PhoneBoy Says

I was trying to find a copy of a song I know I had on CD, but I had long since forgotten what song it was on. To complicate matters, I have since gotten rid of most of the jewel cases for my CDs and I store them in CD booklets. Of course, I have saved the paper bits from the CDs, but they are not in order and would take me forever to find.

I decided to use Google to figure out what CD it was on. Turns out the song I was looking for, Point Me At the Sky, was on this CD:

You know, there's just something about some of those Pink Floyd songs post-Syd Barrett and pre-Dark Side of the Moon that I really like. It's been far too long since I've enjoyed their sweet sounds.

"Point Me At The Sky"

Hey, Eugene,
This is Henry McClean
And I've finished my beautiful flying machine
And I'm ringing to say
That I'm leaving and maybe
You'd like to fly with me
And hide with me, baby

Isn't it strange
How little we change
Isn't it sad we're insane
Playing the games that we know and in tears
The games we've been playing for thousands and thousands and ….

Pointing to the cosmic glider
"Pull this plastic glider higher
Light the fuse and stand right back"
He cried "This is my last good-bye."

Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly

And if you survive till two thousand and five
I hope you're exceedingly thin
For if you are stout you will have to breathe out
While the people around you breathe in

People pressing on my sides
It's something that I hate
And so is sitting down to eat
With only little capsules on my plate

Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly

And all we've got to say to you is good-bye
It's time to go, better run and get your bags, it's good-bye
Nobody cry, it's good-bye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, good-bye…

Audio: Share a song that fits the moment you're living right now.
Inspired by cherè.

If by Pink Floyd (off of Atom Heart Mother… hm… maybe I'll rip that disc into iTunes)

If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late.
And if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do.
If I were to sleep, I could dream.
If I were afraid, I could hide.
If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain.
If I were the moon, I'd be cool.
If I were a book, I would bend.
If I were a good man, I'd understand the spaces between friends.
If I were alone, I would cry.
And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry.
And if I go insane, will you still let me join in with the game?
If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late again.
If I were a good man, I'd talk to you more often than I do.

Finally got this out of the pinball game.

Getting this part out took me a while. Basically this board is underneath the playfield on the bottom of the cabinet. The playfield is propped up much like the hood of a car, which you can do after you remove the top glass.

Nine screws were holding this bad boy onto the rest of the power supply. Four of the screws were being particularly stubborn. Two of those I was able to get once I stuck a flathead screwdriver underneath the head just enough to get it moving. The last two, after a lot of trying, were held in place by a couple of nuts on the underside of the power supply. It was hard enough getting my fingers underneath there, not to mention a small wrench. But I got it, pulled it out, and took a picture.

Several sites suggest replacing both of these Bridge Rectifiers with higher-capacity ones that come stock with the machine. I have no idea whether or not these are stock Bridge Rectifiers or if they have been upgraded. They're still soldered onto the board. I suppose the next step is to unsolder them, though I will save that for another time. I feel pretty happy just getting the damn thing out.

I can't. Just can't. Information overload. Too many good things to see. Too much to try and cram into the mind. I've had to shed various caches of information. RSS Feeds, Video Podcasts, pet projects, you-name-it. I want to blog. I want to participate in the conversation. How can I do it?

I feel like it's an either-or decision, not an "and" decision. It comes with trying to dabble in too many things. There a re a number of competing priorities. Some of them could be wasteful, some of them are learning.

I don't know. It's late and it's not a problem I can solve right now. I've only got a few hours before I have to get up for my 6am meeting.

This could turn into a big project, which I am hoping to avoid because it goes way beyond what I feel comfortable doing--getting down and dirty in the electronics!

