I’ve spent several years ripping my physical DVDs into files that can be streamed from my computer. Because I’ve been doing this for so long, I’ve ripped lots of different movies lots of different ways using lots of different programs. This leads to movies in lots of different formats. For the past couple of years I’ve been using WinX DVD Ripper, but unfortunately on a lot of longer movies the audio and video kept getting out of sync. Because of this, I switched to HandBrake. Not only does HandBrake work faster and doesn’t have audio sync issues, but it’s also… (read more)

Last month the computer speakers I keep connected to my laptop died. I paid $5 for the speakers back in the mid-90s. In 1996, I connected a power supply with too much voltage to the speakers, which caused a loud POP which was followed by smoke. (Yes, I let the smoke out of them.) Without a power supply connected, the speakers continued to work for another 19 years. I feel like I got my money’s worth out of them — no complaints there. While in Texas on vacation I stopped by Fry’s to pick up a replacement, and I was… (read more)

In what was once described as the most disgusting episode of Hoarders to ever air, viewers met Terry, a woman so in love with cats that she began hoarding them. On the day a television crew arrived at her house Terry had 49 cats — 31 of which were so unhealthy that they had to be euthanized. Equally disturbing, Terry also had a collection of dead cats stored in her freezer and at least one (which had “liquefied”) inside a baggie in her closet. There was a time in my life when I was Terry — not with cats fortunately,… (read more)

(This has been sitting in my draft folder, unfinished, for over a year. I am posting it today for no particular reason.) “Wanna go cruise?” I asked Mason from my recliner. “Okay,” he said, grabbing his Nintendo hat. “Where are we cruising to?” “Around,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. It was 8:30pm. Twilight. Outside, the sun was low and red and reflected perfectly off my car. Once inside the car the two of us rolled the windows down, turned the radio up, and headed toward Yukon. Back in the glory days I wore out many sets of tires doing laps… (read more)

I never saw any roaches or mice in my first apartment, not that I didn’t deserve them. After a very brief search for my first apartment I settled on Country Club Apartments, mostly due to their proximity to Pizza Inn. My former boss at Grandy’s migrated from the chicken business to the pizza business, and for a titillating offer of $5/hour, I did as well. After suffering a panic attack by seeing just how small a studio apartment really was, I was up-sold a one-bedroom model for $300/month, exactly one half of my new monthly salary. Back then, half my… (read more)

I’ve tried explaining what Colorforms were to my kids before, and I’ll admit, in a world full of PlayStations and iPads, they sound pretty boring. Recently I ran across a still-sealed Dick Tracy Colorforms set for a couple of bucks and decided to open it up and show my kids just how fun Colorforms were! This picture is only here to show that this truly was a “mint in box” set of Colorforms. This included piece of paper includes instructions — as if “stick things wherever you want” needed explaining — and also lists some of the developmental benefits of… (read more)

I’ve collected lots and lots of things throughout my life — little things like little plastic monsters and big things like full-size arcade cabinets — but all of my collecting roots can all be traced back to my first true love: Star Wars. I saw Star Wars for the first time in 1977 at the age of four. I’ve always said that the opening scene of Star Wars (in which we see Princess Leia’s ship being chased by an Imperial Star Destroyer) ultimately cost me thousands of dollars in collectables over the years. And if that scene hooked me, the… (read more)

While on vacation a couple of weeks ago I took my Raspberry Pi with me. You can easily connect it to a television using only an HDMI cable, so I hooked mine up to the hotel’s television, fired it up, and began playing some retro games. Right off the bat I noticed something wasn’t quite right. If you’re not familiar with the Raspberry Pi you might not notice anything odd in this picture, but those “blue”berries are supposed to be raspberries! I actually didn’t notice this at first. Note that the resolution is reporting as 1360×768. From here I moved… (read more)

I can’t help it. When I find these old PC games, especially for only a buck or two at thrift stores, I buy them. Most of them I already have old copies of; the few I don’t, I’m sure I could find. Regardless, I pick them up. Really quickly: I bought The Time Warp of Dr. Brain because I already have an original of The Island of Dr. Brain and wanted to put them next to one another. I haven’t tried to run this on a modern PC yet. Mixed-Up Mother Goose is a SCUMMVM game by Sierra similar to… (read more)

I love old collectible drinking glasses, despite the fact that they may or may not be bad for your health due to the levels of lead supposedly used in the paint. Thrift stores and antique malls are loaded with these things, but like everything else, prices have risen over the past 5-10 years. My limit for these character glasses is about $5, so I was thrilled to find these glasses marked for a buck each at a Ft. Worth antique mall! From what I can find, these are from the “Action” series of McDonald’s drinking glasses, released in 1977. I… (read more)