blackcube.org

This site started out a a place to document my computer collection and to learn some simple HTML techniques.  I have other interests than computers so I decided to split the site to cover both my computers and my other interests, sailing and cooking as well as various home improvement projects and ideas.

I started collecting computers through the back door.  I am a pack rat by nature so as I replaced computers, I kept the older ones.  Eventually it became not just a hodge-podge of miscellaneous equipment but something resembling a "real" collection.  I've tried to stop collecting and even started to sell the collection off but I get really attached to things so I have never been able to kick the habit cold turkey.

Not really a computer but similar, almost everyone remember's the Atari video game consoles of the 1980's.  I own a 2600 and a 5200 Super System.  

This may seem to be a new interest but I've actually been fascinated with sailing ships as long as I can remember.  As a kid and teen, I read tons of books about sailing the seas under the power of the wind but until recently I had never actually set foot on a sailboat.  A simple two hour sail on the Foxy Roxy on Lake Ray Hubbard with Captain Randy giving me the wheel of his beautiful Hunter 37 set the hook completely.  I have to have a boat.

We are still setting up, decorating and organizing but we are also tackling some home improvement and remodeling projects as well.  Our life is a case study in the need for Mission Organization.  Or maybe Over Your Head?

I have alway been around machine tools.  As an electrician and later a contractor, in industrial settings, I could appreciate how a mchinist can take a chunk of metal and turn it into a useful part, even making parts for long discontinued machines.  This seems to be a skill that is dying out.  How many younger people that you know plan to be a machinist, an electrician or a plumber?   Surely we have enough lawyers, realators  and managers.  Are we all going to sell insurance and Big Mac's to each other?

So I bought an Atlas 618 lathe from the 1950's and I've been restoring it.  As I learn some machining skills, I plan to buy a few more tools.  I'm seriously considering a Chinese buildt 9"x30" lathe from Lathemaster in Baton Rouge.  I'm also looking at their mini-mill by Seig.  Since I'm selling computers from my collection and moving over to machine shop, I'm reconsidering my plans for thr third garage.

I have decided to reorganize the site to cover our other interests as well as computers.  After all, there is more to life than computers.  I am adding sections on classic video game consoles, our home, cooking and sailing with more areas to be added as I think about them.

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