Friday August 28, 2010

Typecast Friday 28th 2010

Trust me I have been trying to put together something and it bugs me every day that it has gone on this long. This isn’t a typecast but just an update on life I guess. I finished school with A’s last semester. I have had the past two weeks off and have to go back this following Monday. This is why it has been bothering me so much. I have all this free time that I’m sure most of you would kill for and I can’t even manage a simple update. So I figured I owe it to Y’all, as they say there in Houston. I still haven’t got used to that whole Y’all thing. For me it is still “You Guys”

There were things that I procrastinated on doing that got done on my break at least. My latest project is actually two things. First off, Allies laptop died a few days ago. It was the dreaded finicky power cord. We already replaced it once about a year ago and now that the thing is going on six years it was time for something new. I have always loved Macintosh. For me the only Microsoft products that I like are Windows 3.1 and lovely DOS. I have used Microsoft machines growing up and found that anything past Windows 95 gets really clunky and slow. My father worked for Digital or DEC a computer company that was wonderful back in its hay day. Ever since I was born there was a computer in the house. Our first computer was the IBM 5170 built in 1986 that was actually the first computer to be labeled as the PC, personal computer. Growing up it was DOS games and games that ran with 3.1. Every other year they would give my father a laptop and when he got a new one he would generously give the old one to my brother and I.

So anyways, it is so easy to trail off when writing on the computer. Where was I? Oh, so I was looking for a Macintosh for Allie. The iBook seemed like a good choice but her current laptop didn’t do anything portable so then I thought what about one of those iMac G4’s, the ones that have the round base and swivel LCD. She has always wanted one so we found one on ebay and ordered it. I of course hunted and hunted to find the best one and I plan to max it out for her since it is older. The thing though about Macintosh machines is that they don’t slow down. My Macbook that I am using right not (with my Unicomp keyboard) is still fast as when I bought it. The only way that her laptop lasted as long as it did was because I put Ubuntu on it, a Linux operating system. (I would rather use Linux than Windoze any day of the week, but that’s just me.)

So my love of Macintosh computers and vintage macs brought me to a recent purchase of a Mac LC III built around 1991. This is the reason that I haven’t been seen these past few weeks and why sometimes I prefer the simplicity of the Typewriter. Computers, especially vintage computers can be so time consuming. But I plan to post an overview of some vintage Word Processors I have been working with sometime, hopefully soon. I have about eight or so Word Processors in the mix from Word 5.1 to Claris Works to Write Now to MacWrite, Word Perfect and a few others and many versions of each. All of these are available from a website called Macintosh Garden where they are free to download. I even found a copy of Adobe PS 4 on there that I enjoy.


So that’s what has been going on recently and maybe even some Dot Matrix Vintage Mac typecasts will appear in the near future. I have a whole bunch of ideas and just need to make the time to show them off. I better get cranking two because come to think of it, Nano is coming up right around the corner.

Darth Vader Calls About His iPhone 4

June 22 2010

A tribute video of our friend Tom F. at Cambridge Typewriter
Just now came across this video, I wonder if Tom knows its whereabouts

June 16 2010

May 20 2010

School is out for a few weeks. I will be back on June 7th for summer classes. I am just trying to get done with school as quickly as I can. I worked a few extra shifts and bought myself a Yamaha keyboard. When I was young, first grade or so, I took a few piano lessons but never followed. When I was in high school I picked up playing guitar but could only read tabs. I have always wanted to go back to piano especially when I got rid of my guitar because my hands and fingers were just to big to play it. So I now have beside me my keyboard that I have spend easily 6 hours a day on since I got it last Tuesday. I feel through my writing I am only able to be so creative and would like to express myself through music as well. In no way have I forgot about my writing, I am keeping good journals as I begin playing and making progress. I find myself not knowing where the time has gone when I look up. I bought a piano lesson DVD set on sale called Learn and Master Piano and they are simply amazing. I have never been so excited about sheet music and learning chords and don't want to miss anything.

My time seems to be just so taken up lately which I am not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I haven't had a chance to update and felt that I am far over due. Yesterday I was sitting at the bar at Applebees and was talking with this seventy year old amazingly cool guy that worked for the Houston Chronicle, our Houston newspaper. He was talking to me about how much he doesn't understand the workforce and how it is almost impossible to hold a job for a long time. He had worked for the Chronicle for 40 years. I told him that I have a great time writing with my Olympia SG1 and my Selectrics, he chuckled and told me about how that's all there was when he started. We both agreed that the society that we live in is to fasted paced and probably almost everything in newspapers is someones edited first draft. I told him how a typewriter forces you to do at least a second draft before it's all just editing. He thought it was funny how someone doing HVAC Refrigeration was also a writer but said anything is possible if you are interested in what you are doing.

April 7, 2010