The basement is progressing nicely.  I finished framing the exterior walls and am now framing the lone interior wall that runs along a portion of the beam.  I’ve decided that the bar is not going to fit well in the area I had planned, so I’ll post the updated plan when I get a chance.  If things go well and I get some free time this weekend, it should be on to wiring and insulation.  Pictures of the progress will be coming in the next few days.

I’m also working on acquiring another non-working game. I haven’t committed yet, but the price is right and it’s not too far away. The only problem is working out the details of a pickup as my calendar is pretty full for the next few weeks and I’m not sure how long the current owner would be willing to hold onto it for me.

For those that are interested, there haven’t been too many updates to the site as I recently attending a week long conference in Florida and just returned Sunday from a week long vacation in South Carolina. In Tampa, I briefly visited the local GameWorks. I was pretty disappointed in the game selection. They had a couple of Madden showcase cabinets, a ton of sit down racers, a few redemption games and 3 pinball machines. They were all Stern machines including a Nascar machine which was out of order, a Family Guy machine and one other which I can’t recall the name of. Not one classic game in the joint.

In South Carolina, I took my kids to a mini-golf/go karting place one evening after dinner. They had a decent arcade with about 5 pinball machines (the only one I can remember is a Williams Funhouse), some sit down racers including Need For Speed, Fast and The Furious, Mario Kart Arcade GP (which my kids think we need to own), some skeeball machines, a few redemption games, Tekken 3 and 5 if memory serves correctly and even a Ms. Pacman/Galaga 25th anniversary game.

That’s all for now….I’ll save my brush with death with a shark for another day. I might have to stretch the facts just a bit to make it sound more impressive than it actually was.

Lady became an immediate part of our family. Having had dogs for most of my life, I can honestly say that Lady was without a doubt the best behaved dog that I’ve ever had. She did have a bit of an ornery streak and was rather found of chasing other animals. She was fearless, often chasing rabbits, squirrels, even full grown deer. Fortunately, she never caught anything but it wasn’t from lack of effort. We also discovered that Lady was a far better “weather forecaster” than any news service. Lady was absolutely horrified of thunderstorms. We knew, at least 3 hours in advance when a storm was headed our way. Lady would begin panting, and as the storm grew closer would literally begin to shake, teeth chattering and all.

About a year ago, Lady started to gain weight at an abnormal rate. We took her to the vet and discovered that she had a thyroid problem. While there was treatment available for that condition her health, unfortunately, continued to deteriorate. About 6 months ago, she started having vision problems, which eventually led to blindness. She knew her way around the house well enough that the vision problems weren’t a real issue. About 3 months ago, Lady started to exhibit strange behavior. Her favorite thing was eating toilet paper straight off the roll. She was no longer able to get around the house and began walking in walls and furniture that she, despite her failing vision, was normally able to maneuver around.

Our once healthy dog, chasing animals in the backyard, now had to be carried down the 5 steps from our deck to the back yard. My wife or I had to come home daily during our lunch breaks to check on her. On Saturday, Lady was standing at the top of of the stairs in our house, stairs she had navigated successfully many times even in her deteriorating condition. On this occassion, she was apparently confused about her location and fell down about 6 steps, seriously injuring her paw. Yesterday, we took Lady to the vet and had to make the difficult decision to have her put down. We knew that going in, but it’s still a difficult decision to make. I can honestly say that for the first time in months, she finally looked peaceful.

So why write about this on my “classic arcade” blog? I have no idea. Perhaps it makes me feel just a bit better. I know my daughter reads this blog on a routine basis even though she knows the progress I’m making on each game. She thinks it’s “cool” that dad has a website. Maybe she can come back to this post in the future…if nothing else for the memory.