Trekking

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER: Thursday night, we headed to Safeco Field for some baseball ... and Star Trek Night!

I decided to bring along an old lunchbox from the '90s as my purse for the evening. It turned a few heads (ha ha). The security guards who had to search the Klingon head upon our entrance got a huge boot out of it. Bet it's the first time that's happened to them. 

Our seats gained us special Spock shirts (the Mariners' logo and name is on the front).

By the seventh inning stretch, Worf needed to freshen up.

We had a local celebrity sitting in our section, Art Oberto, of Oberto jerky fame. Celebrating his 94th birthday, he threw out the first pitch! During his introduction, we learned he took over the family business at age 16. He was too young to drive, so before he went to school in the morning, he rode his bike to deliver Oberto products around Seattle.

We even got free Oberto jerky on the way out of the game. Thanks, Mr. Oberto.

One more random shot from last night. ... Right next to the Dippin' Dots stand, this colorful catastrophe was on the concrete. It was so pretty, I had to stop for a photo. 

BIRDIE: A few days ago, Annabelle was standing at our front window, and noticed a bird out in the yard. I keep a copy of the book "Birds of Seattle and Puget Sound" by Chris C. Fisher right on the front window sill just for such occasions. 

Christian thought it looked like a woodpecker, based on its bobbing head motions, and so Annabelle looked in that section of the book. In short order, she identified it as a Northern Flicker.

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Of the 11 species of woodpeckers (including sapsuckers) that live in Washington, the Northern flicker (Colaptes auratus, Fig. 1) is probably the most commonly seen and heard."

On their website, the WDFW goes on to explain, "Flickers can also be identified by their loud call that sounds like wake-up, wake-up, wake-up; also a piercing, sharply descending peeahr (editor's note - that's not a typo). Any annoyance these woodpeckers may cause for homeowners is greatly outweighed by the large number of insect pests they eat, and the number of homes they create for other wildlife."

WDFW notes that the Northern flicker "are often seen hopping on lawns where they catch ants and other insects with their sticky tongues." No doubt that's exactly what the bird Annabelle spied was doing. We've got ants aplenty right now!

Midweek

BERRY GOOD: This morning, before breakfast, I sent the kids outside to glean some berries for their oatmeal. (Our 'new' yard is almost completely devoid of food producing plants, but we were gifted some potted strawberry and blueberry plants by a friend who was moving a couple of months ago.) 

This morning's harvest, blueberries and strawberries, wasn't particularly bountiful or beautiful. Undersized and not particularly visually impressive, the fruit really wasn't much to look at. The berries were, however, totally organic, and just minutes-old prior to consumption. I can say without hesitation, the strawberries were the sweetest I've had in my 50-plus years. So yay for that! And there's just something sweet about harvesting and eating your own fruit in a meal. 

LOST OPPORTUNITY: Big news from NASA for the past couple of days involves reports that the space agency has lost contact with beloved, stalwart, intrepid, over-achieving Martian rover Opportunity.

Launched on July 7, 2003, to date Opportunity has already exceeded its operating plan by 14 years and 48 days (in Earth time). Impressive, to be sure!

Source: NASA

However, no one at NASA has heard from Opportunity for days now.

Why has Oppy failed to phone home? An enormous Martian dust storm has blotted out the sun. First detected on May 30, the gargantuan storm now blankets 14-million square miles (35-million square kilometers), or about one-quarter of the Red Planet's surface.

Source: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "This series of images shows simulated views of a darkening Martian sky blotting out the Sun from NASA's Opportunity rover's point of view, with the right side simulating Opportunity's current view in the global dust storm (June 2018). The left starts with a blindingly bright mid-afternoon sky, with the sun appearing bigger because of brightness. The right shows the Sun so obscured by dust it looks like a pinprick."

