webmonkee's blog

OK, I admit it, I had ever done any MAME gaming until yesterday.  All my friends were doing it.  All the cool kids were doing it.  I.....I just wasnt sure it was for me.  So finally, a friend at work made it real easy for me, knowing how lazy I am, and he burned a disc with the MAME Classic player and about 100 ROMs.  Gotta say, Im hooked.  Firing up Galaga in my home gave me a rush that only my wife is supposed to give me.  Damn fun stuff!

There are things in this life that just make you stop. But, when your brakes arent one of them, its time to head to the mechanics. I did this today, and had the great luck to need a complete brake job. Fortunately, I also needed a new Air Conditioning compressor, because otherwise, it might not have been expensive enough.

Wow, between the plumbing bill and the car bill, renting a condo and taking the bus looks better every day.

We had some violent storms a couple nights ago, and my router bought the farm, so I was XBOX-less for a few days.  Went and bought a new one today.  Since I had a Belkin before, and it always worked like a champ, I went Belkin again.  There was a Linksys for the same price, but I have seen too many posts on this site about people not being able to get their Linksys router to work with their XBOX.

When you answer a cell phone call from your wife, there are a few phrases you really dont want to hear.  Injuries or worse are their own category, but theres another category of stomach droppers out there that I got today.  "Theres water dripping from the kitchen ceiling" was the call I got today.  ****! <censored because I was at work>  Since it hasnt rained in 5 days, I can pretty well rule out a leak in the roof.

Went to a rib fest this weekend.  If there is a better invention for how to spend a summer weekend evening, I sure dont know what it is.  When you step out of the car and first smell the ribs, its, I dunno, like a primal button has been pushed.  GIVE ME THAT GRILLED MEAT RIGHT THE **** NOW!  I dont think I knocked my wife out of the way as I lunged for the gate, but I wouldnt swear to that in court.

No, this is not about the small conflict that arose in my clan, thank God.  This is about having your spouses back, no matter what.  Im going through this right now with my wife.  She did something related to her job that I completely disagree with (nothing illegal or anything - just not very professional).  However, the reaction by her company (and one individual in particular) galvanized me into one dangerous mother ****er.  It took everything I had not to walk into her office and pretty much rip a certain individual multiple new orifices.  I dont get really mad very often, but, when I do

This has been a great weekend.  As I sat out on the patio today, sipping a cool one and taking a siesta in the shade, I had one of those rare moments of clarity.  Although this thought is nothing new or exciting, it dawned on me, in a very meaningful way, that weekends such as this are the reason I bust my ass day in and day out.

We didnt do anything spectatular this weekend.  Went out to dinner, saw a movie, worked on the yard, and did a little grilling.  But, for once, I didnt take all that for granted.  For once, I was in the moment, appreciating it as it was happening.

Went and saw DaVinci Code today.  As usual, the movie cannot hold a candle to the book.  Whats worse is that its clear Ron Howard thinks everyone who goes to see the movie has already read the book, because they do a terrible job of explaining some rather key concepts.  Since my wife had not read the book, our walk out afterwards and the drive home was filled with me explaining things that just werent handled well in the movie.

The Monkee Road show continues.  After a week in CA and two weeks home, now its back to the DFW area again.  I have been on the same project for almost 18 months now, with no end in sight.  Considering that my typical project runs about 2 months, I am PRETTY WELL SICK OF THIS ONE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Howdy all,

My article for issue three of the mag is a history of gaming in the 70s.  I spent the past few weeks reading about and reminiscing about all the fun stuff from way back then.  I dont want to give too much of the article away, but I thought Id share some of the interesting things I thought about, but did not ultimately include in the article.