Makin' Progress

The arcade cabinet is really coming along! I'm knee deep in creating the artwork for the cabinet, starting with the control panel. I'm sticking with Cave Story artwork for the control panel only. Below the blue buttons will be a blue shaded Balrog with arms thrown up yelling "Huzzah!", Balrog's catch phrase. Missiles will be flying underneath the trackball toward the red button side, where a red Balrog will be in pain yelling, "Ouch!" My kids are huge fans of Balrog, calling him Lunchbox due to his lunchbox-like shape. Up above the Player 1 start button will be a small picture of Quote, the main character of Cave Story. Above the Player 2 start button will be a small picture of Quote with Curly on his back, a reference to the harrowing last level of the game. Finally, the background of the control panel overlay will be a cave and have various characters hidden in the background, including the two last bosses hiding in the top corners.
I'm also busy with wiring the buttons to the keyboard encoder, attaching the control panel latches, installing the T-Molding (which is already attached to the control panel), installing the speakers and subwoofer, and mounting the marquee backlight. I may install the coin door tomorrow, seeing as how it shouldn't get in the way of anything at this point. I really enjoyed mounting the buttons, trackball and joysticks. It really beings a bit of finality to this project. Granted, I still have a fair amount of work to do, but it is really neat to know that I am nearly done! Oh, I also found a spot that needs some touch up paint on the speaker panel. That sucks!

DONE!!!...?

Well, I have a feeling that I may be a bit premature in saying this, but...

CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARCADE CABINET IS FINISHED!!!

I finished painting what I believe will be the very last coat of paint on the cabinet tonight! I may be a little premature in this only because the paint hasn't dried yet, so I can't say really how this coat is going to turn out. I feel like it is done now though! I'm so happy! It's been nearly three years of slowing working at putting this together, and now it is ready for wiring up and playing!

I started work on the art tonight too. I think that I'm going to go for a collage of 8-bit sprites from my favorite games. So, characters like Mario, Bowser, Link, Ganon, etc, will be clashing against each other on the sides of the panel. I'm also adding characters from the PC game, Cave Story. I think it'll look pretty neat once it is done.

What the Hell?

I'm a big fan of the game Rez, by Tetsuya Mizuguchi. However, some found an interesting use for add-on equipment for the game, called the Trance Vibrator. Go ahead and read her article.

Crazy Updating

As you can see, I've had a lot to say today. I realized it had been a little while since I updated. I figured this would be a good chance to show the latest on my arcade cabinet project...

I Hate MySpace... Continued...

So, I decided to expand my MySpace page some in order to get my friends to come to this, my actual blog. I actually requested friendship with my friends from work and high school. Now that they know that I exist their, they can see the link on the front page to here. I also added some pictures so that people knew it was me. I still hate the layout and social implications of the site (which is probably a debate that I don't want to start on a blog, but in person) but it is the best well to let my friends and family know about my blog, so that they can see what I'm up to, no matter where I am.
However, to contradict myself (because I like being a Devil's Advocate), I have found a lot of my old high school gang. With less than a year from our ten years after graduation, no reunion has been planned. MySpace may be the best way to find our graduating class and plan a reunion. Having a central area to meet the majority of people in America is pretty handy in that aspect.

The Sick

A sickness has spread through my family, starting with Maia. She got over it in about 24 hours, and then passed it to Sean. Because of that, Sean missed his first day of Kindergarten! After that, Juri got the Sick from Sean and was miserable for two days. Several days passed and she got better, then it was gone. Last Wednesday night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was shaking and hot at the same time, my eyes felt like knives were stabbed into my retinas, and I was overcome with a tremendous headache!
During the next day at work, there was a test that I was supposed to take with my old section, but I wasn't up to it from my illness (sorry Jene for all the work for nothing). I called Medical, but they said there were no appointments and call them on Friday if I don't get better. Well, that night, I felt better when I got home from work (after working all day).
Catching up to today, when I woke up in the morning, I still felt well and went to work. Near the end of the day, I began to feel all the symptoms creeping back. To top it off, when I got home, Sean was sick again too. So, who knows how this weekend is going to go...

