marcie and manuka's loft at the plaid ranch house.

This is where I hang my hat when I come home to the Plaid Ranch House after a long, hard day of being a geek. Looking around this spacious loft, you see rows upon rows of books nestled on hand-rubbed mahogany bookshelves. The northern light streaming in from the sunroof and the bay windows is just right for painting and drawing. In the far corner by the window, you see an easel with a couple of oily paint rags hanging off of it and a drawing desk that seems to have been left with a couple of works in progress taped to its surface. There are some fairly decent charcoal drawings pinned to the slanted wall that forms the roof.

Nearer to you is a very squishy, very comfortable king size bed (you're sure this must have been Manuka's idea) with a bright patchwork quilt made by my grandmother. Across from the bed is Geek Central - two oversize work desks with powerful Linux servers tucked underneath them and 21" monitors on top. Yes, it's His and Hers workstations. Try not to hurl. These computers are hooked into the rack in the basement, which features several quad-processor Pentiums serving up web sites, processing e-mail, and generally being useful connecting the Plaid Ranch to the outside world via a DS3 connection. (Did I mention the Ethernet jacks in every room in the house?) Everyone who lives at or visits the Ranch can plug their computer in one of several Ethernet jacks and be on the net instantly.

Off to the side of Geek Central is a good sized refrigerator with several selections of soft drinks, juice, beer and just about any other beverage you can think of (and some you can't). Lurking somewhere in the depths of the fridge are the ingredients for a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Next to the fridge is a complete cappuccino/espresso bar with a very nice espresso machine. Beware the coffee, though... the residents here like it STRONG.

If you look carefully, there by the door is the access panel to the stereo system. It is entirely computer-controlled; any CDs in the 500 slot CD changer can be accessed and played at the touch of a button. The entire CD list can be pulled up off the Ranch House internal web site, and is dynamically updated, being linked into the stereo control system. The CD selection leans toward techno, but you can find just about anything you want here.

Pull up a beanbag or flop down on the multicolored couch with one of the cats that are always lurking about. You're welcome here -- as long as you bring your own computer. :)