Anyway, for the past five years or so I've had this pinball game:

Eight Ball Deluxe is, by far, my favorite pinball game. I ended up getting a EBD Limited Edition, not because I wanted a limited edition, but that's what the guy I bought it from in Spokane had available. Either way, the game is the same. Fairly simple one-ball game (none of this multi-ball crap), no complicated ramps, but the important shots are challenging to make. It's something most people wouldn't appreciate anymore. In fact, there's only one company currently making pinball games--Stern Pinball, Inc. However, there are a ton of enthusiast sites and a few places that sell parts.My EBD machine is currently sitting up in my office. Getting it up the stairs was a production in and of itself given it's length, width, and the corner it had to go around to get up my stairs, and involved beheading the machine--makes me wish I had insisted on getting a regular EBD where the backbox folds down. It did eventually make it. Not sure if I will ever be able to get it down again, but I'll worry about that if we ever move.For the past couple of years, though, my beloved pinball game has been in a state of disrepair. It would turn on, the lights would come on, but the system would not completely start up. Gracie has suddenly noticed the pinball machine and was curious about it. "Look at the lights" she says. Well I tried to turn it on yesterday and it wouldn't even do that anymore. Dead as a doornail.So I did some hunting on the net and found plenty of information on how to repair the pinball machines. That goes a little beyond what I feel comfortable doing, but digging through the various documents I discovered that there were a series of fuses on the "Power Module," which is where the power supply hooks in. Looked under the playfield with a flashlight and yup, the F4 fuse is blown.Today, I lifted up the playfield and pulled out the fuse. When putting the playfield back down, I noticed that one of the slingshot rubbers had dried out and broken. Well, crap. I'll have to order one of those. And I should probably order some cleaner while I'm at it.Meanwhile, I'll head over to the hardware store tomorrow and see if they have the fuse I need. I suspect those are a little easier to come by than the 4 inch rubber ring that's used by the slingshot. At least that way, I'll know whether or not I'll want to call in the expert to have a look at it.

Audio: What song do you listen to when you are sad?
Submitted by Nat.

I went through some of my old mix tapes I made in college and shortly thereafter. I had a lot of different songs that ended up repeating themselves. Most of them were by Pink Floyd or solo work from either David Gilmour or Roger Waters. Under the Bridge by The Red Hot Chili Peppers also appeared more than a couple of times as well as I've Seen That Movie Too and Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John.

The current favorite depression music is Pink Floyd's The Final Cut.

Between the usual Friday night pizza and ice-cream that my wife and son do and the fact my daughter was down at yammy's house, I managed to get a couple of hours at home at night without kids! Wow, who would have thought?

Anyway, after I figured out what I wanted for dinner--a challenge in and of itself--I decided to do something I haven't done in a while--cleaned up my office. I threw stuff out--take that, pack rat genes--I put a lot of stuff away, tied up some long cords and other lose ends, ad now the office is operating at a higher efficiency. I could still put a bunch more stuff away, but I made a lot of progress.

One thing I have a lot of right now is VoIP gear. A lot of things I collected while working for Voxilla are stacking up in the various storage bins I have stacked in my office. I'm not using it. I'm bored with most of it. Thinking about eBaying the stuff. But then I've gotta worry about shipping crap, which is oh-so-much-fun. But at least I can get some money for it.

Meanwhile, the brain needs a cleaning. Fortunately, there's one way to do a deep cleaning on the brain--SLEEP!

Today was one of the rare times I went to Costco without a child in tow. I also had some time to kill while I was waiting for a trophy to be made for the coach of my son's basketball team. Yay, basketball is finally over. Not that I don't mind watching Jaden play, it's just the games were across town and late. Heck, this evening, the game went into overtime and we didn't get back home until 8:45pm on a school night.

Anyway, so I walked around and looked through the books and spotted this book:

You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management

Mehmet C. Oz

When I was reading Ultrametabolism, I know Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz's previous book was mentioned. I also saw someone reading this particular book recently. I was curious, so I paged through it. A lot of words, of course, but also a lot of clever diagrams and pictures. Some of them funny. Figured it might be good to pick up at the $14 or so Costco was selling it for. Well, that and buying Ultrametabolism in a DRMed PDF form was a gigantic mistake. Did I mention I hate DRM?Unfortunately, when I start reading a book seriously, something else usually falls by the wayside. It may be my blogging, or it may be something else I'm doing. If I blog less for a little while, you'll know why.

Your sin has been measured. You have committed many sins, but Slothis the mortal sin that has done you in. Just below, discover your fullsinful breakdown and learn what it is about you that condemns you tohell.

This is a rather long article about what happened to the Western diet and why everyone's health now sucks.

I agree that food has, overall, taken a turn for the worse. It's not really food anymore, it's frankenfood. Where is simple food our ancestors ate?