The old man and the remote

Last winter, I started the long process of turning the old family room into the new family room. It's a finished basement which, for the most part, was the kids' play area.

The carpet, an emerald green, was here when we bought the place in 1993. And over time there came to be dried-up glue on it (from when I tried to repair a couch that the kids used to jump from), various dumped-soda stains, and God knows what from the dogs that have lived here over the years.

I've always liked the room. It's one of the cozier spaces in the house, but had become unused.

It also had this "pink" wall that wasn't supposed to be a pink wall, but the paint we chose -- I think it was supposed to be "peach" -- came out pink.

I repainted it last January to a two-color tan (since it's in the basement, we went with a "warm" color), and Carolie has done a great job since.

We still have more work to do; we need curtains on the windows and we'd still like to add a gas fireplace. But it should also be a nice, private space for people who visit and stay in the guest room, which is nearby. Yes, that's a hint. Take it.

Carolie has added a great new couch, which arrived Saturday, and last week she bought a home theater system, which was installed Wednesday.

Since then, I've looked at two giant remotes that are more complicated than any plane's instrument panel I've ever flown. I can't figure out how to connect the TV to the Internet, which is supposed to allow us to view things online.

So we've turned the room into a great new space. And it's turned me into that guy -- the old man with the VCR flashing midnight, who keeps calling his children to come figure this out.