Now that my Denver Broncos have officially played themselves out of the playoffs, I decided I needed to come up with a list of which team(s) I will be cheering for next. I put all 12 teams in order so if my top team loses I’ll cheer for the next one in line.

The list (along with a reason or two why is as follows):

Teams I want to win:

1. Vikings

What has the potential to be the greatest story in NFL history is that of Brett Favre wanting to come back to play for the Green Bay Packers only to be told that they didn’t need him anymore.  At 40 years old he has the chance to prove all of his doubters wrong by winning his 2nd Super Bowl and beating the Green Bay Packers three times in a single season to do it. In this case I’m cheering more for the story/player than the team.

2. Saints

In the last 3 years I’ve become a big Drew Brees fan. Mostly because I’ve had him as my starting fantasy football QB in 2 of the last 3 seasons. It was painful last year to watch him throw for over 5000 yards and finish the season 8-8. Now that he’s finally got talent around him on both sides of the ball, it would be nice to see him get a ring.

3. Colts

By the time Peyton Manning retires, he will probably go down as the greatest QB to have ever played in the league. I wouldn’t mind seeing him win a few more Super Bowl rings to match his status. If Ben Roethlisberger has 2 rings already, Peyton Manning should have at least 5.

4. Cowboys

I have an uncle who has been a Dallas fan since before I was born. I would also like to see the Cowboys win a playoff game finally (their last playoff win was in 1996).

5. Cardinals

They came so close last year. After years and years of being a terrible team, it would be cool to see them win a Super Bowl.

6. Eagles

The Eagles have been to the NFC Championship game 5 of the last 9 years. It’s about time Donnovan McNabb gets a ring.

Teams I don’t care about:

7. Ravens

I like Ray Lewis… that’s about it. I don’t think this team is going to get far.

8. Patriots

The Patriots are a perennial playoff team and more often than not a Super Bowl contender. I don’t think they have all of the right pieces this year to go far, but they could still be dangerous.

9. Packers

I actually like the Packers. However, in my dream scenario with Brett Favre winning a Super Bowl with a different team than the packers at the age of 40, the opposite scenario is the Packers beating the Vikings in the playoffs to prevent Favre from accomplishing his goal. This would prove the Packers were right when they said they didn’t need him anymore. However, if the Vikings were to lose to a different team, then the Packers jump up to #5 in my list with every other team dropping down 1 slot.

Teams I want to get crushed:

10. Jets

I don’t particularly like the Jets and I especially don’t like Mark Sanchez. It would pain me to see him win more than 1 playoff game as a rookie.

11. Bengals

Living in Ohio, I know way too many annoying Bengals fans who would love to rub it in my face if the Bengals did well in the playoffs (especially considering Brandon Stokley’s touchdown in week 1). I would enjoy greatly for the Bengals to lose in round 1.

12. Chargers

Being a Broncos fan, traditionally I am supposed to hate the Oakland Raiders. However, ever since the Raiders drafted Jamarcus Russell, they have essentially been a non-factor in the league (though he did throw the winning TD pass in a game against the Broncos this year). However, the San Diego Chargers have been nothing but a thorn in the side of the Broncos for  the last few years. I really hope they stumble early in the playoffs because I’m afraid if they don’t beat themselves, no one else is going to beat them.

Popular Mechanics recently ran a list of their “50 Important Tools Everyone Should Own“. Due to their subscriber base, they included a lot of tools that, although I own, I don’t think are essential. I decided to write my own list, but my list focuses on tools for home repair. I don’t know how to fix a car so I wouldn’t know the essential automotive tools (though I’d like to think you could do just about anything with a wrench, a hammer and a screwdriver).

Some of the items are not exactly “tools” but I consider them to be must-have items anyway. On with the list!

1. Safety Goggles

I can’t stress the importance of safety goggles enough. All it takes is one screw up to cause irreparable damage. In my experience, for some reason it seems that no matter what you are working on, something always ends up flying at your face. From sawdust to metal shavings to heavy objects, getting stuff launched at your eyes is never a good thing and every guy should have a decent pair of safety goggles.

2. Work Bench

Having a workbench is a must for every guy. I spent a while debating between this or safety goggles as #1. A good workbench becomes your “mission control” center. It is the center piece of your shop and it’s where you will likely spend most of your time. A work bench doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be a decent size and sturdy. Some 2×4’s and some plywood will do the trick if you are on a budget. Personally, I was extremely fortunate in that our house came with not one but two workbenches in the basement. I built a third workbench for the garage and use all three regularly.

3. Hammer

Every man needs his hammer. It will be a permanent fixture in your toolbox. The most important thing to me when using a hammer is that it needs to be comfortable to use. A quality made, comfortable hammer is going to be with you for a long time. Who knows, maybe one day you can pass it down to your kids. My hammer was a hand-me down from my father-in law. It’s an old hammer with a wooden handle. Nothing fancy, but I’ve never used another hammer that I like quite as much as this one.

4. Drill

A drill is most likely going to end up being your primary tool for almost all home repair projects. There are very few projects that don’t require the use of one in some way. I prefer cordless drills for the mobility but the risk of draining your battery at the most inopportune time can steer some away from cordless. In addition to battery issues, some cordless drills may lack the power to handle the heavier duty tasks. Some people prefer the constant stream of power provided with a corded drill and I can’t fault them for that. A good cordless drill should have at the very least a torque setting and preferably at least two different gear settings. The torque setting will let you choose when the drill should stop spinning after it’s reached a certain amount of resistance to ensure you don’t drive a screw too far into whatever you are working on. If you are buying a cordless drill, make sure to buy extra batteries. This might seem like an unnecessary expense but trust me, you’ll be thankful later.

