics are exceptional and I can fill the whole house from downstairs at well less than half volume. My turntable accessories and stuff for cleaning are in the drawer just below the turntable, while replacement vinyl sleeves are on a shelf lower. My vinyl shelving was just some second-hand furntiure left by a friend of my wife’s. After having it for some time not knowing why this “book”shelf can’t hold books, it all clicked when I was looking where I could put my vinyl somewhere safe, accessible, and allowed for legible spines. I’m using some cheap metal bookends to keep the vinyl vertical and help with organization. Right now I have them organized into four sections Metal or Hip-Hop my wife doesn’t like on the top left, stuff I don’t listen to or damaged vinyl on the bottom left, video game soundtracks on the bottom right and everything else (jazz, rock, classical) is in the top right. Just for my vanity and because vinyl album covers are an art to themselves I bought a stand to display whatever’s playing.
Shadow of Intent – PrimordialShadow of Intent – ReclaimerBolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal
About two weeks ago while looking for new sources for harder-to-find vinyl I came across IndieMerchStore. They sell licensed clothes, music, etc… for many different bands like Archspire, Black Crown Initiate, and Rings of Saturn just to name a few. Here I found a few albums that had been elusive previously. First is Shadown of Intent’s Primordial and Reclaimer their first and second albums respectively. Both are really good listens that keep you on your toes start to finish. I believe these are also my first Deathcore albums, which is fitting given how highly I’d rate them in that pantheon. Now their third album has been released but I didn’t like it anywhere near as much. It was also the album that forwent the use of Halo lore as a narrative backdrop. Next is my third acquisition of Bolt Thrower’s, Those Once Loyal. This is likely the last album I’ll get of theirs but is no less exceptional. According to the what I’ve read from interviews Bolt Thrower won’t release another album so Those Once Loyal is not only one of their best but also their last. Strangely Bolt Thrower also started out using a pre-existing Sci-Fi universe, Warhammer: 40k, as a backdrop for their early releases as well.
Tchaikovsky and WaltonTchaikovsky inside leftTchaikovsky inside rightWalton insideTchaikovsky and PopsPops insideReplacement sleevesJohto Legends and FFX
Every once in a while I’ll make trip to a local goodwill to try and find anything useful, usually with an eye for organizational tools. Recently I made a visit and was able to pick up a large cast-iron skillet, some vinyl, and a couple other miscellaneous things. I haven’t quite gotten around to listening to any of them but I did go through my ritual of dusting, cleaning, and replacing paper sleeves with new anti-static ones. As I did this the smell of the larger collections was just like that of older books, so I did some cursory research and found that both were released around 1938. If you look on the inside of the back cover of either they list other vinyls the companies are selling with prices as high as $6.50. The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 also has a mild fracture in the second and third vinyl. I’ll just have to see how well they play.
Though I haven’t listened to my Goodwill vinyl, I ordered some off the internet. First from iam8bit was Johto Legends, an orchestral scoring of the music from Pokemon Gold and Silver. I’ve listened through all four sides a few times already. The album progresses with the childish and adventure themes giving way to more japanese-folk inspired music and finally becoming more dramatic overtures. Second was the soundtrack from Final Fantasy X from the Materia Collective. First off the packaging is really weird and I was concerned it was a knockoff at first, and this is my first album with picture disc. It gave me weird vibes, but after a few listens I didn’t mind either way. The music is a little ecclectic as it jumps between the different themes but it does give this sense of moving through different locales. The standouts here being all of the village/town themes, as traditionally in JRPG’s village music is the best.
Finally as I was about to post this I remember I also picked up the vinyl for Polyphia’s New Levels New Devils. A good addition to my growing set of albums fit for general consumption.
Edit: After a thorough cleaning the older albums all still pop with some frequency. I intend to hit them with some cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth and see if that alleviates some of it. Also the Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6 is only the sleeve, it actually holds The Irish Rovers’ Tales to Warm Your Mind.
Usually I put the music pictures first but one of the albums present has graphic imagery so I want people to be aware of that in advance.
There’s a well-known UK record label that helped popularize extreme music coming out in the late 80’s called Earache Records, and it’s online store is a great source of metal vinyl. Earlier this year I ordered some vinyl from them that are on my must-own list and they came in about two weeks ago, I just haven’t gotten around to writing about it ’til now. Included is an album any burgeoning fan of metal should check out: Iron Maiden’s Powerslave. Iron Maiden is the kind of metal I can still play around my wife without her complaining, which is a sentiment that extends to nothing else here. Next is the second of the three Bolt Thrower albums I wish to own, this one being …For Victory. Their albums IVth Crusade, Those Once Loyal, and the aforementioned are just phenomenal Death Metal. After this is the graphic-warning album Abysmal by The Black Dahlia Murder, who are one of the first Death Metal bands I really got hooked onto. This Abysmal album is in my opinion the last of their great albums but they’re still releasing new material. Last and most certainly not least, a band I will prop up as long as my memory functions: Opeth. My first true Death Metal band, Opeth is a great mix of heavy and soft atmospherics, harsh screams and serene clean singing. I was able to get a copy of Watershed, Ghost Reveries, and Blackwater Park. Watershed was their last album before they switched to psychadelic prog-rock. Ghost Reveries and Blackwater Park are where the band peaked and I believe some of the best albums of any genre. Only partially shown is Bloodbath’s Unblessing the Purity. This 10″ of pure evil is four tracks of exceptional DM though I prefer the dingier sound of their first two releases.
I was introduced to the Castlevania games at when I was younger and watched my cousins play games. One cousin was playing Symphony of the Night and everything about it’s aesthetic resonated with my younger self. I eventually worked up the courage to ask to borrow it, and next I knew I was at home in front of my family’s Playstation 2 about to experience one of my favorite games of all time, for the first time. Since then I’ve probably had a dozen or so playthroughs, but I wouldn’t play the other Castlevania games ’til I was in High School or College. Any fan of the series would be one of the first to extol the excellence of their soundtracks, hence my desire to own them on vinyl. If you’re a fan, it’s worth it.
Metallica and ColtraneRandom picksMetallica + other picks
My wife and I made a trip out to Berkely to walk around and enjoy not being stuck in-home. I took the opportunity to make some nice vinyl picks at the local Amoeba Vinyl store. While there were some other albums I was interested in, my selections were already a bit of overkill. Metallica and classic Jazz are always on my radar but I had a lot of fun picking through the $2-$3 classical albums hoping they’ll be enjoyable. The most interesting standout is the Classical Flute Concertos. After we walked 15-20 minutes for lunch at a Thai restaurant, though I wasn’t too hungry.
ooglykraken 