In California, truck license plates are 7 characters, all numbers except for one letter in either the second or the sixth position. Whenever that letter is an X, I get nerd snipped into treating it as a multiplication problem and solving it in my head.
Music. Coding. Gaming. Life.
What a day. Or two.
It all started back on Saturday morning when Kathy and I had begun our fixing up the old laptop, Sparky Jr., preparing it for service in Australia with us. Perhaps the fact that it rebooted several times while trying to install Windows was a sign of things to come.
We started running late, and in the process forgot our jackets and the US to Australian power convertor for our powered things. Oh well, too late. We walked into the terminal at 6:10pm, 55 minutes shy of our flight time, and paniced when the kiosks didn't recognize that I had reservations to Melbourne, Australia.
No worries, the attendant was wonderful in figuring us out. So helpful was she that she discovered an earlier flight that had been delayed that we could get on to! We thought we had a great deal.
Instead, we just been had.
The flight continued to be delayed, and did not take off until about 4 hours after it was scheduled to, leaving us in Los Angeles at 11pm, rushing around an airport neither of us have ever been to before to get to a 11:40pm flight. We were in terminal 6, and found out we had to go to terminal 4. When we got to terminal 4, we were told it was for Sydney only, so we had to go to terminal 3.
Terminal 3 was, in short, hell on earth. It was quite simply a sea of people, and I have never been pushed around by people I've never met before. They were just rude, brash, and unapologetic. The lines were all nightmares, and Qantas was over in the far corner of the terminal, causing us to go through this sea of people.
The lines there were not long, but they were slow in serving us. When we got to the desk, we were assured we'd make our flight, and sure enough, after "expedited security" (really, just a shorter line, you still have to do the routine, and getting through it took about 15 minutes), we got to the gate at midnight, just in time to hear our row being called.
Surprisingly, the 15 hour flight was not only event free, but the most pleasant part of the journey so far. Two nice meals, great service, and lots of sleep for me.
Kathy and I finally make it to Melbourne, make it through customs in uneventful fashion, and get to the baggage claim, where we waited.
...and waited...
...and waited...
Finally the baggage collection area shut off, and we were told nothing else was coming. Hmph. We filed a claim, and was told one of the bags never left Houston!!!
So here we were, in the middle of a city we're unfamiliar with, with only a laptop, IDs and passports, and some check cards. No clothing, no extra necesseties, nothing. We left the airport via shuttle for the hotel, where we were told our early checkin was for 11:30. It was 10:30. So we went downstairs, bought some jackets, and had lunch.
I've never had chicken parmesian (don't ask me how to spell that) in a sandwich before, it was actually quite nice. Kathy had some lasagna she was impartial to, but otherwise a good meal to keep us going.
We wanted to go into downtown to hit the Qantas travel center, so we decided to take the tram. Bad idea. First of all, I had no idea that it cost so much to get onto the tram, it was $2.30. Secondly, I had $4.30. Oops. We got off at the next stop, faces red in embarassment.
Then we made it down, via foot, the 3 blocks to the Qantas travel center, and found out that we could get $100 of free Australian cash per bag lost. Cool, $200 quick cash to pick us up new clothes! We hit a target another 3 blocks away, and then walked all the way back to the hotel where Kathy crashed.
I was about to, but then I got on here to document our first day. Now I'm going out to meet with Thorn of TTR fame for some grub. Our bags should arrive tomorrow, though we'll be hitting Surfers Paradise to meet up with some friends of ours and spend the day there. I'll likely report again after that. Until then, g'day mate!
It all started back on Saturday morning when Kathy and I had begun our fixing up the old laptop, Sparky Jr., preparing it for service in Australia with us. Perhaps the fact that it rebooted several times while trying to install Windows was a sign of things to come.
We started running late, and in the process forgot our jackets and the US to Australian power convertor for our powered things. Oh well, too late. We walked into the terminal at 6:10pm, 55 minutes shy of our flight time, and paniced when the kiosks didn't recognize that I had reservations to Melbourne, Australia.
No worries, the attendant was wonderful in figuring us out. So helpful was she that she discovered an earlier flight that had been delayed that we could get on to! We thought we had a great deal.
Instead, we just been had.
The flight continued to be delayed, and did not take off until about 4 hours after it was scheduled to, leaving us in Los Angeles at 11pm, rushing around an airport neither of us have ever been to before to get to a 11:40pm flight. We were in terminal 6, and found out we had to go to terminal 4. When we got to terminal 4, we were told it was for Sydney only, so we had to go to terminal 3.
Terminal 3 was, in short, hell on earth. It was quite simply a sea of people, and I have never been pushed around by people I've never met before. They were just rude, brash, and unapologetic. The lines were all nightmares, and Qantas was over in the far corner of the terminal, causing us to go through this sea of people.
The lines there were not long, but they were slow in serving us. When we got to the desk, we were assured we'd make our flight, and sure enough, after "expedited security" (really, just a shorter line, you still have to do the routine, and getting through it took about 15 minutes), we got to the gate at midnight, just in time to hear our row being called.
Surprisingly, the 15 hour flight was not only event free, but the most pleasant part of the journey so far. Two nice meals, great service, and lots of sleep for me.
Kathy and I finally make it to Melbourne, make it through customs in uneventful fashion, and get to the baggage claim, where we waited.
...and waited...
...and waited...
Finally the baggage collection area shut off, and we were told nothing else was coming. Hmph. We filed a claim, and was told one of the bags never left Houston!!!
So here we were, in the middle of a city we're unfamiliar with, with only a laptop, IDs and passports, and some check cards. No clothing, no extra necesseties, nothing. We left the airport via shuttle for the hotel, where we were told our early checkin was for 11:30. It was 10:30. So we went downstairs, bought some jackets, and had lunch.