5. Screwdriver Set

Your drill will be used frequently as a power screwdriver. However, for some tasks nothing will replace the standard screwdriver. There’s not much to this one. Buy a set that includes 3-5 sizes/lengths of both phillips and straight heads. You will get what you pay for when it comes to screwdrivers. If you buy the $10 economy set, you run the risk of having your handles come loose or stripping the tips of your phillips head screwdrivers.

6. Ratchet Set

A ratchet set is essentially your screwdriver set but for bolts & nuts. It will make working with bolts extremely easy and you will probably end up using it more than your actual wrenches. Make sure you buy a set that has both Imperial (USA style with inches, etc) and Metric (Everywhere else, centimeters, millimeters etc) measurements. There are several different sizes, but I have found that the 3/8″ set will be the most universal.

7. Adjustable Wrench Set

Adjustable wrenches are great because they don’t require you to go fishing for that one special size wrench in your toolbox (you know… the one that always seems to be missing). Combined with a ratchet set, you might never need to buy wrenches. The set I recently purchased came with three different size wrenches ranging from 3/4″ to 1 1/4″. This will allow you to work on almost anything in your house with the exception of plumbing projects.

8. Utility Knife

A good utility knife belongs in every man’s toolbox. There’s not much to say about this. You get what you pay for, but it’s primary function is to cut things and as long as the blade is sharp it doesn’t really matter what’s around it. I prefer a folding lock-blade knife for safe storage.

9. Clamps

This is one thing that I was missing early on in my home ownership. I had never considered the need. However, one day while browsing the aisles of Home Depot, I came across the Irwin brand QuickGrip clamps and I suddenly realized what I was missing out on. After buying these, I have probably used them in almost every project I’ve worked on since.

10. Saws

One thing you will end up doing a lot of in the process of home ownership is cutting things. Saws are my personal favorite tools and I own 8 different types (table saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, mitre saw, finish saw, band saw & scroll saw). My suggestion when buying a saw is to buy replacement blades at the same time. Most blades that come with saws are the lowest quality blades available. I’ve made a list of the 5 saws I think every man needs to own:

10.1 Circular Saw

The circular saw is a pretty universal tool. You can use it for ripping (cutting down the length of a board, with the grain) or crosscutting (cutting through a board, perpendicular to the grain). It’s not an extremely accurate tool, but it’s a good starting point. I do not recommend buying a cordless circular saw as cutting is a very strenuous task on a motor and this will end up draining your battery very quickly.

10.2 Compound Mitre Saw

The mitre saw (or chop saw) is your go-to tool for cutting boards to length. Mitre saws can cut boards at perfect 90 degree angles or can be adjusted to cut at almost any angle horizontally or vertically. One of the greatest benefits of a mitre saw is the speed that it cuts through your materials. After you measure and make your mark, it’s a simple matter of lining up the blade to your mark and slicing through it.

10.3 Reciprocating Saw

The reciprocating saw (or Saw Zaw) is essentially a motorized hacksaw. The open blade thrusts back and forth rapidly and can be used in tight spaces. Don’t forget to buy both wood and metal cutting blades in different sizes. With a large enough wood cutting blade, the reciprocating saw can even be used to cut through tree limbs. I prefer a cordless reciprocating saw, however as with other saws this will drain your battery very quickly and I’m considering buying an additional corded model considering how much this gets used.

10.4 Table Saw

The table saw… probably the scariest of the saws as it’s open, high speed blade could lead to accidents if you’re not careful. This tool is essential when working on projects that require ripping through long boards such as plywood or fencing panels. In theory, a circular saw could be used for most of the table saws tasks, however the table saw is much more accurate and a lot faster. A table saw should at the very least have adjustments for both blade height and angle and a ‘rip fence’ for setting the width of your cut. The most important thing when working with a table saw is to pay attention to what you are doing.

10.5 Jigsaw

The jigsaw is more of an optional saw for your inventory. It’s a precision instrument that has blades design to cut many different materials such as: wood, metal, plastic, drywall and foam. The super thin blade works much like the reciprocating saw but the blade’s small size allows for great maneuverability and can be used much more precisely than other saws.

Honorable Mentions:

The following items should be included in your inventory but didn’t make my top 10:

• Tool Box - For carrying tools from place to place
• Tool Chest - For permanent storage of your tools, often found next to the work bench.
• Shopvac - For cleaning up your messes
• 55 gallon trash can - keep your own trash can to avoid angering the lady of the house
• Levels - Buy a small torpedo level and a large 48″ level
• Combination Square - a combination of a carpenter’s square, a small tape measure and a level
• Carpenter’s Square - for both measuring and squaring materials
• Tape Measure - at least 25′

Of course this is just my list of the essential items. Each person will have their own list, these just happen to be the tools I have used the most in my 2 years of home ownership. If you think I missed something, post your suggestion in the comments.

For the last few years, Emily has been planting vegetable plants in various places around the house. Recently, she took a vegetable gardening class where she learned about raised gardens. Apparently there are a few benefits to having a raised garden over a standard garden:

Raised beds produce a variety of benefits: they extend the planting season; they reduce the need to use poor native soil; and they can reduce weeds if designed properly.

Initially she had expressed interest in making a raised garden, however when I asked her about it two weeks later, she said she was going to do a regular garden because she thought a raised garden would be “too difficult” to make. Of course, I took this as a challenge and bought the materials the next day.

