It’s 6:41am, and we’re getting Slayton ready for his first Cub Scout outing. A Chuck Wagon Derby, held in Jacksonville, VT.
He hasn’t even had a pack/den meeting yet. So today @ 6:00am we put him in his uniform for the first time.
As you can see from this picture, he’s lost yet another front tooth. This one came out at school.
Apologies for the lack of updates. The site has been down since September. The server that hosts it was hacked and had to be rebuilt.
I still continue to feel generally miserable, though I have periods of time where I feel good. I had a period of five minutes - five whole minutes! - about a week ago where I actually felt 100%. It came on suddenly, and just as I realized “hey, I actually feel good right now!” the good feeling started sliding backwards.
Frankly, I just want to know what the pain in my upper left abdomen is. I had it before taking the Cipro, and I’ve got it now. I’ve seen a gastro doc, who performed some tests (that I won’t get into) who couldn’t find anything wrong.
Ξ August 12th, 2006 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
My motherboard has been flakey as heck lately, what with random shutdowns. Was kind of mystified by it all until I started having problems with my USB. It was then that I figured out I was having power problems.
Pulled the power connector off the motherboard. Hm…doesn’t want to come out…Gr…ah, there we go. Ah, now I see why! It’s all melty. Just on the +5V lines.
Crap, can’t do anything about it right now. Let’s just jam it back on there…hope it holds on a bit longer.
Lasted maybe a month, then the restarts and USB problems started again. Ah, nuts.
Kept reseating it. The uptime kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally it would be up maybe a couple minutes. If I was lucky. It would even reboot on the BIOS screen.
“Crap,” said I. “This won’t do.” friend of mine, Paul, sold me a board a couple years back. Pop it in. Haven’t hooked up the drives yet. It fires right up. “Cool,” says I. I turn the computer off, turn away, then turn back. The computer is back on. “Huh?” I exclaim, as I smell it: magic blue smoke. NO!
I have no idea what happened. Suck. The board is dead. Now I’m down two boards.
So on Friday my co-worker Andy finds an old HP on the side of the road. Old old, like 333MHz or something. I ask that if it’s DOA can I have the motherboard so I can rape it for the ATX connector. He says sure.
Cracks it open…no hard drive. “Heck,” says he. “I’m not going to bother with this. You want it, it’s yours.” Hands me the motherboard, and proceeds to rape the case of all screws and fans.
I start to unsolder the ATX connector. It’s *slow* going. “Want a hint?” says Cool Guy, pulling out his propane torch. Why not? Not like we’re going to use this board again, anyway!
Connector comes off in about six seconds. We proceed to burn the heck out of the board and pull everything off it. Fun!
So tonight, with great trepadation I take my precious and carefully remove the old connector. I could care less about the connector itself, but unsoldering all 24 pins cleanly is proving a real bitch. Finally I realize I’ll never be able to remove all the old solder without putting on *more* solder. Once I do that, it pops right off.
Solder on the new connector. It’s thru-hole soldering, which means that not only are connections made on both sides of the board, they’re made *inside* it as well.
I finish, so I install it in the case. Don’t hook *anything* up. It’s either going to work the first time, it won’t work at all, or it’ll release more magic blue smoke.
Plug it in…whoops…forgot to turn off the power supply…but wait…motherboard light is glowing…that’s a good sign.
Fire it up…hey, it’s working! Go into the BIOS and check voltage levels. Everything was *very* low before, esp. +5V. Now everything is 5×5. SWEET.
Typing on it now. Have Asus PC Probe running, taking polls of the system every five seconds, so if it hiccups I’ll know about it.
While I was at it, the CPU fan had quit a while back. It was fine when I hooked it to another one of the fan plugs, so I knew it wasn’t the fan itself.
Examined the surrounding circuitry…hm…there’s an electrolytic cap right in it’s path. I know I’ve got replacements, let’s give it a shot.
Crap, I hate thru-hole soldering. I can clearly see one pad just fine. The other side has none on either side. Hope this works…
Hey, my fan is spinning! Full speed! All right!
*pats himself on the back*
Ξ March 26th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ Life |
Not sure why my first post didn’t show up, it’s in the database…let’s try again.
Friday I got to see Kiki’s first steps! She stood up, and I held my hands out to her, and she walked right to me!
Sarah, regretably missed this because she was talking about that American Idol guy, Ace. 
She’s excused; she spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the ER. Two weeks ago she went with massive abdominal pain. Thinking “appendix” I raced to the ER to meet her. Diagnosed her with a 4mm kidney stone. Youch!
So Friday she gets similar pain, goes back to the ER. Stone is bigger than they thought, at least 5mm. So she has to have surgery to remove it. That sucks.
