Archive for February, 2007

Tonight I got an email from someone I had contacted earlier on, Gary, about his Mr. Do machine. He had sold his a long time ago, but out of the blue he emails me and says he found someone who has one, and mentions that he doesn’t want to part with it, but would for $400. I think that is a great price, but funny because I just found someone else myself who is selling one for the same price. So, I emailed Gary back for more information, I hope he is able to get back to me.

Gary emailed me back, it is a different guy and he is located in Pembroke MA, which is pretty much the same distance as the other one.

I also got photos today of the Mr. Do machine that is in Lynn, MA, and I was surprised that the sideart seemed to be rubbing off. It was a weird kind of wear I hadn’t seen before, so I asked Gary about this since he owned one of these Mr. Do’s previously. He says this was really common, that the Mr. Do white cabinet dedicated version would just rub off in your hands.

The other owner’s name is Rob Carroll in Pembroke, MA, who bought the game from the owner that Gary sold it to, so hopefully Gary will be able to find his email address for me.

I have not been writing, mostly because it seems like something always comes up, but also largely in part because I can be a one task kind of guy. I have been trying to write this entry on our puppy, and what happened that day, but something always comes up it seems. I knew I also didn’t want to just start writing again, making it seem like we have just moved on. Because we haven’t. But, I did want to write a quick note tonight because…

I am writing this entry from my couch. We gave in this week and bought a laptop. It was a really nice one until I left the store, and then it was outdated. But seriously, right now it is a nice one, a huge 17″ screen, 2 gigs of memory, Windows Vista Ultimate, a slew of cool other little pieces rolled into one compact little package, and, oh yeah, it keeps you warm during winter:)

So, the last two days have been spent learning more about wireless routing and how to make it work, even if I have to go through the process a whole bunch of times. I know a lot more now, and can probably do it again if I need to. Either way, it is refreshing. I can be more comfortable, I can be upstairs with my wife and I can feel cool. Granted, right now, my wife is in bed, and I can barely find the right shift key, but it is something new to get excited about, and sometimes that really is important.

I haven’t heard back anything from the people I emailed this week, but I found out something pretty damn cool today.

I was going through my auctions, and one of the auctions for a Dig Dug, was based out of Lynn, Massachusetts. I remembered that is where the Mr. Do that I first saw, that sparked this whole section, was sold on ebay. I saw that there was some feedback on the day that the auction was supposed to end (Nov. 6), so I emailed the guy. His name is Walt, and he got right back to me and was really nice. He did confirm that he sold that machine, and that he actually had another one. He sent me a phone number so I gave him a call.

Not only is it a dedicated one, but it is the same version, working and everything! I was pretty surprised, he said he got it in a bulk deal. Although exciting, there is always the consideration of the cost of the trip to get a game. Walt does have a basic website that I may try to do some bartering for him in design for him to take some photos of the sideart for me. I can never seem to separate actual value vs. what something is worth to me. I know if I resold the game, I would get about what he is asking for it, but with the travel (15 hours one way), the game would cost probably around 800, which I know I couldn’t resell it for that much.

Other information to note; I think there are two versions of the sideart, as you can tell from the photos. The one version is a conversion, a version of the dedicated, which spans the whole height of the cabinet. Walt has the one that spans the whole height, which is better anyway. It is a really long ways, and a lot to think about especially in this weather. He would have to hold onto it probably until early spring before I would even think about going out there to get it.

We have also thought about taking a St. Johns Lutheran related trip to Providence, RI in May. Lynn is only just over an hour away, so that may
be worth it to travel down and take the photos myself if he still has it at that point.

Well, it has been two years for this section of my blog as well. I got as far as installing Mambo, and doing some research on it, but I figured out that I couldn’t use it on just a portion of my blog and not the rest. I would need to convert the whole site, and I didn’t really need to do that. Plus, at the time, I got scared off by the programming part of the site.

Fast forward to today. Mambo’s developers left and made a new project called Joomla. This is another content management system that has a huge following, a great design, and great structure. And, it is all open source. I need to install it for the church website, so here we go again.

I may use this section to post what I think is interesting, but I don’t know. I have a lot of good intentions and not enough time.

There is no easy way to start this.

On early Monday morning, Kellogg died.

I have had so many emotions, thoughts, and doubts floating around in my head, waging war for who would strike at me on any given day. Most of the week I have been paralyzed by my emotions. I don’t feel like doing much, and I would even venture that it has been worse for Sarah in some regards. She has been off from school because of snow days until today, so she has been coping at home, alone.

I don’t know what to really do with the link above, and the photo. For now I have decided to leave it. I haven’t looked at the gallery again, it has been to hard.

I knew as the week progressed, my words needed some sort of outlet and I knew I had to express myself through writing.

But, before I could, it only seemed proper that I finish an article that I had started writing last week. This writing isn’t as polished as I would like, and I know at times it doesn’t flow at the quality I demand of myself, but I am emotionally exhausted, and my next article is going to take everything I have. I need to get it out, while it is still fresh, to help the mourning.