I purchased:

• 4x - 6 foot long, 4″x4″ pressure treated posts
• 8x - 8 foot long, 6″ wide cedar boards with pre-cut grooves that slide together
• 4x - 8 foot long, 4″ wide cedar boards
• 4x - 8 foot long, 2″ wide cedar boards
• 1x - 48″ x 50 foot long roll of plastic fencing
• 32x - 2.5″ x 1/4″ lag bolts and 1/4″ washers
• 1x - 2 pack hinge set with screws
• 1x - 6″ x 1/4″ carriage bolt
• 1x - 1/4″ lock nut
• 1x - 1/4″ wing nut

The original dimensions of the finished garden were to be 4 feet wide by 12 feet long, with 4 foot high screened walls to keep the dogs out. I started with the daunting task of digging the post holes. I’m not a big fan of working outside in general, but if there’s one thing I especially hate, it’s post hole digging. Because I wanted the eventual height of screened walls to be 4 feet high, I had to dig my holes 24″ deep. I know this is above the frost line, but it’s just a vegetable garden so I’m not too worried. I chose cedar because it’s known as a ‘rot’ resistant wood. It doesn’t rot in the ground like most woods do.

Once the holes were dug and the posts were securely in place, I started laying down the side walls. This ended up being far more work than I had expected as the pre-cut tongue & groves on the cedar boards liked to come apart while I was working. I stacked the boards two high so I had 12″ walls all the way around. For the 12′ sides, I had to cut an 8′ board into 4′ pieces, then stagger them with another 8′ board so the seams wouldn’t be in the same spot.

Once the boards were in place, I pre-drilled holes through the cedar boards and into the posts. I ratcheted my 2.5″ lag bolts into the boards & posts with a 1/4″ washer to hold them securely. Once all four sides were done, I cut two of the 8′ x 4″ cedar boards into 4′ lengths and attached them to walls of the 12′ sides, directly on the seams. This was done to strengthen the walls and to provide more posts for the top rail.

I attached the top rail using staggered 8′ and 4′ lengths of the 2″ thick cedar boards. After this, I called it a day and snapped the following pic:

Day 1 Progress

I didn’t have a chance to cut off the excess at the time because I’d left my saws at Lauren’s house the day before.

When I finally got a free day to finish the garden project, I realized that the walls were way too high. With only one entrance, it would be very difficult to work with the plants at the back of the garden. Because of this, I decided to cut all of the vertical posts down to only 30″ instead of 48″.

I attached the plastic screening with a staple gun and was ready to make the door:

Attached Dog Screen

I cut two 8′ x 4″ boards down to two 46″ and two 19″ pieces. I attached them together using wood screws and attached the screen using a staple gun. After the door was assembled, I attached the hinges to the post and then to the door. Once the door was securely attached to the post, I made the door “latch”.

I used a 1/4″ drill bit to drill through the post and door frame. On the back of the post, I used a 3/4″ drill and drilled a 1″ deep hole. I inserted the 5″ carriage bolt through the post & door and secured it from the other side with a lock nut. After I ensured that the door would close properly, I glued a 1/4″ washer to the outside of the door and used a wing nut to hold the door shut.

Once the excess was cut off, the pre-filled garden bed looked like this:

Once the bed was done, we filled it with a topsoil/organic compost mix and Emily did her planting thing.

The finished garden:

All said and done, she planted: 6 tomato plants, 1 cucumber plant, 1 watermelon plant, 1 red bell pepper plant and 1 jalapeno plant. I’m sure I’ll have more pics to come once the plants start growing and yeilding edible food.

I came across this blog post on yesterday and it really inspired me to come up with my own list of things that I will teach my kids. Most of these are things that I wasn’t taught as a kid (or chose to ignore) and learned the hard way as I got older.

For those of you who don’t know me extremely well, my brother and I were born in Denver, CO and moved to Alabama after I was born. My parents divorced when I was only one year old. Shortly after that, we moved from Alabama back to Ohio where my mom is from and our father moved back to Germany where he had been stationed in the Army. The only communication we had with our father was through birthday cards that stopped coming after my 7th birthday. My mom re-married when I was in 5th grade.

During my senior year of High School, my brother tracked down our father. He got an email address and we communicated through email about 3 or 4 times, but it just felt awkward and eventually we stopped writing. I never heard from him again after that. A little over two years ago, my brother started trying to locate our father again and discovered that he had passed away from a heart attack about 3 months earlier.

My step dad taught me a lot about how to do things the hard way, even if it wasn’t the right way. I guess it was supposed to instill some sort of appreciation for hard work or something but I think it mostly taught me how not to do a lot of things. Just because it’s possible to take the door frame apart to fit the table through, doesn’t mean that’s what you should do in lieu of taking apart the much easier to disassemble table.

My father in-law has been the most influential male figure in my life over the last few years. Although, most likely too late to fix many of the bad habits I have already picked up in my youth. He is well versed in a wide range of topics, from car repair to DIY home repair to personal finances. And above all else, he values doing things the right way, even if it’s the hard way.

Recently, as more and more people are asking Emily and I when we are going to have kids, it’s got me thinking about what sort of lessons I would teach my children as they grow up, the article above just happened to show up as I’d been thinking about it. The list below is a combination of some things I was forced to learn for myself over the years the hard way, some things that I learned how NOT to do from my step father (and maybe one or two I did learn from him), and some things that I did eventually learn from my father in-law. This is a compilation of 10 lessons I will do everything in my power to make sure my future children eventually learn.

