SGA Rewatch: Underground

Hello and welcome back to my Stargate Atlantis rewatch! Today we'll be talking about the season one episode "Underground."

As always, spoilers for the episode and any that came before, with mild references (but theoretically no spoilers) to Stargate SG-1 from time to time. Now, on to the episode!

What Happened

The episode starts off with Teyla (with a lovely new haircut) briefing Weir and the team about a trading partner of the Athosians, a people who call themselves the Genii. She describes them as a simple, shy people, not very technologically advanced. They are an agricultural society. Basically, they are Amish. Atlantis is approaching a food shortage and the crops on the mainland are nowhere near close enough to being ready for harvesting, so Weir is very interested in seeing if Atlantis can broker a trade deal for food with the Genii. (Side note: That is an interesting aspect to interplanetary trade, you don't have to just depend on the growing seasons of your own planet, at any given time there is likely to be another planet with fresh food available for trade.) Sheppard and Ford both feel that they should be looking for allies who can help them defend Atlantis, but Weir feels that this mission takes precedence, so off they go.

On the Genii homeworld, they are met by a man named Tyrus and his (grown) daughter Sora, long acquaintances of Teyla's. Tyrus is suspicious of the Lanteans at first, especially because they are armed and he sees Teyla is dressing like they do now, rather than as an Athosian, but Teyla reassures him. She promises that she would not have brought them to meet the Genii if she did not feel them worthy. He agrees to take them to their village and while Sora is leading them on, he hangs back, speaking into a decidedly non-Amish communicator device on his wrist (which was hidden by his floppy sleeves).

The negotiations don't seem to be going very well. Atlantis is offering medicine in return for a portion of the Genii's staple crop, tava beans. The leader of the Genii, a man named Cowen, seems to be trying to make things extra difficult, stating they will need much more medicine than offered and telling the Lanteans they can just leave if they don't like the terms. Teyla is surprised at his unwillingness to bargain, as her people have always had very fair dealings with the Genii. Cowen explains that the Lanteans are asking for a substantial portion of their harvest, which means his own people will have to plant new crops, clear new land, etc. Very hard, laborious, time-consuming work.

Sheppard thinks to aid negotiations by offering the Genii a much quicker and easier way to clear their lands. They go outside to an old tree stump and Ford uses C4 to blow it up. Cowen is suitably impressed by the C4. He says if the Lanteans can provide a sufficient quantity, along with the medicine, they will gladly give them the amount of food asked for. Sheppard says he needs to go run the new terms by his boss and he and McKay head back to Atlantis to talk to Weir. Teyla and Ford stay behind to hold down the fort and Cowen says they will have a Harvest Ceremony that afternoon. Teyla looks nonplussed at this suggestion.

Weir is not happy that Sheppard has essentially made himself an arms dealer, but he argues that the intended use for the C4 is innocent enough and they do need the food. Weir reluctantly agrees and sends Sheppard and McKay back to seal the deal with Cowen. On the way back, Sheppard deviates from the path (preferring to go in a straight line) and they get lost. McKay's scanner picks up a strange energy signature and they go to investigate it. They discover a hatch hidden in an old barn, and the energy signature is coming from the hatch, so they decide to check it out. Down the hatch, they find themselves in what appears to be an underground bunker. McKay remarks that the construction is definitely beyond the capabilities of the Genii. As they explore, they wonder if maybe the Genii are unaware of the bunker, which leads them to a vast underground complex. Just as they discover the complex, they are surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.

Back at the Harvest Ceremony, Teyla lets Ford unwittingly take a big gulp of moonshine and she and the Genii laugh at his surprise. Other than that, it seems like a very boring event. Someone comes up to Cowen and whispers in his ear and he tells Teyla and Ford that he must excuse himself.

Back underground, Sheppard and McKay, under guard, speculate that maybe the two societies exist separately, unaware of each other's existence. This idea is quickly put to pasture when Cowen enters the room, dressed in the same uniform as the other soldiers. Cowen goes through their things, trying to decide what to do with them. He tells them that normally they would have already been shot for having discovered the complex, but their advanced weapons and possession of C4 makes theirs a unique situation (the Genii level of tech is about 1940s or so). Sheppard guesses that Cowen doesn't actually want the C4 to clear stumps, and Cowen agrees, stating they have a more "sophisticated" purpose in mind for it. Sheppard puts himself out there and says that his people are looking for allies against the Wraith, implying that the Genii might be as well.

