socrates63

As I've gotten older, parts of my life from those younger years have become more meaningful to me. That's been a big factor in me reconnecting with Atari computers and consoles during the past several years.

That's also been true of high school after I attended my 30th high school reunion (the first that I attended) four years ago. Since then, I've stayed in touch on Facebook with a few folks, including one of the organizers of the reunion who I helped yesterday. I don't even recall ever saying "hi" to her during high school as we weren't in the same classes nor the same crowd, but now with shared memories, we could strike up a friendship.

She was moving yesterday and reached out for help. I had also helped with moving some of her stuff to a storage unit a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the big move to her new apartment. With son number 2 out of commission with a sprained ankle, I got mentally ready to contribute more with these old muscles 😂. She definitely needed the help. Even with me and my eldest, it took us 6 hours.

The best part was meeting her kids. Despite them growing up under difficult circumstances, they turned out to be beautiful human beings. I told them that I'd invite them to the Korean BBQ party that I had already invited their mom to.

Hello, world! It's been a while -- too long, actually. It's been a busy and crazy spring. Hopefully I can chill during the summer. That I/O pizza party thang should help 🙂 

As for the busy and craziness, at work, I manage the digital management rollout on Pluto TV. It's a huge project that involves pretty much every team -- lots of fires, drama 😂. It should wind down a lot by end of July.

On the personal front, my father passed away on Apr 1. This is the first time that I shared this online. He was diagnosed in late 2020 with interstitial lung disease which we knew was terminal. He seemed to be doing ok, and we thought that he'd be with us for a few more years. But his time came, and he went quickly and peacefully, and for that, I am thankful.

Given all these things and my increased involvement with my church, my online presence and gaming time have suffered. But I am going to make a concerted effort to hang out here again to chill. The I/O has always been good to me, and it's a great tight community.

Game on! 🕹️🤘

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.

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 👏 👍

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.

While driving down to Portland to meet Rick last month, I made a slight detour to Vancouver, WA to drop off my Vectrex with another game in my local gaming group. He's going to spruce it up proper (no buzz mod) and give it the TLC it deserves. It's pretty clean looking for its age--not as much dust as I'd expected nor signs of leakage or corrosion. It's actually rather pretty 🌷🌷 looking for 40 year old electronics 😛 😄 I can only wish my innards look as good. 

You know how you don't appreciate something you have until it's gone? I didn't play much when I had it, but now that it's been out of the house for a couple of weeks, I miss my Vectrex ❤😄 Remember to give some love to those consoles that you haven't touched in a while.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Gold Leader standing by. 

I’ve been waiting practically all my life to say this 🤣 Tonight, I’m chaperoning our high school senior graduation night party (9:15pm to 5:15am) as it is tradition for the junior class parents to chaperone the party. And I’m chaperoning the gold charter bus. 

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! ❤️🕹

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.

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. 

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 

Hope everyone's Friday was a good one today.

Today was my last official work day for HBO. After nearly two weeks of mentally and emotionally tossing and turning after being given the pink slip early last week, the end has come, and I am peaceful and content. I feel I will face the new week with a fresh mind and new perspective. God is good.

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 🕹🕹🤣🤣

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!