The boys seem to be doing well. Riley’s speech improves by the week. We just had a parent/teacher conference about Slayton, and he seems to be doing *very* well in school. He picked out a new book, a chapter book, at a library clearance. Unbelievable that not only does he read it, but comprehends. That’s my boy!
At work, back in September/October I moved pretty much our entire stock of coin-op equipment from one location in the warehouse to another, to accomodate a new company that was moving in. Come to find out they *really* need the warehouse space the games are in, so we’re being moved to the basement. Which means I get to move everything. Again. This time I can’t do it alone, as the boss won’t let me drive the truck. Yep! This time, everything has to be moved by truck, around to the back of the warehouse. Last time I had it easy, and it was all wheeled across the floor.
The best part is, it’s not even in it’s final resting place. It’s being put just *outside* where our new shop will be. So after it’s moved, and our shop is finished, we get to move it yet AGAIN into our new shop. 
I did get one thing out of all these moves, though. Xenophobe is a game I played a lot when I was a kid. Found a cabinet for one that had been converted years ago. Then I was lucky enough to find not only the boardset in our pile of boards, but the control panel, marquee. I’ll be putting a progress report on my projects page shortly, but for now I have a Project Announcement over @ ArcadeControls.
Ξ February 6th, 2005 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
While he was in New York on location for _Bronco Billy_ (1980), Clint Eastwood agreed to a television interview. His host, somewhat hostile, began by defining a Clint Eastwood picture as a violent, ruthless, lawless, and bloody piece of mayhem, and then asked Eastwood himself to define a Clint Eastwood picture. “To me,” said Eastwood calmly, “what a Clint Eastwood picture is, is one that I’m in.”
– Boller and Davis, “Hollywood Anecdotes”
Ξ January 12th, 2005 | → Comments Off | ∇ Life |
Guy named Chris. Nicest guy in the world. I hadn’t spoken to him in a while. He works at the same company my wife does.
She called me earlier, said she was going to be a little late.
Comes home, says she’s got something to tell me, and that was why she was late. I was figuring something bad happened to her at work.
I guess he hadn’t been feeling well that day, and took the day off from work. Some co-workers went over to his house last night and played cards with him.
His mom couldn’t get ahold of him, so she went over to his apartment, and found him.
I’m just…upset. He was only twenty-five.
I kept telling myself I’d call him, we’d go out for a beer, he’d come over and play the Mame cab he helped drag into my house. I just put it off again and again.
Too late now.
They’ll be doing an autopsy. I’m guessing it has something to do with his weight. He was a really big guy.
It’s weird. I’ve got the Toy Story Two Pack he gave to our son for his first birthday. He helped move my fighters cab into our house a year ago. I worked closely with him for two years before transferring.
And now he’s gone. He was a genuinely nice guy. Would have done anything for you.
Why not some scumbag child molester? Why him?
Ξ December 2nd, 2004 | → Comments Off | ∇ Life |
Faster and faster now. It’s going to be an interesting year.
Ξ November 9th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
You know it!
So we went to my father and Betsey’s house yesterday to visit. It was quite nice. Got a lovely strawberry and rhubarb pie. Yum! 
Coming home, stopped at a gas station not far from their house. There are two exits, and one entrance. Considering how busy they were at the time, I could have used the first exit I came to, but wanted to do the ‘right thing.’
So as I swing around to go in the entrance, someone gets there before me. No biggie, they’re not busy, in fact alll the pumps (all four) are empty.
So what does the guy do? He stops at the first pump, instead of pulling all the way forward.
So we wait, seeing what this guy is going to do, as he’s not yet gotten out of his car. And then he does, and starts reading what’s on the pump before getting gas.
I step out, and I say, “excuse me, do you mind pulling up?”
He looks at me like I’m a gnat, and says in a tone dripping with venom, “Sure. If that’s what you want me to do.”
Sarah and I just look at each other. We’re like “What an asshat! That’s like one of the first pieces of ettiquete you learn when you start driving.”
But the guy did pull forward. And so I pumped $10.00 into the Kia’s tank.
Once upon a time, $10.00 would have either filled it, or close. Now? It gives us 1/2 a tank. Obscene!
I hope the greedy oil companies get over themselves soon and reduce prices, or an alternative comes into play soon.
Ξ April 7th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I’ve been having some very mild headaches lately. Nothing serious, not even worth taking something for. More of a buzz than a headache.
Yesterday the family and I were eating @ KFC. My wife excused herself for a moment. So I was sitting talking to our eldest son. Suddenly, I just blacked out. I could feel the room just sort of get sucked into the whirlpool that was my head, and everything went dark. And as quickly as it happened, it passed. Momentary diziness, and I was okay.
I’m lucky I wasn’t driving when it happened. That could have been bad.