Back on the surface, Teyla and Ford are starting to get a really weird vibe from their hosts. They decide to try to leave and see if they can make contact with Sheppard and McKay. Tyrus and Sora stop them however, stating that a Wraith ship has been sighted in the area and no one must leave or they will draw the Wraith's attention. Teyla, with her spidey-sense, knows this to be a lie. She and Ford try to leave anyway and the Genii start to surround them when Tyrus gets a call on their communicator. A shocked Teyla watches as all of the Genii pull out guns and tell her that she and Ford must relinquish their weapons. They are then escorted to the bunker where Sheppard and McKay are waiting.

Everyone is eyeing each other uneasily and trying to size one another up, deciding if an alliance will work or not. McKay deduces that the Genii are trying to build atomic bombs to use against the Wraith. They think the C4 will solve the current roadblock in their project. Cowen is surprised and impressed that McKay figured this out and asks if the C4 will do what he thinks. McKay says that it probably will, but it all depends on their design. Cowen takes them to the lab where the bombs are being built so McKay can check it out. He points out to Cowen that radiation is a risk they need to be aware of. Cowen seems flippant about this, says his scientists have assured them that it's not a problem. McKay tells him he is wrong, but assures Sheppard that as long as they are only down there a couple of hours the team should be fine.

Before McKay can go too far on explaining to the Genii what they need to do to fix their project, Sheppard asks if they are allies or still prisoners. A tentative alliance is struck between the two groups, but it is clear that there is still not a lot of trust on either side. Cowen and Tyrus reveal that their plan to defeat the Wraith is to sneak the bombs aboard all of their hive ships while they hibernate and detonate them simultaneously, vaporizing them while they sleep. Thinking they have decades before the next big culling, their plan is to test their first bomb in five years. Seeing the obvious flaw in this plan (the Wraith are awake), Teyla reveals to them that their plan may no longer be possible. She explains what happened and that the Wraith are now starting to wake up. Cowen is furious and storms out, with Sheppard chasing after him.

Sheppard manages to talk Cowen out of taking his team prisoner and interrogating them before leaving them out for the Wraith to find. He explains that what they have with them is just the tip of the iceberg in their arsenal. He still thinks they can take out the Wraith, but only if they work together. He tells Cowen about the puddle jumper (making it sound like they only have one) and believes that with that they stand a real chance. Mollified, Cowen returns to the meeting to find Tyrus and Sora arguing with the rest of Sheppard's team. Cowen tells them that Sheppard has convinced them that working together is still in everyone's best interest. McKay says he can help them get their bomb program back on track and easily make up for the lost time.

Cowen then shows them the crucial bit of the next step of their plan. Generations ago some Genii managed to shoot down a Wraith dart, from which they recovered a data device (the Wraith equivalent of a flash drive). Tyrus and Sora were able to access the data on the device using some really primitive computers. From the device they learned the location of a nearby hive ship, as well as its layout. Their plan was to infiltrate that ship, use the device to interface with the ship's mainframe, and learn the location of all of the other hive ships so that they would know how many bombs to make and where to take them. With the Wraith awake, infiltrating the ship would be almost impossible--except for the puddle jumper. Sheppard goes back to Atlantis to update Weir and get a jumper so they can do the mission. Weir is pissed, understandably, but realizes that at this point they really have no choice but to go through with it.

The mission does not go very well. Tyrus and Cowen go with Sheppard's team in the jumper. They get onto the hive ship alright and then split up: Teyla and Tyrus head back to the ship to keep an eye on it, Cowen, McKay, and Sheppard to go hook up the device and download the data. McKay manages to get the data they were looking for, but as Teyla and Tyrus are heading back to the jumper, one of the people coccooned for later feeding breaks through his containment and begs for their help. Teyla goes to help him but Tyrus stops her, stating that the Wraith can never know they were there. The man in the cocoon starts making even more noise and, irate, Tyrus shoots him to shut him up. Of course, this attracts the Wraith's attention (smart move, there, Tyrus). He is shot as they are running away and Teyla cannot get to him before the Wraith and she has to leave him behind.

Back on the Genii homeworld, Cowen pulls a double-cross as soon as they land. He tells Sora (already pissed that she had to stay behind) that Teyla killed her father and tells Sheppard that the Genii will be keeping the data device (which the two peoples were to share) and the puddle jumper as well. Sheppard, however, was ready for something like this and had two cloaked jumpers waiting in the air. He has them materialize and his team takes the data device and leaves. Cowen says that the Lanteans do not want to make an enemy of the Genii and Sheppard responds that it works the other way too.

