I wasn’t a Sega Genesis kid. Most of my friends invested in Nintendo, and I didn’t own any consoles growing up. But the Genesis does have a special place in my childhood. In 1993, for my 9th birthday, my parents went to blockbuster and rented a Genesis for the weekend, along with Sonic 2 and Goldenaxe. I literally sat in the living room all weekend playing. It may have been the first all-nighter I pulled. I got this Genesis, along with a handful of games, from a used bookstore. The Genesis was a little dirty, but worked fine. All the games needed some pretty intensive cleaning. Cartridges tend to have nasty contact pins from kids blowing into the games (everyone knows you had to blow the dust out of them if they stopped working😅).

I like physical media. A big part of getting into retro gaming, for me, was the idea of preserving old games. I’m always on the lookout for classics to pick up. I’ll also do some refurbishing work, to make sure everything works as it should. This is the cartridge board for Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. The game played great, but the save battery had died. When I popped the cartridge open and removed the old battery, I saw that the battery had leaked into the board. I thought I might have to repair the traces. Fortunately, everything tested good, I got a new battery in, and I’ve been playing through Zelda 2 with zero issues.

The first video game I can remember playing was Super Mario Brothers on the NES way back in 1988. My parents dragged my little sister and I to some boring dinner with a family friend. This friend just happened to have a new NES hooked up. I played for most of the night. It started a lifetime love of video games. I picked this NES up at a random GameStop. It turned on, but wouldn’t play games. I had to clean out the 72-pin connector and boil it to restore the tension in the pins to get it working again. On a side note, some day this NES will become a Nintoaster. I need to refine my soldering skills a little more, and learn how to read a circuit diagram.

The original Xbox holds an interesting place in my life. I thought Goldeneye was the peak of multiplayer. And then Halo came along and redefined what gaming could be. Weekends became epic tournaments. Halo 2 was the first midnight release I ever went to. Life was great! It was also the last major console I played on for a while. In 2004 I left to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I put gaming on hold for 2 years. When I returned home, it was off to college. I got married and joined the Army. I didn’t start gaming again until 1013, when I became a casual PC gamer out of convenience. This Xbox was picked up at a second hand store. It technically worked for about 20 minutes after I got it home. The controller it came with was dead on arrival. Turns out that electronics made in the early 2000’s suffer from sub-par capacitors and cheap wiring. I had to replace all the capacitors on the board, and replace the wire harness on the controller. And now I can enjoy Halo in all its original glory.

The Super Nintendo is my favorite console. I didn’t own one growing up, but my buddy did. I have great memories of staying at his house, playing games all weekend. We got pretty good at Mariokart, Street Fighter 2, and Turtles in Time. I got this console at a retro game store in Pearl City, Hawaii. Initially it wouldn’t read cartridges. Someone had spilled something sticky into the game slot. Twenty minutes, some isopropyl alcohol, and elbow grease fixed it right up.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I love The Book of Mormon. It has drawn me to Christ, and is a key piece of my relationship with my Savior. President Benson, in his 1986 conference talk titled “The Book of Mormon - Keystone of our Religion” said: “This gift was prepared by the hand of the Lord over a period of more than a thousand years, then hidden up by Him so that it would be preserved in its purity for our generation. Perhaps there is nothing that testifies more clearly of the importance of this modern book of scripture than what the Lord Himself has said about it. By His own mouth He has borne witness (1) that it is true (D&C 17:6), (2) that it contains the truth and His words (D&C 19:26), (3) that it was translated by power from on high (D&C 20:8), (4) that it contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (D&C 20:9; 42:12), (5) that it was given by inspiration and confirmed by the ministering of angels (D&C 20:10), (6) that it gives evidence that the holy scriptures are true (D&C 20:11), and (7) that those who receive it in faith shall receive eternal life (D&C 20:14). A second powerful testimony to the importance of the Book of Mormon is to note where the Lord placed its coming forth in the timetable of the unfolding Restoration. The only thing that preceded it was the First Vision. In that marvelous manifestation, the Prophet Joseph Smith learned the true nature of God and that God had a work for him to do. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the next thing to follow. Think of that in terms of what it implies. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon preceded the restoration of the priesthood. It was published just a few days before the Church was organized. The Saints were given the Book of Mormon to read before they were given the revelations outlining such great doctrines as the three degrees of glory, celestial marriage, or work for the dead. It came before priesthood quorums and Church organization. Doesn’t this tell us something about how the Lord views this sacred work?” The Book of Mormon will draw you closer to Jesus Christ. It stands as an additional witness to Christ’s ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. It is evidence of the Restoration of Christ’s Church through Joseph Smith. churchofjesuschrist.org/stud…

Tie check. Go to Church!

