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Snow day gone wrong!

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We woke up to a beautiful March 1st morning, a true Winter Wonderland after receiving more snow than ever before. We were so excited, snapping pics and video of the huge snowfall as we started our day. Our driveway was totally snowed in and we soon realized driving into work was not an option.

We’ve been thankful that we had dodged all the recent power outages hitting our area, but our luck ran out as we lost power in the morning. No worries, I started up the generator and got our “necessities” up and running with a few extension cords running thought-out the house.

I decided to run out and see if I can get the truck started. I knew that it was our only option if we were going to get out of our driveway any time soon. I threw on my snow boots at ran out to find that our carport which houses the Truck and Bronco had collapsed.

My heart sank when I saw the truck damaged from the collapsed carport. Thankfully the truck took one for the team and saved the Bronco with only inches to spare. I carefully maneuvered the Bronco out to get it away from the failed trusses, but it took us a while to shovel the snow out enough to free the Bronco from the failing structure.

After finally getting the Bronco position away from the carport we went inside to get warm and discuss our options going forward… then we heard the crash!!!!

We ran outside to find the carport had again failed, completely crushing the truck and damaging the hood, cab and bed. We are so happy we got the Bronco out of the way just in time to avoid any damage to our newest ride, but the truck took more damage.

Not sure what insurance is willing to do about the damage to the truck but I’m fearing the worst. “The Black Pearl” has been a big part of my life for nearly a decade, and I’ve put a lot of money, love and miles into the truck. It’s far from perfect, but it’s my baby and if it can’t be repaired I will be heartbroken.

I’ve been living in these mountains for over 30 years and have never suffered a weather related incident like this. I’m hoping The Beast can be saved but I’m so thankful it wasn’t any worse.

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Congratulations to the YHS Mock Trial Team

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The Yosemite High School Mock Trial Team is #1 in Madera County, and they’re going to State Finals next month!

Ali has loved every minute of this experience, and we have loved hearing the play by play of the courtroom drama over these past few weeks.

The team received additional personal awards and Ali received an award for Best Defense Witness.

Needless to say we are so proud of this girl, and wish her and the entire team further success as they move forward to their next challenge.

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Dragon’s Lair X RepliCade Overhaul Edition

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Another long wait is over!!!

I ordered this little beauty nearly a year ago, and it arrived a few months ahead of schedule. Dragon’s Lair was originally released in 1983 and was one of my favorite games growing up. I spent much of my limited arcade money on this game, as it took two quarters to play a game that usually ended in just a minute of play. Dragon’s Lair used laserdisc technology and animation from the legendary Don Bluth, offering greatly superior graphics compared to other video games at the time.

This miniaturized 1/6 scale cabinet features a control panel with authentic ball-top joystick and action buttons, a cabinet constructed from premium materials including wood, metal, and plastic, illuminated marquee and coin doors, high-resolution cabinet art reproduction on quality 3M vinyl overlays, and a LDV1000 Mini LaserDisc player replica prop with rear cab storage drawer.

It plays the original 1983 Dragon’s Lair LaserDisc arcade game running on Daphne emulator on a gorgeous traditional 4:3 aspect ratio 4.2-inch screen. This tiny reproduction has HDTV Connectivity with screen mirroring, amplified multi-speaker audio with volume control, USB controller support, a built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery, an operator’s menu featuring dip switch settings and cabinet controls, and a fully functional digital scoreboard displaying players’ scores, lives, and credits.

Crazy right?

The gameplay on this little cabinet is incredible. Using the tiny joystick and buttons is actually pretty easy and the game is perfectly playable even at its small scale. I think it even plays better than my 3/4 scale Arcade1Up version I picked up last year.

New best friends!

Oh yeah, I also ordered a 3/4 scale cabinet from Arcade1Up last year which also arrived way ahead of schedule. I’ve been meaning to post up about the new arcade cabinet, but it’s much too heavy to bring out to my normal photo location on my patio bar. 🙂 I’ll post up more info on this beast later but now back to its little brother.

New Wave Toys has really hit this one out of the park, creating a small scale replica that is true to the original arcade version in both looks and playability. Adding a retro arcade fluorescent carpet pad and scale stool perfectly finished off the set.

Can’t wait to see what New Wave Toys comes up with next… Oh yeah, that’s right! I also ordered another Don Bluth classic “Space Ace” which hopefully will ship next month.

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Hasbro Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Proton Pack

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OMG, It’s finally here!!!!

I ordered this bad boy way back in 2021 when Hasbro offered it up via the Haslab crowdfunding platform. They needed 7,000 backers to proceed and they received over 19,000 eager Ghostbusters fans with the product scheduled for release in spring 2023.

Well it’s truly hard to believe that even with all the Covid related delays and supply chain issues, the good folks at Hasbro managed to get this out earlier than expected.

The pack connects to the previously released and awesome Hasbro Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Neutrona Wand which I had already purchased way back in 2020. They both work together and the pack actually responds to the actions of the wand. This is truly unexpected as the original wand was created as a stand alone item, with no plans at the time to create the entire pack.

Here’s a quick video of the pack in operation.

Of course I’ve made a few little modifications to bring the beast closer to the actual movie prop, but this thing is pretty darn cool right out of the box.

Owning a full size Ghostbusters Proton Pack has been a dream of mine since first seeing the movie way back in 1984. Until Hasbro produced this beauty, the only option was to gather up all the parts, assemble, paint and install all the electronics yourself, or pay someone thousands of dollars to build a pack for you. Although the Hasbro pack is not as authentic as these more expensive options, it’s definitely good enough for me and well exceeded my expectations.

Hasbro teased us Ghostbusters fans by hinting that they may be offering up another item later this year. I’m hoping it’s a ghost trap, or preferably an updated PKE Meter that also doubles as a ghost taser as seen in the Afterlife film.

Until them, “We have the tools, We have the talent…”

Who ya gonna call?

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