Monday, April 21, 2008
Spring is in the air
I have this small tree in my back yard. I believe it is Autumn Purple Ash. We called it "stick" for a couple of years. This is its 4th year. It does most of it major grow once a year in Spring. It probably does grow during the whole year but this one or two week period is most active. Its buds turn into seriously develiped branches. I took few picture during last few days.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
10 mile ride on a road bike
We have those road bikes for some time now. My daughter has that little kid's road bike we got from Amazon for last New Year's. We have done some short (2-3 miles) rides mostly around our neighborhood. Today we finally decided to make a longer run. We made total 10 miles (I know people riding road bikes are laughing at this), but I was happy we finally found some time and strength to do it. We visited our friends that live 3 miles away. Then we came back and made another ride this evening. If we get to be persistent I might have found my fun and healthy hobby after all.
Mac 512KE and Mac SE
Good old days...
Well in good old times, I had a Commodore 64 - "computer for mases, not classes" (Jack Tramiel, guy who built Commodore empire). When Mac 128 and 512 came out, these were computers for classes, but extremely cool and nice. I admired the sharp black and white monitor and crystal clear picture. Whoever used early home computers with TV sets they will know what I am talking about.
I got bunch of Mac stuff from a guy here who also collects old computers (Macs). I never got a Mac before, but certainly remember them well.
I am not Microsoft Office fan, but you got to love this old version. I like those good times when you could decently run a serious application of a single 400K floppy disk. Even though, my friend tells me it worked much better if you had an external floppy disk and used one drive to run the program and another one to save files.
Mac 512KE and Mac SE side by side. Mac SE also has a SCSI 20GB hard drive. That hard drive still works. Impressive. I like the old Mac's keyboard. It is fun that it took them long time to admit that cursor keys are needed and that a mouse is not solution for everything.
On Mac SE they improved the keyboard and mouse little bit. The fun thing is that they did not change CPU. It was still good old reliable MC68000 @ 8 MHz.
I also got to run MS Basic on them today. It was fun to write some simple programs and revoke some memories of my first steps on computers. Got to say it was much easier to do Basic on 8-bit computers that booted from ROM directly into Basic editor/operating system with "READY" prompt.
Well in good old times, I had a Commodore 64 - "computer for mases, not classes" (Jack Tramiel, guy who built Commodore empire). When Mac 128 and 512 came out, these were computers for classes, but extremely cool and nice. I admired the sharp black and white monitor and crystal clear picture. Whoever used early home computers with TV sets they will know what I am talking about.
I got bunch of Mac stuff from a guy here who also collects old computers (Macs). I never got a Mac before, but certainly remember them well.
I am not Microsoft Office fan, but you got to love this old version. I like those good times when you could decently run a serious application of a single 400K floppy disk. Even though, my friend tells me it worked much better if you had an external floppy disk and used one drive to run the program and another one to save files.
Mac 512KE and Mac SE side by side. Mac SE also has a SCSI 20GB hard drive. That hard drive still works. Impressive. I like the old Mac's keyboard. It is fun that it took them long time to admit that cursor keys are needed and that a mouse is not solution for everything.
On Mac SE they improved the keyboard and mouse little bit. The fun thing is that they did not change CPU. It was still good old reliable MC68000 @ 8 MHz.I also got to run MS Basic on them today. It was fun to write some simple programs and revoke some memories of my first steps on computers. Got to say it was much easier to do Basic on 8-bit computers that booted from ROM directly into Basic editor/operating system with "READY" prompt.
Fiat 500 and Lada Samara (VAZ 2108)
Intro
I guess there is a part of me that is still a kid. Maybe only 75-95%. I recently discovered those Zastava 750 (kind of like Fiat 600) car models and started looking at others. Of course, my interest are the ones that were around in when I was growing up... in former Yugoslavia. I find those Cararama models in scale 1:43 extremely nice. I also found bunch of Russian car models in same scale that are just wonderful.
Pictures
I took those on my back porch. It was sunny afternoon and I love the fact the concrete is kind of fine grain so it all kind of look like these were the cars on real road or parking.
I like the shadows there.
Fiat 500 "Microcar"
Wish I had a real one like this...
Kolko juri? ("How fast can it go?")
Believe it or not my dad had one just like this. Little darker blue though. This car was very comfy and fun to drive. It was a mixture of a sporty and Russian rugged type of feel. I loved that car.
Not sure if it can be seen, but the seats can be folded.
Cararama Fiat comes with lots of details, but this Lada has bunch of moving parts...
Both are fantastic models. Will follow with more...
I guess there is a part of me that is still a kid. Maybe only 75-95%. I recently discovered those Zastava 750 (kind of like Fiat 600) car models and started looking at others. Of course, my interest are the ones that were around in when I was growing up... in former Yugoslavia. I find those Cararama models in scale 1:43 extremely nice. I also found bunch of Russian car models in same scale that are just wonderful.
Pictures
I took those on my back porch. It was sunny afternoon and I love the fact the concrete is kind of fine grain so it all kind of look like these were the cars on real road or parking.
I like the shadows there.
Fiat 500 "Microcar"
Wish I had a real one like this...
Kolko juri? ("How fast can it go?")
Believe it or not my dad had one just like this. Little darker blue though. This car was very comfy and fun to drive. It was a mixture of a sporty and Russian rugged type of feel. I loved that car.
Not sure if it can be seen, but the seats can be folded.
Cararama Fiat comes with lots of details, but this Lada has bunch of moving parts...
