Robot Claw

Operation NYC

March 14th, 2018

Last weekend we took a two-night trip to NYC.

We hadn’t been for years, and just wanted to shop and eat and visit a museum.

We took the train down, which is always fun, and stayed in a nice hotel right in the middle of the CBD.

It was very cold! But the streets were filled with people and we didn’t let the temperature stop us 🙂

After we arrived we hit the shops, somehow managing to drop mad dollars at Kinokuniya. Naturally I bought a load of postcards as well. Did you get one yet?

The next day after breakfast we visited the Intrepid, and aircraft carrier docked at a pier right in the city.

It’s part of a museum that includes a submarine, Concorde and even a Space Shuttle! It’s very good and highly recommended.

After a siesta we managed to drop even madder dollars at Koreatown cosmetics and Kpop shops before heading into Times Square for some lights!

And how pretty they were! If I look nervous in this shot it’s only because my face was freezing off.

Then the next day – after a bit more k-town shopping – we traveled home in our own private ‘roomette’ on the train. It even included a meal in the dining car.

It was a great little trip. We’ll probably make this a regular getaway 🙂

Posted in Trip | 1 Comment »

We Boldly Went

March 4th, 2018

Yesterday was my birthday, and despite the exhaustion I felt from opening an obscene amount of gifts we somehow managed to drag ourselves over to Dave and Busters to ‘play’ this:

I’d seen this a few weeks back when I was here with Y and J, but I hid my excitement from them because clearly this is a machine that only weirdos would be excited by.

It’s one of those sliding-floor token machines, where you drop ‘coins’ down a ramp in the hope of having them push other coins off the edge (the front of the above image) so you can win. In other machines of this type you can win the actual coins, but in this one you win tickets (for the redemption shop) and trading cards!!

As you can see it’s Star Trek themed, and there’s eight different card designs, with sixteen different cards in total because there are uncommon ‘limited edition’ versions of each. The machine periodically drops cards or plastic tokens down onto the playfield, and these can fall into the hopper and ultimately can be redeemed for tickets. The metal coins are recycled back into play automatically.

It’s a lot of fun. Dangerously entertaining perhaps. Aside from the lights and sounds (such as a phaser every time you drop a coin) there’s also a combo bonus, the thrill when a new card or coin falls onto the playfield and – best of all – the joy when something of note actually falls off the edge!

After an hour of play, here’s what I’d won:

The plastic tokens were worth 15 prize tickets each, and we had 68. The cards are worth points as well (100 or 200 for limited versions) but you have to turn them in so I didn’t redeem mine. With the 1020 total tickets we earned I bought this (for 1000) tickets:

And… it’s terrible! It barely turns at all and will likely be trashed quickly 🙂

So here’s some analysis. In total I sunk $45 into the machine, from which I got 1020 tickets which were redeemed for a $5 toy. But we also had an hour of fun, and (most importantly) I also left with these beauties:

6 of the 8 cards, 2 in limited edition versions. These are extremely nice, very high quality cards and I like them a lot. So much so I may return to get the other two (Chekhov and a Tribble)! The game is super fun, and I can’t deny I’d like to play it again.

Interestingly despite the cards all being original series characters, the machine is branded with characters from many different Star Trek series. Will they be cycling in new cards over time?

I also have a few doubles of some of the cards. To get one at random, leave a comment explaining why Enterprise was the best Trek series 🙂

Posted in Collecting, Games, Otaku, Trading Cards | 3 Comments »

The Impossible Puzzle?

February 25th, 2018

I bought two of these:

It’s a tiny red jigsaw! I was looking forward to making it and today is the day. Here’s the pieces laid out:

They’re small… very small. This small:

As usual, My first step was to sort out the edge pieces. This took longer than it should because of their size and the fact they’re shiny and reflective. Then it came time to assemble the border…

Time passed…

More time passed…

And then I realized the puzzle has a fatal flaw: the fronts of the pieces are slightly smaller than the back! This means – especially due to the size – it’s ~~virtually~~ actually impossible to pair them by sight:

Notice the pieces don’t quite look like a fit in the left (which is the front)? Every piece is like this. It’s a nightmare of trial-and-error, and I’d estimate with about 3x(150!) combinations the universe will end before I was done!

So yes, I gave up 🙂

Oh and the other one I bought? It was cardboard and apparently didn’t suffer from this flaw because Bernard already made it! Ask him and he’ll tweet a photo.

(Also the several other plastic Pintoo puzzles I have bought haven’t suffered from this weird issue. I blame the excessively tiny pieces.)

