socrates63

I got laid off today, the first time in my career. When AT&T merged a bunch of companies (HBO, Turner, etc.) under the former Time Warner corp umbrella into a single entity WarnerMedia, we knew the new company would look to consolidate. It was a bit of a surprise given where I was situated organizationally, but a bunch of us were given pink slips. Because I got rolled up in a broad organizational move, it’s easy not to take this personally, so I’m glad for that. I had seen some friends struggle emotionally before. 

My wife recently got a new job, and she’s still within the new employee benefits enrollment window, so at least I don’t have to worry about getting a new job quickly for health insurance reasons. For the first time, I won’t be the primary coverage member 🙂 Lots of new firsts.

Before folks feel too sorry for me, I am in a good position. First, I am grateful for an extremely stable career experience so far. I’ve experienced my share of company re-org and changes and always landed into a great place. The fact that this is my first involuntary job change is quite the feat in a 23 year career. Second, I’m also grateful that we will be given a nice severance package to ease the transition into the next gig. Third, I’m in an industry that is very robust and still hiring. And lastly and most importantly, God is good, and He is the Shepherd of my life. In Him, I find peace and rest.

I share this news here because I like the I/O community and wanted to open up more on a personal level to foster better relationships. Also, I’ll have more time to spend on the monthly challenge, so you have been warned 🕹🕹🤣🤣

Retro TV shows! Three months ago in early October 2020, I ordered these DVD sets from ebay. For a month, the tracking number indicated that USPS hadn't received the package from the seller. I believed the seller when she said that she did ship, but what can you do? After I waited a month, and without fuss, she gave me a refund. Today, out of the blue, they showed up in my mail box. I already bought them from another seller on ebay couple of months ago. These are in better condition than my other new and sealed sets. Anyone want to trade DVD box sets of old TV shows? 🙂 

After re-acquiring a tube TV and appreciating how it does wonders with older games and media, I've re-embraced DVD content. Many old TV shows are only available on DVD, and I've purchased a several (Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie, Bionic Woman, 6M Dollar Man, My Living Doll, some Korean shows) during the past six months after holding out for Blu-ray releases. 

And so it begins... the collection purge. Before I take the games to Pink Gorilla, I offered up my PS1, PS2, PS4, and Dreamcast games to a gamer couple in the local gaming group. This is what I've pulled out for them. I ended selling a couple of games (like Metal Gear Solid and Parasite Eve II) that I was intending to keep, but I am happy that they are going to people I know who will love them as much as I did.

Time just flies by. I can't believe it's already been a week since my birthday. This year, I celebrated it with gifts, family dinner, and lunch with former coworkers. It was a fun one, so I wanted to share.

Family dinner at the restaurant of my choosing. Son 2's girlfriend joined us.

My wife forgot to bring the cake to the dinner, so we had it when we returned home 😂 My family isn't much into cakes, so that's why it's small.

My former co-workers from my Amazon days. Mathias' (guy on the far left) birthday is in a couple of weeks. We had this thing going for a few years where I bought him lunch on his birthday and he bought me lunch on my birthday. This year, we broke tradition. Although he wanted to pay, I beat him to the machine with my card. It's been a few years since we got together, so I wanted to buy. He's going to buy me lunch later this month. These guys were my engineers when I managed the Fire tablet localization.

Gift from my son and his girlfriend. My son was very surprised when I told him that I didn't have the NES. Well, I fixed that a few days later. I bought a NES top loader. It's been sent to get the RGB mod, so I'll show it off when I get it back in a few weeks.

Home-made candles were gifted to me from a church friend. I don't think my photo does it justice--it's very beautiful and very fragrant.

Hello, I/O!

I wanted to provide a quick personal update. I suffered a big heart attack and had open heart surgery on Wednesday last week. I was discharged and returned home yesterday. I’ve missed the I/O community. I hope everyone is well. I am on the road to recovery and doing as well as can be. Life is good. God is good all the time.

The doctor said I should expect 70% recovery by two months time, so it’ll still be a while before I can actively join the fun here, I suspect. I’m hoping that I’ll be feeling well enough to pop in from time to time to check up on this wonderful community. I bought a Turbo Express a while back in anticipation of the scoring challenge but oh well 😭

Live life! Stay strong and safe! ❤️🕹

The MLB All-Star game returned to Seattle for only the second time (first time in 2001). I took the family to the fan fest, and while on our way to the stadium, we passed through Pioneer Square area which is adjacent to the stadium. In the middle of the square, there was an arcade set up, and it was free to play. We stopped and spent a bit of time playing the various games.