1. How to use and fix a computer -

It’s no secret that computers are the future (and the now). I learned how to use a computer by diving into my parents first computer and just clicking on things to see what they did. I broke a lot of stuff and got in trouble, but I learned a lot about computers in the process. Hopefully I can give my kids a bit more of a structured introduction to using computers, but I plan on showing them how to use a computer very early on in life.

2. How to fix a car -

I’m confident in my abilities to fix a computer. I am often called upon to fix computers for family & friends. However, when opening the hood of the car all I see is big metal things and tubey looking things. The first time I ever had to change a tire was when I had a tire blow out on Interstate 270 one day driving home from work. Fortunately, I’m good at figuring things out without exactly knowing what I’m doing so I was able to put the spare on with only one or two minor hiccups. I could have saved myself several thousands of dollars up to this point in my life if I knew even the slightest bit about fixing cars. Still today, I still have almost zero clue what I’m doing under the hood of a car, however my father in-law is pretty apt at that sort of thing so I’ll make sure my kids learn the important things once they get old enough to drive.

3. Finish college and do your homework -

To be blunt, I hate school. I hate every minute of it. Every minute I spend in a classroom feels like 2 minutes wasted (one for having sat through the class and another for what I could have been doing instead). However, looking back I realize how much easier things could have been had I actually gotten good grades in high school instead of playing video games all the time. This is one I can’t really blame on anyone but myself. My parents tried to tell me this, but I chose not to listen. Emily graduated as a valedictorian in high school and finished her bachelors degree and is now about to start work on her masters. I’m going to let her handle this one.

4. How and when to use the right tool for the job -

In recent years, I’ve become passionate about woodworking and building things instead of buying them. With that I’ve come to appreciate all of the different tools involved and when to use each one. Growing up, I remember it used to take 5-10 minutes just to find a screwdriver because they were usually strewn about the house and never kept in the same place, or all together for that matter. Through observing my father in-law, I learned the importance of both using the right tool for the job and taking care of your tools. Shame it took me 23-24 years to figure this one out, hopefully I can teach my kids this one much earlier on in life.

5. How to save money -

This one I can trace back to my early teenage years. I can remember wanting only a few things from my parents for Christmas (mostly video games) and rarely getting what I wanted (I know, boohoo, right?). Once I turned 16, I decided that instead of relying on my parents to buy stuff for me, I was just going to buy the things I wanted with my own money. Problem is, there was a lot of stuff I wanted and I ended up spending a lot of money. If I had more than $100 in my bank account, I felt like I was rich (and it usually didn’t last long). I probably accrued over a thousand dollars in overdraft fees between ages 16 and 23. Note: I got married right before my 24th birthday. Emily learned the importance of saving money early in her life so her saving habits have rubbed off on me in the last 3 years.

6. 99% of the people you meet in High School you won’t talk to again after graduation -

I wish someone would have told me early on in life not to care what the people I met in high school thought of me. I can think of maybe 20 people that I met in high school that I still talk to 8 years after graduation. So much of my time in high school was spent trying to impress the people around me instead of focusing on my school work. If I had known that the only thing that would matter after high school (other than meeting a few very close friends and my wife) is that you need to do well to get into a good college and then get into good career, I would have done it all different if I could do it again. This one I’m not sure I’ll be able to teach my kids, from what I understand, at this age they don’t really tend to care what you have to say, but I’ll try my hardest.

7. How to cook a steak -

Sure, it’s every man’s right of passage to develop his own unique style of grilling. However, there was a period in my life when I thought cooking steak on a George Foreman grill was an acceptable option. I was also under the impression that a steak wasn’t a steak unless it had A1 steak sauce. Though I’m grateful for having learned the importance of cooking a steak the right way, the thought of all those poor George Foreman grilled, over-cooked steaks drenched in A1 sauce that I ate along the way makes me sad. Steaks should be cooked on the grill or pan fried as the only alternative. I plan to teach my kids the value in a properly cooked steak as early as I can.

8. You have to respect the classics before you can appreciate the present -

As a kid, my step-dad used to make me watch all sorts of older movies on Saturday afternoons instead of the cartoons or comedy central shows I wanted to watch. I absolutely hated this. However, when I was 17 I got a job at Blockbuster and with 5 free movie rentals a week, I watched a lot of movies. This included a lot of really bad movies. I started to respect the classic movies and realized they don’t make movies like they used to anymore. Most of my favorite movies were made long before I even knew they existed. Before I let my kids play the latest and greatest video games, I’m going to make them play through some of the classics so they can truly appreciate what they have available to them. I look forward to being able to force my kids to suffer through the classics in hopes that when they get older, they too will share in this appreciation.

9. How to drive a manual transmission car -

It’s my opinion that every person should learn how to operate a car with a manual clutch at some point in their life. Sure they aren’t as prevalent as they once were, but it’s a valuable lesson that I think everyone needs to learn, not just my kids. But I can’t control what everyone else learns so I’ll just have to stick to making sure my kids know their way around a manual clutch.