When I will type up that article, I don’t know. Probably this weekend. But for now, read about my thoughts on Adopting a Puppy in Indianapolis, IN in the “Interests - Opinions” Section. Here’s a section of my site, that I had king of banished. My opinions section, now under “The vault and other interests” was a section I hadn’t planned on updating anymore. But no less than two months later, I may have two new articles. Timing is everything, and this is not the best, but I do think it has purpose and has importance none the less.

Adopting a dog in Indianapolis, IN? continued……

One morning, in his stool, we notice a huge four inch long white worm. We start to panic a little bit. This is our first dog so we don’t actually know what standard protocol is for treating a pissed-off, worm infected puppy. We start by taking him back to the hospital for a checkup. Come to find out, not only does he have a terrible case of roundworm, but a stool examination shows bacteria consistent with Parvovirus, a deadly virus that eats away the lining of the intestine and kills dogs in as little as three days.

Wow. What a bomb, emotionally especially. We had tried so hard to be prepared, and to make the right, responsible decision, how did we miss something this huge? At adoption, there were a ton of waivers we had to sign concerning the health of the dog, but that didn’t matter because I didn’t blame P.A.K. at all. The point of the long story above was to show you that P.A.K. is that much better in quality from just a typical shelter. But much like a shelter, when a litter of puppies is dumped at their doorstep they don’t know the dog’s history, much about the genetic makeup of mom and dad, or in general where the puppies have been.

A long story, but here comes the point. If you are reading this article, and are preparing to buy a puppy from Petsmart and P.A.K. Rescue in Greenwood / Indianapolis, IN you will be the beneficiaries from our mistakes. If you are serious about the dog, but can resist the cuteness of a puppy long enough to think things through, have it checked out. I know it seems harsh to make a decision about getting a dog or not on whether he is healthy or not, but consider this. Our dog Kellogg ended up being ok. He had a test done for Parvovirus and it came back negative, and his roundworm issues are fairly common and easily treated. All added up, these treatments we not that costly. But it was a cost we didn’t necessarily have to pay, and just think if he did have Parvovirus. The treatments for something that serious are expensive, and don’t guarantee anything depending on the progression of the disease. We could spend a ton of money into a dog that could be beyond saving and pass away.

Back to the point. Take advantage of the “foster a puppy” program if you are serious about looking at a particular dog. The same day you are fostering, make an appointment at a veterinarian, or at Banfield Hospital right there in Petsmart and have them do a rigorous check over of the dog. Have them check for a number of the diseases young dogs get, and ask a lot of questions. Do your research, Banfield provides a pamphlet that gives you an introduction to many of these ailments, but you still need to get online and learn a little more.

This may seem cruel, but I consider myself a businessman, and I don’t like to rush into any decision. You have two options, either you can pay $500 in medical bills for a dog that dies because you didn’t do your research, or if you are so serious that you are taking a dog home, have him checked out for considerably less, make sure he is healthy, and best of all get some peace of mind.

You want to have a long term friend and pet, and you both want to be happy. This is my advice to you, do the right thing and don’t be fooled by those puppy eyes. There is much more to a puppy than face value, and you want to make sure he stays that cute, happy little puppy that you will enjoy for a long time.

~final

Adopting a dog in Indianapolis, IN?

Both my wife and I have always wanted a dog of our own. We both grew up with a furry companion, but just in the last year we have felt like we were secure enough financially to get one.

At first, I was looking for a specific mix of Shar Pei and Pit Bull. Why that combination in particular? We knew another dog that we thought of as “perfect” that had that exact mixing. We watch her from time to time and really love her a lot. But the options for this mix were slim, costly, and usually involved a time consuming trip. It took me over 8 months of semi-passive searching to come to the realization that I may have to compromise some, but also to realize that it shouldn’t be this hard to adopt a dog.

Up until now, I had always shuddered at the thought of adopting from a shelter. The shelter’s I have visited have the wafting aroma of a loaded diaper, and are equally messy. Not to mention, the few folks I have met who run shelters seem to be less than welcoming. I would make a large assumption that their hardened demeanor is a result of what they have seen over the years. They also have probably also fought losing battles with weak willed character and apathy in potential adoptees who don’t really want any of the responsibility of owning a dog.

When a friend of ours told us that certain shelters came to the major pet outlets (Petco and Petsmart) on the weekends with dog’s to adopt, I was skeptically anticipating a similar experience in a store as I would have at the shelter itself. But I was wrong. At Petsmart there is a rescue named P.A.K. (or Puppy and Kitten Rescue as the acronym goes) that dispelled most of my preconceived notions.

Thursday through Sunday P.A.K. would set puppies out in little fenced in gates out on the main floor for all of the people to swoon. Just like any other puppies, they aren’t potty trained and their little fenced in area gets messy, but here in the store helpers quickly snatched up the dirty newspapers out of the gates as soon as ” business” occurred. And despite the reality that not all puppies would be adopted, and there would be many unfit, flighty, spur of the moment decision makers who would want to adopt, the P.A.K. rescue folks were warm, friendly, and ready to re-explain anything they probably had to explain ten times over during the course of any one given day.

