Author: Vid

So those who know me well know I’m thoroughly a Commodore enthusiast. I received my very first Commodore 64 about a quarter century ago, and I’ve been playing games with it since then. Yes, that means even today. Without a doubt I can list M.U.L.E. as one of my favorite games of all time. The Commodore was given to me by my Uncle, who has greatly influenced my opinion of computers as gaming devices, and is surely as responsible for my love of electronic entertainment as anyone I know.

As time has progressed, my Commodore monitor has become an excellent addition to my personal entertainment collection. The composite video and audio input ( granted, only a single channel, but that’s fixed with a Y-joint adapter ) turned the monitor into a smaller TV which I could move about. LAN party friends will surely recognize it as my XBox monitor for Halo, while others will know it as my NES display in my bedroom as a kid.

But sad times have come. After 25 years of service, and longer if you count how long my Uncle had it first, Commodore Monitor Alpha ( I have three, though one is missing ) has stopped providing video. Alpha has been through a lot. I took it with me when I moved up to Washington, during which time I hydroplaned over a river and into a tree. The framing on it cracked, but it continued to serve like a relentless soldier. That was ten years ago. Since then it’s been banged, dropped once ( though only a foot ), knocked over a few times, and never a single issue. However, over the weekend it was being transported from one location to another, and there wasn’t a single collision. When I hooked up my XBox 360 to it, there was no video.

I fidgeted with it’s visual settings; brightness, v-hold, contrast, hoping that it was as simple as one of them having been turned by my car’s seat, as it lost it’s knob plate years ago. But no, there was no adjustment, the video input had simply stopped working. I needed consoling ( ha, puns! ). I hooked my XBox up to the TV, secretly hoping that the XBox was the issue.

Well, it was and it wasn’t. See, that bastard decided it’s going to die on me too. So not only is my Commodore monitor blind, but my XBox is on its way out. I am thoroughly vexed. But what’s really messed up is I feel more distraught about the monitor.

Rest In Peace.

Well, until I crack you open, fix you up, and put your cracked framing back in alignment.

— Vid

The site is obviously still under a massive amount of construction, but for my own sanity it’s not the only thing I’m working on. At the moment you can use the quick links above to access the multiply titled Wiki for my fictional works. I know that it should end up on the Content page, and it will, but like I said, massive amount of construction. So it’ll wait. Right now it’s the only quick link up there that actually works, so don’t go poking around elsewhere.

I’m using PmWiki as the backbone for it, which is great for my editing needs. It works really easily, and I’ve had a lot of luck interlinking a bunch of different subjects. I suppose that’s kind of the purpose of a Wiki though, isn’t it. The one issue I’ve had with PmWiki so far is the graphical representation. Getting the Wiki re-skinned is kind of low priority right now, but if anyone out there has any advice on how that works, it’d be appreciated.

Otherwise check it out and read up.

— Vid

Well I’ve done it. I’ve rehashed the site away from the old notepad / FTP update format and into the new world of ‘blogging’. Which can bite me, by the way. The site’s still under some massive reconstruction. For one, I really liked my old theme by dcarter, but I’m having some trouble getting it to work properly with WordPress. I’ve kind of gotten the layout to look right, but I can’t seem to adjust the graphical appearance without breaking a lot of things.

I mean, a lot of things.

So as always, it’s still a work in progress while I learn the new programming structure, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Who knows, maybe there’ll even be free cookies. Get it? Cookies? Because it’s a website?

— Vid