10. There are sports other than Football -

Being from Denver, I grew up my whole life as a Denver Broncos fan. As far as I was concerned, the only sport worth watching was professional football. Having lived in Columbus for most of my life, I wasn’t even an Ohio State fan until the year after I graduated from High School. When I was 13 I was fortunate and discovered Hockey which know closely rivals football as my favorite sport. However, it took major sporting events to get me interested in other sports. I hated baseball until the 2004 ALCS between New York and Boston where Boston overcame a 3-0 series deficit to beat New York and eventually win the world series. I didn’t care for soccer at all until the 2006 world cup, now I have a fond appreciation for the game and greatly enjoy watching it. There are a lot of really great sports and sporting events and I’m going to make sure my kids have a well rounded appreciation for all sports as they grow older.

I’m sure there are many many more life lessons I will teach my kids, but those are the lessons every kid learns. I’m sure this list could have been twice as long. However, these were the first 10 I came up with.

For fear that a couple people might kill me if I don’t show the completed table soon, I have opted to finish writing this series tonight. Part 2 ended with the table ready to be stained.

For my stain, I chose Minwax brand with the colors Red Oak for the table and Golden Oak for the tree. After the first coat of stain, I started to have some concerns about my color choice. Aspen is a very very light colored wood, it’s almost white unfinished. It’s also very porous and drinks a lot stain. To achieve a color you could normally get on hardwoods with one coat, you often have to apply 2-3 coats with aspen. This is probably my least favorite part about my choice in wood.

When staining softwoods such as pine or aspen, it’s recommended to use a pre-stain conditioner to even out the stain across the wood. I used pre-stain conditioner on the table & tree, however it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I still ended up with some splotches. After applying the stain to the table and tree, the result left a lot to be desired:

Before I freaked out, I decided to let the stain dry for a few hours and apply another coat. With a second coat on, the color definitely started to improve:

The tree is sitting on top of the table in these pics because the stain wasn’t fully dry and I didn’t want the colors to bleed. Upon the suggestion of a few people (Mike & Theresa), I decided to add one more coat of stain to both the table and the tree. In the end, I’m very glad I put the 3rd coat of stain on as the result was a very deep, rich color in both the table & tree.

Final coat of stain, before applying polyurethane

Because I was concerned about any spills causing the wood to warp or expand I put several coats of poly on the table. Perhaps too many as it’s now got a super high-gloss finish, but I’m OK with that. Once the poly was added, the true beauty of the stain colors and wood grain came out:

After each coat of poly dried, it was sanded and a new coat added to ensure the poly finished evenly across the entire table. Once the final coat was left to dry for 24 hours, the table was ready to use:

Table in the family room

And that’s it… that’s how my custom coffee table was made.

I received a surprising number of requests to post part 2 of this series, so I decided to bump up my schedule and start a day earlier than planned. Part 1 ended with the tree design and planks having been completed and in need of a frame & base.

My initial designs had called for the tree & planks to be glued to a 1/4″ sheet of aspen plywood and then framed. Luckily I realized that this plan had a potentially catastrophic (in coffee table terms) design flaw. Because 3 of the 5 planks are split in half (to accommodate the tree), the center of the table would have had almost no support and any substantial amount of weight would have caused the 1/4″ sheet of plywood to crack and eventually break.

I re-thought my plans and decided to go with a much thicker table top and purchased a 3/4″ piece of pine plywood to provide the core structural integrity. Pine is much cheaper than aspen and no where near as visually appealing (to me anyway), so I chose this for the inner support as no one was going to see it. The new plans called for the 3/4″ pine panel to be sandwiched between the 1/4″ aspen panel and the actual planks & tree design. This brought the overall thickness up to 1.5″, more than enough support for when those Rock Band sessions get out of hand and someone decides to jump up on the coffee table in the heat of the moment during a guitar solo.

For the frame, I used 1″ x 1.5″ solid aspen boards. I used the router to smooth one edge to a 1/4″ curve and a mitre saw to cut the boards at a 45 degree angle. The frame pieces were nailed & glued to the plywood base. The assembled frame & base looked like this:

Once the frame was assembled I tested to make sure everything fit correctly:

Now it was time to design the actual base of the table. This step probably caused me the most stress out of the entire project. I had to make sure it was sturdy enough to hold the weight of the thick table top, while not adding too much additional weight. I had originally intended to add a bottom shelf to the table but this was eventually scrapped. However, I still might get around to this some day.

My plans called for a frame that sat 2″ from the edge of the table top on all 4 sides. The front would have a drawer that was approximately 1/2 the width of the base. In one of the pictures above you can see where I was working out my schematics. Once my measurements were set, I cut the base frame pieces and legs. For the base frame, I used 3/4″ x 3″ aspen boards with 2″ x 2″ poplar for the legs. I chose poplar for the legs because I needed something harder than aspen but was concerned oak would be too dark when stained.

Assembled Frame

I doubled up the thickness of the base frame boards with another 3″ wide piece of aspen so that the front of the frame pieces would be flush with the table legs. To attach everything together, I made two 90 degree supports out of oak for each corner. Using the drill press, I pre-drilled holes to attach each to each base frame piece and eventually the legs:

Oak Supports

After the legs were attached, the base was almost ready to go. All that was left was to cut the slot for the drawer and attach it to the table top. Here are two more frame pics:

I snapped a couple photos with the table top resting on the base to get an idea of how the completed table would eventually look:

Next came the drawer assembly. The front and sides of the drawer were created with 3/8″ x 2″ aspen boards. The back was created with a 3/8″ x 3″ board which I then cut down to match the others with the exception of the raised groove I cut into the back which slides on the rail under the table. I used the router to cut a 1/4″ groove down each board, about 1/8″ deep. I cut a 1/4″ thick piece of birch plywood to fit the dimensions of the drawer and slid it into the groves in each side.

