We can rebuild the DS, we can make it stronger, better, faster

Around the time the Nintendo DSi was released I sold off my DS original game system. My thinking was, "I can get a good price for this system now, and since the new system is out I can rebuy an original DS for less in the future." Well I was wrong, although I got a decent price when I sold off my system, the price of a used original DS system did not come down. So I checked the price of an original DS system the other week when LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean came out. It was $70 used, but refurbished, at Gamestop. This was higher than when I had originally bought a used replacement for my 2003 DS. So I was checking out DS systems on Ebay this week when the manager of my local Denny's enlisted my help to help sell off her DSi and DS Lite. She managed to sell the DSi off to my friend Ken, but was unable to get a credit for the DS Lite because the hinge on the shell casing was cracked. Gamestop, Best Buy, and the local new & used outlet Buy Backs didn't want it b/c it was cracked. So I did a little more digging around on Ebay and saw that there was alot of replacement parts for DS systems of any generation for fairly cheap out of China. My one brother is a bit of a technical wizard with computers so I asked him if he could oversee me if I wanted to rebuild a system. He agreed. So tonight I bid on and won a broken original DS system for $12.50 with free shipping. Then I used Buy It Now to get the replacement hinges, system shell, screen connector cable, & an AC wall charger all out of a few overseas vendors. All the parts should arrive by the second week of July. The parts I didn't buy were replacement screens, touch screen, or battery. So In a few weeks I'll let you know how my project works out and if I can manage to Frankenstein a system together. BTW I decided to get a white shell so it would look a little more modern like the DSi.

Rolling Acres Mall Akron, Ohio

Rolling Acres June 2011

On Monday June 13th 2011, I captured these images of the former Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio (click on photo above to view the album). Less than a decade ago I had shopped at this mall. Granted it was on a steady decline at that point, but the Target anchor was a pleasant and welcomed surprise. As we circled the parking lot I spotted the back of the former Target. When we came around the corner my jaw dropped. I knew the mall had been buttoned up for a number of years now, but to actually see these retail juggernauts' brick and mortar corpses was nearly too much to handle. I think I've made it clear by now that my collecting heydays were basically the better part of the 90's. To actually see a full blown dead mall was shocking. Especially one I visited at least semi annually if not quarterly.

This is however the sign of the times. Northeast Ohio had aggressively expanded, placing malls nearly on top of each other throughout the 60's,70's and 80's. To survive through the most recent decade as a brick and mortar mall is no small miracle. It's really no surprise that as e-tailers became more common and competitive along with the whole economy tightening up, that malls would be wounded or abandoned all together.

The Rolling Acres Mall did have one anchor in operation still, as a JCPenney's Outlet.

I also visited the two closest malls that day, both seemingly thriving, the Summit Mall in Fairlawn, Ohio and Chapel Hill Mall in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. They must have been in at least some small way strengthened by the abandonment of the old rival, Rolling Acres.

Ashtabula Towne Square

Well my first mall photo portfolio is ready. The subject is Ashtabula Towne Square in Ashtabula, Ohio. We were okayed for the photo shoot by the Mall Manager and the Zamias Property Manager. Zamias is the last family operated mall property group left according to the Manager. He said renovation was in store for the mall and leasing is available for new tenants. The mall is nice and new looking, with sweet overhead lighting. A young mall, Ashtabula Towne Square was opened as Ashtabula Mall in 1992. Three anchors are in operation: Sears, Super K-Mart, & JCPenney’s with room for three more. There is a Gamestop, and Buy Sell & Trade store. A Jo-ann Fabrics, Radio Shack and about dozen and a half other stores are open inside the mall, with several stores operating in the outlots like Applebee’s and Office Max. Click on the photo to see the rest of the album. My apologies for the dark photos, I was having some problems with the flash. This is the uncut group of images. I’m not sure what the next mall is going to be, but I will keep you posted.

Ashtabula Towne Square

The chase for the Mtn Dew Begins

Well looks like Mtn Dew has resurrected some dead flavors for two contests: FanDewMonium (for diet flavors) and Back by popular DewMand. As I have always been a sucker for limited edition food items, these contests are a god-send. My favorite: Pitch Black is back, and I am thrilled. I'm also down with Typhoon and Supernova. Here's my checklist of the combinations of 12 pack cans and two liters, although I'm not sure if all these variations exist:

Regular Flavor Cans:
White Out (check)
Pitch Black (check)
Supernova (check)
Voltage
Typhoon

Diet Flavor Cans:
White Out
Pitch Black
Supernova (check)
Voltage (check)
Typhoon

Regular Flavor 2 liter:
White Out (check)
Pitch Black
Super Nova
Voltage (check)
Typhoon (check)

Diet Flavors:
White Out
Pitch Black
Supernova
Voltage
Typhoon

Generation 2 Spychanger Series 1 Cardback for Firecracker

Well I've shown off quite a bit of the go-bots/spychangers since I started the blog. Today we take a peek as to what's on the back of the card. You get to see all 6 of the series 1 cars, Firecracker's Bio, Transformation instructions, Robot Point, and UPC. Not all that exciting but now cataloged to help broaden your go-bots/spychanger knowledge even further. Sorry this will not be the last of the spychanger blogs, if you checked out the image dump from the other day there's about a dozen or two more variations to list, just from this latest haul. You can look forward to more info soon.

Transformers haul from storage

All this Transformers nonsense with starting to transfer my old 2001 geocities site and posting all these variations spychanger/go-bots, got me itching to buy up some Transformers. I curbed my urge to spend by digging up as many of my Transformers from storage as I could find. Here's a link to the album. I should break it down into more posts later. Meanwhile, enjoy!

Transformers Generation 2 Go-bots recap

After digging up my G2 go-bots and photographing them I noticed I have images of all the 14 first incarnations in package. So although I've gone over this before, collected here are the pictures of all the go-bots from G2 in package.