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Showing posts from 2007

Not as big a deal, but still

Correction to prior post : "3300", per the reference manual in the "Winner Paid" display, is a tilt message that says the hopper -- the thing that holds the coins -- is empty. (Geez; you'd think Winner Paid" meant "Winner Paid.") Since the machine had only 5 coins in it, no suprise there. Hmph. So, Nic's jackpot was more like 50 coins (150, had he bet max). Still, an upper-tier pay combination is not bad for a second-ever pull (958 pulls per hit on that pay combo; not too shabby). I'll continue encouraging him to "invest" his lunch money in pursuit of the elusive 10,000-coin top award.

'I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind-of a Big Deal'

Note: Correction posted OK, so I won a slot machine at my company's holiday party. (Way to go, me! Hypothetical High-5...awesome.) I mean, a genuine article. Something you read about, or try to win in a charity raffle, and as an employee, pretty much give up all hope after the second year of company raffles. It's now in the "John Room" (aka the basement) at 1280, waiting for visitors to drop in the occasional quarter to have a bona-fide player experience in a non-smoking environment. As far as Nic and I are concerned, it's a giant piggy bank. But that's not the big news. On his second-ever coin drop and pull of a slot machine, my beloved Nic unknowingly hit a jackpot: 3,300 quarters on a "multiple nudge" whereby all 3 reels moved a smidge up and/or down, transforming the payline from 3 blanks to a triple bar, triple bar and double bar -- all bonus symbols. All this on one one quarter. You want proof? Here you go. (Click to enlarge) Notice him point

'V' is for 'Nicolas'

Let me explain. "Nic[h/k]olas" in the book of baby names stands for "Victory". I thought it was appropriate, given how my wife's card readings prior to his being born kept pointing to a girl. "So be it," I figured. But there was a dream, during the first trimester and prior to the ultrasound that dictated his gender, that made me think otherwise. There I was, riding behind the driver's seat, looking forward at the passenger seat. And there, peeking behind the seat to look at me, a smiling, dimple-faced, blue-eyed boy. And it hit me: that's my boy. And just as I was saying "Hey, little buddy," he takes a swig from an oil can. OK, I haven't yet figured out the oil can part yet, but the remainder served as a portent of what was to come. I figured it was imminent, but maybe the second child (what with the card reading and all). But on the day of the second ultrasound, the nurse could see what the gender was. She asked if w

Acceptance

OK, no "Power Blogger" status for me anytime soon. I originally targeted a weekly post, but now monthly compilations may be the course until property values go up again, we cash out on the rentals and pay down/off the Marsh house, and I won't have to work as much. Or fewer house, etc. projects. Tough call. I finally sold "Ursula", the Volvo, after 9 long years of putting about 90K miles on her (got her at 42K) and mixed levels of bliss. Bliss, such as the day I bought it, the first time the seat warmers came in handy, and those 2-year intervals between major check-up work. Not-so-bliss was the $2K or so it needed at critical mileage points. The other side of someone's endearing "I had a Volvo and it went 250K+ miles..." story. I'll have fond recollections once the MasterCard is paid down below the level I was at when Ursula was at 105K miles. Oh, well. Sale translates to seed money for the pickup and Jul-e-us l'Arancia, beloved Orange Westy

About my well-paved road to hell...

[Note: you may want to go ahead and defrost that Thanksgiving turkey, as it's been a wile since my last post.] OK, it was my good intention to live up to the list I shared "way back when". Specifically, the kitchen back splash job , aka the inspiration for starting this site. OK, so some things got in the way, starting with the landscape light project, which BTW was initially slated for summer '06 until the in-laws had delivered the jungle gym, unassembled, in eight boxes in my driveway. (There was also the whole thing about needing an electrical feed to the outside of the house, as featured in the 7.30.2007 post.) And the fine-tuning therein, adding lights (see 7.31.2007 ). For those of you visiting this site frequently, you saw the progression of the light arrangement in the sidebar, as I posted shots after each addition. It's pretty much stable now, so you can register the current shot to memory. What you can't see are the adjoining wires that still need

