What happens when a classic gaming obsessed weirdo gets a good
deal on a UPS?
Madness.
The day had finally come for me to take a picture I'd been thinking
about for awhile. Along for the ride were my friends Elliott,
Phillip and Pentium. Together we toodled out to the Jericho Beach
area in search of a nice chunk of forest.
Initially we tried heading into the endowment lands pacific
spirit park from marine drive, but found it to be much too hilly
to lug our gear up. So we doubled back to where marine drive branches
off from 4th and wandered through the nearby trails. Jackpot!
We found a beautiful overgrown clearing in the woods that would
be perfect for the shot. So Pentium and I went back to the tracker
to go pick up the equipment while Elliott and Phillip proceeded
to get lost.
A few minutes later we were back. But finding a parking spot
was no easy task, as we were sharing the area with the annual
folk festival. We ended up pulling into this maybe-it's-a-parking-space
at the mouth of our trail for long enough to unload.
Then came the fun part. The 20" studio monitor
and the UPS each weighed 70 pounds. And while the UPS was mounted
on a luggage carrier, we just had to each grab a handle on the
monitor and lug it through the woods. Did you know that overloaded
luggage carriers don't like dirt trails?
Somehow we made it in though, and in a flash we
had the gear set up in the field. But where had Elliott and Phillip
gone? Phillip's Wind phone wasn't getting service out there, and
although I was able to reach Elliott, they were't together. What
followed was several minutes of running down trails, shouting
each others names, and me getting lost just as the other two were
found. But eventually we all ended up back where we started.
Now was the moment we had been waiting for. We pushed
the power button and the UPS whirred to life. BEEP! BEEEEEP! It
did a thorough job of alerting us to the fact that the power had
gone out in the woods.
Disregarding its warning, we plugged in the massive monitor and
it came up with a satisfying "Fwomp." It was ALIVE!
A quick check of the UPS showed only one light lit
on the load meter and a full charge at the ready. Speakers were
attached, composite cables were laid everywhere and in no time
we had a game going.
WELCOME TO MARIO KART! The two speakers, formerly
religated to playing music in my work shop, really came into their
own in the open air. Sound effects boomed across the field and
drown out the music from the nearby folk festival. We don't need
your flutes and guitars, we've got 64 bits of excitement!
We were all in agreement; this was the best way
to play a video game.
Phillip was doing great for a legally blind guy,
and was giving Elliott a run for his money. Pentium and I continued
to take dorky pictures. The UPS was beeping incessantly, but ploughed
on just the same.
Round after round went by and the UPS just kept
going. There was even time for us to start my camera recording
a video and play a 4 player game.
By now it was getting very dark, so we decided it
was time to bring out the PS2.
Elliott took up the controller for some Shadow of
the Colossus. While his tiny character crawled over the massive
monsters to stab at them, the rest of us played the opposite side
by trying to fend off the swarm of mosquitos that had decended
upon us.
Finally after a full hour of gaming, the little
UPS gave out its last beep and shut down. All that was left to
do was find all of our stuff in the dark, pack it up and get it
back to the Tracker without falling in any holes. Phillip managed
all but the last of those points.