Per a NASA press release, "The team is now operating under the assumption that the charge in Opportunity’s batteries has dipped below 24 volts and the rover has entered low power fault mode, a condition where all subsystems, except a mission clock, are turned off. The rover’s mission clock is programmed to wake the computer so it can check power levels. If the rover’s computer determines that its batteries don't have enough charge, it will again put itself back to sleep. Due to an extreme amount of dust over Perseverance Valley, mission engineers believe it is unlikely the rover has enough sunlight to charge back up for at least the next several days."

In a press conference today, Richard Zurek, chief scientist for JPL’s Mars Program Office, said scientists had to go back to 1971 to name a worse storm on the Red Planet.The mammoth dust storm has darkened the skies over Opportunity to nearly pitch-black. 

It's worrisome because Opportunity's twin, Spirit, experienced a similar power drain in 2010, and was never heard from again. However, the 'good' news is the Opportunity team saw  the dust storm was turning into a monster, and so they programmed Opportunity to deal with what was, in effect, an emergency situation, putting the rover into an an extended deep sleep. All of its systems are shut down, except for a master clock timed to interrupt the snooze periodically and check the power levels. Once the Martian skies have lightened enough to keep the batteries charged, the rover will recontact Earth, and, hopefully, get back to work.

And so, we wait and watch and hope Opportunity rides out the storm.

For more information about Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

GAME WATCH: Over the past two days, the kids have spent some time watching coverage of E3 Expo. The (Internet) broadcasts have been engaging and interesting (this coming from someone who has never played any of the games that are being demonstrated).

I'll have Annabelle tell you more about it.

June 6^th was part of the week-long annual gaming expo E3, a large event where multiple gaming companies share an exhibition hall and present new and upcoming projects. My family decided to watch coverage of Nintendo’s events that day, which included multiple short game showcases and 2 tournaments. One tournament for “Splatoon 2” in celebration of an expansion releasing the next day, and the other for the upcoming 5^th installment in the Super Smash Bros series “Super Smash Bros Ultimate.”

The “Splatoon 2” tournament used the game’s multiple competitive game modes, where you play on a team of 4 people and try to reach a defined goal. The objectives for each match included things like  securing a section of the stage and holding it until time runs out, riding a vehicle to the opponent’s safe point, and throwing items into a net to score points. The team that eventually won was a team from Japan dubbed the “GG Boyz.”

The Super Smash brothers tournament had no teams, but each player had to choose 3 different fighters and use each of them at least once. The contestants assumed they would be competing at the latest game (Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS) until it was announced that they would be using a brand new demo of the unreleased game! The competitors seemed to grasp the new system very well, and the winner even used one of the new unreleased characters! It was a great way to showcase the new features of the game and give a sneak peek at the new additions to the roster!

Game Time

TACOMA TRIP: Once a year, for a few years running now, we head down to the expo center in Tacoma for an annual big pinball and arcade show.

This Sunday, that was #1 on our to do list. We had a great time as usual. More games than ever before, and lots that were new to us. I'll have CJ tell you a bit more about it.

One pinball game I'd never seen before was Alien Poker. Interesting theme. The playfield was super busy.

It was made by the Williams company, in 1980. I kind of love the font they used.

And what was this?! How was it we've never seen an Elvis pinball machine before?!

Made in 2004 by Stern, it has all sorts of sweet little details.

You can't really see it very well in the photo below, but in the chute where your ball disappears back into the machine, it has a little medallion that says "Elvis has left the building."

The machine has a soundtrack of "See See Rider," "Blue Suede Shoes," All Shook Up," "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Burning Love," all of them actual recordings from either Elvis' famed "68 Comeback" television special or his fabulous "Aloha from Hawaii" television special.

The only thing I didn't like about the pin was the face on the dancing Elvis. Kinda creepy, definitely not Elvis like.

Fresh off the heels of the disco party we helped host last weekend, this machine caught my eye.

Loved the illuminated mirror ball atop it!

It was a party in a pinball machine.

While I certainly know of "The Hustle," I did not know there variants, like the Tango Hustle and a Boston Hustle. Hmm. ... 

A few of the pinball machines were next gen, with playfields that were just large computer monitors.

I played this Battlestar Galactica-themed one.