Check out my score on Missile Command. Is that a decent score? The shooting reticle (x) was slow to move so it got difficult in later stages. That Asteroids was hard! I couldn't even crack 10k. The joystick on Burger Time was horrible. My wife and kids had fun with Galaga.

It finally feels like summer in Seattle -- sunny and mid 70s yesterday and 80 today. What better way to kick off summer the American 🇺🇸 way than firing up the grill? I hosted a burger party for about a doze teens and their leaders from my church on Friday. It's always fun to see young people have a good time, but it can tire you out 🙂

A funny side note, my grilling set off the smoke alarm in the house behind us 😂 They had the door to their backyard open, and closed it once they figured out what was going on. Houses are built so close to one another.

Pluto TV

Ever hear of it? I didn't until I applied for a job. It's an ad-supported free streaming service. I've been watching a lot of shows that I grew up with as a kid (Family Ties, Facts of Life, and more). This week, I started my new job as TPM for international. I'm working with folks to bring Pluto TV to markets outside the US. I'm working for the first time in seven months, so my head is spinning a bit.

Recovering from heart surgery took a few months. I don't think I'm 100% but pretty close and certainly well enough now to work.

Personal update — I’ve been dealing with back pain for more than a year. Late Monday, I went to the ER and Tuesday morning, I underwent a surgery for a herniated disc. It was diagnosed as a medical emergency. Surgery went well, but I will be in the hospital for another week. I’ve lost some function of my left leg and will be rehabbing in the hospital, and after I’m discharged, I will be returning for more intensive rehab. I am expected to make a full recovery.

In the meantime, should I be worried about my 7800 Asteroids score in the high score challenge? 😂 Game on 🕹️

I won the day on August 28? How did that happen? Guess I talk too much 🥳 In fact, I talked so much on September 4 that the board has clamped down on me, and I can't post any more today 😜🤐 Good news is I'm only 3 hours and 12 minutes away from September 5 when I'm free to talk away!

I've been pretty quiet in the I/O lately because I came down with COVID-19. My wife came down with symptoms over a week ago (got tested and confirmed) and a couple of days later, I started experiencing symptoms. A few days after me, my elder son became symptomatic and a couple of days later, the younger son became symptomatic.

It's a day to day thing -- some days are worse than others. Hopefully, things will be much better for me after this week. My wife was feeling very good today, so hopefully, she's on the mends. Lots of body aches and low grade fever.

Gaming wise, I haven't been able to play much if at all. However, I've watched a lot of Star Trek while resting.

Ah~~ the days of youth playing out in the ☀️ Have fun, stay safe, y'all

What do you call this? Can't be farmer's tan. Football tan? These legs belong to my younger son who plays high school football--tan lines from football workouts this summer 😆 🏈 Looks like a zebra or some other striped animal 🤣 He has a dark complexion to begin with, but this is new territory.

Living large, living fancy 😄 Finally, after sitting in several boxes in the foyer since last October, I spent the Fourth assembling this motorized standing desk by Uplink. The Steelcase office chair is still in the box (I'll probably get to that this weekend).

The equipment was provided gratis by HBO Benefits since my chiropractor wrote a note explaining my back condition. HR lady gave me carte blanche and told me to order whatever I wanted and insisted that I order a nice standing pad as well. I see it as my "parting gift" from the company.

After getting the pink slip last November though, I had lost all interest in assembling it, but now that I have a new job, I had a reason to get it up and working pronto 😄 It's very nice. I can now open the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch that I got to use as my desk clock.

Life is slowly but surely returning to a sense of normalcy.

December has been a crazy month--so much going on both professionally and personally, and it's just been a blur. I've been doing the bare minimum when it comes to social media (which means mostly checking Facebook with very limited time in the I/O).

As far as the hobby is concerned, it's also been a busy month.

• Traded away a bottle of wine for an Odyssey 2 in the box with a bunch of games. This is the same person that I traded my heavy sixer with for the Lego 2600 set.
• Bought a Vectrex light pen.
• Bought couple of short controller extensions cords to use with the Vectrex.
• Bought A8PicoCart multicart for the Atari 8bit. I don't need it as I have other means to store and load games, but bought it on a whim.
• Bought games for the Atari 8bit, 5200, and 2600.
• Got an empty Atari 1040ST box for free from a member of the local gaming group.

I'm pretty sure I'm missing some other stuff, but as far as adding to the collection goes, it's been fruitful.

I hope 2024 will be slower going, and I can finally finish cleaning up and reorganizing my hobby spaces in the house. That's been put on hold the past two years because of my health issues (which should be a thing of the past now).

