A week in review

Not really much to report for the week. I finished Fallout: New Vegas last night. I put about fifty hours into the game. About half the time I spent on my first play through on the previous, Fallout 3. There's an unfathomable amount of side jobs and quests in the game, and I spent the majority of my time playing through quite a few of those. Overall, I really enjoyed the game. I think Fallout 3 was a better ride, but this one didn't disappoint either. I miss the vast subway systems and epic views from the crumbling highways of '3, but this one offered a wider variety of options for game play. The ability to align with different factions throughout the game was far more interesting and satisfying than the very black and white morality of the karma system in the Fallout 3. The ending didn't disappoint either. I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending (which I get the feeling is different for every play though) really showcases how vast the game is. You interact with a hell of a lot of people and groups throughout the game, and they all have their own story going on. It's nicely tied up at the end. It's also got Matthew Perry and Wayne Newton, two of the most unlikely people to do voice acting for a post-apocalyptic video game, and that counts for something in my book.

As I was pulling the Puch out of the garage this morning, I realized that it had been almost a week since I had ridden a moped. Ouch. I can't remember the last time I went that long. Snow at the beginning of last week put the kibosh on Moped Monday, the following two days I drove the car to work, and during the four-day weekend, I didn't really go anywhere that didn't involve the grocery store, or going places with Steph.

The other night I discovered the varied nuances of Vespa gears. I have three different transmission main gears and all of them are the wrong size for the rest of my gears. What the hell? I had no idea. Isaac has a set of gears that he pulled from his Bravo. I'm going to try those and see if they line up properly. If not, I suppose I'll be switching over to the race gears.

The Hobbit continues to move along slowly, but surely. Digging through my crate o' Hobbit, I was able to assemble a starting clutch set up, most of the rear pulley, and a variator that is soaking in carb cleaner as we speak. Once I notch it, it should be ready to go on the bike. I need to take some time this evening before Moped Monday and cut a squish band into the head. I spent a little time last night chamfering the ports on the Athena with a file while I watched The Walking Dead. I still need to gap the piston ring, and widen the exhaust port a half millimeter on each side. By the end of the week I should have a full-operational death star engine.