When we finished redecorating the bonus room, we moved the TV from the living room to the boys’ new hangout. That, to me, was bliss: no TV on the main floor of the house.

Teh Wife did not concur. Thanksgiving was approaching and with family due to arrive, she pointed out there would be nowhere for her bother and dad to hang out. I thought maybe they would spend their time visiting, but I hadn’t considered the post-turkey vegetative state that can only be countered by watching television.

Fortunately, our basement is finished and our other TV is down there waiting to be hooked up. So began the mad rush to clean the basement. The list was huge and included several non-cleaning tasks like “schedule pool table assembly”, “buy furniture” and “disregard the cleanliness of the rest of the house”. But progress moved along. Unpacking was both good and bad. There are boxes of papers that haven’t been reviewed in two moves.

The worst part was the discovery that some commemorative coins sets and some antique silver dimes from my grandparents had been stolen by the movers. I found the box with which they belonged, but all but one dime and the packaging for some of the coins were missing. I think a pile of centennial quarters have gone missing as well.

The best part, though, was going through all the old photos and papers that had been dumped into various boxes over the years. As I sorted them into relevant piles it was very cool to take a trip down memory lane. It was like a time machine. School papers from the youngest. Class projects from the eldest (back when he used to bring them home). Photots from rips I took with Teh Wife. Pictures of my Mom. As I went further back in time, there were newspaper clippings of my achievements in high school that my mom saved for me. Finally, I discovered a few old Polaroid photos from my first six months of life. Cool stuff.