stormdog | (no subject)

There is something simply amazing about watching a black vinyl disc spinning around a spindle, a chromed metal arm caressing it's surface so gently, and knowing that music is flowing through it, coming out of all those tiny grooves, out through the tone arm, and into the speakers. It's really somewhat enthralling. Almost meditational. And when that black vinyl disc happens to be 'Dark Side of the Moon'... *shiver*
I looked for a turntable belt at no less than fifteen different places in the Detroit area without finding anyone who seemed to carry them at all. While in Kenosha, I entered Chester's looking for a Technics SL-B3 turntable belt. Response; 'Sure, lemme get it out of the back.' I miss that store. When I needed a battery for my Motorola bagphone, something that probably hasn't been made in over 15 years, they had it. In stock. I can't recommend them enough if you're ever in the Kenosha Wisconsin neighborhood.

My dear one and I are back from Illinois/Wisconsin. I just got up about half an hour ago, actually. We were out late at a party in the Detroit 'burbs that some rennie friends were having. In fact, that's what we did the day before as well, though that was at

emrldgrrl's place in the Chicago 'burbs. And before that, she and I spent a really nice two days at my parents' house where I alternately talked with she and my parents, fixed my brother's computer, and hung around with my family. I miss my family so much. I miss spending hours just hanging around in my brother's room, watching him on the computer and just talking about everything and nothing. I mainly did that with Jim, but I was actually really enjoying doing that with Timothy this visit too. I guess he's really developed as a person lately. He's really fun to be with too. If

wooisme end up in the Chicago area in a year or so, I'm really looking forward to being able to have them over to the house on a regular basis.

Speaking of Tim's computer, it went through three graphics cards this weekend. He was having trouble with Everquest and, tracking down the error code that Everquest was throwing, I determined that it was because he didn't have the latest Direct X. I downloaded it and found that it seems to have trouble with Win98. Not to worry; I brought 2k with me. I installed it and found that Windows had given his graphics card the wrong driver. He had a monster fusion and the computer thought it was a banshee something-or-other. I looked for a 2k driver with no avail. Diamond has been bought out and has stopped supporting anything before early this year. Okay, he got my dad's old card since he had upgraded recently and the old one was around. Everquest is working wonderfully now. Then, for Christmas, he got Final Fantasy XI. Awesome game. So awesome, in fact, that it kept crashing his computer. Whee! Time to track down error messages again! Finally determined that his current graphics card did not support transform and lighting. Off to the computer store (where my brother's girlfriends works; not only do I like her a lot cause she's really awesome, but she'll let us buy stuff with her store discount!) where we gave in and just bought a low-end but modern GeForce2 with his Christmas money. All good now. *smile*

We saw my extended family on Christmas and had a pretty good time with them. Everyone over there chipped in and I left for home with a brand new Playstation 2. That was really cool. Then my brother lent me a bunch of games too, since he'll be here next week (my family is visiting) and can get them then. All the time spent with my brothers and parents and family was really good. I think my dear one and I both had a really nice time with them.

The parties were good. There were, as usual at parties, more people than I'm really comfortable with and at

emrldgrrl's I ended up stepping outside for a time to get away from the noise and smoke, but I did get to hang around most of Saturday night with

posicat and

crim_ferret geeking out while my raccoon talked and flirted with

emrldgrrl,

datahawk, and

wyldekyttin.

Sunday night at Lady Sara's was busy at first too, but toward the end of the night as most of the people left, there were just a few people left. Lisa and I sat on the couch in front of the movie on the television and cajoled my beloved to come over and join us. With Lady Sara down on the floor in front of us, I spent an hour or so surrounded by three beautiful (and really neat) women and it was a very relaxing time. Had it not been for Andrea starting to come down with a cold, I could say things were perfect. As it stands, she's actually still in bed. My poor dear has a nasty sore throat and cough and I put her to bed immediatly after coming home last night. I keep looking in on her once in a while and making sure she has water by her side. I am honored to be able to take care of her...

I still haven't checked LJs or mail. I'm not going to quite yet. I'm just going to geek out for a while today and keep an eye on my raccoon.

</stream of consciousness ramble>

*hugs to everyone*