Once all four sides were attached, I used a 3/8″ x 3″ aspen board for the front of the drawer and attached a decorative knob I picked up from Home Depot for about $4. If you have been paying attention, you will realize I made another design flaw at this stage that needed to be corrected later.

The finished drawer assembly:

The design flaw I mentioned above occured to me when I realized that I had made the front of the drawer the same height as the base frames. If I was going to cut a slot into the front of the table so that the drawer would fit inside, I was going to be left with about a 1/8″ thick ledge for the drawer to rest on. To fix this, I eventually had to add a 1″ thick board to the bottom of the front of the base to provide extra support for the drawer.

Once this was complete, I was ready to begin gluing, sanding & staining.

Here’s the table as it’s beeing prepped for staining, (without the drawer or tree):

Ready to Stain

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this series in Part 3 where the table is stained and poly’d and ready to use.

I finally got around to finishing my coffee table this weekend. For those of you who don’t know, I have been designing a custom coffee table for a couple months now. I had been wanting to build a coffee table for a few years but had lacked inspiration and was waiting for the right idea to come to me (as I tend to do with most things in life). The idea for my coffee table didn’t strike until I was shopping around for power tools sometime after Christmas.

I really enjoy woodworking and learning how and when to use the appropriate tools for a project. One tool I was missing from my inventory was a drill press. I had done a lot of research and based on my budget had decided to go with a Ryobi drill press from Home Depot. Ryobi has two models available at Home Depot and I decided to purchase the higher end of the two models. However, while browsing the power tool aisles I came across a tool I’d never heard of before… the scroll saw.

I went back home and did some research on scroll saws. I watched some videos online and read some reviews for the Ryobi model and realized for about $20 more I could pick up the Ryobi scroll saw and the smaller drill press. I went back to Home Depot and made my purchases.

That night, I was testing out my new scroll saw on a piece of scrap wood when an idea came to me. Using the scroll saw, I could create a design out of one piece of wood, then make a frame to go around it that the design could sit perfectly into, almost like a puzzle. I spent the next couple days thinking of potential designs. One idea I had was to use the Erickson coat of arms, however I’m not a big fan of the design I found on the internet so I opted to go in a different direction.

While messing around in PhotoShop trying to create different designs, the idea of a tree came to me. Trees have symbolic references in many cultures and religions, namely the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Christian bible and Yggdrasil in Norse mythology. I’m not a religious person by any means, however having traced my ancestry back to Sweden, Norse mythology is somewhat of an interest of mine so I decided to pursue a tree design. The design I ended up creating is not a representation of any particular symbolic tree, it’s just a design I came up with while considering the topic in general. With the aid of PhotoShop, I created the image below and chose to use it for my table.

Initial design concept

I wanted the tree to be one solid piece, while the background was made of 5 planks all cut to fit the tree shape. Initially I had planned for two of the planks to be a slightly lighter shade than the others but eventually scrapped this idea.

The following Friday, I was off to Lowes to purchase the beginning pieces I would need to start working. For the top, I chose 1/2 inch Aspen plywood because it is cheap but can be sanded and stained to a nice finish and it’s the same wood type I used when making the mantle in our family room.

Taking my concept image above, I removed all of the pattern effects in PhotoShop and was able to print just the outline of the tree shape. Because of the size I had to print it across 6 pages, I then taped the pages together and cut out the paper shape with scissors. I taped the outline to a 2′ x 4′ aspen panel and cut it out using the scroll saw (this took about 30 minutes).

Tree design after cutting

Next, I ripped five 4.5″ wide planks on the table saw and laid them out on sawhorses and traced the tree shape onto them. Using the scroll saw, I cut along the outlines and fit the pieces together. Here two pictures, one after the 3rd plank was cut and one after the final plank:

More pictures: 3 planks done - Left View, Top View, Right View; All planks done - Left View, Top View, Right View

The pieces don’t fit 100% perfectly, as there ended up being some gaps between the tree and the planks but I was OK with that. I told Emily that if I made it perfect, no one would actually believe that I had made it..

After the top was designed and put together, I needed to build a frame for the design and then a base. However, you’ll have to wait for Part 2 to see how that was made.

When considering my passion for video games and my love for sports, one might think that I would also be a fan of board & card games. This is however far from the truth. When choosing between playing Monopoly or staring at a blank wall, I would choose the wall almost every time. There are few things in life I dislike more than playing board games or card games. I’m not sure exactly where this disdain for these forms of entertainment came from, but I am sure that it is very deeply seeded and will probably never fade.

However, with all rules there have to be exceptions. For instance, I do not hate playing Risk. It’s not my preferred activity, but if forced to play a game I would probably choose Risk. That is until two weeks ago…

Last summer/fall, you could rest assured that on Friday nights you would find me in the family room with Emily, her sisters Lauren and Kelsey and their friends Chris and Jen rocking out to some of our favorite songs in Rock Band 2. It was an every week tradition (until most had to go back to fall classes). At the same time, my buddy Daryl and his friends also shared the same tradition of playing Rock Band on Friday nights.

Once winter hit, the Rock Band parties disappeared and I began hibernating inside the house playing World of Warcraft as I’m wont to do when it gets cold out. As the weather improves from March to May, I usually start stretching my legs again and coming out of my hibernation.

