For some reason, I find myself unable to get in the muse on days when my wife is supposed to “not here” but she is…And thus yesterday was the end to an unexpected three-day weekend. Which means that even though I did a lot of back-end maintenance on my blogging setups, I wasn’t able to really come up with a post…

A quick health note.

Today I had a scheduled appointment with my E, N & T doc. I really enjoy the feeling as the fiber-optic scope travels up my right nostril on its way to my vocal cords. As in all the past inspections (at least since the radiation treatments), the images were clear and the tissue looked great. So now I only have to go back and see this man once a year around my birthday. Yes….

And now the trip down memory lane.

First Computer

Do you remember your first computer? The first computer I ever bought was a Timex Sinclair 1000. I bought it in 1982. I remember reading about it in Popular Science before I bought one. The thing that finally sold me was when the added in the 16 kb memory module for the original price. Even so, I had to ask permission from my wife to spend that big a chunk of our weekly budget on what she considered a toy.

And it really was a toy. Add in an old B&W TV and an old Radio Shack cassette recorder and you had a really basic computer. I learned to program in basic on that machine…Played some “basic” games. But really, I quickly out grew the capabilities built into the TS 1000.

Number two

By 1983 I was ready for something better…That became the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. This machine was fast…It ran at a blazing 3.0 MHz. As Wikipedia puts it…

In February 1983, TI lowered the price to $150 and was selling the computers at a loss. And in June 1983, TI released a redesigned beige cost-reduced version that it sold, also at a loss, for $99. TI lost $100 million in the second quarter of 1983 and $330 million in the third quarter. In October 1983, TI announced it was exiting the home computer business. The 99/4A became the first in a series of home computers to be ‘orphaned’ by their manufacturer over the next few years, along with the Coleco Adam, Mattel Aquarius, Timex Sinclair 1000 and IBM PCjr.

I remember those early years of computers as fun for a lot reason, not the least of which was the price wars…I bought my TI at Sears…And as the wars went on, the game and software cartridges ended up on clearance tables. I can remember $150 software packages and memory modules selling for as little as $5. Every trip was a fortune hunt…After production stopped, Radio Shack ended up with a lot of surplus keyboard circuit boards. I picked up a number as spares for less than $5 each…

And the IBM entered the PC market

Business were beginning to buy and use PC’s once IBM made them mainstream. Apple had come out with their first Mac. It was probably about 1986 and I was looking for a “business” machine to learn on. In those days you bought computers at of all places, the local furniture store.

If you think my first two computers were a hard sale for my wife…You should have been along for the ride on this one. The going rate for basic systems were well over a grand. After wandering around poking and prodding and kicking the virtual wheels, I ended up with a AT&T PC 6300 (made by Olivetti and sold under the AT&T brand). Now this machine really did scream, it was running at 8.0 MHz. It came with a megabyte of ram (that included the graphics ram) but the optional 20 mb hard-drive was an extra $1000 so I was stuck with the 5.25 in floppies. Add in a 1200 baud modem and I was flying high.

It turned out this system was a faster and better than the few computers that were making it onto the customer services desks at work for order entry…And at that time that was all computers were being used for in our office.

Dell…

I really don’t remember exactly when I acquired my next computer. But I know it was a Dell. The first one was a second-hand unit from work that set on my desk for several years before I bought it and brought it home sometime in the early ’90’s. It was a 80286 machine with a couple of mb of ram and a 60 mb hard-drive…My kids grew up playing on that old Dell.

We have had a number of Dells since. Today there is an older Dell Desktop setting in our computer alcove that I am not sure has even been turned on this year. Dell Laptops are now the machines of choice around this household…Everyone has their own…Mine stays plugged in to a couple of terabyte hard-drives that sit below the table…Even though it has its own internal  160 gb unit.

Going Forward

Do I have any idea what my next computer will be? Not really. From what I am seeing in the news…Computers are splitting and heading in two directions. On the one hand, laptops and desktops are getting faster and more powerful.

On the other hand are the net-books, and now the iPad…Made for surfing the web or downloading and reading books.

For my personal style of computing, I lean for the more powerful and faster. But I can see the appeal of the smaller always connected net-books but don’t really want one myself.

Related posts:

1. Memories of a trip… I passed this old farm as we drove south...
2. Walking With The Sisters I went walking yesterday once the overcast burned off and...
3. Are You A Lover Of Maps? The computer lets us approach in a startling demonstration of...

The computer lets us approach in a startling demonstration of general-to-specific. The world becomes a continent becomes a region; a particular city surrounded by mountains; a set of streets; a house on a certain corner, with a brick walk and a tree in the backyard: someone’s home, someone’s place in the world.

The technology is new, but the feeling was known to me already. Whenever we’ve returned to Vermont after traveling, I’ve noticed the closing sense of familiarity and tried to pinpoint it: where does “home” start to feel like home? When does our own local “area” begin? What – besides the arbitrary municipal boundaries – marks out the village? Then we’re suddenly there, moving down the familiar streets past the mini-mart and the falling-down diner, and Lester’s car parked in his driveway – and there’s the neighbor’s cat in the window, and then our house, our flowering crab apple, our back door, my hand on the knob: home. (via Zooming into Home « qarrtsiluni.)

