Alan called me from the 20 as I headed west on the 40 towards his place, and like the precise bean counter he is for the majority of his daze, said that his wife Ruth would be home in 2-1/2 minutes and that he was six minutes behind her. Then he asked me where I was at, and not really fully understanding the question, I answered that I was quite depressed lately and feeling ridiculously overworked, but apart from being slightly suicidal, things were going reasonably well. I then told him that I would be getting to his house a little after Ruth and a little before him. And sure enough that is how it played out.

When Alan got home I had already started working on his ugly 140 dollar GTB Vulcan. First on the star rollover scoring issue he had detailed to me earlier. He had cleaned and gapped the scoring switches several times, but they remained somewhat intermittent in their scoring. In this game, their value changes from 100 pts to 1000 W/L depending on if you spotted the 1 to 5 numbers which correspond to the star rollovers. The value is changed through some relays line up together on a bank. I explained this to Bank-Coil, but he still didn't get it. I tightened the switch stacks and cleaned some points and they (the star rollovers) behaved as they should and away I went to the next issue. Upon observing this fix, Alan said under his breath that he hated me, and when I heard this I turned around and laughed, and he said that he meant that he admired me. I told him that I heard something else, and he said that it may have sounded like he said that he hated me but he meant that he admired me. Ah fuck it, the  slip rules as far as I am concerned.  Alan is just a great person and full of humour smart assed friendship that can smart and heal as well.

Alan's 150 dollar Space Mission was acting weird. Indeed, he said that since his personal human energy is so strong and off center, that he has often noticed that he can short circuit certain EM machines just by being around them. Also he claimed that he has had lights in a room suddenly blow out when he walks too close to the wall switch. I almost believed him, but instead just laughed at his babble, somewhat nervously nonetheless. He then insisted that I ask his wife about his disruptive energy. My good sense said that I should refrained from that, who knows what happens when he is near her, so best to stay away from that turbulence I thought.

Indeed the WLL Space Mission which we had used at the last Montreal Pinball League meeting at my shop had worked well and held up nicely to the pounding that night in October, but now in Alan's domain it was tilting as soon as the ball would roll over any advance bonus switch, but only if it hit one of those before the index relay engaged. Too weird. So since I had several other machines to make ready for Saturday, (I was on a schedual ofcourse), I snipped the signal wire to the tilt relay and moved on. Alan has no use for tilt settings anyway I thought, they are irrelevant in his case.

The WLL Dealers Choice had pathetic flippers for some reason, and I simply rotated the flipper shafts and shoes (there are four of those) and reset the positions and tighten the pawl bolts to make new and fresh indentations in the base of the shafts, hence no more slipping. It seems to have worked and held up after we put Alan's kids on the machine. Daniel and James played the hell out of it and the flippers seemed OK for the rest of the evening. Saturday will be the true test.

We talked a bit more in Alan`s garage as I got my tools together and headed towards my car while Alan told me that he had trouble trying to help me out with my occasional dark moods and wish he could find a way to provide support. He also said that he felt that I was seemingly unreachable on certain levels and this surprised him since he is usually able to help most people see things differently, - yet it doesn`t seem to work with me.

May the gods bless you Alan, aka "Bank-Coil", your intentions are in the right place and even if your energy is all over the place, it is laced with the will to make good things happen in the best way they can. I consider you a friend and occasionally a brother from another mother mostly for your will and intention in trying to make things work better.

Robert A. Baraké  - R.A.B

Alan called me from the 20 as I headed west on the 40 towards his place, and like the precise bean counter he is for the majority of his daze, said that his wife Ruth would be home in 2-1/2 minutes and that he was six minutes behind her. Then he asked me where I was at, and not really fully understanding the question, I answered that I was quite depressed lately and feeling ridiculously overworked, but apart from being slightly suicidal, things were going reasonably well. I then told him that I would be getting to his house a little after Ruth and a little before him. And sure enough that is how it played out.

When Alan got home I had already started working on his ugly 140 dollar GTB Vulcan. First on the star rollover scoring issue he had detailed to me earlier. He had cleaned and gapped the scoring switches several times, but they remained somewhat intermittent in their scoring. In this game, their value changes from 100 pts to 1000 W/L depending on if you spotted the 1 to 5 numbers which correspond to the star rollovers. The value is changed through some relays line up together on a bank. I explained this to Bank-Coil, but he still didn't get it. I tightened the switch stacks and cleaned some points and they (the star rollovers) behaved as they should and away I went to the next issue. Upon observing this fix, Alan said under his breath that he hated me, and when I heard this I turned around and laughed, and he said that he meant that he admired me. I told him that I heard something else, and he said that it may have sounded like he said that he hated me but he meant that he admired me. Ah fuck it, the  slip rules as far as I am concerned.  Alan is just a great person and full of humour smart assed friendship that can smart and heal as well.

Alan's 150 dollar Space Mission was acting weird. Indeed, he said that since his personal human energy is so strong and off center, that he has often noticed that he can short circuit certain EM machines just by being around them. Also he claimed that he has had lights in a room suddenly blow out when he walks too close to the wall switch. I almost believed him, but instead just laughed at his babble, somewhat nervously nonetheless. He then insisted that I ask his wife about his disruptive energy. My good sense said that I should refrained from that, who knows what happens when he is near her, so best to stay away from that turbulence I thought.

Indeed the WLL Space Mission which we had used at the last Montreal Pinball League meeting at my shop had worked well and held up nicely to the pounding that night in October, but now in Alan's domain it was tilting as soon as the ball would roll over any advance bonus switch, but only if it hit one of those before the index relay engaged. Too weird. So since I had several other machines to make ready for Saturday, (I was on a schedual ofcourse), I snipped the signal wire to the tilt relay and moved on. Alan has no use for tilt settings anyway I thought, they are irrelevant in his case.

The WLL Dealers Choice had pathetic flippers for some reason, and I simply rotated the flipper shafts and shoes (there are four of those) and reset the positions and tighten the pawl bolts to make new and fresh indentations in the base of the shafts, hence no more slipping. It seems to have worked and held up after we put Alan's kids on the machine. Daniel and James played the hell out of it and the flippers seemed OK for the rest of the evening. Saturday will be the true test.

We talked a bit more in Alan`s garage as I got my tools together and headed towards my car while Alan told me that he had trouble trying to help me out with my occasional dark moods and wish he could find a way to provide support. He also said that he felt that I was seemingly unreachable on certain levels and this surprised him since he is usually able to help most people see things differently, - yet it doesn`t seem to work with me.

May the gods bless you Alan, aka "Bank-Coil", your intentions are in the right place and even if your energy is all over the place, it is laced with the will to make good things happen in the best way they can. I consider you a friend and occasionally a brother from another mother mostly for your will and intention in trying to make things work better.

Robert A. Baraké  - R.A.B