I was considering re-establishing the regular Friday night Rock Band parties a couple weeks ago when I spoke to Daryl again and asked him if he and his people were still playing. He said no, they had found a new game to play. Immediately I thought “Oh, they must have switched to Guitar Hero: World Tour” or some other form of interactive electronic entertainment. But, this was not to be the case. “A board game” he says… as my eyes grow wide with disbelief. I’ve played many board games but there has never been a game that I would consider to be more fun than rocking out on plastic instruments with family & friends.

The board game that was powerful enough to steal their interest was one called Settlers of Catan. When it comes to other people’s suggestions on how I should spend my freetime, I trust very few poeple but Daryl is one of the few I do trust as he has yet to steer me wrong (after all he did introduce me to Frisbee Golf & beer).

I started doing some research on the game and it actually seemed interesting. A quick internet search told me that this isn’t the kind of game that you can buy from Walmart or Target. I was able to find the game and the 5-6 player expansion on Amazon.com for about $50 total. On a whim I decided to buy it. After all, I’d been forced to suffer through countless games of Skip-Bo, Cranium and other various games growing up, it was time for me to make someone else play a game of my choosing.

Warning, semi-lengthy explanation of game mechanics below!

Settlers of Catan is a different kind of board game. It can be best summarized as a mix between Monopoly & Risk. The objective of the game is to be the first person to score 10 “Victory Points” (VP). Victory points are awarded through the building of new settlements (1 VP) & cities (2 VP) and a few bonus objectives like building the longest road or having the largest army. Despite the implications of having the largest army, there are no actual battles between settlements in the game.

Settlers of Catan Board

The Settlers of Catan game board is a hexigonal shaped ring that is filled with hexagonal tiles representing one of 5 resources (brick, lumber, wool, grain, and ore) and a special “desert” tile. Every new game of Catan is different. The tiles are shuffled and placed into the ring in a random order at the start of each new game. After the tiles are placed, each tile gets a number 2-12 (also randomly placed) which represent the possible outcomes of the games two dice minus the 7. After the board is setup, 3-4 players (you can buy an expansion to increase this to 5-6 players) take turns placing settlements on the board until each player has placed 2 settlements.

After the settlements are placed, play begins in standard board game fashion with each player taking a turn to roll the dice. Based on the result of the dice roll, players are given 1-2 ‘resource cards’ for each settlement or city they have on the corner of the tile(s) with that number.

Resource cards are Catan’s monetary system. They are used to purchase roads, new settlements, and upgrade existing settlements to cities. Players can trade resources amongst eachother & with the bank during their turn. Resources can be traded on a 4:1 ratio with the bank from the beginning of the game. Various trading ports are setup around the outer edge of the board to make trading easier. When a player settles on a port, they can pick up new trading options such as a universal 3:1 trading ratio for the rest of the game or resource specific 2:1 ratio trading (for example, if you own the grain port, you can train 2 grain cards for 1 of any other resource for the rest of the game).

The beauty behind this game is in both it’s siplicity and it’s depth. A new player can focus on simply expanding his territory by building new settlements and roads, or attempting to build the longest road or control the largest army. Where an experienced player can focus on complex settlement placement by taking into account the available resources, the numbers corresponding to those resources & the ports in the area.

The complex set of rules and lack of battle between settlements may initially turn some people off to this game as being boring. When I first explained it to Emily, she feigned interest. After the first game we played, she admitted that she thought the game was going to be extremely boring and was surprised at how fun it was. This is the same reaction I got from my friend Jon after his first game. He was worried the game was going to be boring as well, but was instead upset to find that we didn’t have time to play a second game after we finished the first. My mother in-law often asks me questions about potential strategies when I see her after having recently played. Another friend, Jesse, has frequently been asking me when is the next time we will be able to play.

What I enjoy most about this game is the great diversity in potential play styles each player can use.  From exploring new strategies with each new setup to having to adjust known strategies based on the layout of the current game board. All of this while managing your initial starting resources versus the resources you’ll need later in the game while also managing your relationships with the other players who may have those resources. With every tile setup, number distribution and port location being random and each player having their own unique play style, the game is never the same twice.

All said and done, I am very glad I decided to buy Settlers of Catan and I have made it my mission to spread the game the word about the game to as many people as possible.

Stay tuned to an upcoming post about the special Settlers of Catan game board I am building out of oak.

Recently my sister-in-law, Lauren, made an offer on her first house. I got to take a tour of the new house yesterday and it made me remember back to the first few months after Emily and I moved into our house. Lauren’s soon to be new house is in need of some pretty hefty modernizing, but overall it’s a nice house and will look great when finished. Unlike her house which somehow got stuck in the 1960’s, we were somewhat fortunate in that ours was only stuck in the 1970’s.

Our house was built around 1975 and when we moved in almost every aspect of the house was original to when it was built. Complete with wrought iron railing and bold dark colors in many rooms of the house. Before we could even move in, I had to spend 2 weeks doing nothing but painting over the original colors (dark orange, dark green, dark brown, pink).

In that first year and a half, I learned how to build a fence, lay hardwood flooring, rewire lights, and much much more.

One of my first projects was remodeling what is now the office. It was originally a gloomy, dark green room with green carpet:

How it looked then (try to ignore the water spots)

After a few hours of crafting my design, I came up with a mock-up of what I wanted the office to look like when it was finished. I chose a blue-ish grey wall color, white trim and a hardwood laminate flooring. It took a bit of convincing and flat out stubbornness to convince Emily on my design. She thought the color choice would make the room feel like a cave. However, she finally relented and let me have my way. It just so happened that The Andersons had a really good sale on laminate hardwood flooring that week as well so all of the pieces fell into place.

