Urp
Here are a few Loyal Readers getting ready to spin their guts out on the giant teacup ride at Disneyland. Barf-o-rama. Strangely, they all seemed to have a good time.
No post yesterday – it was quite impossible. We left the nice hotel in Anaheim, went to visit the Getty museum (quite an impressive place, including the garden designed by my famous-artist-who-nobody’s-heard-of first cousin once removed), and then pushed on further east to the Primm Valley Resort in Primm, Nevada. It wasn’t quite as nice a hotel as the previous night, and it didn’t include any internet service. I think they don’t want anything to get in the way of their customers gambling. Unfortunately for them we didn’t gamble anyway. In fact, we pretty much just ate at one of their buffets (great custom-made chicken dish and pretty good roast beef, but no better than average everything else) and went to bed. The room was decent but kind of funny – the entryway light was burned out, the toilet wasn’t a particularly good flusher, the TV remote control was apparently intended for a different TV and gave random results, the hair dryer wouldn’t turn off, the heater alternated between scalding heat and freezing cold, and the blankets were too small for the bed. Otherwise, we enjoyed it. One good thing was that we got to see the Bonny and Clyde Death Car, along with a quite long and detailed video on the life and death of that infamous pair. Also Clyde’s death shirt. Also, this morning’s breakfast was reasonably priced and very good.
It was only about another hour down the road to the Flecks’ house here in Henderson. We got here before noon and spent the day doing very little. The boys also worked on school. I’m hoping to have a look at the Pinball Hall of Fame tomorrow if we get a chance. Also need to look around for other interesting things to check out.
We went to the store to get some ice cream for dessert tonight. When we got there, I noticed a Game Stop in the same strip mall, so we stopped in to see what’s new in the gaming world. They had some (outrageously overpriced) PS3s, which I found very uninteresting. They also had some Wiis, though, and they are highly interesting. Loyal Reader Number One and I took turns playing Excite Truck. Even though I’m not a Gamer by any stretch of the imagination, I think the Wii is really cool (although its name doesn’t exactly thrill). The controller looks very much like a TV remote and you work it by basically waving it around. It’s unique, inventive, and original. Definitely worth checking out. I don’t think I’d pay the money, though. Still, it’s hundreds of dollars less than the competition. I think it’ll sell like hotcakes.
Exactly how do hotcakes sell anyway? Presumably pretty fast.
I just ordered a neat microcontroller board called the Arduino. It’s an open-source hardware project, which is a pretty cool concept. I’m sure my Loyal Readers have heard of open-source software, where the software is free for anybody to use and they distribute the source code so anybody can also modify the software if they want to. Open-source hardware is pretty much the same – you can just buy the hardware if you want to, but they also give away the specifications and design so you can make it yourself and even make and sell them if you like. I’m just buying the hardware and using it as a basis for making other things. I’m excited to get it soon.
Okay, it’s time to go. See you tomorrow, with a full report on the pinball place.