Long Live The TRS-80

I grew up in the 80's and one thing I will never forget is the TRS-80. This was the biggest piece of shit known to man kind as far as I am concerned but it totally charged my imagination. Before I got to a computer class I had never seen a computer nor had I any idea of how to run one. Anway the TRS-80 sparked my imagination and it was a tool I will never forget. I spent a semester working with upper classman programming programs and getting graded on how well I did. Most of the semester I worked with a guy I called Dan O. He was really nice to me and turns out he ended up going to Harvard. After about 30 years now I have spoken with him via facebook and we laugh about this computer. You actually had to insert a tape to save your data. I would love to get my hands on this machine and look at it again. Now I look at it and think about the concept/ I think Apple came out shortly after.

I want my kids to learn on the computer at school and be part of today's technology. I tell them you dont have to get everything right you just need to learn for things for yourself. And if your a C student so be it as long as you learn for yourself. The point is I dont know if they teach kids anymore in the high school level to program on a computer. I'ts not a matter of what you program works for ever its a matter of weather or not you can learn something new. Throughout most kids lives there is always a moment I think when they realize I'm either going to work at school or I'm just going to party my way thought it. For me I finally started working at it once I knew I (a farm boy) could actually learn and program a computer. I guess after thinking about it I was never given a lot of self asurrance and that is something I feed my kids every day.

Long Live The TRS-80


The Black Widow

SHUNNING

Hunting Made Fun

Today I want to talk about shunning. Or in my experience I call them Clicks. A long time ago now I graduated from college in Eau-Claire WI. That was an awesome city and I would live there again. But there was one town where I moved to that I will never forget and that town was in the Middle of Wisconsin. My wife and I tried to meet people but because we were not from their originally we were "not in the click". Don'g get me wrong I think Wisconsin is the greatest State on the planet but this one town was not.

When we did make friends they were jealous if we tried to make any new friends other than them. One couple we met were like woodticks, or as I called them "The Woodtick Couple".. They were after us every day to do something. One night Mrs Woodtick as I called her was calling us on the phone and we did not answer.....we had caller ID. The message was like this....." Hi I'ts Amy...I know your home I can see your lights on in the house"......How fuckin comical was that. We still laugh about it to this day. If I recall after about 4 years in that town we finally made a few good friends.

We then moved to another city in Southern WI and that was just as clicky as the one above. Finally when we were ready to buy a house we moved south of Madison to a town where many people had moved to from other cities. The "Imports" as I call them where a much larger group and much more friendly than the group of people who grew up in town.. In otherwords it was not a town all made up by people who grew up there. You could actually go to a bar and have a conversation with losts of people and have fun....

The point of the story is if you want friends it takes time I suppose. Don't waste a lot of time trying to infiltrate a group who may never let you in anyway. Or if they do be careful they might be a "woodtick couple" like above. Usually when you walk up and say hi to someone ya know right away if you can talk to them and or if you ever want to again.. If not don't waste your time. Life is too short anway.


The Black Widow

USS NEW YORK VS THE PONTIAC VIBE

Sure I know your thinkin what the hell is this story about? Well lately Im all about cutting costs. In my personal life I drive a pontiac vibe. I'm getting 38 miles to the gallon driving to all my jobs. I haul a lot of stuff in there that should have killed the vehicle by now. In the winter I always carry my toolbox, shovels and jumper cables. I totally want a truck but economically I cannot pass up the mileage I'm getting now. Last night I stuffed a 200# snow blower in it/ took it to my house and did my yard in 1/2 hour...It was quick and cost effective. Sure I want more capacity but I dont want to pay more for it. I only really need a truck a few times a year.

Now....When i first saw the USS New York I was thinkin where are the guns? Then after reading more about it the government I believe is looking to replace like 40 of their ships with 20 of these. So that is a great cost reduction. But the cool thing about these is what you can haul in them. Like 800 troops (take them anywhere and fast) along with a bunch of tanks and 2 majorly big hovercrafts. I believe it also has a powerful gun on its deck and of course it's stealthy.

So in my warped mind I believe they are both great vehicles and are efficient at what they do. Finally after complaining about the govt they do have a good idea in this warship.