There seems to be a certain personality type that is innately drawn to maps and map like representations. Some of my earliest memories are of drawing maps and floor plans of the places I was familiar with. When I  was older I tended to collect maps…Old maps, new maps, maps from old books, maps from magazine. I would send off for free maps. I covered the walls of my bedroom with maps. State maps, country maps, maps of the moon…Even maps of the Milky Way. All were fair game for my obsession.

I remember the day I discovered the original Microsoft project TerraServer…I was lost for days. I actually paid for a subscription to EarthViewer 3D, that was created by Keyhole, Inc before it was acquired by Google and turned into Google Earth. Back in 2007 I bought a copy of Delorme’s Map software with a GPS unit before we traveled to North Carolina and Virginia. Many times during the week I’ll open both products trying to find a location and get lost for hours exploring.

My fascination even grips me on plane flights. I’ll be glued to the window anytime you can look down and actually see the ground. Trying to match the view below me with the maps in my minds eye. Flying back in to Houston at night was always a treat as I tried to guess exactly what route we were following over the city. I would say my most favorite flight was from Ottawa to Montrial in a small commuter plane many years ago. The flight crew almost outnumbered the passengers on the 14 seat, twin prop airplane. I no longer remember what our altitude was but, at no point in our flight was I not able to make out people on the ground. Flying over that part of Canada with all of the lakes and ponds sparkling in the westerly moving sun was amazing.

Nowadays, whenever I get ready to go somewhere I haven’t been before the first thing I do is take a look at Google Maps and their Street Views. Who would have thought of such a thing ten years ago?

Maybe I can pass on my love of all things map to the next generation of travelers my family is raising…We’ll see, maybe I just need a “mind map”.

Related posts:

1. Many New Species Discovered In Hidden Mozambique Oasis With Help Of Google Earth Space may be the final frontier, but scientists who recently...
2. End of January Twenty O’Eight ‘Tis the last day of January and the month has...
3. Beware of ‘hurricane fatigue,’ officials warn | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle With Hurricane Ike set to travel nearly the length of...

Related posts:

1. Twitter Updates for 2009-06-11 @fred1st I'll take a try at Thymer if you...
2. Photo Friday: Passage of Time Old Farmhouse, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, November 12, 2007...
3. Oops, missed a day… The mapping software I ordered from DeLorme arrived late on...

Copper and Big Girl are litter mates. Not that you would ever believe it if you just saw them….

Copper, 2010

These two sisters have joined me on my walks ever since Ike dropped a oak tree on their house and took out two sides of their yards chain-link fence. They particularly enjoy the walks at this time of year. Cool air just makes them so much friskier.

The girl’s daddy was our neighbor’s Australian Shepard. Momma was a stray that wandered up not too long after we moved into this house. She was a mostly white dog with black spots. Indeterminate of breeding but with a lot of terrier in her ancestry. Mostly bones covered with skin when she showed up, you could tell she had led a hardscrabble  life. We started feeding her after she had been around a few days…She adopted me and began to follow me around wherever I went. We took lots of walks through the woods on both side of the road we live on. I named her Dolly.

In her time with us she made friends up and down the road. I came to learn she had a regular visitation route where she would show up daily and pickup handouts.

Big Girl, 2010

We always assumed Dolly was an older dog. So when she showed up pregnant we were a bit surprised.  The pregnancy took a lot out of the old girl and shortly after she gave birth under the house, she passed away. After figuring out where the puppies were under the house and rigging up a long “hook” to fish them out we discovered she had left us with seven youngsters needing to be bottle fed day and night. Copper was the first one I pulled out from under the house. She was also the runt of the litter.All of her brothers and sisters were black and white, half short haired and half long haired.

We managed to get them all through those initial first weeks living in our living room. We also managed to get four of the seven adopted out. Big Girl was the favorite of our youngest, Copper was mine and the third was adopted and returned…She died a few years ago and is buried out back in our “pet cemetery” with her momma.

Anyway, here are the two sisters on our walk…

Walking The Sisters, Jan. 2010

And here is the view I sat and contemplated on that walk…

Mustang Bayou, Jan. 2010

It was a nice place to sit and think for an hour or two. Bayou to the south, woods to the north…Sun in my face, wind at my back. The temperature was in the low 40’s, but in the sun that was warm enough. And sitting there, me and the sisters, thinking about matters and tweeting with my cell. It was a nice afternoon…I hope today’s walk will be as well received.

Related posts:

1. Not Walking With The Sisters Today… The morning emails brought me this… Thu 8AM Thu 10AM...
2. Sunday Morning In SE Texas The day started out overcast but by 10am the clouds...
3. It’s a new week…The first of summer. I find myself spending more of my time outside than...

I am beginning to be a little frustrated with the loss of functionality. Sadly, I don’t know if I need to blame WordPress or GoDaddy. But after the reply I received when I reported the problems I have been having…I tend to lean toward GoDaddy.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Upgrade Blues – Revisited It seems the culprit in my WordPress upgrade problems was...
2. The WordPress Upgrade Blues… It looks like the recent round of upgrades to both...
3. Wordpress Blues…Or How I Spent My Day. Over the past few days I noticed all of my...