Band Aids and Best Friends

So, my daughter has this freak obsession with Band Aids. For some reason, she will occasionally ask for a box of band aids, and then proceed to stick nearly the whole box all over her legs. It's really a funny sight to behold, but at the same time, it bothers me because of the mess she leaves from the wrappers and such. I really need to get a picture of her with band aids all over her and post it on this blog...

My best friend, Matt, was shipped out to the USS Enterprise, which is currently deployed, today. He carries on the Erson Twins tradition, following in my footsteps by going to the ship that I was stationed on three years ago. We recently received a wedding invitation from him and, of course, my family and I will be attending. So, I called him last night to wish him luck during his short deployment, since it is returning in November some time. During that call, he asked me if I would be his Best Man! I was very honored that he thought of me for this. Thanks again, Matt!! I know you can't read this on the ship, but thanks!!

Huh?

Combed Thunderclap? The Library of Babel? I need to investigate this further...

Check out the card about the Library of Babel also...

Progress

As you can see, I've come a long way now from just pieces of wood and screws and wood glue. My cabinet is completely primed and ready to paint! It'll be all black when it is done. Painting will take a long time because of the thin layers I will be using in order to try for the smoothest finish possible. It'll look really nice when all is said and done!

Once the cabinet is fully painted, I'll start work on the side, control panel, and marquee artwork. I'm still at odds with myself on what I want it to look like. I want it to say something about myself and my love of games. So, who knows what I'm going to do...

Other things I still have to do: get the computer ready to go; ;get a TV for the display; get my IIDX panel cut and painted; install the coin door; wire the buttons, joystick, and trackball on the control panel; create a base for the subwoofer; install the speakers.

Link to Perplex City Restored!

On Saturday, over one thousand Perplex City players gathered together in San Francisco and online to activate a new link, replacing the link in London that was irreparably destroyed by the Third Power. We only had a few hours to solve a bunch of puzzles created by the Perplex City Academy to activate the SF link. This was intended as a friendly competition between peers, but with the original link destroyed and with a limited time until the reality bending carrier wave that allows the link to exist between our worlds would vanish forever, we had to help each other to solve the numerous puzzles and restore the connection.
With only several minutes remaining, we managed to activate the link in San Francisco and receive a message from Sente Kiteway, the Master of the Perplex City Academy and mastermind behind the plan to enlist our help in finding their Receda Cube. Apparently, at the same time the original signal was knocked out by Third Power operatives on Earth, some Third Power operatives in Perplex City formed a wormhole using stolen parts from the Academy, knocking out the power in Perplex City for ten hours and sending more people to Earth to retrieve the Cube before we do! The apparent leader of the Third Power on Earth sent a cell phone voice message to the players in San Francisco, telling them to go outside of the Palace of Fine Arts, where the competition was held. In a display of power, Third Power operatives flew over the players in two black helicopters.

The race is on to find the Receda Cube before the Third Power does.

Exciting News

I found out today after returning to work that I was accepted for a daystaff position at the Off-Crew Training Group, where I teach students in a classroom setting. Yay!! No more shift work! I start on the 21st of this month.

In other news, the link to Perplex City's web sites has been intercepted by the Third Power! What are they trying to keep us from doing? What is happening in Perplex City while our connection is lost? Hopefully, we can restore the link from San Francisco in two days!!

Say Goodbye to Perplex City???

The last wave of cards have been released and already nearly all cards are solved! The Receda Cube is still missing somewhere on Earth however, so it is anyone's game. A couple of the cards are giving problems to people however.
The Thirteenth Labour is a RC5 encrypted message that requires decrypting by either guessing the key word, or using brute force to crack the message. In order to accomplish the brute force method, someone created a program that will allow multiple computers through the Internet to work together to find the key to unlock the message.
Billion to One has a picture of a Japanese man in some unknown location with a Japanese phrase on the side of the card. After someone purchased a hint, we discovered the man's name is Satoshi. Also, the Japanese text has been translated to the phrase, "Find Me." Other than that, that is about all that we know. Perplex City players have made a website to aid in the search for this person.

