Happy Easter!

Just want to wish anyone happening to find this blog a happy Easter!

Our family gathering took place in the backwoods of Northwood, NH. When I say backwoods, I mean it! The driveway to get to this house is at least one mile long, 100% dirt (or, this time of year, mud!), and assailable by 4WD-type vehicles only. Many a car has gotten stuck trying to get down the driveway, as have the tow trucks called to retrieve them! We parked our car near the very beginning, strapped on our boots, and (after failing to get a cellphone signal to use in order to call them for a ride) trudged through the mud and snow to get there.

The relative we visited has four dogs. Well, not quite that; more like one dog, and three small farm animals! ;) One chocolate lab, two Saint Bernards, and one Newfoundland. During hunting season, they have to be outfitted in orange clothing, or the hunters in the area might mistake them for deer! The drool flowed freely from their mouths, and when one of the big three started barking, the other two shortly followed. In spite of the slobber and barking, they're very nice dogs. Part of their basement was built with the big three in mind; the coatroom has a ramp leading to an area with a tub, and a large custom-built doggy door to let them out into the fenced portion of the backyard.

All in all, we had a great time, and look forward to going back there for Thanksgiving (hopefully, with better cell phone reception next time). Hope a great Easter was had by all.
-Adam

Working for/on the weekend (rant)

I do work for the family accountant from time to time. In the past, he'd call from time to time, and I'd do some computer work for him. These days, however, he's in the middle of tax season, so he's needed lots of help with things not having to do with accounting and tax preparation, so whenever he has some errands to do, he gives me a call. Lately, this has been occuring on Saturdays, and usually from 9AM to closing time. Today was no exception. I took out the trash, got provisions multiple times, bought a load of toner cartridges at Staples (more on this shortly), and did lots of faxing. I must've faxed at least 200 pages. Somehow, I managed to get not one paper cut.

When I went to Staples, they only had one toner cartridge in the type I needed (HP 12A) in the rack of toner cartridges. For some reason, they do not stock many 12A cartridges in with the rest of them, so in with the multiple 13A and 15A cartridges, sat one lone 12A (even though there's room for at least three). I figured an associate would be along shortly to ask me if I was all set, but I was wrong. It was at least 15 minutes before anyone noticed me! Even the desk clerks were too busy to help. Finally, someone decided to ask me what I needed, and I told them. 10 minutes later, after fiddling with the little PDA device apparently used to keep track of stock, two more 12A cartridges were located for me. Where had they been? Near the printers, and not in the dedicated toner section. As I was walking out, the manager mentioned to the clerk to move -one- of the cartridges from the printer section to the toner section. Needless to say, words fail me.

Fortunately, I had my 1GB iPod shuffle to get me through all of this. I got my shuffle a couple of months ago, and it has been a sheer boon to my life. No longer do I need mess with relatively-low capacity cassettes or CDs, since the iPod shuffle holds around 240 songs (actually less in my case, since some of my MP3s are long enough to take up the side of an LP). Most of the day, I had the shuffle sitting at my desk, playing through a set of computer speakers, which really helped me get through all the faxing. It's definitely worth the $150 I paid for it.

Anyway, sorry about the rant; sometimes, I feel like I have to vent...
-Adam

Somebody set himself up the blog...

Welcome to Adam's Web Log Of Old Stuff! Yes, I know there are way too many blogs out there, but I figured, what the hell... ;) For those who don't know, my name is Adam Vaughn. I'm a college student who collects vintage electronic devices. I collect tube radios, obsolete computers, vintage Bell System phones, tube audio devices, old video game systems, and many more such things. As you may have guessed, my house is a perpetual mess, but I manage. I'll probably post here from time to time relating to my use of vintage electronic devices, how it's related to modern life (or how it isn't...), or whatever comes to mind. A warning: if you are offended by the discussion of vacuum tubes, vinyl records, 8-bit video games, or shortwave radios, turn back now. For the rest of you, enjoy!
-Adam