Makes me think about what might happen to regs on chat boards. “So-and-so posted here all the time, and then one day, we never saw him again.”
Makes me think very seriously about my mortality. I’m 30 years old. I don’t have a will. I’ll be drawing one up shortly, which is something I should have done years ago.
And yes, to answer the obvious, I’m going to see a doctor about this.
So, if I ever just drop off the radar…you know why.
Ξ March 30th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
This will prove to be an interesting week. Sarah has gone to PA for some job duties, leaving me with the kids for the week. I’ll meet her @ her parents house on Friday, and drive back right after. Going to do some painting (the living room is in serious need of it).
Ξ March 18th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
It’s been a heck of a day. Took the kids to the doctors for Riley’s 18 month appointment. Riley got three shots, and Slayton got one. He wasn’t supposed to get any shots at all, but they asked if I’d like to do one now, as opposed to three at once in a few months.
Boy, did he fight it. Four year old little monster, it took two of us to hold him down, while a third gave him the shot. Bit his lip right through.
Got home, and my mom called. Her good friend and mine, Arvi, died today. he was 76. He’d been unwell for quite some time, so really it’s a blessing, but it’s still a shock all the same.
Ξ January 27th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I do a lot of dumpster diving. It’s a great way to recycle stuff which is still usable but someone doesn’t want anymore.
Some recent finds include: brand new halogen desk lamp, a 25 pack of Memorex CD-RW disks, an R/C car (according to the price sticker worth $119).
A great site for dumpster divers? Dumpster World
Ξ December 17th, 2003 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I had a serious issue with my computer some months back.
At it’s core was an Abit KT7A. These boards were made with faulty capacitors. Most had problems right away, but mine hung in there for almost two years.
So I upgraded to an Asus A7N8X (along with most of my other hardware, which quickly became incompatible) and it refused to boot into Windows XP.
Did some asking around, concensus was that my power supply wasn’t beefy enough to support the new power hungry board. But since we’re poor, I wasn’t going to run out and buy a new $100 power supply if that wasn’t the answer. Since Linux booted up okay, I used that.
So I’ve been stuck in Linux all this time. It’s not a bad thing, really…just really, really different.
Yesterday I ran across a power supply at Staples. Since they have a liberal 14 day return policy, I snapped it up.
It worked. I was able to reinstall XP and get things running again.
The best part is my old power supply, when plugged back in, allows the system to boot just fine. I’m typing on it right now. Very odd. It would BSOD before.
Happy, happy day!
Ξ November 20th, 2003 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Recipe o’ the minute: Spanish Rice
1 - 1 1/2 lb cube steak
1 jar chunky medium salsa
1 jar chunky mild salsa
3 cups instant rice
2 cups water
chop cube steak coarsely. Brown in a saucepan. Add salsa. Cook on medium heat until heated through. Add rice and water. Cook until rice is tender, and liquid is absorbed.
You can also choose any temperature salsa you want. You want spicier, use hot. Not spicey? two jars of mild.
Ξ November 11th, 2003 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Recipe o’ the minute: Quick Marinara Sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 jar chunky mild salsa
seasonings to taste
Add tomato paste to saucepan. Add a can of water to the mix. Stir, blending until even. Add your seasonings (garlic (roasted or not), oregano, basil, whatever).
While it’s simmering, add 1/2 to 1 jar of the salsa, depending on how chunky you like your salsa. Allow to simmer for a few minutes.
Well, luckily the Eric Daily character was not my classmate’s brother. I was set straight by my sister, who is dating my classmate’s brother’s cousin. ‘Nuff said.
Ξ June 19th, 2003 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
This week has just been one thing after another.
First, Sarah’s on vacation this week, so although it’s quite nice to have her at home, it’s odd.
Second, I found out that one of my best friends in high school’s mothers passed away on Wednesday, June 12. She had cancer. I had seen her only two months before, and I had no idea she was even sick.
A kid I went to high school with had a younger brother, Eric Daily, that got into a high speed chase with the police. He ended up killing one of them after they set up a spike trap. He swerved to avoid hitting the spikes, and plowed right into the officer’s car.
Finally, yesterday, my stepsister was found dead in her home by my father and his wife. I had just spoken to her a week ago. We had lunch together. She was only just older than I.
I really hope things slow down soon. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.
Ξ March 8th, 2003 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
We’re going to Claremont today. Actually, the point of this post it to test the new posting system. With it, I can post from anywhere in the whole world. How nifty.
Ξ November 1st, 2002 | → Comments Off | ∇ Life |
Well, Riley Allen Peale was born September 5, 2002 at 11:25pm. At weighing time, he was 8 lbs, 3 oz, and 21 inches long. At his one month appointment, he was 11 lbs 3 oz, and 24 inches long!