On the 12th of August (right around the corner), an event is taking place to add a new link to Perplex City through the Internet in San Francisco, CA. To advertise, the company who made the game, Mind Candy, posted this animated image below on BoingBoing (seen at PerplexWiki). However, for a split second, near the end of the animation is a braille message, shown below. We have translated the braille to read: "Say Goodbye to Perplex City." Will Perplex City be destroyed? Will the current link and the new link in San Francisco be severed? I imagine that the events in SF will help to wrap up this opening season of one of the greatest Alternate Reality Games ever!

Working Hard!

After I finished priming the arcade cabinet, I took a little break thanks to the horrendously humid and wet weather. Now, I am back at it, sanding down the primer coat to get toward a smooth final coat. I was going to do another coat of primer, however after I finished the majority of the sanding, Juri and I noticed that it shouldn't need another coat. The primer should do its job of protecting the cabinet from humidity and the sanding is smoothing it out enough to prepare the surfaces for the black paint. So, after I finish sanding sometime this week, I'll start painting!!

Once I get the first coat of black paint on, I'm going to prep the control panel for priming and painting. I've been letting that thing sit for way too long. I need to get that finished up so I can install the buttons and begin playing with it!

Amazing Day

Yesterday had some of the most gorgeous weather for the year in Saratoga Springs. The humidity had finally been driven away and the air was cool thanks to a gentle breeze. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I decided that we'd eat dinner outside that day. I pulled out a blanket from the closet and placed it on the ground in the front yard. We had some kabobs with rice for dinner. Afterword, we let the kids play outside for a couple hours while Juri weeded her garden and I painted the arcade cabinet some more.
Today's weather is nearly the same, but slightly warmer. I took Maia out on her bike while I followed her around the neighborhood.

In other news, I just earned the Orange Leitmark from the Perplex City Academy today for earning over 2300 points. They should be sending it out next month. That's three total now!

Counteraction

At work yesterday, every action that we took was counteracted to the point that, for all intents and purposes, absolutely nothing was accomplished! When we made an attempt to fix one of our computer systems, after a couple of hours, the exact same crash occured as before, leaving us where we started. When I went to a training session for my qualifications in our reactor computer simulator, it crashed as well! Finally, just before we got out of work, we replaced this phone box because of the problems that have been occuring with it, but upon replacement, the same problems plagued the phone.

Journey to Virginia

In a sort of last minute change of plans, the family and I went down to Virginia to visit my friends Matt and Pam. I was originally going to go to Massachusettes to attend a Bemani festival at an arcade filled with Beatmania IIDX, but I knew that I'd have more fun with my friends, and it gave us the chance to get away and take a vacation.

So, on Thursday night, after Juri got off work, we started our nine hour drive down to Virginia. For having woken up at 6am that morning for work, I managed to make the entire drive without any near death experiences! Juri bought some Vault, which I think really helped a lot. Despite two missed turns, we made it in a little over ten hours. Of course, once we arrived at Matt's house, I passed out!!

On Friday, Juri and I acclimated ourselves back to a day time schedule after the long night of driving. Matt and I worked together to solve my latest black Perplex City card, called Little Pigley Farm. It was a cross number puzzle, and it was really tough. Our Wonder Twin powers made us a force to be reckoned with, and we finished the puzzle in only an hour and a half. Today, we took the kids to Mount Trashmore, and I am now taking a break to write this blog from helping Matt tile his newly expanded shower!

Sean's all better! ...kinda...

Sean beat his fever finally. After three days at 103 degrees, we finally decided to take him to the doctor. When the nurse took his temperature, he was at 101 degrees. Once we finished talking to the doctor (who told us that it was just a virus and that we need to just wait it out), Sean's fever broke. And that, as they say, is that. He still has a really bad cough, but it seems to stem from post nasal drip...

We Suck Again!!!

