Ahh… Tonight I went to my first day of college. Ever. Tonight’s class was HIST-2000 (formerly HIST-200) which is all about the history of invention and technology in America. Tonight’s class wasn’t anything special, just a hand-out of the class syllabus, a schedule, things like that. The class seems interesting, and judging by the students, shouldn’t be too hard to pass. There were a bunch of fresh high school grads, a couple older people, and me. It seemed like there are a few other twenty-something students, but they didn’t really stand out.

After I got back home I decided to start in on staining wood again. I applied the second coat of stain to all the table tops and bottoms and one set of the legs. That leaves only eight more table leg sets to receive their second coat of stain. After that comes the top coat… This will be the hard part. I think I have a plan, but we’ll have to see how it works out. It’ll likely involve eight or ten separate sessions of urethane application. That’s a lot. At least it’ll be worth it in the end. Tonight I took a test piece of oak that I had stained and then applied four or five coats of urethane to. I let my intentionally very wet glass set on the surface. No ring. Then I dropped the corner of the glass from a height of about five inches. Slight dent, but no cracking. Obviously the parawood would dent a bit more, but what I was looking for was a lack of cracking. The only test left is a very hot bowl or mug of tea. If this passes the test, I might forgo the glass surfaces. If not, all horizontal surfaces will have custom cut pieces of glass fitted to them. It ought to be nice to finally be able to sit in my living room, listen to music, and have tables to set things on.

Ahh. Got the bit of patch trim around the moulding in the halls done, also installed the new smoke detectors.

I think that the next project after the living room painting will be to build a L-shaped desk that allows me to face the corner while using the computer. I’m still not sure if I want a freestanding desk or if I want one that hangs on the wall. The freestanding desk has the advantage of being movable, should I ever want my desk elsewhere. The on-the-wall the desk has the advantage of providing more leg room, possibly easier cable management, and just looking cooler. I still don’t know how I’d hang the desk on the wall, but the more I think about it, the more I wish I could weld nice steel supports and epoxy coat them, then place a nice glass top on the desk. If I go with the hanging-on-the-wall desk, I’ll likely end up with something wood, supported with metal (steel or iron) braces, with a plastic laminate on the top. If the stand-alone desk is built, then there will be two end panels, a center support in the corner, and cable management hangers. Well, I guess we’ll just have to see what ends up getting done… This project is probably a month out at this point.

What does everyone think, though? Free-standing desk, or one that hangs off of the wall? I’ve had my desk in it’s current position for the last ~2 years I’ve lived here, and I’m pretty happy with it here. The only way I’d move it is if someone moved in here or something.