It would take some getting used to. The machine 'moves' when you hit flippers and as the (virtual) ball bounces off bumpers and stuff, but there was a lag between pressing the buttons and the flippers working that was problematic to me.

Likewise, this machine Christian played Jaws on was really just a big computer, with dozens of different games. He didn't like the way the playfield was animated, said it was distracting.

We spent a lot more time checking out the vintage machines than the new ones. 

My photo is terrible, but I found the graphics on this Capersville pin intriguing - so very '60s.

Midcentury modern meets the Jetsons, to my eye. The machine was made by Bally in 1966.  According to Internet Pinball Database, Jerry Kelley was Capersville's artist. He reportedly shared that the inspiration for the art for the game was a 1965 French detective movie 'Alphaville,' starring American actor-singer Eddie Constantine. 

We also played a number of stand up consoles. Here, CJ, wearing a Centipede shirt, plays Centipede. 

Below the kids play an old favorite, Bubble Bobble.

For whatever reason, there are in inordinate number of clown-themed pinball machines. 

I don't know who Gigi is, or why she's hanging out with clowns, but I think she should find some new friends. (The game is by the D. Gottlieb company, from 1963.)

There were some driving games, of course, including a fun Super Bug console.

And then there were random old games that were, IMHO, just pretty terrible. This game seemed to have an apt name. How many quarters has it gobbled for so little fun?

Sad graphics from Rip Off.

This old arcade game, Space Encounters, by Midway was pretty fun. The plane-style steering wheel moved in an out to decrease speed and it was surprisingly responsive.

There was always a line at Stern's The Pabst Can Crusher pin, just a couple of years old.

And, of course, we had to play the classic Flash Gordon pin, complete with a soundtrack by Queen.

 Ming was as merciless as ever.

 This  newish-1965 Mustang pin was in the tournament players' only section. 

 We also checked out a cool Houdini-themed machine. Loved the Ouija board 'speller' they included.

 This "Hot Doggin' " machine just screamed '70s. 

The worst game I played all day was something called Trog. It involved a T-Rex who punches its enemies. Um, everyone knows a T-Rex isn't built for boxing.  

Here's what CJ had to say about the show. ...

On 10 June 2018, I went to the Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center, south of us in Tacoma. The NP&AS is an annual event, and 2018 is the event's eleventh year, according to its website. The event featured over 400 pinball and arcade games, dating from the 1950s to this year's releases.

There was a jarring difference in atmosphere between the outside of the room and the inside of the room. Outside, the sun was shining through the windows, and some of the only sounds were coming from a small (think the size of a living room, at most) pinball and arcade section. According to the main page of the event's website (linked above), the NP&AS draws over 4,000 different pinball and arcade collectors annually. Judging by my perception at the event, I believe the "over 4,000 people attending" claim to be true. The event was held in theTacoma Convention Center's 13,400 sq. ft. ballroom on the third floor.

While most of the pinball machines were on the left side of the convention room, most of the arcade games were on the right side. I spent more time in the arcade section, and my favorite arcade game at the event was R-Type II. At one point, Annabelle and I made it to Stage 26 in the original Bubble Bobble. This is the furthest we've ever gotten in the game (100 stages).

At a later point, Annabelle and I attempted to succeed on a Dance Dance Revolution game. Both of us failed terribly due to the fast pace of the required inputs.

Up I-5

FERRY NICE: Last Thursday, we made our way north of Seattle city limits to visit Mukilteo. It had been way too long since we've ventured to that pretty little city.

One of our stops was the Mukileo lighthouse. Granted, it's not the tallest lighthouse ever, but it's an attractive structure nonetheless.

We also wanted to check out the grounds around the lighthouse, as that's where Eric & Judy (Grandma and Grandpa) spend many hours tending to the gardens.

 The orange lilies were spectacular. 

 It looks like Eric and Judy are a volunteer army of two around the grounds.

 We saw ferries coming and going.

 And for a few moments, we fretted about this crow, whose left wing looked weird. 

Fortunately, turned out he was OK.