Back on Atlantis, Grodin manages to crack some of the data on the device and finds that there are at least something like sixty hive ships, spread out all over the galaxy. Many of them are already on the move. Even if the ships had all been still in hibernation, there were far too many for the Genii to ever have been able to attack simultaneously. Their plan never would have worked.

The episode wraps up with Weir informing Sheppard that while he was gone Bates managed to secure a deal for food with a group of traders called the Menarians. They then discuss the implications of the information they found, worried about what they will have to face in the future.

Commentary

Amish Nazis. This is what science fiction is all about, folks. Make no mistake about it, the Genii were definitely intended to be comparable to the Nazis. From their level of technological advancement to their belief that they should be the ruling power in the galaxy. Even if the mission had gone off as planned, even if Sheppard had never woken up the Wraith, I doubt the Genii would ever have played nicely with the Lanteans. They are an untrusting bunch to begin with and their superiority complex would never have stood up well to being in the shadow of the Lanteans. They also come across as very isolationist, by choice. Even their closest trading partners (like the Athosians) know little to nothing about their true nature. Only when it is of benefit to themselves do they allow someone who discovers their secret to live.

Cowen's closing words? So true, folks. We have not seen the last of the Genii. Not by a long shot.

Hearkening back to my last post and all of the Star Trek references, "Underground" really ramps it up with the casting of Colm Meaney as Cowen. That was a connection that initially went over my head, as I wasn't aware that Meaney was a Trek alum until well after I had fallen in love with Stargate Atlantis.

Ah, and once more, we have Sheppard trying to solve the galaxy's problems with C4.

Another thing established in this episode is Sheppard's absolutely terrible sense of direction when on the ground. Guy can fly like it's nobody's business, but he can't get from point A to point B on his own two feet without a guide, I swear.

We continue to see the banter between McKay and Sheppard level up in this episode as well. It is also quite interesting to see how shaken Teyla is to discover how wrong she was about the Genii. I think this does a lot to establish how her character grows and progresses throughout the series, even though it is a small moment overall.

Favorite Quotes

"I know. It's getting desperate, we're almost out of coffee." (McKay)
"Well maybe you should stop drinking eleven cups a day." (Sheppard)

"You have no idea which way to go, do you?" (McKay)
"Just trying to get my bearings." (Sheppard)
"Translation: I'm lost." (McKay)

"Define strange." (Sheppard)
"You don't know what strange means?" (McKay)

"You know, if people could just learn to keep their secret underground hatches locked..." (McKay)

"You know how to make an A-bomb?" (Sheppard)
"Major, most of my high school chess team could design an A-bomb." (McKay)

"I built an atomic bomb for my grade six science fair exhibit." (McKay)
"They let you do that up in Canada?" (Ford)

And that's all for today. See you back here next Monday for "Home."

Also, in related news, Gateworld is starting its Stargate rewatch next week, with the original movie. So head on over to that site to find out what that's all about if you are interested. They aren't doing episode-by-episode posts, but they will be hosting forum discussions and having podcast discusssions and such. Their goal is to do a season a month, starting with SG-1 and then moving on to the other series after that. It's not a pace I could possibly keep up with, otherwise I would blog along with that, but if you just want people to watch the episodes at the same time you do and talk about them with afterwards, that is definitely the place to be hanging out!

SGA Rewatch: Poisoning The Well

Hello and welcome back to my Stargate Atlantis rewatch! Today we'll be talking about the season one episode "Poisoning The Well."

As always, spoilers for the episode and any that came before, with mild references (but theoretically no spoilers) to Stargate SG-1 from time to time. Now, on to the episode!

What Happened

We join our heroes in the process of getting a guided tour of an off-world facility, on the planet of Hoff. The people of this world have managed to reach a level of advancement about on par with early twentieth century Earth. Teyla asks if they are worried about attracting the attention of the Wraith by allowing their society to advance so far, but the Chancellor replies that to refuse to advance would be the same as giving up and letting the Wraith win. 

The Hoffans are a pragmatic people, however, and acknowledge that Wraith attacks, and even great cullings, will occur. They have built several archival vaults, deep underground, where they preserve all of their knowledge and discoveries. This way, in the event of a culling, the surviving generation will not have to start from scratch. 

One of these discoveries that the Hoffans are so diligently preserving, and working to advance, is a rare protein that makes humans immune to being fed upon by Wraith. Over one hundred and fifty years ago one of their scientists heard of a person who had survived being fed upon and the resulting research led to the discovery. Ever since then the Hoffans have been working toward creating a serum that replicates that protein, with the end goal to make their entire planet immune to the feeding of the Wraith. 

