I had a very passionate (and yet at the same time dispassionate, go figure) blog post planned for today but the Missus would rather I not fall on my sword over something on the internets. Fair enough. Cooler (and lovelier) heads prevail.
Instead, I have more Raelyn drama, since the story I told on Monday went over so well.
First I should let you know that Raelyn is feeling well but she hasn’t passed the zipper. For those of you struggling to make sense of that sentence please read the link above. Thanks.
My mother only heard the story this evening - she’s been traveling on business - and nearly hyperventilated from laughter. I told her that if I’d have known fatherhood might entail such trials and tribulations I might not have signed up. Her rejoinder? “Keep that in mind if you try for three or four.”
Well-played, mother.
So anyhow, tonight we had excessive drama about going home from school. What started out as typical “I want to stay here” whining quickly ballooned into full-on tantrum.
This is the same child who said “I don’t want to go to school” when I woke her up this morning. Go figure.
I was literally reduced to the blank stare head shake while Hurricane Raelyn spun herself into land and was eventually downgraded to a Tropical Depression. In her wake she left stunned classmates, a very disappointed after-school teacher, a crying sibling and two very weary parents.
At least we were able to get her to make a phone call (I dialed) and apologize after the fact to teacher and students alike.
Kids. You can’t beat ‘em! (take that either way you like)
G’night folks!
As some of you know, I’ve had an inherited arcade cabinet - Atari’s Roadblasters - sitting in my garage for the better part of the last 5 years. The damn thing with it’s pressboard construction (weighing in at over 200 pounds I’m guessing) even moved to the new house. Poor movers.
Last weekend it went up for sale on Craigslist and was in the waiting arms of a new owner in less than 12 hours. He’s doing what I couldn’t/wouldn’t/shouldn’t: cleaning it up, repairing it and (possibly) making it into a MAME cabinet.
Here below are the geeky, lengthy and shame-inducing details he sent me via email. I want to be this guy, if only for his drive, passion and free time. :-)
Begin copy/pasted email:
Seth:
Just an update on the arcade machine…
General Info (aka, it’s amazing what you can find out on the internet)
The machine was originally sold as a Road Runner (BEEP BEEP) machine, and then later had a Road Blasters conversion kit installed. The kit replaced one of the big circuit cards inside, the marquis graphic, and the control panel plus added the gas pedal. There are actually 4 different games that could go in this cabinet: Road Blasters, Road Runner, Marble Madness, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I would like at some point to get the Road Runner kit and swap it between this and that. The machine is known as an Atari System I. I can’t believe how heavy it is. It bent my hand truck!
Status
I now have it working. Still a bunch of cleaning up to do to the cabinet, but I will get to that as time permits. The first thing I wanted to do was get it working. I started by putting a new industrial plug on the a/c power cord. Then I vacuumed and damp wiped the inside of the body of the machine. As with most arcade machines, it was pretty nasty in there (and I won’t bring something in my house that could have critters inside!) I also removed that big security bar thing and filled in the holes in the cabinet with plastic wood.
Control panel
There was a bunch of stuff wrong with the wiring inside. Hacked connectors, lots of splices. Using a set of schematics I was able to rewire the control panel harness to eliminate all the splices. I plan to get a new set of connectors and completely rewire the control panel at a later date (make it look factory new). Fixing the wiring still didn’t get anything working though.
Laser and Special Weapons switches
It turns out that all four switches on the steering wheel were bad (a common problem on these) and had to be replaced. They are VERY special, hard to find switches (Omron B3G-S).
I found out that some old (20 yr old) Sony word processing machine (those dedicated PC looking things) use the same switches. I wasn’t able to find one of those, but stumbled upon an old (20 yr old) Focus 2001 XT era keyboard that had switches that were similar. I disassembled the keyboard, and took a bunch of the switches out (they are hard to get out). I modified them to not click anymore (had to straighten a leaf spring inside), and had to carve them up using my dremel a bit, but I was able to use them to replace the stock switches. The good thing about that keyboard is that I now have 20 spare switches (just in case). That got the firing buttons working, but the steering still didn’t work.
