Distractions

It's been a while since I've posted -- I know, shame on me. I've been distracted though -- I've had yet another tooth die on me, so there's been the litany of pain to go through (my root canal isn't until the end of the month). The visit to my regular dentist has opened up the possibility of a new hobby -- pinball machines. Before Christmas my wife pointed out a home pinball machine in the Best Buy flyer, so I got it for her for Christmas. When we were younger, we'd go up to the arcade from time to time, and she'd spend several dollars each time playing the Time Machine pinball game ($2400 on eBay, I looked). She plays this new one occasionally -- it's not a real machine though, it's about 3/4 size -- and though it has real flippers and bumpers, the ball feed is manual - the back "glass" is a sticker on a plastic panel, and the tilt detection is non existent. He has an old Hokus Pokus machine in storage, good condition, that I might be able to get for less than the toy machine -- and he knows a guy who has 3 machines that are missing the back glasses (a big sin as far as collecting goes), but apparently work otherwise. These could be had even cheaper...

I've also been eBaying for Harleys. This is probably the cheapest time to buy that I'm going to get -- once it gets warmer the prices will start going up. In fact, I've got a second chance offer on a dressed out soft tail fatboy for under $10,000 -- it has the looks I've always liked in Harleys: saddlebags, windscreen, passenger backrest, long pipes, classic paint job, chrome. The only down side is that I'd be paying the same amount for a brand new 1100 Vstar Silverado that I would for a 12 year old 12000 mile Harley. Still, it could be worth it -- maybe I'll be heading to Mattoon this weekend to check it out...

And last, but certainly not least, I've had health problems. More than just the teeth, although I'm sure they're a big part of it. I spent most of last weekend dealing with nose bleeding -- not just a little seepage, but the big "OMIGOSH WHAT HAPPENED" kind of stuff. Besides having my blood thinned out too much by the ibuprofen for the tooth ache, and having a sinus infection as well -- my blood pressure was stoopid high. So, now I'm on antibiotics and otc claritin for my sinuses, off the ibuprofen for my tooth (just the occasional Tylenol if it gets too bad), and on some other stuff for my blood pressure.

But I finally got this posted...