For 2024 and beyond, I am making a big shift. Instead of dabbling in most things, I intend to focus retro gaming heavily to all things Atari with a smattering of modern gaming on the Switch and Steam Deck. This year has taught me that my heart belongs to Atari and other platforms from the 80s and early 90s.

I will be selling off the PS1, 2, and 4 collection to a local gaming store in the next week or two, so that should help with reclaiming some shelf space. For now, I intend to keep my Xbox collection as well as the PS3 collection. While I will keep all my consoles and a few physical games, I will not be expanding my PlayStation and Xbox physical library.

It's been a very enjoyable six years exploring the popular retro gaming platforms, but as I contemplate life and the need the downsize in 5-7 years, I think the time is right to start that process. Hopefully, narrowing my focus will translate into more game time and lot less shopping.

Happy New Year!

I've been pretty quiet or only active in short sporadic bursts. Just wanted everyone to know that I'm still around. I've just been busy with work, family, and going to the gym regularly (lost a few pounds and some gained muscle). I haven't had the time nor energy to play video games for the past couple of months, but the mind is willing!

It's cool to see all the forum updates that Justin has been doing lately 👏 👍

Merry Christmas, all!

I'm kinda ending 2021 the same way I started it -- covid infection. Back in January, my entire family got it, and this was before vaccination. This time, my second son got it again (test confirmed two days ago). The rest of us will get tested next week. I had a mild sore throat and headache yesterday and felt like I was coming down with a cold but it was gone when I woke up today.

First half of 2021 was a very challenging time and gave me a different perspective on life, family, and friends. Looking forward to 2022 and making memories with all of you in the I/O.

OG Doom, how I have missed thee ❤️ 

I recently picked up Doom from the eShop because it was on sale, and I’ve been playing it the past couple of days. I have the various Doom releases on multi-gen Xbox and Playstation consoles, but it was this release for the Switch that got me to play the original Doom once more. I hadn’t touched it since I played it during my college days thirty years ago (with the lights on, of course).

Still fun as I remembered it. Still gets me once in a while with a jump scare 😂 It feels a little weird playing with the Hori split pad pro on the Switch. I think it’s the thumb sticks being so far apart. Maybe I should open the Pro controller still in the box. I heard recently that the Switch now supports keyboard and mouse? I probably won’t go that far to replicate the original controller experience, but it was just a passing thought.

Graphics look good with none of the slow downs like when I played on my Northgate 386/33 and later the Cassiopeia Pocket PC. Sound effects sound right, but the music? Maybe it’s just my memory or I’m confusing the music from later Doom games.

No matter — hail to the King, baby! Oops, wrong game, but this is The One that got us super stoked about graphic card upgrades and defined a whole new genre of games called FPS.

I just finished watching the first episode of The Sandman on Netflix, and my reaction is simply 😮 

I’ve heard of the greatness that is Neil Gaiman and his work The Sandman. However, the descriptions of it being some sort of horror was off putting as I’m not a fan of the horror genre.  As I looked at the thumbnail in Netflix though, it looked more like a dark fantasy in a dream setting more so than horror. Still even then, I’m not a big fan of dream settings, and I prefer something more tangibly grounded.

Nevertheless, something compelled me to give it a try tonight, and OMG this is amazing. The premise and the story are absolutely brilliant. The first episode moved at a rapid pace to set up the world and the characters. The characters and the scenes looked beautiful. It was simply a delight and I look forward to the remaining ten episodes.

Ho ho ho 🎅🎄  We got our first snow ❄️ of the season! It looks like a few inches piled up in just a few short hours. And on that appropriate note, a local gamer with the permission of the creator put together a Genesis cartridge of the homebrew Mega Xmas '89. My cartridge arrived today.

I think I have more homebrews and repros for my Genesis than official cartridges 😜 k-u-r-a-z-y

The rom is available for free download from the creator's site. It works in all regions.

https://nekojitagames.itch.io/megaxmas89 

A quick rant... I get that not everyone studied philosophy in college, but for goodness sakes, can we at least add Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure to high school curriculum? Today was one of those days that made me regret the email handle I chose for myself coming out of college that I continue to use today -- socrates63.

I went to the University District in Seattle this morning to drop off my Kindle e-reader to trade in for a gift card and 20% coupon for a future Kindle purchase from Amazon. I was asked for my email address, and I said saw-kra-teez-63. It was apparent he was lost, so I spelled it out for him... three times... and he still couldn't get it right. Was he nervous because of my imposing Adonis physique? Finally, another guy jumped in to help. I knew I should have gone with "sixpak," my high school nickname 🤦‍♂️ At least no one said out loud SO-CRATES. I would have died if someone did.

