One of the easiest ways to identify an old piece of computing equipment is by its color – that yellow / tan / brown that makes you wonder if people in the 70s, 80s, and 90s had any taste. In most cases that color wasn't actually the color of the hardware when it was new; …
Mac Museum Activity
The Mac Museum tends to be a seasonal hobby to which my interest waxes and wanes over time. My collection is in the basement, whose cool temperature tend to be enticing in the summer and unattractive in the winter. Interest also tends to follow buying spurts. I check eBay on occasion and it only takes …
Reflections on Chernobyl
HBO's Chernobyl Miniseries starts up this Monday and I decided to get familiar with the topic again prior to the first episode. I just finished re-reading Andrew Leatherbarrow's Chernobyl 01:23:40 and James Mahaffey’s Atomic Accidents, both fantastic books. I love abandoned places, enjoy science and technology, and have a small obsession with disasters; Chernobyl fits …
2018 Holiday Staycation
The holidays are over and we're back to work, so let's reflect on what we did over vacation. Usually we spend a couple days out of the house - we stay in a hotel somewhere and do things - but this year we decided to stay home. We are still exhausted from all of the …
2018 PC Upgrade Results
I recently decided to upgrade my storage and graphics card on my gaming PC. There was a bit of drama but the results are in. Storage I augmented my existing 2 TB spinning hard drive and 512 GB SSD with a 2 TB NVMe in an M.2 slot. The result has been phenomenal. A machine that …
2018 Holiday Gaming
The holidays are an opportunity to celebrate the season, spend time with family... and play video games! I'm off for 11 days in a row this year and while some of my time will be spent with the fam, some will also be spent gaming (and some working on the house). Here's what I'll be …
Bi-Annual PC Upgrade
I bought a custom-built gaming PC four years ago so I could upgrade it incrementally and avoid buying a new PC every couple of years to keep up with games. Over the long run this would provide me with a better system for less money. The original machine came with a high-end fourth-generation Core i7 …
My iPad Pro
I decided recently to purchase a 10.5" iPad Pro as an upgrade to my four-year-old iPad Air 2. I wanted Pro-level features but the brand-new 11" model is just too expensive. Scouring eBay was a much better option and I found one quickly - a 256 GB 10.5" iPad Pro with case and Apple Pencil …
iPad Next
This summer I posted an article about my iPad collection. In it I discussed what my next possible iPad might be. At the time my iPad Air 2 was holding up well and I was eyeing a previous-generation 10.5" iPad Pro once they went on sale after the next refresh. Since that time I've cracked …
Remastering an Old Image
I use my favorite photos as desktop backgrounds at home and at work. In the mix I have images going back as far as 2006, when I bought my first Pentax DSLR. Every now and then an image crosses my screen that I just... feel different about. Sometimes it's a piece of dust or a …
Relatively Ambitious 