I'll take Vector Games for 500, Alex

Sweet! My pal sent me a link to episodes of the Starcade TV show on-line, "TV's first video arcade game show!" I never caught it when it aired in 1982 (I wasn't tall enough to reach the joystick) and I'm glad to see that I can catch up. This is more entertaining than G4TV (most of which I hate) mainly because the contestants and host(s) are such dorks. It's like looking in a mirror.

My favorite Mystery Game prize is the Mister Disc compact portable phonograph (no bigger than a man's shoe):




In the tick-me-off news category, it appears that the TSA is implementing a policy "As of January 1, no spare lithium batteries are allowed in checked luggage." I think the policy applies to un-bagged batteries, but I didn't know they were quite that dangerous. I'll have to use my new laptop battery burn cod-piece protector more often.

Bell you Big Bearded Baddie

I felt I should make a correction to a previous post regarding Mr. Alexander Graham Bell. It appears that according to the research in this new book, he was not the first inventor of telephony, and made his working concepts from existing patents. I guess I'll have to put him in the book with that jerk Edison.
It appears that from the things I was taught in Elementary school, there isn't much left that's actually true or straightforward.

Billed

Here are a few photos of some of the current show billboards here in LAS (that are interesting to myself). I waited and waited to go out and get a shot of the Spamalot show sign before it went away, and then it went away.


The Man. The Music. The Medicated Audience.
In the background: The Blue Man Group aren't actually sad.


I just want him to say "Mooona" once in this show. Just once.


I got to meet Penn and Teller once while working for my University. Great guys. Teller just wouldn't shut the heck up.

Be Somebody, Or Be Somebody's Fool

As Mr.T said, you gotta respect your mother, 'cause where would you be if it wasn't for her. You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you're from. Stay in school. Drink your milk. Don't do drugs. My prediction? Paaain.

Don't forget your mother this holiday season. Because she'll never forget the labor and feedings and crying and cooking and cleaning and worrying and .... get her something nice, like a George Foreman Grill. That's real thoughtful, son.

Cribs

Hi everybody. I'm just settling into my new environment, like a new fish in a fishbowl. I've moved into a new pad this week and I'm digging it. Close enough to work to walk, and close enough to food to eat it. Also close enough to game to play, and close enough to the street to fear it.

Why a picture of an olive? Maybe because olives are an ancient source of reference to peace. Maybe because Alton Brown loves them so much and they're not all that bad for your health. Maybe it's because they are so durned delicious, and I went to Sam's Club and got a bunch.

Beer It

I hate to post things like an AOL fwd junky, but I found this interesting and suprising. And it has something to do with beer, fancy that. Here are 10 unexpected uses for beer.

Rent

For any of you who were interested in what is inside the RedBox kiosk, here is a picture of one being maintained in my local grocery store. Looks like about what you'd imagine. A carousel-style distribution, reminiscent of the old overpriced music CD jukeboxes.

A friend mentioned insideredbox.com. This site has RedBox free rental codes, amongst other useful Redbox tools.

Michael Jacked My Ride

Just thought I'd share this photo I took of a Michael Jackson fan just a little while ago.


This person *really* likes Michael Jackson.

sunshine and rain

Well, the holidays were a VERY mixed bag. Very good things and very bad things all blended together to make life as we know it. Whenever life gets you down, just think of the good stuff. Like candy.

Live long through homebrew

A pal of mine sent me these tips on homebrewing antioxidant-rich beer. I think I'll skip the pomegranate crap and brew me up some of this cancer-fighting brew.

gobble gobble zzzzzzzzzzz

Here's looking at you having a fine turkey day. Now get off your fat butt and help your poor mother in the kitchen!

See Spot

Just thought I'd share a photo of my first and last dog Gigi. She was a great dog.

can't hackett

Still not much to post about. Doing fine and living the dream.

Peace.

halloweeneeneeneen...

Just thought I'd show you a pic of a paint job I did on my spare tire cover lately. I was just going for low-gloss black with a splash of something a little more visible in the dark, but it came out all kinds of Halloween. Fair enough.