This was what really impressed me about P.A.K. rescue. I am not oblivious to the responsibilities of adopting a puppy, but at the same time, I don’t want to concentrate on the inevitable smell and ruin any pet will bring to your nice things. You take the good with the bad, and when you are shopping you want mostly the good. Not to mention, here, your heart gets a rest. These are playful puppies, hopeful but aloof, not grown dogs who have been abused, underappreciated, and in cages most of their lives. The in store dog shopping was a nice medium for me, it was more neutral, and P.A.K’s main focus was the customer, not some pressing duty or care around the shelter.

So, we had made the decision that we wanted to adopt a puppy in one of the major pet stores, but we still were very unsure of what sort of knowledge we should possess before owning a young dog. Both my wife and I had grown up with dogs, but weren’t the primary care givers so our combined cobbled knowledge made for a set of inexperienced, retarded, red-headed-step-child-named-Cletus type owners.

Not to worry, P.A.K. rescue also had a great solution for potential owners like us. They would essentially let you “rent a dog” for one night or for four days during the week. At the surface this seems like a good racket to get you committed to those beautiful brown eyes. But if you have a strong will, this will allow you to get to know their personality a little bit, and find out some things about puppy rearing that you may have not already known. I am sure most people bring a puppy home and probably can’t help but get attached and adopt it. We were aware, and did our best to be prepared.

But despite our big fat pragmatic brains, our heart went out to the dog we chose, and we got attached. Hell, we had already started the naming process for our “Rent a dog” before our 24 hours was up, so we decided it was time to make a little leap and keep him. In the day we watched him, he didn’t give us any weird surprises, we liked his personality, and we were ready to have the responsibility of training him and caring for him on a day in day out basis.

P.A.K. gave us all of our forms and the remaining information we needed, calmly going through everything and not rushing us through the process. Now, an important note to this story is that these puppies were rescued from another shelter, meaning the history of the young dogs was one mystery you would have to accept. But P.A.K. did give them their first deworming and other initial puppy checks and treatments.

On top of that, Petsmart has made the whole new owner ramp up period even easier. They give you coupons for the supplies you will need, and they have partnered with Banfield pet hospital, which is located inside the store, to provide packaged health care visits and vaccinations to keep your puppy healthy. Banfield is a registered veterinarian hospital that has convenient hours (the same hours as Petsmart) and great prices. (I almost think they may be subsidized because of their agreement.) Banfield even provides a completely free looksie at your newest family member before you sign the final adoption papers.

This is where we were naive. I thought, that if the vet checked the dog over, then we would know right away of any major issues the puppy might have. But as I stood there, the puppy check seemed to be nothing more than a visual lookover to make sure your puppy wasn’t bleeding from the tip of his tail or missing a leg or something. There were no real tests concerning the health of the dog, only a check for some obvious visual cues, that if found would signify some condition so long progressed that your dog probably would pass away before you even left the store.

But, still committed, we left with our new puppy in tow. Now, fast forward a week. We have experienced good and bad in our new puppy “Kellogg”. He is clumsy and cute, but poops and pees all over the house and bites everything within a two inch radius of his mouth. We expected nothing less, but alarmingly we got something we never anticipated. It seemed about mid week that Kellogg started to growl when we picked him up, his demeanor changing from playful to nasty at the drop of dime. Then we get a larger, longer sign that something is wrong.

Continue to Part 2…..

I “Ping’d” Eric - “Alphamonster” on the Google Group today, and hope that he has the time to get back to me. At one time, he had a white Mr. Do! and he seems to know his stuff when it comes to arcade games rarely posting on the group. Hopefully he finds my message and is nice enough to shoot me a line.

In another post, a guy by the name of “Keith in NJ” had asked “Eric” (Alphamonster) if he would take some photos of the white character Mr. Do! sideart for him, because he was looking to do the exact same thing I am, reproduce the artwork. I emailed Keith today to see if he ever got a response, or if he was ever able to find photos big enough to reproduce the artwork. We’ll see what he says.

Found an artist on the BYOAC forum today that has been collecting / tracing pieces of Mr. Do art for a project of his since 2005 named Keith Corcoran. I emailed him to see if he knew anything or could lead me in a certain direction on getting the artwork for this game.

Later in the day, Dan emailed me back and gave me some more history on his Mr. Do. He said that he sold it back in 98-99 to PA Gameroom Warehouse. I checked the site, and they have this particular Mr. Do! I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if it is the same one he had or not, but it also isn’t cheap. You can check it out here, going for the affordable price of a used car at $1195.

Update August 28th, 2008
I never did hear back from Alphamonster way back last year, but I just happened to be looking on the ‘For Sale’ forums on klov and saw a profile of the same name of a collector out in Long Island New York (where I think Eric was located). I ended up emailing him, so hopefully this time I do hear back. Although, I think I sent mail to the same email address (”heman2rit@hotmail.com”) so maybe my luck will be the same.