Thursday, May 16, 2002




I have a particular email account that receives 50-80 bits o' spam a day. What follows are three subject lines that happened to be consecutive.

Horny Ass Hoes
Huge Growth Curve
Release Yourself

11:29:46 AM    


Power strips to Pinball...

It seems that power sources for your laptops has been a meme in the 'blogging circles lately. I have the same problem at home as my couch-- a favorite bump-on-a-log programming spot-- doesn't have a power outlet anywhere near it.

Conveniently, the pinball machine behind my couch has a utility socket inside the coin door.

Why a socket inside the coin door?

Because you are pretty much guaranteed that a lot of locations for a pinball machine will be a dank corner of a dark, smoky, bar where all of the outlets in the area are either in use or kicked into the wall (or both). If you have to do a quick repair job, that utility outlet is often the only means of plugging in a utility light and/or a soldering iron.

Pinball is a hobby. Along the way, I became friends with the operator of the pinball machine at the Village Idiot. At one point, I offered to clean the machine (amazing how foul cigarette smoke can make the inside of a machine) and, from there, now have keys and try to do regular maintenance on the machine.

So-- if you are in the NYC area and want to play pinball, try the Village Idiot. As you can see from the links above, it is a damned fine bar to start out with. I can honestly say that the pinball machine is one of the most playable you'll find on route. Not because I'm a perfectionist, but because most route operators do a complete crap job of maintaining machines (it isn't cost effective to do so-- I don't blame them and it is the same reason why pinball is nearly dead these days).

Email before you go, I'll likely stop by...
12:51:35 AM