The Wez

I don't have much to update, although plenty is going on. I'm feeling a little sick today so to cheer us all up, here's a picture from a sporting event I attended recently:

I don't get to go to many games, and I don't follow college football very closely, but I was surprised by the hair fashions of the mountain men of Colorado, which included dreads, mohawks, and full on Fabios. If this is a young Vernon Wells in the center of the picture, then Mad Max is truly a vision of the future. I always wondered where his gear came from.

Death Valley Days

Well, 31 ain't so bad. Parents came up and we took a trip to Death Valley. That's not ominous at all for a birthday trip. The weather was great and we had a fun ride around the valley. I don't know what those pioneers were complaining about, I got great gas mileage.

Worst Witch for the Win

I have been wishing my co-workers a Happy Halloween with this delightful desktop image courtesy of Tim Curry.

Feel the Love

The brew is on!

Last weekend I got to attend the annual Las Vegas beer tasting event HOPS. This year it was at the newly renovated Planet Hollywood ( the old Aladdin ).

There were some great booths

good food and even a band

and the tasting glass was actually glass. The annual BrewFest in Athens, GA had degraded to cracked plastic shot glasses the last time I went.

I'm glad I got to enjoy some more western-centric brews, but I did miss my Eastern staples like ATL Brewing Company's Red Bricks, Sweetwater, Copper Creek, and of course Terrapin

Super Candy!

Long time no post. So I think I'll show you my latest candy find.

This Super-Lemon candy has to be the best candy on God's green earth. Just look at the packaging



The disturbing looking doll on the front thinks it's the bees kness, and it takes a lot to make an impression on the palate of those types. They probably could have altered it for American markets cheaply by calling it 'OMG Candy'.

Since I have not opened it yet, I can't really tell you if it's actually 'Oh So Wonderful Candy', but if the instructions on the back are any indicator, it's sure to excite the ladies.



Now, that same day I picked up a few packs of Pop Rocks, so this stuff has quite a bit to live up to. If it doesn't blow a hole open through my cheek or make me reconsider my life goals, I may have to claim false-advertising-shenanigans.


Update:

The taste. It's sour, then sweet. But not like those incorrigible sour-patch kids. Two of my friends spit it out before toughing out the sour to the sweet. As advertised, it makes your mouth go like this:

But with more crying. That was not on the package. They never put the crying on the package.

Back in time

I was talking to my father lately about the motorcycles we owned when I was younger. I had been on a search on-line for bikes that resembled what I remember, but with advancements in just about every aspect of motorcycle design, and the nature of human memory, it's been a little tough. My dad found the manual for a bike we used to take out into the central Florida boondocks, and sent me some scans. This is what I grew up knowing as a motorcycle, but anything modern built for the same purpose is quite a different beast.




Here is a modern-day Honda dirt-bike 125


Quite different, I would say.

Also, I just confirmed with my father that this is about the same model as one of the bikes we had (found at bikez.com):

Hot Buttered Mutants

What happens when you accidentally pop a biscuit-can at the grocery store, and have to bring it home and bake it right away?



Bunzilla!

a.k.a. Biscuitblob 2000
a.k.a Mount McFlakey

Signal Sourcery

So I bought this device recently from J.C. Whitney (THE place we used to buy parts for VW beetles) called the Signal Sorcerer. It is supposed to be a little device that helps small vehicles to be sensed by electro-magnetically triggered traffic light stops.

It is essentially a small powerful magnet that you mount to the underside of your motorcycle, scooter, ATV, or bicycle. The instructions dictate that you should mount it to a flat surface, parallel to the road, and in-line with the direction of travel. I mounted mine to this part just in front of the kickstand. It is just about the closest part to the ground, save for the exhaust.


As you can see, it's basically a small magnet bar on a foam strip with 2-sided glue. It comes in a small tube, although I've seen differing models that look like little red boxes. After I attached it for 24 hours, you can see that the magnet has pulled itself to one side of the glue strip to make love with the bike chassis. I'm not sure if I want to correct this, but I do know that with it touching the metal, the magnet will discharge faster.

