snow. OMGFTWBBQ!

not only did i cap and adjust one arcade monitor chassis and repair another chassis plus several related extra parts, but i also successfully used my home-brew adapter to rejuvenate a monitor with a really bad, dim picture. i now know the used rejuvenator i bought off of eBay works. too bad i can't turn this hobby into a business.

makes me excited, it does. and keeps me up late late late. tomorrow (i mean, later today) i've got the boy for the day... i suppose i can just let him run wild while i sleep on the couch all day.

my legs are sore since i rode about 15 miles on the Foothills trail this afternoon. i tested an older bike that i had recently repaired, planning on going only a few miles but despite the cold (i bundled up good!) it was such a gorgeous day that i rode from Orting to the end of the trail at South Prairie. the logic of going that way is that it's slightly uphill headed eastbound, and coming back west it's slightly downhill so at least i do the most work first and get to coast a bit later in the ride.

along the way i saw a couple of herons, a huge murder of crows, at least five bald eagles including two mature males (one feeding on a fish in the river,) a pair of bufflehead ducks, and some killdeer wandering the side of the path.

...

after the ride i noticed that the heater fan in my van wasn't working. at least the heat was, and traveling along the highway did push a bit of warmth into the passenger cabin. i checked the fuse and it was blown, so i stopped at a store on the way back and bought some more fuses. when i installed the first the fan turned for just a moment then stopped: blown fuse again. i tried a couple of times more, wiggling the fuses around in the holder to make sure they were seated properly. same result each time. so i drove home with no fan and hoped it wouldn't get too cold for me to pick up Sebastian from daycare.

when i arrived home i decided to try testing the fan one last time before i called around for a replacement. i put a jumper wire in the fuse holder and low and behold, the fan worked just fine. so i figured i'd try my last fuse and this time it didn't blow. i have no idea why it was eating fuses but now it seems to be fine. i just hope that this isn't a symptom of a larger problem; i'd really rather not be replacing the fan or digging into the electrical system right now.

...

tomorrow we're doing the extended family holiday gathering for my mom's family. unfortunately this means we miss the Norwescon meeting yet again, and i have a feeling that the January meeting will overlap with MONSTER TRUCKS!!! damn. hopefully i can make it to a couple before the convention and i'd really like to be able to vote next year.

i finally hooked up this snazzy wireless thermometer/alarm clock thingy i bought on clearance at Target a couple of years ago for like $3. couldn't find any AA batteries so i made a late night run out to Fred Meyer to get some so i could see how cold it got last night (it has a "max low" and "max high" option.) the results? 14 degrees, which wasn't as bad as the 7 degrees they were predicting for Tacoma.

i think Friday i'm going to bundle up and do some bike riding as long as the weather holds. i have a mountain bike that i got about 9 years ago and has seen almost no use... just replaced both tubes and it needs some shifter adjustment to work well so i want to get it out where i can really test it and get it right. i was thinking of selling it but i'm not sure i can get a whole lot for it. eh, we'll see i suppose.

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Monday night i picked up a couple of freebie cabinets. the first one is a mostly empty Michael Jackson's Moonwalker which i may or may not make use of (if not i'll part it or give it away.) the second one which i'm much more excited about is an old Rock-Ola Fantasy. other than some swelling on the bottom edges from moisture, the Fantasy is in pretty nice shape. it wasn't working, but i managed to futz with the power supply wires and fix a few problems. now it seems to work well although the monitor does need a cap kit which i may do tonight or tomorrow night.

i think i've found places to put an additional four games in the house for New Years. they'll only be able to be there for the party as they'll be blocking things like, oh, the washer and dryer. but that means i can have 14 games inside ready for people to play, and i think i may even have that many working by then.

getting the extra games in the house will be a bit of work, and i'm considering hosting a second party on the 1st or 2nd for my friends from the arcade community before i take all the extra games outside. i'm also starting to think about which games i want to take to the Pinball and Gameroom Show in June. definitely would like to take Carnevil if it's still around. also Fantasy and Time Pilot '84 (if i can get it done in time.) maybe Bosconian if it's finished too. i have this feeling i'll have 10 games going up this year instead of five like last year, which i don't suppose will be a bad thing as i get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing the games played.

Saturday i got to hang out in the Big City with a friend and hit some of my favorite places (the Crypt, Everday Music, Value Village, Beth's) but unfortunately i started feeling ill before the night was over and we skipped a planned stop at Shorty's. around 3 a.m. i was awakened by a headache and a 100+ temperature, but by 9 a.m. it was gone. i guess i can't complain too much as it was over almost as quickly as it had begun.

tonight i'm driving the Nightgowns down to Portland for a show and we may visit Ground Kontrol beforehand. that'd make up at least in part for my lack of pinball on Saturday.