Steering
This morning I got up early and decided to tackle that. I traced the signals on the main harness, and verified that the board was getting power. I removed the optical interface board (same technology used in the old PC ball mice) and used a meter to go component by component looking for problems. I discovered some cold solder joints. They looked absolutely good visually, but the meter said otherwise. So, I resoldered all the connections on the board, and now the steering works too! The shaft bushing on the encoder wheel shaft is completely worn out and needs to be replaced (there is about 1/2″ of side play at the encoder wheel). Rather than try to find (or make) one out of brass like the original, I think I may just use a nylon bushing instead. Steering is a little sloppy, but hey, it works!
Coin Mechs
I also tore down the coin mechanisms and rebuilt them. They were bent up a bit, and there was all kinds of nasty stuff imbedded in them (dried coke syrup, two quarters, dirt, you name it). There were also parts missing, but I found the missing parts in the pile of debris I cleaned out from the bowels of the machine (also found $1.62 in the bottom). I repainted the door, and replaced the burned out bulbs. They now light up and look and work great. I still need to get a coin box (or I can make one), and a lock for the coin box door.
Marquis backlight
I fixed the fluorescent light that lights up the marquis. I put a new bulb in, and it still didn’t work. I traced all the wiring through the machine with my meter, and everything looked perfect, but still no light. Finally, I swapped in a new starter and that fixed it.
Cabinet
The left side of the cabinet is damaged pretty bad, but I plan to use automotive body putty (bondo) to repair it, then sand and repaint it and re-install the edge molding (I think the molding itself can be re-used). The front left bottom of the cabinet is dented up a bit (could be water damage too), and I plan to press that out with a hydraulic jack and then possibly brace it with a piece of steel plate (or internally with wood. It was dropped at some point on that front left corner. I may just wimp out and not worry about it. We’ll see. I’d also like to get the side art for the cabinet. These cabinets came 2 ways, plain black (like this one) and black with blue and silver colored Atari logos that ran up the entire side of the machine. I think the Atari logo side art looks cool. I found a place that sells repro side art, but that will be down the road sometime after I get the cabinet fixed up.
I just wanted to say thanks again for selling this beast to me! I’ve been having a lot of fun fixing it up, and I think it has convinced me to turn my sunroom into a mini arcade. This will probably be the first of about 4 or 5 machines that I will put in there, one of which will be a generic MAME cabinet (see below).
MAME (the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
MAME is a FREE arcade emulator that runs on your PC (Windows or Mac). It currently runs about 7,000 arcade games (I am sure this one is one of them). Basically, a bunch of programmers have created a program that emulates the HARDWARE inside the arcade machine. For instance, in this machine, there are 6502 and 68000 microprocessors, a Yamaha sound chip, and lots of other support circuitry. The MAME team analyze the hardware and write a hardware emulator that emulates the chips in each machine. The emulator requires rom chips (program code chip) images, called ROM files. Basically, each file represents one chip on the arcade machines motherboard. These are available on the net, but are copyrighted, so they aren’t always easy to find. MAME has the ability to emulate just about any machine ever made, and new ones are added all the time, but the MAME crew specifically tries to keep it from working with the newest games in order to avoid conflict with new arcade machines that are still being sold. It’s one thing to preserve the old games, another thing entirely to compete with the companies that create them. WIthout the arcade machine companies, there would be no mame!
You can play MAME on your PC using your keyboard and mouse OR you can get a MAME arcade cabinet with a generic style control panel, put a PC inside, and have a very attractive arcade machine that can play thousands of games. They even make cocktail table MAME cabinets.
If you decide to check out MAME, let me know. I’ve been collecting MAME stuff (software and rom images) for years and have all the files for the latest version (currently about 15 Zipped DVD’s or about 80GB of hard drive space). I would be happy to cut you a copy of the DVD’s, or I can come over and copy the entire installed image (80GB) from my MAME drive (120GB external 2.5 laptop drive) to your hard drive. It would save you a ton of work (collecting this stuff can be a pain). If you are interested, just let me know.
Sorry for the length of this email, but I wanted to update you!
Again, thanks!
Bill
If you made it here I have a cookie for you.
I’ll add some pictures to the post later. I’m too depressed at the moment.
