Last year's sound system consisted of my PC hooked up to my crappy PC speakers...a little "subwoofer" and two tiny speakers.  As the garage got more crowded, the music was drowned out.  We added Ken's PC speakers but it  just wasn't enough.  This year Bill was gracious enough to bring his home theater system, complete with real subwoofer.  The sub and the front speakers were placed on the afore-mentioned shelves at the back of the garage.  The rear speakers were mounted above the garage door.  A preliminary test seemed to show the upgrade would produce the desired results.  The real proof was the fact that I had to yell so loud to be heard above the music that my voice didn't fully return until Tuesday.  Also, the rear speakers were blown by the end of the night thus giving my brother an excuse to get a new surround system with a 200w subwoofer the size of an end table that will shake the wax from your ears!

     Anyway, as Bill set himself to mounting the speakers, Ken and I started work on hanging the backdrop.  The flourescent light fixture was relocated more to the center and the black light tubes were put in.  The final product looked a million times better than those unsightly shelves!

 

    

    Having finished with the sound system and curtains, we decided it was time to go get the ice block.  Bill, Ken, my cousin Mark and I made the 18 mile trek to The Ice Butler in Malvern.  Evidently, a 300 lb block of ice costs only $28!  We returned to find that Beaker had arrived, bringing kerosene heaters, a work table which he had engineered himself and the rest of the luge apparatus.

 

 

     It took the four of us to drag the ice out of Bill's Durango and lay it on the table.  We left it covered and went inside to lunch on enormous cheesesteaks.

 

   

    With lunch underway, it was suggested that the time of keg tapping was at hand.  2:00 PM marked the time of the first beer.  2:01 marked the time of the first beer-related accident.

 

 

    The Endless Summer is always popular.  This propane fueled heater, along with a wood burning chiminea, keeps the smoking/keg area warm all night.

 

 

     Once lunch was over, we returned to the block.  Upon opening the box we found out that the upper side had a good sized chunk missing in the corner.  Of course, this was unacceptable so we duct taped the box closed and flipped the block.  This again took four people.  Thankfully, the other side was perfect and Bill and I prepared to get to work.  Bill provided safety glasses and ear protection.  His motto was "Safety first!"  The fact that we were going to be drilling power tools into wat is basically 300 lbs of water may have been brought up, but was summarily dismissed.

 

 

     With dueling Dremels we started to carve the straight tracks.  In case you're wondering, it's kind of hard to carve a straight line with these things...for me, anyway.  Thankfully, it soon melts to the point where it no longer matters.  Gravity and erosion make a straighter track than I ever could.

 

 

     While we drilled a hole for the Empire State, Ken and Mark cut a hole in the curtain to fit around the monitor attached to my laptop.  Though there was some disagreement about the road, but we at last decided to use a black trash bag, stretched in place on four bamboo-skewer anchors. One of the six buildings suddenly seemed to be MIA so I ditched another one to preserve symmetry.  We drilled some holes for the building anchors and placed them on the ice, further securing the plastic.  We pinned together the curtains, cut the plastic road to fit between the tracks and were ready to go!  Later, some matchbox cars and green army men were brought to round out the effect.

 

     Here's some more pics of the final product:

 

    

     I tried to take a picture with no flash to give a good idea of how it looks to the naked eye, but it didn't turn out well.  That's why I took this short 2.6 MB video with Jack's camera.