I've never had chicken parmesian (don't ask me how to spell that) in a sandwich before, it was actually quite nice. Kathy had some lasagna she was impartial to, but otherwise a good meal to keep us going.
We wanted to go into downtown to hit the Qantas travel center, so we decided to take the tram. Bad idea. First of all, I had no idea that it cost so much to get onto the tram, it was $2.30. Secondly, I had $4.30. Oops. We got off at the next stop, faces red in embarassment.
Then we made it down, via foot, the 3 blocks to the Qantas travel center, and found out that we could get $100 of free Australian cash per bag lost. Cool, $200 quick cash to pick us up new clothes! We hit a target another 3 blocks away, and then walked all the way back to the hotel where Kathy crashed.
I was about to, but then I got on here to document our first day. Now I'm going out to meet with Thorn of TTR fame for some grub. Our bags should arrive tomorrow, though we'll be hitting Surfers Paradise to meet up with some friends of ours and spend the day there. I'll likely report again after that. Until then, g'day mate!
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roncli.com Blog
This is my blog where I give my thoughts and opinions on various topics and share my creative endeavors with the world. I run two personal blogs, but combine them here for ease of access.
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Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Crap, we pulled an extra pack of gargoyles and wiped! Damn DPS.
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Okay I've been warned to watch out for the lizard people... And the final boss is some horse named Blucifer...
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Just landed in Denver and I can't get it out of my mind that this was a FFXIV cutscene for
THE ILLUMINATI HEADQUARTERS
DENVER, COLORADO
Yikes. I hope the tank's good.
brennen
@brennen @federation.p1k3.com
we should have paid more attention to the cats who, for decades, put their bodies on the line to walk on keyboards and sit on laptops and prevent us from programming
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
The Eagles took it to the limit WAY more than one more time.
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Is that... T-Pain?
Take a good hard look at the mother fucking float.
CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow:
@catsalad @infosec.exchange
Did you know that Pavlov's hair was famously soft and silky?
It's because he conditioned it. :ablobcatlurk:
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
And when the groundhog saw its shadow, the people declared:
"FOUR MORE YEARS OF STRESS EATING!"
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Boss: "We need to come up with a number of hours it will take to do this super big project."
Me: "Do you want that number written out, or can I use exponential form?"
🙃
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I guess you CAN'T do it with True Value. https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/business/true-value-bankruptcy
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Former 2 time world champion DogPlayingTetris becomes the first player to ever rollover the level counter in NES Tetris, performing what's known in the community as "Rebirth". Final score: 29,486,164, 4216 lines, level 347 (256 + 91)... all huge world records. #tetris
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Back row... Mother with screaming infant, 300 lb linebacker, and me. Or what's left of me. #airporthell
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I'd also love a 6 hour layover overnight instead of taking the red eye I was going to take and be 7 hours later getting into Cleveland than I wanted, why do you ask? #airporthell
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Why yes, I'd love to leave at 4:40 to get to the airport at 6:20 for an 8:20 flight that got delayed to 9:05 which is too late for my connection so now I'm on a 10:20 flight instead. Why do you ask? #airporthell
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I've never had as much fun on comms for a Tetris match as I did tonight with NinjaOfNinjas for the silver bracket semis and finals. What a show!
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I'm not done! I'll be casting the later rounds of the silver bracket today at 6:30 PM Pacific at https://twitch.tv/classictetris3. Cya there!
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I'll be live casting qualifiers today for CTWC at https://twitch.tv/classictetris2 at 1 PM Pacific and https://twitch.tv/classictetris3 at 3:30 PM Pacific. This year's CTWC is the craziest yet so don't miss it!
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Just a note to everyone out there who still believes 2020 hasn't ended that today is Unquinquaginember 21st, 2020.
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
@shanselman Who at Microsoft do I have to bribe to fix ADO so that those of us on dark mode who copy/paste text from one task to another can do so without our friends on light mode seeing dark text on a dark background?
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I updated the blog post with a statement from Revival. While I'm not particularly happy with Revival's decision, I understand their motives. It's just a shame that it was someone from Interplay that had to go and do this. "By games for gamers" my ass.
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Damn, got another Tetris world record! This time in the arcade variant developed by Atari. 6,008,005 points, 5,386 lines, round 363. Be warned, it's nearly FIVE HOURS. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2131759212
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I certainly didn't have "Overload but with web3 features" on my 2024 bingo card. WTF did Revival Productions just do?
https://roncli.com/blogger/3949527510668683306/wtf-did-revival-productions-just-do
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
@solitha New rule: cat tax. For every pun you post or repost, you're now required to pay the tax of posting one cute cat video.
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Today was a special day. I scored 1,016,221 points in classic NES Tetris, the first time I broke the 999,999 maxout barrier.
With that maxout, I became the oldest person to get their first ever maxout at 46 years 319 days.
After I scored that, I learned that today would have been 7-time Tetris world champion Jonas Neubauer's 43rd birthday.
I am FILLED with incredible emotion tonight.
https://clips.twitch.tv/AverageImportantGoldfishHassaanChop-bRfUxo4q5SxEgJvI
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
"I'm Sorry, What?!" The biggest bailout in the history of Descent II! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLlTk7wa59A
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
“BART anime merch" are three words that I would not have expected to go together, but here we are. https://www.railgoods.com/bart/anime/
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
Does anyone else sing the chorus to "Cherish" by Kool & The Gang to themselves whenever they play or watch streams of Balatro? Or is that just me?
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
I'm fact that's what Lingo needs: a "phone" block. The clue is an incorrect autocorrected form of the answer. 🙃
Ronald M. Clifford
@roncli @mastodon.social
It's like my phone knows I've been playing Lingo. I typed in "exited" and my phone was all:
⬜️ EXCITED ------
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