As far as I know, Mr. Smith's layout is still up,(and probably running too!), at his place. I plan to check it out when I get back on my feet. Incidentally, I got that engine back again, it was in my backpack when I unpacked it.
About my eyes, well, it seems that Melanie suspected that something wasn't right,(never try to fool a woman, guys), and took the liberty of pretending to bend over to kiss me, and then snatching them off. You can probably guess what happened then, she screamed, and fainted. It's to her credit that she didn't run screaming out the door when she came to, but she then insisted to know EVERYTHING that happened to me on my trip. She's now been fully informed, and seems to be accepting the situation well. Oddly enough, she now seems rather intrigued by my eyes, and mentioned that one of the characters from a TV show that she used to watch, called "Farscape", had black eyes, so it seems that I'll be watching some of her DVD's of the show with her this evening.