It is their belief that if the Wraith are unable to feed upon the Hoffans, they will simply leave the planet alone. The Chancellor (and the whole planet) feels that the Wraith can't possibly perceive them as a threat. Teyla is impressed at the discovery and at their goals, but she still thinks they are kidding themselves. She suspects that the Wraith are far more likely to wipe the planet out of existence once they realize there is nothing of use to them on Hoff.

Based on previous culling cycles, the Chancellor tells them they should have another fifty years to create and perfect their serum before the Wraith turn up in full force. They are unaware that the Wraith have already woken and begun culling on a large scale. Feeling guilty that he was the one who woke up the Wraith, Sheppard volunteers Dr. Beckett to take a look at their research and see if it is anything worth pursuing. Beckett gripes about this quite loudly until he is introduced to the head of the Hoffan research, a lovely lass named Perna.

After looking at the research, Carson thinks that it does have some potential. Teyla is still cautious about helping Hoff develop the drug. She firmly believes that the Wraith will wipe out the planet once they realize they can no longer feed there and isn't sure that the lives lost in such a case wouldn't far outweigh the number the Wraith would normally cull. If the drug is to be worth it, it would only be so if made available to the entire galaxy. Sheppard agrees and thinks that is a plan worth pursing, and argues for helping the Hoffans as a result.  Carson needs some fresher Wraith DNA than what the Hoffans have on hand, or even than the hand he has from the attack on Athos, so they collect some tissue samples from Steve, their Wraith prisoner. Carson takes his more modern equipment to Perna's lab in order to speed things up and they begin their research together. Science montage!

Once Carson and Perna have a breakthrough with their testings simulations of the drug, the Chancellor and Perna are ready to move on to testing the drug out on a human. Carson  wants to back the train up, stating that there is still more research to be done before they move on to that point, but they talk him into it. A terminally ill Hoffan volunteers to be inoculated with the serum prototype. Of course, there's no way to know if the prototype works without having a Wraith actually try to feed on the volunteer....

So, throwing the Geneva Convention completely out of the window, Sheppard talks Weir into letting them take Steve to Hoff to test out the serum. Trying to get the most out of the situation, he offers Steve a chance to feed in exchange for information about the Wraith (Steve has, up to this point, refused to talk or give any information to the Lanteans). Steve doesn't give up much information, just that all of the Wraith hive ships have woken up, however many that might be. He does add that once they have gathered their strength by visiting all of their regular feeding grounds, they will gather in force and head to Atlantis (with the goal of finding the way to Earth and its rich potential feeding grounds). 

Initially the experiment appears to be a huge success. The Wraith is unable to feed on the volunteer. The Chancellor, bolstered by this, asks the Hoffan council to approve immediate mass production of the serum. Learning this, Carson objects vehemently, stating that they can't begin administering a drug to the general populace based on just one test. The Chancellor is hearing none of it, though, and neither is Perna. They want to just steam on ahead. Of course, right after we hear this, we learn that the test wasn't as successful as it appeared.

Steve gets very sick and dies shortly after his failed feeding. Carson's autopsy reveals that all of his internal organs shut down at once, and there was a large concentration of the serum in his bloodstream and organs. Turns out that feeding on an immunized human causes a toxic reaction in Wraith, one that is very much fatal. This means that the drug is not just a defense against the Wraith, it is a weapon. Learning this, Sheppard tries to convince the Chancellor to halt production of the drug and continue the research, trying to find a way to prevent the toxic reaction. To leave the drug as is would ensure that the Wraith will indeed wipe out Hoff the first time one of their own tries to feed and dies. The Chancellor thinks that the reaction is a welcome side effect rather than a danger to his people. He doesn't see the cause for fear. Besides, he tells them, it is too late. Inoculation of the Hoffan citizens has already begun.

The Lanteans realize there is no reasoning with the Hoffans any longer and decide to leave. Perna finds Carson packing up in the lab and informs him that the volunteer from the initial test has died. Carson begs her to stop the inoculations, but she argues that they don't know that his death had anything to do with the serum or the experiment. Even if the serum was the cause, she argues, it was worth it. He pleads with her to walk away from the project and have nothing more to do with it. She tells him that is not possible, she was among the first to be inoculated. Of course people who were inoculated then start falling ill and dying. The Lanteans stay to try and help them, to save any if they can, but there is nothing to be done. The serum proves to be fatal to fifty percent of everyone inoculated, including Perna. 