Posted in Miscellaneous, Puzzles | Comments Closed

Masters Of Magnetism

February 22nd, 2018

That’s our fridge, or rather a portion of it. Every available inch (and more! is covered in magnets. Eventually we ran out of space and am now covering the insides of our metal front doors. Is there no end to this magnet-buying madness? Not in sight, surely…

This post is a somewhat random showcase of some of this sprawling collection. Sometimes they have a story, sometimes not. But it shows the variety amidst the madness 🙂

This weird alien magnet was one of the very first we got. It was purchased about 25 years ago from an unusual discount store in Utica, where we lived at the time. This guy has therefore graced five fridges in his life, and still has pride-of-place.

Incidentally this type of magnet – rectangular plastic printed front with magnetic back – is very common now and ubiquitous in stores everywhere. But back when I got him the shape and size was novel, and coupled with the art one of the reasons he caught my eye.

Two of the many examples of (often free) advertising magnets. The first was given to me at a bookstore in mid 2000, and the second we probably got when we bought subs at the now defunct restaurant. In addition to these, we have everything from rental car agencies to lawyers offices to pet grooming services to even meat sellers magnets on our fridge!

A lovely magnetic memento crafted for us on the spot at a work event my wife’s work put on a few years back. A star of our collection 🙂

This is an example of a ‘kept gift’. I bought this for someone whose name rhymes with ‘Learned’ and never gave it. If he finds out he’ll curse me forever until he remembers the bird magnet I just gave him for his birthday, which he will then tweet a picture of along with the message: “Best gift I’ve ever been given!”

Tacky 3D tourist magnets are rarely bad and often – as in these examples – fantastic. There’s quite an assortment of these on display, each as garish as the next. This is a category that grows with every trip!

Speaking of trips, this is a cross-stitched Stonehenge magnet KLS made from a little kit purchased right at the Stonehenge visitors center! It’s a lovely thing, only about an inch square, and another prized magnet.

This is a weird one. I purchased this in NM when I visited Florence years back and it’s to date the only magnet I have featuring Satan. Although I do have a Cthulhu… ?

Last but not least one of my very own creations, an invader made of Perler beads. I made several of these and gave some away. In fact I’ve been thinking of making more. Want one?

That’s it for now, but there’s many others, including in categories not shown here (such as lenticular, otaku, ‘naughty’ and wrestling). Want to see more? Let me know!

Posted in Collecting, Crafts, Home, Miscellaneous | Comments Closed

Lovin’ It Long Time

February 15th, 2018

The Big Mac turned 50 last week, and I felt it my duty to enjoy another one of the delicious hamburgers that I’d been tasting for close to 40 years.

After two failed attempts, I managed to ~~con~~ persuade L, J and Y to go with me to the nearest Golden Arches, where we were promptly served like so many billions before.

When I was a wee lad, my standard order at Maccas was always the reliable Happy Meal, which in those days in Oz came with a ‘junior burger’ (the plain hamburger). Big Macs were just for adults, and specifically my dad. I was happy with my Happy Meal.

But then I went to Maccas one time with someone else – a schoolmate or our cousins – and saw someone my age order a Big Mac. I was probably about 10 at the time, but from that point I realized Big Macs weren’t just for adults and never looked back.

There’s my order on Monday. The standard Big Mac meal, which in this instance came with a very underwhelming serve of fries (I hadn’t eaten any)!

I’ve ordered the above countless times in my life. In fact for about a decade in my teen years I almost exclusively ate at Mickey D’s and always, always just got the Big Mac meal. Except when I used to get two… but let’s forget those poor decisions!

You all know I’m a fussy eater. One thing I don’t like is sauce on my food. Every other burger I ever get anywhere has no sauce – no ketchup, mayo and certainly no secret sauce. But I make an exception for the Big Mac, because I always have.

I infrequently get McDonalds in the USA, and the rare times I do it’s usually just a Happy Meal (in an airport). I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a Big Mac over here.

Of course everywhere else in the world it’s another matter! I’ve eaten Big Macs in Japan, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Scotland and Puerto Rico. I bought something at Maccas every day during my recent Australia trip, and a lot of times those purchases were Big Macs.

So how was it? Well I have to be honest and say delicious! Yes it wasn’t (half!) as good as McDonalds is in other countries, but the basic taste was the same I’ve enjoyed for much of my life. I loved it, I guess you could say.

Of course – of course – I got sick afterwards and wallowed in regret. But that’s part of the McDonalds experience isn’t it?

And what of my lunch mates…?

None of them ordered Big Macs 🙁

In fact if it wasn’t for me reading about it last week I wouldn’t have known just by going into the restaurant: there were no signs or banners or celebration of any kind. Just another day in the 50 year life of the worlds favorite hamburger I suppose?

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »