Like…totally?
Okay, so maybe we didn’t skate out of the bad weather as unscathed as I thought. Apparently there was some roof damage, nothing big but also not the sort of thing you want to allow to get big over time, and – to my total slackjawed amazement – the insurance adjuster decided both vehicles were totalled. 😯 I really didn’t think they were that bad – yeah, a few dings and dents here and there, especially on the driver’s side of my wife’s vehicle which she uses to deliver the mail – but apparently the insurance company feels like spending money. So…I guess the check’s in the mail, so to speak. In the meantime, either hail or wind or both apparently managed to push our sliding door off its track, something I had to fix tonight.
It could be worse. The house in Fort Smith that everyone’s seen on the news – that one house that was compeltely demolished – is where the doula we hired to help out with my wife’s labor and delivery lives. I’m told that she and her family are in good shape, between insurance and the church they go to going all-out to help, but still…maybe I’m way too attached to all my “stuff” (not a statement I can really honestly say I’d argue with), but I can’t imagine losing my hermitag…uh…house like that.
More thoughts to follow later when I stray somewhat closer to the coherent end of the spectrum.… Read more
I’m sitting here watching KTUL showing, at almost 3 in the morning, a live shot of a rotating wall cloud marching into Tulsa County, and I’m thinking “man, am I glad I don’t live in Tulsa County.” Still, pretty amazing stuff…to watch from a distance of two hours away. No disrespect intended toward any TV weather guys or gals I’ve ever worked with in the past, but the guys at KTUL know how to make a show out of this stuff. I love the Wall Cloud Channel…so long as it’s not in my back yard.
Two things tonight that have me going “argh.”
One word of caution, though…anyone expecting anything as elaborate as the Phosphor Dot Fossils displays seen at OVGEs and OKGEs past might not want to get their hopes too high. I’m still all for doing these shows, but with the kiddo on the scene now, the thought definitely occurs that unplugging and uprooting the entire room for these shindigs is getting a little old. As of 2006, I did have a few TVs and monitors gathered that were set aside for “expo use only,” though in the absence of a 2007 OVGE, I started giving those away, figuring they wouldn’t be needed. 😆 (The general feeling in 2007 was that OVGE wouldn’t be back anytime soon, and with a baby on the way too, it didn’t seem like an unreasonable assumption that my exhibiting days were over.) At any rate, with something like three weeks to prepare, I can’t guarantee a really elaborate display – I’d say expect some Coleco tabletop goodness and the PDF DVD, as always. (After doing this for a few years, I know what the crowd pleasers are.) Actually, did you know that the first year I brought the tabletop games to Tulsa, it was because there was a behind-the-scenes freak-out about whether or not there’d be enough power for every exhibitor? I started bringing the battery-powered Coleco games as a way to hedge my bets against the possibility of not having enough power for stuff with screens and power supply wall warts. They turned out to be incredibly popular items because one just doesn’t see a complete collection in decent shape everyday, and as popular as they were in their day, they just haven’t worked their way into the public retro-video-game subconscious the way that the Atari 2600 and NES have. But everytime someone sees my little stack of these puppies, they always go “Oh yeah! I remember those!” And that’s what makes it worth it for me to keep buying fresh batteries and bringing these guys out to play year after year.
