More Random Thoughts

Trying to get back in sync...

C64
I got my first computer when I was in high school. It was a Commodore 64, and at the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I came across an article about the 25th anniversary of the C64 which jarred my memories...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/12/07/c64/index.html

I know, it's amazing that I must have been in high school when I was about 3 years old ;-) Anyways, I taught myself how to program in BASIC and wrote all kinds of text based games and programs for it. For the first couple of years we couldn't afford a disk drive, so I had to save all my programs on tape. It was an audio cassette recorder that connected to the computer and saved programs on cassette tapes. This of course was just after the discovery of fire, and right before the invention of the wheel ;-) A couple of years later a program called Gamemaker by Gary Kitchen came out for the C64... I thought this was the greatest program ever made...

http://www.mts.net/~kbagnall/commodore/gamemaker/info.html

This program allowed people to make games on the C64 that had Atari-style graphics using a BASIC programming type language and some pretty cool tools. I spent a lot of time making all types of games, but my favorite was Sucker Spearin'. You see, for the first two weeks of April in Mills, the suckers (a bottom feeding fish) swim from the Saginaw Bay up into the little creeks and streams throughout the township. Millsers know about all about this. Back then, it was a right of passage to go out sucker spearin' all night long each spring. Well, I merged red-neck and high tech and made a sucker spearin' video game, and of course it included a digital version of me doing the spearing. Some day I'll have to see if that game still works and post some sucker spearin' screen shots ;-)

A cool website, but is it safe?
I came across a very cool website which has downloadable theme songs to just about any TV show you could imagine, so of course this caught my attention...

http://www.televisiontunes.com/browse.html

I just wonder if this can be legal, and as insane as the RIAA is anymore, I have to wonder if this is another MP3 lawsuit waiting to happen.

Speaking of being in Sync...
Am I the only one a little concerned that Microsoft is writing software that runs in vehicles? So are people gonna need anti-virus software for their cars now? I hope this doesn't give a new meaning to the Blue Screen Of Death.

Lions
At the two minute warning I said sarcastically "I know the Cowboys are gonna score... everyone knows the Cowboys are gonna score... Just let them score so we can at least get the ball back and have a chance to get a field goal." Guess what?!?! The Cowboys scored with 18 seconds left. Not that the Lions didn't have chances. There was a fumble that was right in front of a Lions player, and all he had to do was fall on it and the game would have been over. Instead he tried to pick it up and wound up kicking it right to a Cowboy. Ugh...

Completely Random...
Why does the knuckle on my left hand ache? I don't remember doing anything to it. Am I falling apart? I'm pretty sure it's not an old sucker spearing injury anyways. It might be an old sucker spearing video game injury though ;-)

Young and Alive... Millsers in the 80's

Life was so simple...

• Drinking all night by the bonfire, Hank Jr and Alabama keeping us company
• Jumping over the bonfire
• Waking up in the ditch, with scorched shoes
• Cruising McDonalds parking lot... in third gear
• Seeing just how deep into the woods we could get that truck by making our own trail
• Riding in the Chevelle, with the soundtrack to Christine blasting
• Beer can be used as brake fluid, in a pinch
• Finding someone with cable, or a NASA sized satellite dish
• Hitting every graduation party we could find...and staying all night
• Sleeping til noon
• Taking bets on who would be next to lose their job
• The biggest fear of getting pulled over was that the cops would take our beer
• Getting shot at, twice in one night
• Hiding the cars from the cops, and doing a good job of it
• Signing the contract, and then asking for someone to buy for us right afterwards
• Camping at the fair, with the strobe light tent
• Hot tents filled with beer soaked moving blankets mixed with Hai Karate... enough said
• Having more people at our tent than were out on the midway
• Getting kicked out of the fair
• Fishing and drinking all day...then playing ball that night
• Free pizza after the games
• Watching Strange Brew over and over, and thinking that it’s not just for Canadians
• Full contact tackle football, with no pads
• Full contact tackle hacky sack, with no pads
• Redneck Croquet
• John Cougar, Night Ranger, Huey Lewis, Van Halen...
• Not realizing that The Boss' "Glory Days" would be so prophetic
• Casey Kasem's sappy long distance dedications
• Aloha, Mr. Hand.... Spicoli rules

"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" - Bob Seger

Those were great times... a different world... so far away. I wouldn't have missed it, but I wish I had known the ending before it began...

Life happens... and it can follow a strange course... Make the best of it. Cherish the memories, old and new. Hopefully someday it will all make sense.

Someday this will be the great American novel that I write... or at least a really good "B" movie

Definition: Millser