I bought it to try it out on a particular light that never triggers for me until a vehicle comes up behind me. When I tried it out recently, it did not work. I am holding out hope though, because there were no scores in the road that are evidence of the sensor. There are some marked sensors in this town that do not trigger for me either, and I will be testing how they work now.

Game On

So I was at Albertson's to pick up some fried chicken and beer (doctor's orders) and I noticed this newly conjured Pepsi Product, Mountain Dew Game Fuel.

It appears to be a marketing tie-in with Halo 3. I played Halo but not Halo 2 because I'm still mad about the last half of Halo 1, which was just the first half backwards. But I am willing to forgive them if the soda actually tastes good...


It purports to be 'Dew(R) with an invigorating blast of citrus cherry flavor (with other natural flavors)'. It actually tastes like what you get when you start pouring some Hawaiian Punch from the fountain drink machine, and the carbonation is sloppy, so you Do The Dew but are too lazy, hyper, or demented to pour out the punch. Kind of like drinking Hubba Bubba. I will give it to Dew that it's like two liters of Redbull Light, in charm and effects. It should provide a gamer some 'fuel' but mostly it made my belly hurt enough to make me stay up late and play video games until I could sleep. Don't ask me about the dreams I had that night...

Ikari Scooterists

Here's a photo I've been trying to get for a while. Every now and then I pass by the Konami building here. Konami is known for some great games like Frogger, Castlevania, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution, Metal Gear, and a lot more. I imagine that inside it's like Willy Wonka's factory but the Oompa Loompas are coding sprite loops.

You can tell that's my scooter in the shot because of the battle-damage. This also happens to be one of our rare rainy days. We've had about three this year so far.

Hunt for Red Stella

Lately, on my route home, if the timing is just right I will catch a glimpse of an elusive rare Atomic Fireball Stella commuting the opposite direction. This is the same scooter model I ride, but dipped in a custom Ferrara Pan paint job.

try to ride to live

Have I mentioned how much I hate traffic in the mornings? On my way back home this morning, after having breakfast/dinner with some friends, I encountered some construction work which was bringing 3 lanes down to 1. A few folks were turning around, and I decided to follow suit. I waited for a window from the yellow turn lane, and just as I was giving a bit of throttle to make my U-turn, a sedan came speeding around my left side crossing into the empty opposing traffic lane, and I squeezed the brakes as they came less than inches from my front fender. If I had decided to go any sooner, I could have been in one painful pickle. I didn't see or sense anything until it was right in front of me.

So here's a note. Look in as many directions as possible, even the ones you don't expect need to be looked into. The only truly patient humans are in the morgue.

ride to live, live to ride

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy the early morning ride home from work? It's a relatively calm, cool ride that still poses some traffic challenges. The road gets my heart pumping and the scenery keeps my awe enough to make the same route in a car pale in comparison. It's no woodsy lane, but it's a little bit of country and a little bit of rock n' roll.

zoom

As I was on my way home from work this morning, battling some strong wind, I was coming down a particular home stretch and found myself passing a semi-truck on the right. I had some traffic behind me and noticed a car that had been trying to accelerate to pass me before I got next to the semi-truck.

This car apparently had some place important to be because it cut through the turn/yellow lane on the left of the truck, in a particularly dangerous area. What's funny, is that this person lived in the same area I do and we got home at the same time. If I was in a car, I'd be going the same speed but I can imagine it's frustrating to be stuck behind a semi and a slow-looking scooter.

can't stop

Ohcheckitoutifoundthisreallycoolenergydrinkthatlookslikeabottleof
nitrousoxideanditdoesn'ttasteverygoodmorelikegrassandturpintine
butithasallkindsofneatstuffinitandi'mgettingsomuchstuffdoneatwork
ican'tbelivetheysellthisstuffingasstationsohlookatthatthingoverthere

Work to Ride

I know I'm just a lowly scooter rider, but I'd like to remind all two-wheel jockeys out there that this Wednesday July 18th is Ride To Work day. If you can ride then show your pride.

