Short Walk, Long Time

[kevin_standlee]

I went for a short walk from the hotel after dinner. I know this area pretty well -- when I look out the back window of my hotel room, I'm looking at the Atrium Gardens Apartments where I lived for a year. Looping around the block, I was waylaid by a Lord of the Rings pinball machine at the bowling lanes. $2 and 2 1/2 hours later, I was finally on my way back to the hotel. If the machine hadn't been partially broken (several of the machine's pinballs are trapped in a broken section of the playfield; worse, the trapped balls can trap the remaining balls in the machine, and when that happens, all you can do is slam-tilt it in order to free one or two of the four of the balls), I might still be there.