Category: life

FOUND: A Letter I Wrote to Denny Atkins and His Reply

My Letter to Mr. Atkin and his Reply
My Letter to Mr. Atkins and His Reply Cont'd.

I was going through my old journals (yes I keep one and yes it goes back 13 years or so!) and found this printed out old email exchange. It appears to be a letter I wrote in 1999, to Denny Atkins, who at the time had just left Computer Gaming World. I don’t recall ever writing this email or getting the response. I do want to thank him publicly now though for taking the time out of his busy schedule to write to me! I did take his advice, by the way, I started reading video game magazines and websites earnestly as well as emailing various authors/editors. I even landed a gig as a reviewer for Gamepen.com and then after that at UGO (2000-02). Sadly, I didn’t cultivate relationships with the people I worked with and I couldn’t tell you what most of them are doing today or if they even remember the young, eager high school graduate they were working with back then.  When the dotcom bubble burst, writing assignments dried up and I found myself with a girlfriend, friends, a part-time job and a full-time students’ workload. For me, video game journalism  fell by the wayside. I never picked it up again…

PS – well maybe a little, I’m still listed as a senior writer for GameStooge.com, a small news site, where an old friend from the Gamepen days is the Editor-in-Chief.

Spring Garden 2011: Quick Update

No silverbells or cockleshells
One Month In...

A month ago D and tore out the winter garden and put in the one for spring/summer. The weather has been really odd this last month with some days it getting into the 9os (summer weather) and then the next day being overcast and rainy (winter weather).  Tomatoes and Zucchini are really enjoying the heat but the colder nights seem to be holding them back. Despite, the odd weather everything seems to be coming in quite nicely, and with generous doses of Sluggo, the plants seem to be mostly safe from the predations of slugs and snails.

Before we get to the spring garden there was one last holdover from winter:

It all went into the composter
About 3 feet of celery

Sadly, none of the celery was usable. We grew too much this year and just weren’t able to use it, or give it away fast enough. This last plant was blocking sunlight for one of our tomato plants… I was hoping to salvage it but I think when it gets this big it is just too bitter.

Zucchinis
Tomatoes
Eggplants
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Basil

I’m hoping in another month I’ll have enough cucumbers and tomatoes to start my next project for the year: canning and pickling. I’m really excited about canning our own produce and then using it in the fall and winter. We had so many tomatoes last year that we gave bags away, or ate tomatoes with every meal. This year I want to save some of those for later.

I have two more tomato plants in the front of the house as well as a pepper plant, they seem to be doing fine as well.

How I Saved Over $100 on Car Repairs

My truck has been busted up forever. About four years ago one of the tires blew out and took a mudflap with it. Three years ago someone inserted a screwdriver into the driver’s side keyhole and busted it as well as co-workers at a crappy retail job breaking the handle to my tailgate. The truck was still drivable, after replacing the tire with the spare, but I’d just been ignoring all the others problems… Entering the car through the passenger side, lifting objects into the bed, etc.

I wasn’t dealing with the car because it was still operable and fixing everything was going to cost money. I was quoted $125-to 150 to replace the lock on the driver’s side, $100 for a new tailgate from a junkyard more if I wanted someone to replace it for me and/or paint the junkyard find. $80 or so for a new tire (yes, the blown out tire has been in the wheel well for four years; I am a terrible person.) D and I have talked about selling the truck recently, in order to pay down some of my debt, and I couldn’t sell it in its current condition so something had to be done.

While I was despairing over the cost of repairs D took action. She called up a number of junkyards and located a tumbler for the car door ($25). With the help of the internet I was able to breakdown the side paneling on the door and install the new tumbler myself. Money saved? $100-125. I also broke down the tailgate as well, and was able to remove the handle. $5 got me some epoxy and that was used to reseal the plastic handle. Sadly, it didn’t work… I was able to use the item codes on the handle though to locate a replacement on the internet that cost (with shipping) only $17. Savings? $75.

Next weekend I’ll be vacuuming the interior and washing the exterior and next month I’ll be using my discretionary funds to pick up some new tires. So, by the end of May the truck is going to be looking great and ready to be sold. Except I’ll have put all this time and effort into the thing and not want to =P

Birthday Celebration

Eat, drink, and be merry
Good Friends, Good Food, Good Drink

I turned thirty on April 17. To be honest I never thought I’d make it this far. But, here I am. I didn’t want to do anything big for my birthday. D insisted that something had to be done to mark the occasion. If only going out and socializing with friends. So, that is what we did and it was great.

Thanks to everyone who came out and everyone else who wished my a happy birthday! I’m lucky to have such wonderful people in my life!

Thanks Teeples for the gift!

You already know about the present D got me. My friends the Teeples picked up this board game (I got cards and free drinks too!) I can’t wait to have everyone over (or 2 to 6 of you) to give it a go.

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