Archive for the 'misadventures' Category

January 4, 2008 | Filed under: technology, misadventures

After watching the Guitar Hero wunderkind, BigB and I were inspired to get back into the swing of gaming. It had only been, what, 20 years? I’m exaggerating, of course. The last system I owned was a Sega Genesis and man, I could kick some serious Mortal Kombat II butt. I could rip out hearts and deal out fatalities (and Babalities!) with the best of them. Sometimes I’d disconnect the Genesis and plug in the NES. Mario and Luigi were my very own brothers, and we would sail into the clouds, collect coins, bounce those damned turtles around and save the girl on a nightly basis. That was high-tech stuff!

Adventure? Well, that was high-tech in its day, too. Somehow.

I have no idea how I EVER got through that game. All I know is that now I can’t. It’s totally embarrassing. My only consolation is that BigB can’t break his way out of Breakout’s first layer of bricks to save his life.

These games aren’t even in a console. They’re stuffed into old-skool joysticks that plug directly into the projector. Sweet hotness.

November 20, 2007 | Filed under: NaVloPloMo 2007, hello, nurse!, misadventures

I made this ages ago during a dry spell at work, then didn’t post it because I got worried after a class I took on labor nursing and legal stuff. But I must press on. I have to post something. The power of NaVlaPoMo compels me.

Labor & Delivery is a funny unit-everything comes in waves. Follows distinct patterns. We’ll have a week or two that are utterly unmanageable with patients set-up in spare conference rooms and on stretchers in the hallway (particularly in September and October…those New Year’s babies), and then : poof! Nothing. The calm before the next storm. This was shot during one of those poof!Nothing shifts.

12 hours is a very long time to have nothing to do. Toward the end, you start getting loopy and desperate.

November 13, 2007 | Filed under: NaVloPloMo 2007, country mouse, misadventures

I never expected them to all come at once. Anybody have a back-hoe I could borrow? Just for a day or two?

September 10, 2007 | Filed under: la famiglia, loves, misadventures

It’s September so you know what that means: it’s “Back-to-School” time! Crisp air, cozy sweaters, falling leaves, clean loose leaf paper (200 to a pack) in shiny Trapper Keepers. September is so full of promise and hope for a better tomorrow, almost like New Year’s Eve, but with a side helping of academic pressure.

Remember little Pixie? Well she’s 3 1/2 months old now, practically in college. I felt it was time to give her her first lesson on consumer electronics, starting with Treos and various Apple products (she comes from a Windows family–someone has to show her The Way). I swear she says the word “iPod”. Watch for yourself and see. Her first word is iPod.

Her Mom let me know that any random crying episodes (few and far between) that couldn’t be solved with milk or a new diaper could likely be solved with a few rounds of “Old MacDonald”. My own special version of Old MacDonald pretty much knocked her out. Twice: once intentionally, and the other time not so much. It could be that she’d rather be asleep than hear me sing, or it may be that Windows is in her blood and she cannot be swayed…

…but it won’t stop me from trying.

July 21, 2007 | Filed under: misadventures

Travelling back and forth between the country and the city invariably results in belongings left behind: a toothbrush, an iPod charger, IRS forms, etc. This time though, we really blew it.

It would be nice to settle down completely so nothing like this ever happens again.