The Black Widow

The Daily Grind

Cute photo.....how many people looking at my blog just hate going to work? I use to be that way till I got rid of my old boss then I realized I acutally kind of like my job. There are always people in your life that (when you wake up) you will dread seeing on a daily basis....So my thought for the day is dont wish your life away. Get a hobby and try and think of something fun each day. I know for me it's going home to my family and giving my dog a hard time. Or when I'm driving around I'm looking for the next photo I want to capture.

How many of you have pets? I think I have mentioned this but my dog is totally lazy. And if he had to work he would starve to death. I get up at 5:00 a.m. every day so I can feed my family and yes my "dog"...Its simply amazing to me that they do nothing and we can love them so much. They do indeed become a part of the family. Mine has to sit on the floor with the kids if we play a board game. He has to be there right with us. My wife gets mad at me because I give my dog a hard time. But you know when I get home he barks at me all the time and wants to play. He's looking for me to give him a hard time and if I dont he feels bad....

Pets are the coolest thing in the world. Regardless if your job sucks and your life sucks they are always your friend.

The Black Widow

YOUR ROOTS

Today I was thinking about where I came from. A while back my aunt did some research on our family background and turns out some of my ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Go figure, from the sounds of it we were a bunch of crooks....

The point of this story though is I'm totally fascinated with the settling of this country. First off there are Indians and not much food but also had to travel thousands of miles in a boat. Think about taking a camping trip and your stuck in a 20' camper for like 3 months. Um yea I would think that you could get a little sick?

When they came here there was probably not much food and I'm sure they had to do tons of hunting. I get sick of taking a lunch every day but at least I dont have to go out and shoot it first. Also if I want a mountain dew I can go drop some cash and get it ...I dont have to search hundreds of miles for water.

I think people forget about where we came from. I know times are tough today but think about what these people had to go through...>no banks? No Mcdonalds? no convenient stores....no automobiles? How about having no car and you have to walk everywhere you go...>NO thank you....

I will take today over the past any day....

The Black Widow

THE COST OF WAR

Don't get me wrong I'm a firm believer for an eye for an eye...However recently I have been asking myself questions....Why? Why are we in Iraq.....Why are we in Afghanistan.????Why???? I get the point that maybe if we don't kill people over there that yes they will come over here and kill us. However I sit and look at the cost of moving people to other countries and I have to tell you this is getting CRAZY....

First off as you know I have two jobs and I drive a vibe. I put on a couple hundred miles each week and go through about $60.00 a week in gas.. Now lets see that's me (um yea one person ) and x 4 weeks that's $240 dollars. Now how many miles to the gallon do you think a tank gets? How many tanks do we have over seas? How many people do we have to feed in a day? Is it free to feed our people? How much does it cost someone to fly over seas to war...Is that free? Do we get a return on investment on this stuff?

Here is my question. So we have all these places that terrorists can fly into and yes now they are starting to blow up planes which I'm sure they will never stop doing. However what about beefing up security at airports/borders? How about throwing money into new ideas on how to fight terrorism at a border....Why cant we come up with some new ideas besides just going to war....

I don't want to get blown up...I don't want anyone to get blown up. But I am now afraid we have lost track of what we are trying to accomplish in Afghanistan and to me it's opportunity cost.

We are throwing a lot of money in ....And there will be no money coming back out... It's like every time I put on the news I see my kids "Standard Of Living"....Just going by the wayside...

The Black Widow.

THE SHINING

Remember that movie "The Shining"?????

It was that move where they went way out in the wilderness to this hotel to take care of it. I take care of 3 properties now (on top of my full time job) and the newest one is in Southern WI....I don't know how to explain it but when I come over the hill and see the town below, I get this EERIE feeling....The town is very old (1800's) time frame and has lots of old buildings...It's just strange and I think the people in it are strange..

Have you ever had that feeling when you went somewhere? Like you don't or wouldn't trust anyone in the town? I've had that feeling in the woods as I have discussed in one of my earlier stories but I also get that feeling of "no trust" when I have visited certain cities in the U.S.

What is that? Is there a 6th sense we just don't know about? Is there something that happened in that town years ago that you can pick up on? I know I have written about dog man before and I think there are things in your brain that you pick up on and ya just can't explain it.. If your out there and you can explain it to me let me know.

At any rate when I take over a new building it has takes time to get use to the people (some are very unclean and just strange)....

I love my job....

The Black Widow