Again, the Lanteans try to get the Chancellor to call off the inoculations. They don't believe he is willing to risk fifty percent of his population to prevent a culling. When he refuses, he tells them he has taken the information to the population and put it to the vote. The vote is overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the inoculations, with ninety-six percent of the population voting yea. 

The Lanteans leave in disgust. Carson is utterly crushed, knowing the part he played in bringing this situation about. As they are leaving, the Chancellor stops them to say that the next time they meet, he wants to discuss methods of distributing the drug to other planets. Everyone just kind of looks at him in disgust and Sheppard tells him they won't be coming back any time soon. When they do, he adds, he doubts that the Chancellor, or anyone else for that matter, will be around to talk to.

Commentary

Watching this season again, I am amazed at how many of the episodes in the very beginning set up things that have repercussions throughout the entire series. This is definitely one of them. 

First, there is the illustration we are given of the consequences of meddling with less advanced societies, propelling them into further advancement before they are ready for it. The Lanteans' intentions may have been noble, but the outcome was quite dire. You would think this would serve as a lesson for them. You would be wrong. The Lanteans have quite a track record of thinking they know better than the Pegasus inhabitants, and it often gets them into trouble. Note that it was Teyla, the Pegasus native from the "primitive" nomadic society who pretty much called it on what a bad idea this whole thing was. Really, they all just need to listen to Teyla a lot more often than they do. I think the overarching theme of this series might be the appalling amount of arrogance our society possesses, and how it is that arrogance that causes and exacerbates so many of our problems today.

Hoff also brings up a startling contrast to most of the other societies in the Pegasus galaxy. As Teyla has noted before, the Athosians were once quite advanced, but after repeated cullings and destruction, they have made the choice to live in a nomadic society. It helps them to stay under the radar of the Wraith. Advanced societies draw attention to themselves. The Chancellor may have felt his people could not be perceived as a threat by the Wraith, but he was very, very wrong. They think any society that gets scientifically advanced enough poses a threat to them, whether that society intends to or not. Most planets in the Pegasus galaxy remain at about a medieval level of advancement at most. I suspect most of them do this willingly, whether that is a conscious decision (like in the case of the Athosians) or not. 

That isn't to say that there aren't some fairly advanced societies out there in the galaxy. They just go to great lengths to hide their level of advancement from the Wraith, or find other ways to avoid being culled. We'll meet several of them as the series progresses, one quite soon, actually. Like the Hoffans, most of those societies that tend to survive with an advanced level of technology all seem to have a specific purpose driving them. It is made quite clear throughout the episode that the entire society of Hoff now centers around developing this serum. Every generation is willing to sacrifice itself so that the next might survive and so on, so that eventually their people might see the end of the cycle of culling. On the surface this seems like a very noble and practical attitude to adopt. But the people of Hoff become so obsessed with that goal that they are willing to take risks, many that are often unnecessary and usually excessively costly, just to get there faster. The Lanteans may not have the right of it, but neither do the Hoffans. I don't really know what to do with that. Maybe we are meant to side with the Lanteans in this. I have seen the series in its entirety too many times to do so, I suppose. I can no longer remember my first impressions on that front. 

While the episode itself doesn't tell us the Hoffans' fate, I believe it is implied later on down the road that they were indeed wiped out by the Wraith. Those guys just don't mess around.

A few lighter notes on the episode: 

This is the start of Sheppard's habit of naming the various Wraith we encounter. Mostly it's just an amusing little character trait, but I also think it can be seen as his way of refusing to accept their terms in any encounter. To be sure, the Wraith never really seem to be quite sure what to make of John Sheppard.

The show's parent series, Stargate SG-1, had a habit of making references to The Wizard of Oz. I think in one of the DVD featurettes it is mentioned that it started out on accident but then they realized they were doing it and wanted to see how far they could take it (the answer to that is: very far). In Atlantis, however, we get a ton of references to Star Trek. Perhaps it is only natural, given that shows like Stargate could never have happened without the influence of Trek. I suspect that there are far more Trek references than even I ever caught, since my exposure to that franchise has been admittedly minimal. But I love that they are acknowledging their roots, and that as often as not it is Sheppard, the fly-boy pilot, as it is McKay, the quintessential geek, making the references.

