Just not had much time to post much lately, even on regular social media so what have I been up to?
I now have a Stream Deck… clone. It’s a Mirabox 293S 15 button “Stream Dock” which I’m connecting with the OpenDeck software which runs native on Linux. I’m very pleased with this device and it was about a third of the cost of the equivalent ElGato Stream Deck so all good here!
A Mamemeister meet-up at Leeds Arcade Club.
I travelled up on the Friday with my son, Harry. Charged once at a service stop and had to park away from the hotel because there was no parking at the hotel itself. I wasn’t paying the extortionate price near the station so found one a few minutes walk away at a much more reasonable cost. There is a low power charger at the Arcade Club card park so I charged there while I enjoyed myself. Got to 93% before we left.
Something I ate upset my stomach though, probably garlic in the Korean fried chicken. It didn’t spoil the weekend but I did feel a bit awkward being unable to eat on Saturday night!
On the way home we stopped once and charged to 60% which was easily enough to get home after a great weekend with great mates.
The First UK Kong Off at Bury Arcade Club.
I initially planned to only attend on Saturday but a few weeks ago decided to stay for the even itself but couldn’t extend my stay as the web site and app were giving odd error messages so I left it until I got there. More on that soon.
Travelled up on the Friday with my wife, one stop at a service station and the charge took 15 minutes to get to 80% so was complete before we even left the building!
Got to Bury and asked about extending. They couldn’t do it at the desk but advised I do so by booking a new day via the app or website. The app was completely useless so website it was. I booked the extra day but there were now no rooms of the same type available so we had to check out by 10am Sunday and check back in after 3pm! A pain in the arse but we worked around it and made the best of it.
There’s a fast charger at the pub next door so I charged up there to 100% at a reduced weekend rate while we had a nice meal.
Saturday was the Farcade Meet-Up, games were played, chats were had and beer was drunk (after taking the car and wife back to the hotel and walking back to Arcade Club). To get back to the hotel I reinstalled Uber and got some discounted rides. I used this again Sunday and uninstalled when I’d finished with them for the weekend. I really don’t like the app on my phone!
Sunday was the Kong Off itself with 32 competitors over 8 Donkey King cabinets. There’s plenty of video online so I won’t give a full review but I will say it was a fantastic event and also gave plenty of time to actually chat with people I normally only chat in passing at other events. I’m really glad I extended the stay so absolutely no regrets whatsoever and I will definitely be making it a priority visit next time.
Getting home I decided not to top up charge, left with 93% and got home at 14% so plenty of wiggle room.
On the way home my wife wanted to do a bit of shopping in Manchester so I headed for the Trafford Centre and boy what a pleasant surprise. A huge car park with loads of space right at the centre and free! Here in Cardiff it’s a major headache to find a parking space in tight, multi-story car parks that cost a fortune, and they wonder why nobody wants to go shopping here!
Today I changed the brake pads and rear cassette on my bike. This was far easier than I expected! I do also need to change the chain but cannot find the chain tool so that will have to wait. I shall get that done next weekend when I have some more time off.
So there we go, quite the update! No so little but all in a single post 😉
