Having recently finished reading The Da Vinci Code, I was wondering about some of the research Dan Brown alluded to, which provided the bulk of his material. After reading around for a while, the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail was mentioned frequently, as was Foucault’s Pendulum. A few quick moments on Amazon.com brought me a hardcover copy of each. To get my order above $25 for free shipping, I also picked up a copy of Quicksilver, to start my journey along The Baroque Cycle. I liked Cryptonomicon, so it only made sense.

This Valentine’s Day, Jen and I enjoyed many aspects of the overly commercialized holiday, and I for one feel no guilt for this. This last Christmas, Jen had been pointing out Taiko Drum Master for various reasons. I took this opportunity to diverge from pedestrian gifts of flowers and candy, and bought her an amusing Japanese drum simulator.

Well, with Ryan in town on the 5th, it made sense to have some DDR craziness at Miller Time. The Augustana people showed up, and it was going to be a grand old time.

Cue annoying little kids.

Now, we’re used to annoying little kids, it’s just a fact of life in an arcade. Sure, they run around on the pads, sometimes while people are actually playing. Sure, they often hit or climb machines, sometimes breaking them. Sure, they flip the lights on and off, as if they were some kind of toy… wait, lights? Yeah, at Miller Time, any old schmo can walk by and screw with the lights - something no arcade should allow.

Wow! DDR night was awsome! Six new people showed up, and three are fairly new players. If anything, the Machine seems to be selling itself. If only I had remembered to bring the DDR shirts, I could have unloaded sold a couple more.

Well, the garage is done. I don’t know how long it took them, just that I got home around 5:20, and my garage smelled slightly of pine-sol, and the door looked different. The rails look much better, and having the front-mounted spring removes a lot of the bulk from the old system. Heck, they even swept the floor. I couldn’t find the bill they said they’d leave for me, so I’ll have to call tomorrow and ask about that.