Monday 10-30-23 Halloween Dance, Pinball Machine Upgrade & Crafting

 

Cold Day

We had a cold day. It started out at 42 degrees and only got up to 48 degrees. We had a little rain and a breeze which made it colder outside. We spent the day hanging around the house and keeping warm. 

Yesterday we were going to take the truck to town but it wouldn't start, the battery was too low to start it so we took the car. Larry looked online at all of the auto parts stores and ended up ordering a Die Hard battery at Advance Auto Parts. He then removed the old battery so he could take it with us when we picked up the new one. The new one started the truck right up. It was amazing, the last time we put a new battery in the truck was back in May of 2015. Wow, it lasted over 8 years.  

We attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Halloween Dance at 10:00. This past weekend the European countries changed their time so our dances with Di and Terry are an hour later then normal. Last week the dancers decided to dress for Halloween. Di and Terry dressed up as Dracula and the Bride of Dracula. Di even put bite marks on her neck. Michael dressed up as Princess Leia, Amy dressed up as Cat Woman and other dresser also dressed up. Larry and I dressed up in orange and black outfits and wore our orange hats. I wore my Halloween vest. Di called five tips to 19 participants. We had an outstanding time dancing with friends.

Terry and Di Halloween outfits

Before the dance Larry started his upgrade project on the pinball machine. First thing he had to do was to remove the computer from the machine. This required a bit of disassembly. Then he had to decide how he was going to do the project. After lunch Larry continued working on it. He was installing a much larger and more powerful video card. The computer was not designed for a card this powerful so he also has to install a new power supply. Since the new video card was too large to fit in the computer he had to modify the computer case, this meant stripping everything out of it so he could cut a piece out of it. He then had to build a new taller piece to replace what he removed. He could now fit the card into the computer. The card sticks up above the computer but since he does not put the cover on it will be fine. He also had to modify the monitor mounting board, I helped by holding it while he cut it with a jig saw. At the end of the day he was far enough along that he could plug everything in and see that the new power supply and video card are working. He was very happy. Tomorrow he will continue with the project.

After some of the modifications

After removing the computer

I did the daily event of Solitaire, which was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me31 minutes and 9 seconds, which put me in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds.

After lunch I took a nap. When I woke up I helped Larry cut the monitor board. While Larry worked on his project I worked on my diamond painting of Disney.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of A Touch of Frost, a detective series on Amazon. It ran from December 6, 1992 to April 5, 2010. Then I watched the first Guardians of the Galaxy and an episode of The X-Files. I ended up doing 15,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.