But while I was in the area, I walked over to Pink Gorilla and Al's Music, and pick up some goodies. I've always wanted to see The Black Hole, so I ordered a DVD copy when I got home. I don't collect Jaguar games, but when I find reasonably priced CIB copies, I don't mind adding them. I now have three 🙂 (Tempest is the other one I have).

Geek in the kitchen! Creamy gochujang chicken pot pie? I love chicken pot pie and Marion's Kitchen recipes. When I watched the video, the pot pie filling looked good enough to eat on its own without the extra steps of making it into a pie. It's a simple recipe and with simple ingredients that I had all on hand. This'll be served on top of rice in about ten minutes.

Last Saturday, I went to PAX West with my son. I wasn't planning to go this year, but when I found out that there was a panel featuring Ken and Roberta Williams, I had to go. The panel was titled Adventure Games: Heroes and Legends. The Williams were joined by Jane Jensen, Al Lowe, Ron Gilbert, and Dave Gilbert. I took this photo before the panel started. They all masked up once they started speaking. The lady on the far left is the local gamer who organized the panel.

To be honest, I've never played a King's Quest game. However, I remember seeing it on my friend's PC Jr. back in the day. I have played the first Gabriel Knight and first Leisure Suit Larry games. Besides those, I have not (yet) played any of the other games made by these legends of adventure gaming.

It was a fanboy thrill to see these folks. I got in line about 90 minutes before the panel started in order to ensure myself a good seat. It was a good thing I did that because the place was packed.

These gaming industry legends and their works are an inseparable part of my childhood, and I cherish them for that alone. I wish I could have gotten a photo with them, but oh well. This will have to do (for now).

#SeaUsRise One more to go! Let's do it, Robbie Ray!

While working for Amazon, I traveled to Toronto several times. The office was located in a building next to the Sky Dome (I think it's called Rogers something now). Every time I looked down on the Sky Dome from the office, my insides would just tear me up.

Both the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays entered the league in 1977, but the histories written by the two franchises could not be more different. One franchise enjoys a lauded history and the other franchise's history is characterized by futility and mediocrity. While one francise was winning not one but two World Series titles, the other franchise was celebrating the finishing of a season with .500 or better wins record for the first time and later reaching the playoffs for the first time. In the same number of years, the two teams took opposite trajectories. Each visit to the Toronto office was a stinging reminder of the futility of the team and franchise that I rooted for.

But winning this wildcard matchup will do much to heal and comfort the pain that I've carried for so long. It would be so poetic for Robbie Ray, who pitched for the Blue Jays last year and won the Cy Young, to close out this series tomorrow.

A tale from the suburbs

My wife and I were driving to church yesterday for early morning prayer. We saw a group of crows on road which is not an uncommon scene. As we approached them, all flew away as expected except for one. I'm not sure if it was eating something on the road, but at the last minute after all its buddies had already fled, it raised its head and saw us.

Maybe I've watched too many Looney Tunes, but I swear it's expression was like, "What's going on? Where did everybody go? Oh!" BAM! I heard a loud thunk as we passed over the spot where the crow was. I looked back and saw the crow looking plastered on the road with one wing up twitching. Another crow came back and was like "Are you ok, bruh?"

When we returned to the scene three hours later, there was nothing on the road. The crow must have survived somehow and flew away. It was hit very hard if the sound of the impact was any indicator, so it was shocking to see that it must have survived.

My wife was a bit shaken as she was the driver, and it was the first time that she had run into an animal. Suffice to say, she also survived and is doing well.

I've heard that crows are very intelligent birds. But of course, there's always an exception to any rule. 

Dog sitting -- week one is done and there's three more to go.

Son 2's girlfriend's family left for Taiwan a week ago to visit extended family. We agreed to dog sit Mochi for four weeks.

Having heard from my son, I knew Mochi was not well socialized with people and animals. He was distant from us and only opened up to my son. For such a dog, I expected him to be a bit traumatized having been left in an unknown place with mostly unknown people. When my son went to work, Mochi would lie on his bed in the bedroom and spend hours there. My wife and I were getting a little worried.

After one week, I think we may have turned the corner. He came up to me looking like he wanted something. We ended up playing chase around the house. Eventually he got tired and I got tired, and we sat on the floor. I approached him slowly and gave him some space and started petting him. I think I was stroking him for half an hour and Mochi shifted his body and leaned up against me. I continued to stroke him for a while longer and he fell asleep.

He still doesn't approach too close and maintains his distance, but I think he'll be ok. We were seriously worried for his mental health.