Both are fantastic models. Will follow with more...Sunday, April 13, 2008
Retro Computers - Collection Inventory (Draft)
Unofficial List
- Amstrad CPC464
- Apple IIc
- Apple Mac 512KE
- Apple Mac SE (2)
- Apple Mac IIvx
- Apple Mac Centris 650 (upgraded to Quadra)
- Apple Mac PowerBook 5300
- Apple Power Mac G3 Blue
- Atari 130XE
- Atari ST1040 (2)
- Atari Mega ST 2
- Atari Portfolio
- Cambridge Z88
- Commodore VIC 20
- Commodore 64 (2)
- Commodore 64C
- Commodore 4/Plus
- Commodore 128
- Commodore Amiga A500 (2)
- Dell Dimension 3000 (P4@2.8GHz)
- eMachines eTower 500is (will probably throw this in trash :)
- Ei Pecom 32 (or 64) - not put my paws on that one yet.
- Epson PX
- Gateway 2000 (P3@800MHz, Win98)
- HP-48sx
- HP e-pc (P3@933MHz)
- HP Multimedia PC m7750n (Dual P4@2.8GHz)
- IBM ThinkPad (to be updated)
- Nec 8301 (Like TRS-80 Portable Model 100)
- KayPro II (CP/M portable)
- Panasonic JR200
- Sharp PC1430 (calculator size)
- Sinclair QL
- Texas Instruments 92 (MC68000 based calculator, size of small laptop :)
- Texas Instruments 99 4/a (silver)
- Texas Instruments 99 4/a (gray, non working)
- Timex Sinclair 1000 + 16K memory module
- Timex Sinclair 2068
- TRS-80 CoCo2
- TRS-80 CoCo3 (128K)
- TRS-80 MC-10 (2)
- TRS-80 Portable Model 100
- TRS-80 Portable Model 102
- VTech Laser 5 (red and blue)
- VTech Unlimited
- Zenith Portable PC (to be updated)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Zastava 750 (Cararama 1:43)
What is that?
Looks like Fiat 600 from 60s, in a way it is. Lot of European car makers in 60s, 70s, and even 80s (Zastava) were making copies or their own variants of Fiat 600. Zastava 750 has little stronger engine (750cc) and there was also a version with 850cc, which was flying. In former Yugoslavia it was called Fica or Ficko (check movie "Nacionalna Klasa"). Some (rarely) called it Figuar (any similarity with Jaguar is a pure coincidence). Lots of fun to drive. Even funnier when I tell you I am 6'4" (192cm).
Anyways, this one here is a little model, scale 1:43 to the real one. I bought couple of these recently primarily from my personal Yugo-nostalgia, but also I have to admit the level of details on such a small diecast model deserves every admiration. Please note that the length is around 2" (5cm) on this one. Feel free to click on pictures to zoom in.
This one has Yugo "license plates". I got a police one, too. Will follow up with pictures. Anyone has 1:43 scale Yugo or Zastava 101?
Looks like Fiat 600 from 60s, in a way it is. Lot of European car makers in 60s, 70s, and even 80s (Zastava) were making copies or their own variants of Fiat 600. Zastava 750 has little stronger engine (750cc) and there was also a version with 850cc, which was flying. In former Yugoslavia it was called Fica or Ficko (check movie "Nacionalna Klasa"). Some (rarely) called it Figuar (any similarity with Jaguar is a pure coincidence). Lots of fun to drive. Even funnier when I tell you I am 6'4" (192cm).
Anyways, this one here is a little model, scale 1:43 to the real one. I bought couple of these recently primarily from my personal Yugo-nostalgia, but also I have to admit the level of details on such a small diecast model deserves every admiration. Please note that the length is around 2" (5cm) on this one. Feel free to click on pictures to zoom in.
This one has Yugo "license plates". I got a police one, too. Will follow up with pictures. Anyone has 1:43 scale Yugo or Zastava 101?
In Search for Perfect Bread (Part III)
Another Bread Craving
I got some real bread craving today. I needed something relatively quickly. So I made some bread with the help of my trusty old Breadman Pro bread maker.
I used Breadman's Basic bread recipe and just the dough cycle. I probably put little more flour as I noticed I needed add some water. When the dough cycle finished I left the dough little bit in the bread maker. We again used trusted King Arthur's flour.
Then I pulled it out, put some flour on the work surface. Punch the dough down and knead for like at least two minutes. Put some flour on your hands so it does not stick on you. After kneading I split the dough in two balls. One larger for a loaf of bread and smaller to make a ring shaped one. I put both of them into the oven and left around 45 minutes for the dough to rise again.
For the ring shaped one, I poked it with a fork and put lots of salt at the top. I just love it that way. You can notice in the picture that someone stole a piece before I got to take a picture.
The regular loaf took little longer to bake. Again, we used 1-2 minutes of the broil at the end. This bread was perfect (read "like a bread is supposed to be").
I got some real bread craving today. I needed something relatively quickly. So I made some bread with the help of my trusty old Breadman Pro bread maker.
I used Breadman's Basic bread recipe and just the dough cycle. I probably put little more flour as I noticed I needed add some water. When the dough cycle finished I left the dough little bit in the bread maker. We again used trusted King Arthur's flour.
Then I pulled it out, put some flour on the work surface. Punch the dough down and knead for like at least two minutes. Put some flour on your hands so it does not stick on you. After kneading I split the dough in two balls. One larger for a loaf of bread and smaller to make a ring shaped one. I put both of them into the oven and left around 45 minutes for the dough to rise again.
For the ring shaped one, I poked it with a fork and put lots of salt at the top. I just love it that way. You can notice in the picture that someone stole a piece before I got to take a picture.
The regular loaf took little longer to bake. Again, we used 1-2 minutes of the broil at the end. This bread was perfect (read "like a bread is supposed to be").
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