Archive for the ‘fun’ Category

Pinball Machine or Heat? Thanks Joe Biden!

Posted: November 11, 2023 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, economy, fun, hobbies, News/opinion, pinball, Uncategorized
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As all of you know I’m both a big baseball fan and a huge pinball fan and yesterday I got an offer that I thought I couldn’t refuse.

There is a first rate pinball game called Silver Slugger that was rented for me as a Christmas gift last year. I really enjoyed this game as it combines a standard pinball scoring system with a baseball scoring system (pinball points and runs) I can highly recommend this game to anyone who wants an inexpensive pinball machine. (New Machines generally run between $7-15K)

Well the fellow who rented the machine offered it to me for sale. He understood that I only had a limited area to place a game and said location might have issues with sunlight than can fade machine. This machine had a color scheme that would best be able to handle the location without damage.

Furthermore the price he asked was $300 less than the median current price on Pinside (the pinball market) and because he would be picking up a rental from my son anyways the delivery would not be extra which is huge.

It was an excellent bargain. I had enough to pay for the machine in the mad money that I’ve been putting aside every paycheck for the last year or two and I was debating if DaWife would tolerate a machine at the spot where it would go when the oil delivery truck showed up in front of the house.

So I went outside grab the mail and to get the bill for the 190 gallons of heating oil that the tank took.

$710

Mind you this is the first delivery of the year. During an average heating season I expect to have 3 1/2 more such deliveries turn up at the house over the four or five months. Which means $2500 more in oil bills yet to come.

During the Trump years that same oil bill would have been about $360-$400 at the most meaning I would expect to pay another $1260- $1400 dollars over the course of the heating season.

The difference? That the price of the machine.

Now if it were the Trump years I would be able to use that cash saved for the machine secure in the knowledge that I’d be able to handle any twists and turns that might come up. The only question would be the reaction of DaWife to it being a permanent rather than a temporary addition to the house that my sons might rent for me at Christmas & Birthdays.

But alas Joe Biden is president, everything from groceries to gasoline has skyrocketed and given the inept foreign policy that has enabled our enemies and funded Iran who funds Iran and the turmoil in the middle east I can’t be sure that my next oil bill won’t be a whole lot more by the time I burn through what I have, particularly since domestic energy production which was big in the Trump years, is discouraged now.

Given those facts It would be completely irresponsible for me to spend the money on that machine, much more prudent to hold off in case the side effects of the third Obama Term Biden years get even worse. And of course if we have a fourth Obama term second Biden term it likely won’t be much better.

So as I look longingly at the photo of the machine that I enjoyed so much and email the fellow that I really can’t pull the trigger right now all I can say is:

Thanks Joe Biden.

100 Word Fan Fiction: Paper Birth

Posted: October 31, 2023 by datechguy in fan fiction, fun
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In an age before computers the paperwork had to be filed in person, not hacked.

So there he stood in uniform before a file cabinet in Berlin. In went a military record, enlistment papers, commendations, promotions, leaves, wounds and even pay and viola Oberst Schreiber Kant of the Gestapo now existed and had a paper trail to prove it.

Now came the harder problem, finding the right mark for the plan, he scanned the files till he suddenly saw a familiar name. It was fiction he shouldn’t exist but so they said was he.

Suddenly everything needed fell into place.

Previously Fast and Slow Next: Guilt Trip

Five Completely Non Israel Things Under the Fedora: How Cool is that? House Keeping, Slightly Premature, The (Now) Under the Radar Synod and a Mathematical Patriots Update

Posted: October 10, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, catholic, fun, nfl, politics, Sports
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I know there is a lot of serious stuff on Israel to write about but for one day we’re going to almost completely ignore it:

As a python fan and a bit of a geek I don’t think it gets any cooler than this:

It’s easy to make him laugh; he’s that sort of fellow. But I have to tell you that when I made him laugh, when he actually laughed, complete with head tossed back, it was one of those moments in life you just encase in Lucite and put on the shelf. Put that on my tombstone: “Made Michael Palin Laugh, and Did Not Otherwise Embarrass Himself. Much. Well, a Bit. Alright, Somewhat. Honestly, Loads” or something.

With all the horror I’ve been reading about the last few days to be able to read that and imagine the joy of that moment, that was special.

Today there should be a vote on a new speaker for the house. Jim Jordan is considered a favorite although there is at least one report that Speaker McCarthy might be nominated by some allies and of course Steve Scalise who was Majority Leader is in the running.

Whoever wins will have a lot on their plate to deal with but that it’s been reduced to a second or third string story gives the GOP some flexibility in how they deal with it.

When I heard on my way home that the highly favored Dodgers had lost their 2nd straight against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their best of five series to go to the National League Pennant Series against either Philly or Atlanta all I could think of was their welcoming the anti Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to their Stadium and found myself spontaneously making up and singing a parody song titled: “Don’t Piss off God” (sung to the tune of “Don’t bring me Down”).

Baseball being baseball it might be premature for such a song but if the Diamondbacks complete the sweep or even win the series I just might write out the lyrics and post them.

Never thought I’d be cheering against a Dave Roberts team but hey the Dodgers made their bed.

Speaking of both God and the practical news blackout on stories not involving Israel and Hamas the Synod is still going on in the Catholic church and one of my big worries is that the folks hoping to push though their whole “Mortal Sin is OK” platform.

It’s moments like this when I’m not surprised that there were at one time up to three popes each claiming to be the legit one and the church highly divided.

Of course the last time this type of thing came up Saint Pope Paul VI surprised everyone by his issuance of Humanae Vite which, to the shock of the left, not only affirmed the church’s position on life and contraception but urged governments to do the same.

I would be both shocked and not shocked if Francis ended up doing the same. I would be shocked because that would be completely out of Character of for this pope but I would also not be shocked because over history that’s how God rolls.

Faith is not just believing in God, but believing he knows what he’s doing. That’s how I’m handling it.

A week or so ago I noted that the 2023 New England Patriots after four week2 had averaged 13 1/4 points offensive per games with Bill (the savior) O’Brian as the offensive coordinator as opposed to Matt (The Evil One) Patricia’s 16 3/4 offensive points per game.

We’ve now finished week five.

In week five last year Patricia’s offense scored 22 of the patriots 29 points in a win vs the Lions bringing their record to 2-3 and their avg points on offense per game to 17.8

Meanwhile Bill O’Brian’s team was shut out in a 34-0 rout vs the Saints putting their record at 1-4 and putting their avg points per game at an even 11.

That is better than a touchdown per game worse that an offense that was constantly under attack by local media

Maybe if they ask really nice Patricia might come back.

100 Word Fan Fiction: Fast and Slow

Posted: October 9, 2023 by datechguy in fan fiction, fun

It all seemed a blur.

A blur of red & blue stopping shots that meant death, a second blur depositing Jerries stripped & disarmed into a 20 x 20 pit that wasn’t there a moment before, a drive to a town in commandeered trucks quartered at an inn with his some of his own men posing as guards.

But now waiting for a man they only knew as a work of fiction for the 24 hours he said he needed for the plan they agreed on to save them without damaging the timeline or revealing himself those hours took forever.

Previously A Little More Action, Next: Paper Birth

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