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I had an objectively outstanding upbringing and family life. I'm the oldest of 6 kids. We had loving parents, a place to stay, food on the table, and lots of really good times and positive memories. It wasn't perfect, though. Growing up we weren't allowed to have video games in the house. As a kid I thought this was a dumb rule. As an adult, I see how my parents wanted us to go outside and get in trouble as kids. I also assume they wanted to avoid the fighting and cost. In 2001 I started working. I took my hard earned money to Babbage's at the mall and bought myself a brand new Gameboy Advance and a couple of games. I managed to keep it a secret for a while (I didn't want little brothers and sisters getting their sticky jam-hands on it!). And I played the crap out of it; school, work, home, any time I had some free time. Unfortunately my original Gameboy Advance was lost to time. I packed it up, along with my comic book collection, Warhammer figures, models, and movie collection, when I left to serve my Mission for the Church. That box disappeared at some point. I did pick up these last year on a work trip to Destin, FL. The GBA was eventually reshelled and got a back-lit screen, and the Gameboy Color needed a new speaker and a good cleaning. Both work great now. They still get some playtime, mostly Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And while that is a big part of my life and who I am, it's not the complete picture. I also really like video games, and started collecting and working on retro consoles last year. It all started with this PSP. I originally purchased a PSP in 2008, while in advanced training for the Army. I later sold it (I played way too much for a young married guy with a kid). I found this on eBay last year, along with a few games. I was feeling nostalgic, and picked it up. When I turned it on two things were apparent; the screen had water damage and the charging port worked about 50% of the time. A few youtube videos later, and I had it broken down, cleaned, and replaced the screen and charging port. I also soft-modded it so could play games on the go without having to carry around all my UMD discs. Since this I've been collecting old games and consoles from my childhood, along with games and consoles I always wanted to get, but never did for one reason or another. And since my collection is old, I've also been doing repairs and refurbishing work.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I started posting and participating on X to try to put more positive content out there on the internet, connect with my fellow Saints, and improve the quality of my social media feeds. I realized my kids are getting older and using the internet more, and there’s a lot of garbage content out there. Instead of complaining about it, I want to at least attempt to tip the all-mighty algorithm in the direction of positive and uplifting content. It was good at first, and then all the critics of The Church started coming out of the woodwork. I felt like I did as a missionary 20 years ago; I’m out here trying to be positive and share that positivity with people, while the masses come together to try to tear down, distract, or argue. And I’m not blameless. I’ve posted ignorant things, picked fights, intentionally baited people, name-called, and attempted to undermine the faith of others. For a while, I lost sight of why I started posting in the first place while in the pursuit of trying to prove my points or demonstrate I stand on principle and the moral high ground. Then in this last General Conference Elder Gilbert said the following in his talk “Teach With Truth and Love”: “I may have won the debate in the moment, but I lost the Spirit…” And it hit me. I need to adjust my own attitudes and approaches to my online activity. I can’t control what others post, but I don’t have to be a dick to others. I don’t have to have the last word, name-calling, or undermine another’s faith to share mine. churchofjesuschrist.org/stud…

Tie check! Go to church! This tie was a Christmas gift from my oldest daughter. For the past several years we’ve played various tabletop games together, including Dungeons and Dragons, Rifts, Shadowrun, and a variety of board games. We love rolling all the click-clack math rocks (dice), telling a story together, and watching our best-laid plans fall apart at the whim of the choas gods.

Tie check. Go to church! I got this tie on a work trip to Las Vegas. I went to the Atomic Testing Museum one afternoon. I picked this tie up at the gift store to commemorate my visit. Honorable mention goes to the Pinball Museum in Las Vegas, which I also visited on that same trip.