We moved into our house on June 2nd and spent almost every free moment working on the house. At the time we were working on all of our house remodeling projects, we were also planning a house warming party for the weekend before the 4th of July. As July 4th moved closer, we found ourselves under a lot of pressure to get our projects completed before the day of the party. When we first moved in, my father in-law told me two things that I now know to be some of the truest things ever said:

1. When planning a trip to the hardware store to pick up materials for your project, you will always forget at least one thing and have to make a return trip.
2. When trying to determine how much time it will take to complete a project, add somewhere in the range of 50-100% and you might be coming close.

HGTV makes house remodeling look a lot easier than it actually is. I had figured it might take 1 or two weekends to finish the office remodeling project. Needless to say, I was still putting the finishing touches on the office as the first guests began to arrive for the party.

When all was said and done, the office turned out great and is very near to what I had visioned:

Being a true hockey fan, one must respect the origins of the game. No other sport comes near the intensity of Ice Hockey, I’ve often said a 0-0 tie game can be one of the most exciting sporting events you’ve ever witnessed in your life. It’s a beautiful yet vicious sport that does not get as much credit as it deserves in the USA. Hockey is to Canada what football is to the USA and soccer is to the rest of the world.

The USA puts dead presidents and national monuments on it’s money. Canada puts a hockey picture on their money.

One of my personal requirements for watching a hockey game with me is that if you are drinking beer, you must be drinking Canadian beer. Before you get your red, white & blue panties in a bunch, lets take a look at some of the Canadian beers available at your local grocery store here in the USA. Click on the brand name in blue for the BeerAdvocate.com review (Note: Beer Advocate tends to prefer the super high end micro-brews and is not a fan of mass-market brands so their ratings are usually pretty low)

Molson Canadian

Beer Advocate Rating: B-
Mark’s Rating: A-

Comments: Molson Canadian was the first Canadian beer I ever tried due to a now fortunate incident where I ran out of my previous go-to Miller High Life and had to revert to drinking one of my brother’s Molsons. At first I wasn’t a fan, the beer contained something I wasn’t used to at that point… flavor. Even after drinking a couple of them, I still wasn’t convinced. It wasn’t until the next time I tried to drink a Miller High Life and thought “hmm, this beer is missing something…” then realized it was the flavor.

After stepping out of my comfort zone, I began drinking Molson Canadian as my go-to beer and never looked back. Molson Canadian isn’t overloaded on that plant-type flavor you get with high end beers. It is my opinion the Canadian equivalent to Miller Lite or Bud Light. This is still my go-to/fallback beer to this day.

Variants:

Molson XXX

Beer Advocate Rating: D+
Mark’s Rating: D+

Comments: There is really only one reason to drink Molson XXX. With it’s 7.5% alcohol, it’s 50% more potent than your mass market American or Canadian beers. This means it’s going to get you inebriated 50% quicker. The beer almost tastes as though there is a half of a shot of vodka mixed in. Not a great choice unless you’re trying to forget all about your bad day in a really quick way.

Labatt Blue

Beer Advocate Rating: C+
Mark’s Rating: A-

Comments: After switching my primary go-to beer to a Canadian beer,  I started to wonder what else the great white north had to offer. After speaking to a buddy of mine, Daryl, he informed me that he preferred Labatt Blue when doing things like grilling out. Upon his suggestion, I opted to go out and buy a 6 pack of Labatt Blue for my next planned grilled meal. My first impression of Labatt was not a good one. Immediately I tasted what I refer to as “plant juice”. However, it was nowhere near as strong as you usually find in most “high end” microbrews. So, I decided to give it a chance and keep at it. By the time the 6-pack was gone a few days later, I was sold.

Because Labatt has a lot more flavor and feels much heavier to me than Molson Canadian, I usually only drink it while grilling or eating. I choose Labatt over Molson when I’m feel like being a little more fancy.

Variants:

Labatt Blue Light

Beer Advocate Rating: F
Mark’s Rating: D

Comments: Labatt Blue Light is a much much watered down version of Labatt Blue that lacks the flavor I’ve come to appreciate in regular Blue. I only bought one 6-pack (after my wife encouraged me to cut back on the calories) and that will probably be the last time I ever try it. Additionally, this beer seemed to give me a headache every time I tried it.

Moosehead Lager

Beer Advocate Rating: B-
Mark’s Rating: A+

Comments: After several trips to my grocery store’s beer cooler, I kept seeing this green package of bottles with a moose head prominently displayed on the label. Initially I figured it was some sort of Canadian micro-brew that I was going to hate so I never bothered with it. However, after a year or more of passing this beer up while grabbing 6-packs of Molson or Labatt, curiosity got the best of me and I finally decided to give it a shot.

I was immediately shocked. Mooshead Lager was far and away the best beer I had ever tasted. Unlike any other beer I’ve tasted even to this day, this is the only beer that finishes perfectly clean. Once you’re done drinking it, there is none of that lingering after-taste that has turned me off of most American brands.

Moosehead is not as common as Labatt or Molson in the USA so it’s often harder to find. However, if you are able to, I highly recommend it. On a humorous note, a good friend of mine, Steve, was trying to decide what brand of beer he should get on a trip to the store recently. I convinced him to give Moosehead a shot. A few hours later I got a message from Steve thanking me for the suggestion as he too was convinced that Moosehead was the best beer he’d ever tasted. However, a few weeks later I got another message from Steve telling me he could no longer buy or consume Mooshead. When I asked why, he stated “I just realized it’s Canadian…”