I love the ’80s

They say when you get married you're supposed to do 'adult things' and get rid of childish things, like your toys and games and all things considered fun.

Well, not me.

One thing I've always wanted when I was younger was an arcade cabinet. You see, I was addicted to Mortal Kombat II. I would go every other day to Jimmy's arcade and spend hours and hours playing MK I and II, Killer Instinct, Galaga. Basically, I love arcades. Also, the fact that arcades are pretty much dead put a halt to my fun.

So, when I discovered MAME a few years ago my world was turned upside down. The thought of thousands of games and my disposal made my fingers twitch. Playing all those games on a keyboard, however, sucked. Big time. Buying a controller was a step up, but still nowhere near the experience of the real thing. I wanted the real thing, bad, I wanted... a cabinet!

Which brings me to a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon 'Build Your Own Arcade Controls' and went through their examples page. There were some crazy dudes out there and I wanted to be one of them. I did the research and found a design I liked. I'm partial to the more modern arcade cabinets, like MK II and KI. So I found a design over at Arcade Paradise and got to work.

On a side note he did a REALLY good job on Arcade Paradise 3. You have to check it out.

So I headed out to Home Depot and bought three sheets of 3/4" MDF (Which is just a step up from particle board.) Three 2x4's, a couple boxes of screws, some L brackets and some 1x1's and it was time to let the games begin.

I also picked up a garbage disposer and a door, but that's beside the point.

After measuring and tracing out the plans I called up my Dad and asked if he could help me with the cutting the wood seeing as how I

Day 2 & 3

After yesterday

I’m the best.

I love arcade games. And I love to play them, and I like to make love to arcades... wait I went to far.

But I really do love arcades, and seeing as how our local arcade (perhaps the last REAL arcade in America) is so beat down and dirty I decided to make my own cabinet.

Yeah, I know. But, I have nothing better to do.

I'm going to keep a running journal of the progress of the cabinet. Once everything is done I'm gonna archive everything at http://manshorts.net/mamecab/

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omgwtflmaobrbbbq

So in case some of you heard about freeipods.com and thought it sounded like a good idea but were it is a scam. I've volunteered to put my life on the line and signed up for it.

I still need at least two more people to sign up and complete offers before I can get an iPod (Wanna help me out Paul Shaqz?). So, if anyone is will to help (this means you, Paul!), here is a link http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=8429624 All you have to do is sign-up with freeipods.com and select an offer (I chose the Blockbuster offer) and you're set. Then have five of your friends sign-up and a glorious new iPod is yours. Sounds like a pyramid scheme, I know. But if it works then who give a flying w00t?

The Backseat is the Place to be.

Between the ages of 4-16. Growing up is thee coolest thing a person of that age can do (besides something like taking a dump between GI-Joe and Transformers without missing the opening). You can go out, stay up as late as you want. It's all up to you, because you're grown up. Grown ups can do neato things like drive a car. If your between the ages of 19-death, then growing up isn't all that it's made out to be. You sometimes wish you could grow down.

I remember when I was younger, I used to love going on trips. To me, there was nothing in the world I enjoyed more, it meant I got to sit in the backseat, by myself, listening to my favorite CD's through my headphones. Nothing but me, the window and my music. It's hard to explain the feeling. It's kind of like you're in this bubble moving at an incredibly fast speed, and the world is flying by you in your personal cocoon of vision and sound.

I remember thinking, 'Someday, that'll be me up front. I can't wait!'

Growing up seemed like the coolest. Sadly, you never realize what you have until it's gone. The days when your biggest concern was how much juice was left in your CD player's batteries and how much longer until day you were offically grown up, seem like such a far off vision of a childhood that once was, yet I remember them as if they were yesterday. Sometimes, I really wish I could go back.

So, now I'm a grown up. I do grown up things. I have bills, I have to worry about the other guy not stopping at the red light. I'm no longer in the backseat, I'm up front. And it's scary. I wish I could go crawl in the backseat. Sit there put my headphones and just tune out the world.

Sometimes, I wish I could go back, but theres one thing that makes me want to stay up front, something that keeps me looking at the world from a different view. My wife. So long as she is my co-pilot. I never want to crawl in the back.

Borders is for buying books, not sleeping

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