Funny note for you. In this episode, Sheppard teases Beckett that he is like Dr. McCoy (Bones) from Star Trek. The actor that plays Beckett, Paul McGillion, was actually considered for the role of Scotty in the 2009 Star Trek reboot. He lost it to Simon Pegg, which is hard to be mad about, but did end up getting a brief cameo in the movie. Now you know.

Favorite Quotes

"He's worse than Dr. McCoy." (Sheppard, about Beckett)

"Who?" (Teyla)

"The TV character that Dr. Beckett plays in real life." (Sheppard)

"Converting a human body into energy and sending it millions of light years through a wormhole. Bloody insanity!" (Beckett)

"Come on! How often do you get to travel to an alien planet?" (Rodney)

"I was already on an alien planet!" (Beckett)

"You know, we've been having these conversations for a couple of weeks now and I don't even know your name. You guys do have names, right? Let me guess...Steve?" (Sheppard)

"I am your death. That is all you need to know." (Wraith)

"I prefer Steve." (Sheppard)

"No offense, Doc, but had the Wraith attended the Geneva Convention, they would have tried to feed on everyone there." (Sheppard to Weir)

That's all for today, folks. See you back here on Wednesday for "Underground." 

Mostly Worth The Lack Of Sleep

You may remember that a while back I mentioned that I had ordered a new desk, one meant to eventually become my daughter's homework desk. Well, it arrived some time last week, but unfortunately the perils of shipping had caught up with me (I order so much freaking stuff online it really isn't a wonder), and when I opened up the box and started pulling out the pieces to make sure they were all there and intact, well...yeah, not so much.

Everything was there, certainly. The problem was the top of the desk, the big huge massive piece that everything else attaches to. It was cracked in multiple places, including one very large line right down the middle. Sigh. Thankfully the company that made the desk gets that damage does occur during shipping and has a really efficient (and free) parts replacement department. So I went online to tell them I needed a new top as mine arrived mangled and the next day they shipped it out. Of course, now I have a big broken plank taking up space in my garage until the start of next month, but there are worse problems, I will grant you.

The replacement piece arrived on Tuesday and I decided to put the desk together that night once my daughter had gone to bed. Normally I don't mind, and even often enjoy, when she "helps" me, but I get, um, cranky sometimes when doing things like assembling my furniture, so I figured it would be best for both of us if I did that while she wasn't around. My poor husband wasn't so fortunate. He was gracious enough to allow me to totally disrupt his evening by making him help me by holding up various pieces as I put them together (and reattaching the feet after I put them on the wrong end of the legs). Once we had the basic desk put together and upright, I let him loose and he called it a night. I stayed up for another hour and a half or so getting the various drawers and sliding bits assembled. Was up until two-thirty in the morning getting it done, but I've got to say, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I even managed to pick one that doesn't cover the
oversized vent on the wall, go me!

Let's see, we've got an alien from Toy Story, a Lego alien from
Toy Story, Zeke from Ctrl+Alt+Del, Lego Indiana Jones,
coloring supplies, a box of notecards...

...a Lego TIE Fighter complete with Darth Vader, R2-D2,
and my daughter's Spongebob Squarepants coloring books.

The kiddo checks out her new domain.

Now it just needs a chair. Speaking of which...

My updated to-do list for around the house is now as follows:

• Figure out how to refinish a wooden item.
• Refinish the chair that will go at this desk.
• Frame the various maps and convention art that needs to go on the walls (frames already purchased).
• Hang up said maps and art.
• Hang up the awesome Firefly, Star Trek, and Wheel of Time stuff we had professionally framed once it is ready to be picked up.
• Hang up that blasted sconce my husband randomly brought home from the office.
• Convert my daughter's crib to a toddler bed.

...and I think that's it. Refinishing the chair should be extra awesome, as I discovered when I finally got it down from the shelf in the garage where it has been living. I had forgotten that when my brother-in-law and his wife repainted some of our house's exterior while I was pregnant, I had let one of them stand on the chair, knowing I was going to be overhauling it anyway. So now there's big blotches of blue paint all over it that I get to sand off. Whee.

Oh, for those wondering, I know I mentioned that I was going to try to revamp a lamp that had belonged to my grandparents, but the lamp on the desk is not that lamp. I tried taking apart the old lamp and realized that I would need to tinker with the wiring to actually get all of the pieces separate, so I eighty-sixed that idea and just caved in and bought a new base. I will just tuck the old lamp in a corner in my closet for now until I either decide to send it to Goodwill or find a use for it elsewhere. 

I wish you all a fantabulous weekend! If you'll excuse me, I'm off to do some research on wood refinishing...