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work's been slow so i've been starting to divest myself of some of my accumulated crap. i've sold two arcade game boards i've not been using and have a bunch more up for sale. two full games have gone out the door this week as well (the Asteroids Deluxe cocktail project i was planning on selling and the really beat R-Type project i wasn't interested in finishing anymore.) i have another three or four that i'll try to sell soon as well.

of course, i have lots of other projects in the garage so it's not like i'll be down playable games once i get those done. moving out the two made space to bring in Carnevil so it'll be here for the New Years party.

i'm also going to sell most of my DJ gear since i really don't use it anymore. i purchased the majority of it when i was running conventions and DJing several cons and parties per year. now that i'm down to just Norwescon (who rents most of the gear anyway,) i don't need this stuff taking up space in my house. it'd be nice to free up some capital to pay bills if things get real tight this winter.

we were thinking of making a few other sacrifices like the cable... hard to justify $50/month when all it really does is suck out our brains. with the new(ish) digital signals, broadcast tv looks a whole lot nicer than it used to. and most stuff we really want off of cable can now be streamed over that new-fangled internets thing which we are definitely not getting rid of.

depending on how things are this winter we may even decide to cancel our NWC room reservations and just commute back and forth. it'd rather suck, but it'd save us about $300. we may split the room and save $150 or so which might be justifiable vs. the cost of commuting (gas, parking, eating out) but we'll have to see when we get closer.

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in work news i've been tapped to be the stage/production manager for both Deck the Hall Ball and Jingle Bell Bash this year. i'm not sure if i should be celebrating or not (it's a lot of responsibility and stress,) but i'm always at least somewhat excited when i get to stage manage.

tomorrow is the MLS pre-game concert in the north lot of Qwest Field. i'll be watching over the stage for a couple of bands, then tearing it all down while everyone is inside watching the match.

ah, well, it's a living i suppose.

i did get my ass up on a floating truss about 20 feet over the deck today, first time in my nearly 15 years in the business i've done something like that. went up to re-secure one side of the stage backdrop that keeps moving as it gets blown about by the wind. i did have a harness on so if i fell i wouldn't die but still, i'm not a heights person and it wasn't comfortable.

and in the morning i'll probably do it again and do the other side. yay!

Bella. Edward.

after watching live lipsuction today i went over to a friend's place for an arcade party. he's got a house of pretty darn nice games and his collection makes mine look rather sad. met a few more people i know only on-line which is always nice.

i took along the monitor from Carnevil since my friend has a CRT rejuvenator (even after the new flyback and capkit i installed yesterday the monitor looked dim, though they did fix some other issues so they were not a waste.) another person with more experience in rejuvenating CRTs also came and brought his setup. so while the host was off entertaining folks we plopped my monitor down on his kitchen table and did a bit of television tube surgery.

of course, i was still wide awake when i got home even though i'd been up since 5 a.m., so i had to stick the monitor back in Carnevil as soon as i got home. wow, what a difference. i still need to dial in the brightness and colors, but it's a huge improvement. now to figure out where to put the darn thing in the house so we can play it at New Year's...

today was running camera for a cosmetic surgery meeting where they did a live demonstration of botox injections, "volume" (collagen-like stuff) injections, and liposuction.

hmmm. i think it's the first time i've ever ran camera for live surgery. sure glad i'm not more squeamish than i am, though watching that huge needle run back and forth under the skin around the chin and neck was rather disturbing.

so i got the toilet fixed today, mowed the lawn, cleaned up the mess from the chestnut tree and got the bin out on the street for pickup tomorrow, did a couple of loads of laundry and a load of dishes, picked up parts to do a 60k service on the Matrix, stopped by Mary and Lee's to see Lee off to L.A., and then recapped the monitor in the Asteroids Deluxe cocktail and replaced the "big blue" capacitor [it's all working nicely now.]

and i posted to LJ a bunch of times. sorta like i was updating my Facebook status all day only better.

i usually don't get this much done several days off, much less one.

oh, and i cleaned the cat box. darn cats.

Friday i'll vacuum and do the service on the Matrix, assuming the weather isn't terrible.

all in all, it's probably best the parts for the Carnevil monitor didn't come today as they didn't give me an excuse to not fix the toilet, which has apparently been leaking from the base-to-floor seal for some time now. and we need the toilet, seeing as how we don't have a second bathroom handy.

i knew it had been loose and slightly rocking, but when the hold-down bolts pulled right up out of the floor yesterday i realized i had to fix it now. the wood is wet underneath, but most of it still feels solid. i stopped by Lowe's and picked up a new flange and a metal plate that's supposed to help support the toilet on a damaged or rotting floor. it didn't take that long to install; took longer to clean up the mess from the old parts and pick out the new ones. i think i did the install this time the way i should have done it the first time when i put the new toilet in back when we bought the house almost two years ago now. ah, well, live and learn.

i was all psyched to get my package today so i could repair the monitor for Carnevil tonight. even went out in the cold this morning and pulled the monitor chassis out [had a moment when i thought i had ordered parts for the wrong one, but after double-checking i got the right stuff.]

then magentabee calls and during our conversation reminds me it's Veteran's Day and there will not be any mail delivery.

agh.

i'm working tomorrow so repairs will need to wait until Friday at the earliest. and anyway, if i really need something to do tonight i can recap the Asteroids Deluxe monitor and put in the new "big blue" filter cap, two things i want to get done before selling the machine.

still, so bummed.

