Last night it stormed like crazy in the Twin Cities. Around 11pm it finally hit were we live. I was laying in our large comfy bed, watching the lightning outside, listening to the rain hitting the windows and came to the realization - maybe something bad happening doesn’t always have to follow good things happening. It felt good. Looking out and watching the blurred loglo of America in front of me - the crimson red sign of UBS, the stoic yellow of Wells Fargo, the patriotic Red white and blue of Bremer bank - it all seemed to calming.

Anyway, I’m leaving work early today because I have to get a new desk. I have a desk, it was given to me, but it’s not ‘my‘ desk. It doesn’t feel like me. A desk is almost a religious thing to a geek - we spend a lot of time there, it’s the focal point of our career and our hobbies - it’s our personality. The desk I was given is of steel and glass - quite beautiful to look at, that’s for sure - but it’s not me. It’s all show, no go. I’m going to Ikea, and I bet I can find something there for me.

Then, we have to go to Swank to pick up this mod 70s dresser we bought the other day - they sold to new owners so a lot of the stock is liquidated - all the accessories were 50% off. The dresser, which we sorely need, wasn’t included in the discount - but we bought a few other things there and talked him into letting us have it for $55 less then it had on the ticket - so all in all that was a cool deal.

So after a new dresser, then a new desk, we can finish unpacking and get rid of the boxes.

And be truly, home.

Sorry I haven’t written much - the Fringe Fest started on the 3rd and I had to errrr  a friend had to work on directing his play. It was fun. A helluva lot of fun. Next year will be even better!

Ha ha! I won it! I won the auction for a 1979 Gottlieb Buck Rogers pinball playfield! He gives it a 9.5 out of a 10 in regards to shape, just a few things missing but other then that it’s almost brand new - just needs a couple parts, some polish, and then it’s coffee table time! I’m hoping to do it a bit cleaner then the person who wrote the HOW-TO; my woodworking skills aren’t great at all, but I think I can pull off a few things to make this table more refined and include things like miter joints. I’ll also need to work on a proper circuit to supply power to it - I’m thinking of using one of the rechargeable 18 volt batteries used in my Ryobi system + an additional charger. I figure I can use a DC-DC step down to convert from 18V to the ~6.3V the lights need, plus what ever additional power is needed to compensate for resistance. I can gut the charger, connecting inline to the battery and that way it can just charge the battery, or charge the battery while powering the lights, or just power the lights. Not bad for a $40 investment, $20 for the charger, $20 for the battery. Plus, this battery is a standard Ryobi uses so I can count on them being available for quite some time. Anyway, I’m stoked! I’m also hoping (Though not real sure I will) that I also win this auction, which is for another pinball playfield - this time for a 1978 Bally Playboy machine. It’s not in perfect shape, but it’ll clean up real well. If I get good enough at this, maybe I’ll try to sell them. I figure at most $250 for the parts, and it should easily sell for $500+, call it art and I can go as high as $800 no sweat. And $250 would be the max, a lot of the playfields go for only $50 or so, it’s just a tight market suddenly.

Anyway, pics of the new Buck Rogers playfield after the jump.

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So I busted out the Dremel, the dremel cleaning & polishing kit, and some PlastiX to try to clean my clock. It didn’t work - at all. In fact, the dremel had to be moving pretty fast or it gouged it - luckily I tried a more hidden side first.  I was researching this a bit and found this link, it’s to the Janvil Plastic Polish system. So I’ll order it, and give it a shot - I’d love to see the clock look brand new in all it’s 1970s glory!

Bad news too! Raven Hill apartment complex, a couple miles from my house, burnt down today. I had 2 friends who lived there, and Mishka had a friend who moved there just a couple of weeks ago - worst part though is she was going to get renters insurance TOMORROW with her check. She was devastated. I feel sorry for all of those now homeless people.

Also received yet ANOTHER crime alert about people breaking into cars in my apartment complex. I’m quite happy we’re moving out and into St. Paul. The next 45 days are going to go soooooo slowly. But it’ll be worth it - when we went on Tuesday I noticed they ramped up the amount of art murals in the place.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Till the next time!