Milestones

So, we baseball folk are in some kind of crossroads as to whom we pledge our allegiance as the latest heroes chase their respective milestones. Barry is chasing THE most celebrated milestone, and A-Rod is chasing a milestone that will lead to THE milestone, and given his relative youth, and subsequently may force Barry to pull a Jim Brown (circa 1984) inside of 6 years. And Tom Glavine is at career win #299, an increasingly fleeting milestone. The pundits say that a today's hitters chances at getting to the 500 HR milestone are considerably better than any current pitcher's chance at winning 300 games. Recent approaches and surpassing of 500 HRs, comparatively, in this era are proof positive. Said statement does not influence the focus of a game and how a ball game is and ever will be celebrated. Remember the commercial in the late '90s when Atlanta Braves pitching greats Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine had to learn to hit home runs to make an impression on some lady f

I got a feva...

And the only prescription...well, you know the rest. And in case you don't: Click here if you need to see/hear the whole story. I see the light(s) . And it seems the current 10-light configuration for the walkways, as recommended, isn't enough. I gotta have more path lights! Specifically, 2 more along the walkway to balance things out, and 2 spotlights to project onto the house and water feature. More to come, so stay tuned. (This latest obsession is still pretty fresh.)

QB called an audible

And nicely executed, despite much scrambling (and that it's not football season). "WTF?" You might ask. Let me elaborate. The 7.12.07 post put forth a list upon completion of the kitchen backsplash. After spending about 3-1/2 hours on Sunday (7/22) scraping thin-set between about one-third of the job with dental technician-like precision -- and that backsplash is one dirty mouth (credits to the Orbit gum pitch-gal) -- I'm choosing plenty of breathers between scrape strokes. Plus (future DIY glass tile-setters take note), I've learned there are some issues as to the type of grout to use to prevent scratching the surface of glass tile. Epoxy? Unsanded? A combination? Regardless, there's some research to do in addition to the breathers. Moreover, at a reasonable distance or in a photo , you really don't notice that there's no grout in between the tiles. So I got that going for me. So what did I do this past weekend? Something in between watching grass gr

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I did a little light blog-keeping. "A little to the left..." as the nameplate didn't quite fit, despite the multiple connotations that reflect what I see, hear or live. Plus, it was pretty much forcing me to make regular political commentary or something of the "L"-word flavor (which for me, in between presidential races, is more of a pleasure-filled reactionary thing to polar extremists who throw down the gauntlet at parties or related forums). But ever since Sept. '02, when me and the wife (to be) closed escrow on the primary residence at 1280, evenings and weekends prompted -- mostly during the commute home -- a checklist of: Which home improvement project -- kitchen, bath, basement, landscape, general interior/exterior, yackety-schmackety -- am I working on (or need to research/get up to speed on); Which rental property (mine more-so than the wife's) needs attention; What upgrade/restoration task can I provide "Jul-e-us di Arancia" (my oran

The baseline

OK; I am officially tuned into the '00s. About time, I figure. Now people can see where I am on mostly home improvement projects, and all the related F-bombs. Marketers, steer clear. I'm not buying -- unless you have cool, rare parts for my '74 Westy . Namely the hard-to-find orange plaid fabric (not the oft-confused chrome yellow), preferably from the upper bunk. Also wish for a dashboard clock, stamped'73, '74 or '75. Can/will trade for mine, stamped '76. (It's black face is darker than the charcoal face on the speedo and fuel,etc gauge, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.) And you now know this, because your Web crawling app picked up on the Westy keyword. We'll talk. Back to home improvement. Here's my latest headache, a backsplash in my kitchen. Here's a part of it. That's 3,168 1-inch tiles for those of you counting. (OK; they're on 12-inch sheets, but still.) And the photo only shows half the job. The vertical/horizontal cu