DIY Home Theater, part 2

The home theater isn't quite finished, but it's close. I need to buy a ceiling mount for my projector. I had planned on setting it on a shelf at the back of the room, but that isn't going to work. Currently I have the projector on a very low shelf at the back of the room. Because of this I've had to move the couch to the side of the room (and as you will see in the video it is very easy to cast shadows on the screen!)

However enough of the components are in place that we can watch movies in there now. In the following short video clip I show the size of the screen. I stand in front of the screen so you get some sense of scale, but it may be hard to see in this dark and grainy video.

Needless to say, I am really enjoying it. I am going to find it difficult to drive to the movies now with such a large screen in our home!

Until next time...

Scenes from a Mall

This morning I had to have a flat tired patched at the Sears Auto Center. Rather than sit in the waiting room I decided to venture out into the adjoining mall.

The mall -- any mall -- is an interesting place before 10:00 AM. Most of the stores still have the steel security gates in place. The food court is dark and empty. The small kiosks which sell sunglasses or perfume are covered with large tarps. And of course there are the Mall Walkers.

The Mall Walkers are an interesting bunch. It is a universal law that no Mall Walker is under 70 years old. They are almost always female, and those who bring their husbands leave them to their newspaper and coffee at one of the many "resting spots" in the mall, which usually consist of leather recliners or comfortable couches. In most cases, these abandoned husbands end up falling asleep.

Countryside Mall, the mall closest to my house, has a large ice skating rink between Dillard's and Macy's. It was at the ice skating rink that I witnessed the scene which inspired me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and share this.

In the middle of the ice-skating rink was a group of about twenty ladies, all of them senior citizens, who were waving around hula-hoops with streamers attached to them, going through some kind of synchronized dance routine to the songs "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Light My Fire" by the Doors. These two songs played repeatedly for about 15 minutes. I just sat there with my coffee and watched with a mixture of shock and amusement. Where else would I see this but at a mall on a Wednesday morning at 9:30 AM?

I took a very grainy shot with my camera phone, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet I can share this lovely story with all of you.