If you’re the type that might report me to DFACS or who know my parents, please stop reading this post. What I’m about to describe - while certainly not illegal, dangerous or gross - might cause you to wonder why I became a parent and question my skills, judgment and frame of mind.
I’m just saying. Last chance to surf away.
No? OK then.
So having two kids isn’t really that different than having one. You just happen to have less time and effort to devote to either one individually, but it isn’t hard splitting time and focusing your energy.
I’m not eating a 3,000 calorie diet or creating grand spreadsheets to organize our lives. Though maybe I should. You decide.
Raelyn didn’t want to ride her bike. Simple enough. It was windy and she hasn’t ridden it in a few weeks.
Sure, Santa brought it for Christmas but we’ve also had a good bit of winter around Georgia this year. Add to that the fact that we’ve spent the last few nice weather weekends going to birthday parties (a lot of kids turning 5 in Rae’s Pre-K class) and running errands, we just haven’t gotten much family exercise.
So we spend 20 minutes bundling and preparing and gearing up for the outdoors, in the vain hope of seeing the sun and getting Owen some fresh air, only to have Raelyn blow up. Not literally but she did have one of the loudest existential freakouts regarding falling off her bike I’ve seen a kid have.
She acted like she’s literally never been on the bike before in her life. Complaining loudly about the pedals, her helmet, steering and whether or not I’d catch her if she’d fall.
Despite tender, kneeling, fatherly reassurances she piteched a fit. Jumping off the bike (which had the potential for more harm than falling), crying, screaming and making a scene in front of the neighbors.
Those same neighbors offered the support that their kids - the same ones lazily riding their own bikes in the driveway while the folks read on the porch - were just as difficult learning to ride.
Sure they were.
Everyone went home in a huff.
I carried the bike.
Jenn pushed Owen and guilt-tripped Raelyn with talk of Santa repossessing the bike.
Raelyn cried.
Even the dog was dejected.
If the story ended there it’d be bad enough, but when we got home Jenn ordered Raelyn out of her site. More tears, more apologies.
All was well until Raelyn burst through our bedroom doors sobbing. Not crying or hysterical, but very concerned and contrite.
She wanted us to look in her mouth. She said she had a zipper struck in her throat!
We looked and told her, no, it wasn’t there. Tears welled in her eyes and the corners of her mouth turned down. “I must have swallowed it!” she yelped.
While Jenn did her best to put the fear of God into Rae by describing the potential medical and surgical outcomes of this act, I called the doctor.
After giving my information to the on-call person, we got a call back from the nurse and put her on speakerphone:
Nurse: How old is the child?
Me: 4 and a half.
Nurse: And she didn’t do this on purpose?
Me: Nope. She was throwing the pull-tab and fastener in the air. They came off a little pen case she has in her room.
Raelyn: Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
Nurse: *Laughter* Is she in pain?
Me: No.
Nurse: *Laughter* Is she wheezing?
Me: No.
Nurse: Can you see the zipper?
Me: No.
Nurse: Well, *Laughter* you’ll just have to wait for it to pass. Give her some bread and crackers with dinner to help push it down.
Me: Ok, thanks.
Nurse: You’re welcome. *Laughter*
I suppose if she wasn’t laughing she’d be crying at the guilt we’d sewn that bore neglectful fruit in the form of an unattended preschooler tossing a zipper into the air and catching it in her esophagus.
The things they don’t tell you about when you have a kid.
And the guilt trip we laid on her about the bike-riding isn’t half what we felt ourselves when she swallowed a zipper. My kid swallowed a zipper.
Jenn would have to fill you in on the discussion she had with Raelyn about surgery but needless to say a preschooler is much more concerned about being naked than being cut open. Who knew?
Again, the things they don’t tell you about when you have a kid.
Feel free to chastise me in the comments or commiserate. I need a little of each today.
Pick the correct phrase to complete the lyrics to Rihanna’s hit S.O.S. (Save Me):
The answer, surprisingly, is #2:
Y. O. U. Are Making This Hard!
Watch the video for proof?
I don’t know what made me think of this the other day, but I did. I’m woefully out-of-touch with pop culture.