Man I am

Don't have any pictures for this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

When I was out and about last week, I noticed a pickup truck with 2 bumper stickers. 'Cavemen are people too' and 'Australopithecus ends in us'. I thought these were funny in their own right, but then I looked between them at the license plate that said 'HOMINID'.

Good stuff. Ook ook.

Heatwave!

Looks like this heatwave claimed a victim right outside my house. When I got back into town from my trip to GA, I noticed that there was trouble with switching on low-beams and fog lights on my car.

I took this time to inspect all fuses and clean and check the engine compartment. As my troubleshooting procedure led into the cabin, I noticed that the high/low lever did not click right, so I used my trusty Haynes repair manual to research a little, and disassembled the casings around the steering column to pull out the modular switch. I swung by the only AutoZone in town that had the part and picked it up and tested it. Luckily, this fixed the issue. I had visions of having to have the wiring harness replaced, which would cost quite a chunk.

This replacement part was affordable. Thank you Ford, the car designers, and the fine people of Mexico for making a car that's easy to work on. I can only assume the part failed because of heat damage since the temperature here had reached at least 110F, and the car was fine before I left for the trip. Wonder what else might be melted ...

....RIP Another car part....

(I like to think that the shadow is his ghost escaping to the great junkyard in the sky. Via con Dios little buddy...*sniff*)

It's lovely having an alternate means of transportation. I use my scooter more than my car, so it was not a big deal at all. Replaced my spark plug while I was out and about too... Vroom Vroom!

Who needs the Kwik E Mart? I dooooooo...

I was perusing one of my favorite sites X-Entertainment yesterday, and noticed this article, which led me to this article, and thusly this article. WooT, we have our very own Kwik E Mart in (near) Las Vegas. I ran down there this morning and here are some pictures.
(Here are some much better pictures taken with a better camera by someone with more patience than I).



As I drove in, there was an employee in Apu clothing loading and moving cases of Krusty-Os on a hand-truck. Inside, I took a few pictures and talked to a few people. The shelf that had a sign that said 'These things won't be gone until you buy them' was empty. The cashier, who seemed to be into the whole theme, had changed his 'Joe' name tag to say 'Moe'. An employee who seemed like the manager helped me get a box of Krusty-Os straight from the newly arrived case, and told me that the Simpsons stuff was leaving the shelf faster than they could stack it. The building will be dressed in this theme until Aug 7th, soon after the movie comes out (July 27th).

---

On a side note, it does happen to be 07/07/07 which equals 777 to some people. Since that's such a lucky arrangement of numbers, today is going to be a huge wedding day in Las Vegas.
Here's hoping those marriages beat the odds of actually getting 777 on a slot machine here.

gone fishin'

Well, I'm off visiting my family for the 4th. It's nice being back in the muggy weather for a little while, enjoying the trees, water, and mosquitos.

Night Moves

Well, I've been working the night shift for a couple of weeks, and trying to get my body used to the hours. Working 12 hours a day doesn't leave time for much else, but I'm tired enough when I get home that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to keep the same schedule when I'm not working because moving sleep schedules around can mess you up a bit. I've never been much in-tune with my body. I can only tell when I'm hungry or exhausted, but then I can always push beyond both if necessary.

I'm always hearing about jet-lag, but I never seemed to care that much about it when flying abroad or across the country. A good friend of mine who travels to Europe a lot suggests that you just stay up as long as you can when you are given more daylight, and you'll slip right onto schedule by the next day. Also, booze helps.

On my off days, I seem to be able to take care of many of my interests, since I wasn't really going outside much for fun lately anyway. Getting together with friends, of course, is a bit more challenging. A lunch date around 12pm is smack in the middle of sleep-time. I am getting to read, study, and game more. This is a 24 hour town, so other than keeping your eyes sharp at night, it's not very difficult to get things done. I'm also actually able to get in a little exercise every day.

The commute traffic hasn't changed much. I take surface roads and still travel during most everyone else's commute time, only with opposite intentions.