Well, chalk up another loss for our team. Today, we played against the West Milton Field Office in Softball. These are the guys who supervise us at work from the shadows, noting our mistakes and deficiencies. This was our chance to strike back against them at the ball field.

We choked.

The end result: 21-7. Terrible! They kept hitting the ball into holes or over the outfielders' heads. We couldn't get it together. We had a great first inning, but after that, we stunk. Hopefully we'll straighten up next game.

AOHell

About a year ago, we finally got rid of AOL. Juri loved the program, and had it for a long time, despite my hatred of it. When it came time for removal of the program, I went through an hour long discussion with the customer service guy in order to finally get the account cancelled. What a pain! The guy threw everything that he could at me: discounts, special deals, "faster" service, etc. Of course, I managed to get the account cancelled in the end, but it cost me an hour of my life that I'll never get back.

Now, someone named Vincent Ferrari came across the exact same problem. He recorded his conversation with the AOL customer service guy. The AOL dude managed to harass him by the end of the conversation and, thankfully, Vincent put up with it and got his account cancelled. So, Vincent posted the audio clip on the Interweb, which is now spreading like wildfire. I managed to find out about this story from MSNBC, who interviewed Vincent.

Here is an account of a former AOL customer service rep and why they are such douchebags:

About 5 years ago, I worked in the 'retention' department of AOL through a third party vendor (I was desperate, it paid 2 bucks an hour more then the job I had, and I had to change jobs ASAP for reasons that have nothing to do with this post). As it was so long ago, I don't remember the exact numbers, but there was a very strict quota in how many people you had to talk out of canceling the account (I believe it was close to 65%).

I worked through the FOUR week training period, and 1 hour on the actual floor.

There were several very strange things about this job.

1. The trainer was this very perky guy who reminded me a lot of a zelous[sic] religious motivational speaker. He was straight out of the Frat House, and had that real "Yes Man" attitude. He jumped up and down a lot, and was VERY excited to be part of 'AOL's WONDERFUL team'.

2. If you were late, be it coming back from a break, lunch or first thing in the morning, you were forced to stand up in front of the class (there were about 35 people in the class), and sing silly songs like the Theme from SpongeBob Square Pants. Not only was everyone else forced to listen to this, you were also forced to participate. So, essentially everyone got in trouble. If the whole class did not sing along, we kept doing it over and over until everyone did. Remember, this is a class of fully grown adults.

3. We were told very specifically that if a customer wishes to speak with a supervisor, to do ANYTHING possible to make that NOT happen. We were instructed that we should say they were 'at lunch' or 'on another call' or anything we could think of so the supervisors did not have to speak to the customer. Often times, other reps would get on the phone and pretend to be supervisors.

4. There were several 'steps' that you HAD to follow in the call flow process. It had some silly little catch phrase so that you could remember it. Over 75% of your calls were monitored, and if you did not follow this process 90% of the time, you were fired.

I managed to make it through the four week long training process. Oh, something else I forgot to mention, no matter what kind of abuse the customer gave you, you could not hang up on them. You had to just sit there and take it.

My 10th or so call, the woman on the other line called me a Cee U Next Tuesday. I hung up on her, got my things, and walked out.

Being homeless and/or jobless wasn't worth my pride.

I remember when AOL was first picking up in prominence as a major ISP. My computer geek friends and I would refer to it as AOHell, after the name of the hacker-created program to harass AOL customers as a pretend moderator. Now, it seems like AOL is really in Hell!

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday was the fifth year that I have been a father. The time has seemed to really fly past, now that I look back. Juri made me more Father's Day album pages again this year. She always does such an awesome job at them! It really lets me know how much she loves me when I see the effort she puts into those scrapbook pages. This year's theme was "Before I Was Daddy." Juri dug up old pictures of us from high school and beyond, just before Sean was born.

In more unfortunate news, Sean has come down with a horrible fever! He has been 103 degrees going on the second day today. The poor guy! Medicine doesn't seem to be knocking down the fever at all. His body must be working really hard to fight the virus he has. I hope that he gets better tomorrow.