In other news, I’m really enjoying The Felice Brothers. I found out about them through The Hype Machine while listening to some Son Volt.
Happy Friday!
So after last week’s stellar episode, The Beginning of the End, we get some more excellent backstory on the folks in the chopper from NPB (Not Penny’s Boat).
Here are the thoughts:
We got some great information on Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume, Frank Lapidus and Charlotte Staples Lewis.
I first thought Charlotte was the woman who came back from the dead after drowning who figured prominently in an Eko flashback. Her father was the Dharma recruiter and psychic for Claire.
Alas, not the same person. See Lostpedia; they’re both named Charlotte.
What is clear (at least in my mind) is that the supernatural definitely plays some role in the island. For the millionth time, they’re not in purgatory, but something otherworldly is going on. A rift in time and space? Alternate realities (it’d explain all the ARG games)? Who knows.
I do know this: those four folks have some connection to the Flight 815, intimately. We only know Lapidus was supposed to be a pilot. I’m guessing the others were either supposed to be passengers or were somehow connected with folks on the flight.
I know, not a giant leap, but it bears saying.
Oh, and you might have missed it (I did the first time) but Charlotte is wearing Miles’ vest. She couldn’t get hers on. No idea if he has hers on, but I doubt it. Potential worm food?
We also know about George Minkowski and Regina from the sat phonecalls, but not much. It’s hard to say how many folks are also on the boat but George is the leading/only candidate right now for Ben’s mole.
I think we could speculate back and forth about whether or not the recovered crash was an elaborate ruse, but 3 of the NPB 4 believed it wasn’t true: Frank because of Seth Norris’ ring, Charlotte potentially because of her Anthropology background and Miles because he’s some kind of clairvoyant/psychic ghost whisperer.
And not to say “I told you so” (Thanks, Sawyer) but I really feel like the whole damn thing has a paranormal edge.
I think my theory is this: The Dharma Initiative has some hardcore vengeance planned for Benjamin Linus. Abbadon is the bearer/agent of that vengeance.
Food drops continue because the bare minimum of research and upkeep of the island is maintained but Ben is sloppy (you heard it here first). How else do you explain the ultraseude/70’s suit in the airport? He was photographed off the island and Abbadon is pissed.
Obviously, Dharma want the island back so they’ve dispatched the NPB Four to bring back Ben. All others aren’t a part of their plan. Hence Dan’s statement and Abbadon’s insistence that no one survived flight 815.
I’m still not clear whether or not he knows/believes otherwise. Case in point: his discussion with Hurley last episode.
What I do know is this: Abbadon is cut from similar cloth to Ben. They both know a good deal of secrets about the island but Ben is closer to it because he’s there.
I really LOVE this storyline. Can’t wait to see it played out.
Gotta love the ABC promo group for stirring the pot. My money is on Sayid being the next member revealed (only because he’s in the party with the NPB Four) but not Juliet.
She wasn’t on the plane after all.
If you didn’t play the Find815.com game you missed this number earlier but it was in Frank’s flashback.
888 548 0034
You also missed all the clues from the game (recapped last week) that turned out to be the names of the NPB Four.
The canned message that’s there is nothing more than it was the past few weeks, but I’m guessing that will change as the season progresses.
At least I hope so.
How old was the polar bear? It looked small/young.
How old was the site? Did that site have properties like the island?
Why a desert?
Anyone see anything interesting in the house where Miles did his poltergeist thing? Other than the drugs, money and photos?
Anything clue-like in the flashbacks (other than the hotline phone number)?
What is Locke expecting to get out of another experience at Jacob’s hut?
Why would he refer/ask about the “monster” of Ben first? Didn’t he call it “beautiful” after his Season 1 encounter? Isn’t his monster walkabout the genesis of the current Locke?
I could go on like this for ages. I’m eager to here your thoughts, troll the message boards, blogs and Lostpedia and see you back here next week.
BONUS LINKAGE: Don’t like my recaps or theories? Check out “Previously on Lost” a band that does musical recaps.
MINOR BLOGGING NOTE: This blog will be down Friday night/Saturday morning. Fellow blogger Thomas has the details.
See you next Thursday!