Sarah and I had a mini adventure the other day. We decided to drive to Lebanon, NH to a pet store that is famous for its fish displays. On the way we stopped in Springfield to visit the annual Apple Festival. On our way out of Springfield we were deciding whether or not we should continue on toward Lebanon. I’m glad we did, we may have saved someones life.
Two minutes into our trip I was overwhelmed with the stench of gasoline. I had pumped fuel before, so I was smelling my clothes and my fingers to see if it was me. I started to worry that perhaps we had sprung a leak, and was about to ask Sarah to pull over when we both saw the vehicle: a tan Chevy Celebrity SPRAYING gas all over the road from what appeared to be a blown fuel line.
I had Sarah pull up beside her. I unrolled the window, waved crazily to get her attention. Luckily her window was open (as I found out later on, to keep the gas fumes from asphixiating her) and I was able to shout for her to pull over.
We pulled to the side of the road another half mile ahead, and used my dads old cell phone to call 911. Gave them a mile marker number, hung up, and pulled out.
My wife looking in the rear view mirror. “I think she’s following us!” I said she wouldn’t be that stupid, with the gas leak and all. We decided to stop and see. Sure enough, within a couple minutes, there she was, driving in the breakdown lane with her emergency lamps on.
I jumped out of the car and waved for her to cut her engine. She gets out of the car, looks back, looks at me and asks, “Do you think it might explode?” I say “Of course it could explode! It’s gasoline!”
Another quick call to let the fire department know where we were later, I started talking to her. I gave her my jacket as it was around 50 degrees out. Aparently she had just gotten back from a funeral, was getting on the on ramp, when she stated the whole car ’shook.’ It was fine after that, except for a faint gasoline smell.
The Springfield Fire Department arrived on scene very shortly after that. Boy, was Slayton impressed! Fire trucks are one of his favorite things.
The crew contained the gasoline, and called a tow truck. I bid them farewell, and continued on our way.
In other news, the arcade cabinet is coming along in bits and pieces. I don’t have a camera to take pictures of it, unfortunately, but most of the paint is off the sides.
Ξ March 31st, 2002 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I’ve just found an interesting new site, dedicated to returning Subway Sandwiches to their original cut.
You can find the site here.
Oh yeah, I hadn’t seen this before. All your Base Belong To Us.
Ξ March 16th, 2002 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
The domain is active. Works well so far.
Slayton’s birthday is today. Hopefully it’ll be better than the last one. We’re going to go to the Children’s PLAYce, Applebee’s (so they can sing their silly song to him), and just plain have a fun Slayton day.
Next week we’re going to have a small party with an exclusive guest list.
I just want to take a minute and shout out to my buddy Kathy, whom I met on the job. She’s in California, and she’s cool. She carries a gun, so don’t mess with her. And if you need to ship something in a refrigerated truck, she’s the person to go to.
And while I’m shouting about stuff, give a look over at Radio Free Brattleboro. I work with one of the DJ’s over there, "Sheldon L". I participated in one of his broadcasts last Wednesday. Quite cool. When I can find the time to do so, I’m thinking about becoming a DJ there for one of the shifts they offer. If you want, they broadcast online, so if you’ve got WinAmp, MacAmp, XMMS, or any other media player capable of listening to streaming audio, give them a chance.
Ξ January 19th, 2002 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I’ve just updated the DVD list page. It was rather sparse before, listing only those disks I could remember. I went through the closet today and made a complete list.
Ξ January 18th, 2002 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Starting a new format(ish) today. Putting the most recent events on top. It makes no sense to place most recent stuff ath the bottom, then you have to scroll down, it’s extra work for you, blah blah blah…
For those of you who don’t know, we’re expecting our second child in August. We’ve selected ‘Kira’ as a girls name. It actually came to me as I was drifting off to sleep one night. I was almost asleep, when the name popped into my head. At the time it seemed like the most important thing in the world, so I woke up my wife, and told her. She said that it was a very nice name, and rolled over, and went back to sleep, as did I. I’m glad she remembered, because the next day, for my life, I couldn’t remember! I knew about the ‘K’, but that was it. Kira Peale. Now for a middle name…
I received my ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Season One’ DVD series yesterday. Extremely well done. I’m just sorry I have to wait until June to collect Season Two!
Ξ January 12th, 2002 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
If you look on the left, there’s a link for a ‘web cam’ that, of course, is never updated. I’ve decided to change all that, begining today. If you check it out, you’ll see the view outside my bedroom window. This will only be up when the computer is on, of course, but it’s better than nothing.
I’m starting a new tech project, my MAME box that should take me a goodly amount of time. I should get to work on, at least, the hardware portion of the page, as that’s come along quite nicely.
—
Next Page »
