...I was an iron worker, installed bank and weapon vault doors for Mosler, Inc...from '78-'98...after breaking my body many times over, I said to myself- 'gee, maybe you need to stop all the heavy work and get smart...I latched on too- now my best friend, John - who was the smartest tech I knew in the company...well it worked well, I would do hardware, he would do the 'super-tech' stuff, and I would learn by tattooing myself to his shoulder while he did his thing...From that time, I have a Timex Sinclair 1000, in the box, and the tape drive too. I have many of the old EEPROM's and 1k memory chips from card key systems...I have a Compaq laptop which I bought in Ohio at the home office- I will have to dig it out for the model # as I have grown old and feeble and don't remember the model. It has the Blk/White screen 20meg hard drive, 64k ram, and I have the Windows 3.1 box and disks that came with it...it's weight was/is around 9 lbs, dry. It has the 'mouse' that attaches to the side of the computer and you use your thumb to move the cursor...battery life- 2 hours, maybe...my favorite piece of hardware, one that I still use- right here on this computer- is an old Glidepoint trac pad (serial) from Cirque...bought it in '82...or should I say the company did... It would be, what 30 years old? The middle of it is losing some of its 'capacitance sensitivity', but still hums right a long...has the 4 buttons...they are still available, and I highly recommend you getting one- you will never go back to a mouse if you can help it. No wrist problems and you can work or hours with it just moving your finger and not the world like with a mouse...but my pride and joy is my Mark 1, analog Xcelite 4" mini-screwdriver, bought in 1979...been with me from start to finish, flipped many a DIP switch with it, done surgery on things, been shocked, broke things with it, shed blood with it...if you take it and put your finger on the metal part, and touch it on a door nob on a winters day, you don't get shocked...what a perfect tool...