'9' was rather disappointing. such potential to be good but the storyline wasn't well thought out. maybe a lot of what should've been in the film ended up being cut, as it seemed pretty darn short at only 75 minutes. eh, it was a $1 at the cheap theater so i wasn't unhappy we saw it.

saw 'inglourious basterds' today with lizzard_tpc. liked the movie; appreciated the nice, slow pace [compared to the frenzy and minimal story in most current hollywood films anyway,] and enjoyed the fact that i really didn't know what was coming next.

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Sebastian saw 'my neighbor totoro' yesterday for the first time. i was surprised that he watched most of it as it's a slower pace than he's used to (although 'wall-e' may have helped in that regard,) and the story is definitely over his head. but tonight he asked for 'monster' and he pointed at totoro on the dvd case. magentabee is currently watching it with him as she's never seen it. i'm regretting not picking up the anamorphic widescreen/surround soundedition when it was released a few years back as it's selling for around $100 now and the pan-and-scan/stereo version just bugs me. agh. so primative!

...

repair parts for Carnevil are on their way: flyback and cap kit for the monitor and a new fan for the power supply. it also needs a marquee light fixture, but i have a spare from HD or Lowe's sitting around just for this kind of situation. assuming they arrive on Wednesday i should have the game running 100% by this weekend.

and as it turns out, the Carnevil does have a cracked flyback [$26.] while i'm in there fixing that i might as well do a preventative cap kit [$11.] despite the bad flyback, i got the screen focused enough to play a few games and determine that otherwise it's in good shape. a few minor things need to be done (it needs a new marquee light, some locks reinstalled, some coin mechs...) but less than i feared.

i think i could put an Area 51 in the cabinet as a direct swap. it looks like there may even be space to fit both in the cabinet and use a JAMMA switcher. of course, i'd have find an Area 51 boardset and hard drive setup that's reasonable, and the nice 2-way switcher from Mike's Arcade runs $130. but it'd take up less space than a second cabinet and give me some additional variety.

yay! finally done with my long run of work. looking forward to a bit of time off this week to get some stuff done that i've been neglecting for too long.

before work yesterday i made a run up to Bellingham with a small group of guys to go raid a warehouse belonging to an amusement vendor. i ended up with a couple of parts and a cheap converted Mortal Kombat II cabinet that i can put my MKI boards into. the reason i wanted a real MK cabinet (instead of the smaller 19" Dynamo generic it's in now,) is that, along with the really cool big monitor, the control panel is quite a bit wider, allowing for much easier two-player gameplay.

of course, it being so dang large it's too big to bring in the house. i'll find a spot for it in the garage for now and i've got a particular location set aside for it in my game room layout.

and later this morning i should be picking up a Carnevil FPS. i always liked House of the Dead but they never made a small version of it, and i can't find a Chiller. for variety i've been wanting one shooter in my collection along with one driving game. Carnevil is pretty similar with the theme of an amusement park haunted by ghouls and grotesques. the monitor on this one has a problem (bad flyback i think,) and the arcade is selling it pretty cheap because of that. it's a little smaller than the MK cabinet, maybe enough so that i can sneak it into the house.

magentabee and i just pulled the MK cabinet out of the back of the van about a 1/2 hour ago while it was dry, but of course now it's pouring like it was yesterday evening. timing is everything!

day 10 of 12 in a row. tiring, but i know i'll be appreciating the money later on.

don't forget, New Year's party still planned and ya'all is invited. yes, even those of you living in other parts of the country or overseas or whatnot.

i finally dug my ballot out of the pile of mail and filled i out. most of the local stuff i don't care that much about, but i did take the time to read through the Voter's Guide before filling in the boxes.

of course i have strong opinions about both R-71 and I-1033. they both touch on themes in modern American politics [human rights and taxation] that make me cranky and want to move to some other country where the populace isn't as uneducated and easily swayed by hate and self-serving greed. i wish i wish i wish we could come together as a nation with empathy and common sense, two things i fear much of the vocal [though often minority] portion of the population tends to do without.

something i promised myself is that i will teach Sebastian critical thinking skills, that he will learn to make his own decisions based upon facts and reason, to ask hard questions of both himself and others, and that reality is very rarely black or white but almost always some shade of gray. if he's anywhere half as smart as he seems, he'll have no problem grasping these concepts and i can only hope he embraces them.

i spent some time outside repairing the gutters on the garage and the back of the house today. hopefully the fixes will keep the corner of the garage from rotting out further until i can make the structural repairs to the base of the walls. won't have time to do that until at least next week.

while i was outside i heard a commotion on the chestnut tree in the neighbor's yard (it overhangs our backyard and garage.) for once it wasn't a squirrel but two good-sized blue, gray and white birds that i didn't recognize, so i called my mom and she helped me with the identification. turns out they are Western Scrub Jays, a bird neither of us can recall having seen locally before. looks like Puget Sound is about the northernmost reach of their range, but they probably live here year-round.

i enjoy seeing unusual birds and i should learn more about the plant and animal life around here. maybe if the weather holds a bit longer i'll get a chance to go down to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, though i'm rather disappointed they closed the long loop trail this year so much of the refuge is inaccessible.