Back at it again!

It must be that time of the year. It's cold outside, it's overcast. I don't feel like doing anything. So I look into Everquest. Last year, I saw Project 1999 just getting started:

Relive the classic Everquest MMORPG Gaming Experience as it was in 1999 and onward. Project 1999 is a free to play Emulated Everquest Server giving Players the opportunity to experience Classic EQ Once again, starting with the original 3 continents and a max level of 50, with the look and feel of the old interface and several modifications making game mechanics similar to how the game used to be. Project 1999 is the best and most popular classic Everquest experience.

They don't expect Kunark to come out for a few months yet. Yes, the good old glory days of Everquest, when your corpse could rot with all of your equipment on it, if you didn't get there in time. When the Everquest world seemed big, because you had to run everywhere. When the thrill and excitement of killing a Vengeful Composer after being killed so many times by him before just made your day!

Come back, my friends...come back! I need a shaman buddy!



Man, look at that bearskin hat! Back at level 4 killing wolves and bear cubs. I sure wish I had a SoW!

EQ Emulator can be found here.

The Getting started guide can be found here.

I'm sure you can figure it out. Feel free to ask any questions! Hope to see you in game.

Happy Birthday David

My brother Morgan and I visited David for his birthday. We brought along a big surprise... We parked down the street from Shane's house, and walked to their backyard, where David and Shane were playing catch. Shane had positioned David with his back to the gate, and was asking him what would make him surprised for his birthday, as I let the dog loose....


It was quite the happy reunion, complete with hotdogs!


Of course, we had to don our magical helms, choose our weapons, and fight to the death in the age-old style of Mortal Combat!


I slid the sword deep into my foe's chest... and he expired with much honour and dignity. Then we fought again!


Uncle Morgan buys the bestest presents!


A new battle sprung up between the three warring factions....



But alliances were made, and even Uncle Morgan's superior air power proved to be insufficient against the combined onslaught of the reunited father and son.


Man, my GI Joe had kung-fu grip, and I was damn happy for it! I'm jealous of all the cool toys kids have these days. OTOH, I'd probably just blow them up with firecrackers.

Smash-up Derby

I had never been to one of these. It's held at the Lorain County Fair each year. As far as I know, this is the only fair to hold this particular contest.

I've been to smash-up derbys before. I've even seen a motorcycle derby. I had never seen a Combine smash-up derby though. Yeah, Combines. If you're too lazy to follow the link, a Combine is used to harvest grain. They are relatively expensive, and can be quite large. On to the pictures:


There were 5 heats. Each heat had either 5 or 6 combines. They started off with the older, smaller models, and worked up to the larger ones.


I was cheering for the Pink Panther, and he did pretty good, but only the last two combines from each heat move to the finals. Pink didn't make it.


As each combine came out, the announcer would tell us the year, make, model and price of the vehicle. The first ones cost around $10,000 new, which at the time of purchase was a lot of money. I think the most expensive one cost $85k, new.

There were broken axels, one guy lost a main drive wheel. We saw a yellow combine get pushed from one end of the field all the way to our end, right into the concrete wall, and he had both of his steering wheels torn off from the impact.


Love that diesel smell...


Throughout the evening, folks commented on my niece's jacket:


Again and again, she was compared to Sgt. Pepper. Eventually, she asked me, "Who IS this Sgt Pepper guy, anyway?" After I stopped laughing, I told her, "Ever hear of a group called the 'Beatles'?" She told me she was going for the Michael Jackson look. Oh well, generation gap. It reminded me of the Mindset List.

My nephew (background) and his cousin (foreground) expressed their enthusiasm.


Between the 5th heat and the final heat, they had the pick-up derby. THAT looked like a lot of fun! Come to think of it, my dad has a 1988 Ford Ranger at home that he isn't using....


Me, my sister, my niece, and my nephew's cousin, as well as my brother, brother-in-law, and nephew went to the show.


The final heat was the longest. It lasted about 15 minutes. Overall, the derby lasted about 3 hours. Not bad for 8 bucks.


By the end, we were cold, hungry, and ready to go home. I didn't pay attention to who won. I was thinking about that 45 minute motorcycle ride I still had to get home.


It was pretty cool to see, but I put that in the "Once is enough" category.

Hammamia pictures for David

Hey kid, I know you miss your doggy so here's a couple of pictures for you. I can't believe my old treefort has any remnants left in those branches.


Grandpa doesn't think she's very smart, because he gave her a dog biscuit, and she's so busy jumping up and down and running in circles that she doesn't see it, even though he's pointing at it.



She looks hungry doesn't she? Wait, isn't that food on the ground right next to her foot? It's a good thing she's got a home, because I don't think Hammy could find food on her own!

David, here's a picture of Amos for you too. Look how grey he's gotten! Dad says he's 14 or 15 years old now.



Pops is pointing out his Silverqueen sweet corn, which should be ripe in another week:


The worlds largest cellphone! I took the picture next to one of Dad's watermelons, to show the gigantic scale.



I can just hear what my dad will say about me when he reads this blog: "That asshole! Imagine making fun of my watermelons."

The cable removal is going well.

We've gotten all the splices cut out and have moved on to the cable removal phase. Nothing works better than the simplicity of a few half-hitches and a clove-hitch to grip the cable.



We set a wheel at the bottom, which allowed the cable to come out smoothly. The plate at the bottom, which the wheel is shackled to, is held down to the concrete with nine 3/4" bolts. It's not going anywhere!



We've got a bit more cable to remove, then we'll start "swabbing" the pipes to remove any mud that may have built up over the last several decades.