Clockwork, Steam, and Flux Capacitors

It's been months and months of hard work and reconfiguring according to any regular calendar. Even according to their messed-up flow of time (where days repeat endlessly and weeks crawl along), it's been a good long while. But then, what Doc's been planning is not something you want to mess up.

Especially not when you know what happened the last time.

Yup, Doc is attempting time travel again. This time, of course, he has a potent ally in the form of Dee. After all, she's a living time machine -- one that's able to help direct him both in getting her time travel-worthy and in figuring out a way to travel through time safely. (Apparently she's got a bit of an internal time sense -- she says their world feels a bit like molasses when she's in DeLorean form.) Of course, the stakes have also been raised this time around. Now he knows that trying to time travel in this dimension means a risk of being thrown into another world entirely. That's how they got Dee. And if this goes wrong, she could be stranded -- temporarily or permanently -- in another world.

Which is exactly why he's going with her.

He takes a deep breath and heads out onto the street. Time to make history -- or pray they end up in a world where their PINpoints work.

Doc's excited. It's a very special day for him. Today, he is going to finally take a step toward realizing his lifelong dream. The car is fully wired, and everything checks out on the preliminary tests. The DeLorean is finally, FINALLY ready for time travel. Granted, Doc is still a little iffy about the time-dilation effect in place on the pocket of reality he now calls home, but he figures that he can at least try a short time trip, just to see if everything truly works. Just to achieve the dream.

Of course, a moment like this must be shared with one's closest friends. Doc promptly sends out a message over the PINpoint to Marty and Alice, asking them to come to his world, before going to the apartment next to his and knocking on Victor's door. "Hey Victor!"

Hey everyone! I've managed to procure some work apart from my part-time job at the junkyard. The proprietor of Mode Couture agreed to let me try and replicate some rather interesting fabrics from her home world here. Fairly complicated stuff, but I'm looking forward to giving it the good old college try. If any of you want to give me a hand, I'd be happy to have you.

I'm still working on my time machine, of course. Now that I have the flux capacitor done, I'm working on the basic casing for the time display panel. The real problem here is going to be getting the necessary circuitry. Hmm.

I've also managed to get my powers more under my control; i.e., create weather phenomena that does NOT automatically appear right over my head. The weather around me still responds to my emotions, but at least now I can move it away from me and dissipate it quicker. I'm planning on practicing more tomorrow when I get a chance. Wind control, mostly.

How are you all doing?

Since you're the ones who are the most interested in building things, I thought I'd share the locations of some of the hardware stores I've found via the phone book. Most of them appear to be the same general franchise, given they have "Ace" in their names. Kind of odd, honestly.

Anyway, the one nearest the Conrad hotel is Clark & Barlow Hardware Co.: 353 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL - (312) 726-3010‎

The closest I could find to Cicero is Elston Ace Hardware Stores: 1514 W 33rd St, Chicago, IL - (773) 247-6100‎

And a couple of others, for variety --
Ace Hardware: 440 N Orleans St, Chicago, IL - (312) 527-4200‎

Ace Hardware Stores: 315 E 35th St, Chicago, IL - (312) 225-5687‎

Gordon's Ace Hardware: 24 W Maple St, Chicago, IL - (312) 787-6887‎

The results of all this searching has given me ample parts, so hopefully within a few weeks I can show you all a working (well, for a given value of such) flux capacitor model!

Well, I've had a couple of rather scintillating conversations lately, and now I'm full of ideas and questions. I'll try my best to get them out in an orderly format:

1. I'm working on some designs for a time travel device called the "flux capacitor" -- does anyone know where I can find a hardware store around here?

2. I'm looking on some information on translator technology for trips into the past/future, once I complete my time machine. Revan, you seem to be the most likely to know something about that in my (admittedly limited) experience. Has anyone checked to see if the Rift can change languages or bestow translator capabilities? It was an idea I and a woman named Gladys were discussing earlier.

3. I'm curious to meet a fellow called "the Doctor" -- I encountered a fascinating entity called TARDIS in the Rift Room. She (felt like a she, anyway -- I don't think it really has a fixed sex like we do) mentioned wanting to see someone named that. Actually, I'm willing to talk to anyone who knows anything about TARDIS and the Time Vortex she mentioned. I think it would really help me with my own time travel research. (I must say, she's rather sweet -- I enjoyed sharing concepts with her.)

This system of linking journals is actually very useful. I almost wish we had something like it back home.
Hope everyone had a good day!