robert.admin – Page 223 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

February 11, 2012

Chipping off rust

According to my records, my last operation’s session was back in May of last year. After that, time slipped by as I worked to get the club’s traveling layout up, my book out, and my parents faced some medical issues. Time just moved on. With twisted guts, I decided to get this thing running again. Time to host. I hate getting ready but generally love the sessions. Getting ready involves cleaning all sorts of track (some of it in difficult-to-reach places), cleaning engines, checking paperwork. But really, its gone pretty well. My helper Mikado really didn’t want to go – […]

February 9, 2012

Almost

Today I was sitting on the bike lane on southbound 17-92, watching four cars make a left across my bow. Once the green arrow dropped, the thru-lanes would roll. Facing me were two lines of northbound cars, idling. And as the fourth left turner cleared the intersection and the arrow grew stale, way, way down there, I saw an FUV racing down the center turn lane, trying to get to the intersection and dive into his left (likely on a red, likely on my green). I didn’t think he could make it, but I idly watched him. And then from […]

February 6, 2012

Spelunky Victory!

I’d mentioned this glorious game (free too!) HERE. Lots of thrills. Lots of fun. Lots and lots of death. Got home tonight from a train club work session, not really thinking anything was different. Started one game of Spelunky and just started playing. Got off to a badly, tumbling over an edge and falling – AEEEEEIIIII! SPLAT! Okay, not such a good start. But I found the damsel and got her to the exit, got a kiss and that lost life back. Just got into the Zen of playing, using a pickaxe until it broke, then using its head as […]

February 4, 2012

Got Nook yet?

Well, it took most of the day and countless editing sweeps, but I got the Nook version out there. I’ll have to buy a copy for a friend and see how it comes out. Okay: Paper, Kindle, Nook. What next? Clay tablets? Got a link on the Bookshelf section – just click on the picture of the book.

February 3, 2012

Big papery plans!

Been thinking this over for a while… The General blog I update… generally. The bike blog, I only update when I see something stupid from my drafty little saddle (complain complain) The books and movie blogs I update when I get the passion to do so. The train blog goes up whenever I do a train thing. Since this is supposed to support my literary efforts, I think I need to make it more of a literary blog. So I’m going to post up a review every Sunday night on the book blog. This will hold me to a firmer […]

February 3, 2012

The TTX barrier

Well, I hit the invisible corporate-webspace-phonebox wall. We’re building a traveling layout for our club, a space-aged module effort that puts our creaky old N-trak clunkers to shame. Sets up quick. Breaks down quick. Moves easy. No duckunders. Fun to run. And we’re doing REAL modeling of real places (specifically the run from Jacksonville to Folkston). We’ve got the river area in at Jacksonville, the CSX building, the convention center, the Acosta bridge. While I’m working south towards the Aetna building, we’ll also need to cross under the I-95 double-span bridge and model the TTX shops. See, TTX has a […]

January 31, 2012

Early ReTyrement Synopsis – Spoilers!

Early ReTyrement It’s always the clever fellows who fall back into time, the gleaming-teeth, hair-part guys with a conveniently useful knowledge of metallurgy, lower Nile politics or even the date of the next eclipse. How handy. But what is some shmoe (a computer programmer, say) went back? What if this end-use user found himself in 300 BC with nothing save the shirt on his back (and no pants, incidentally*)? What could he do? What would you do? Mason Trellis is just this sort of reluctant chrononaut, an everyday guy who finds himself ripped from his glum modern-day corporation and thrust back […]

January 29, 2012

To serve and kersplat

Friday we got out of work early as a reward. Cool by me, since it means traffic would be easier getting home. I’m on the bike with saddle bags. Got an orange safety jacket, flashing rear light, helmet, all that commuter stuff. I’m on the right side of the road – it’s a little moist so I’m doing my curb hugging one-foot off the stripe. Location: Orlando Florida, southbound on 1792, 250 feet short of Lee Road. Anyway, I’m riding along and two cars squeeeeeze past me on the left, really, really close. Like what the hell? So I’m thinking, […]

January 29, 2012

Early-Retyrement-Back-Cover

Early ReTyrement Can a modern programmer make it in the ancient world? Computer Programmer Mason Trellis thought he had problems with corporate nepotism. When an experimental laser punches him 2400 years counterclockwise to the ancient port of Tyre, he discovers greater problems (namely ignorance of metallurgy, chemistry, explosives, history, or even the date of a convenient eclipse). Now laboring in a wineshop, he’ll have to think hard and fast to come up with a way out of slavery and into wealth, power and the arms of the lovely daughter of a high Persian official, all before the war between Greece […]

January 26, 2012

OpsLog – LM&O – 1/25/2012

Last night’s session started at 7:40pm and ran until 10:15pm. But not really. It actually started at 10pm a week before when Mark John and I worked the lading slips for every freight car across the line. The three industrial areas were easy; just flip whatever cars you wished to indicate their completed loading/unloading. The staging was a little more difficult: we had to inspect the car numbers to make sure the right cars were on the right trains, THEN replace the waybills in the correct cars. Martin Classification Yard was the worst; either an overwhelmed yardmaster or joyriding operators had scrambled things. […]