I’ve found what may be certifiably called a widget today. I was helping a teacher clean out her closed (a disused equipment closet crammed with stuff as old as my own elementary schooling) and we came across a blank box that contained an oblong beige metal box with two connectors on it. One parallel (rs-232 or older and non-standard?) and one three-pin standard power. The box also contained a power cord, parallel cable, and the oldest expansion card i’ve ever seen. It would give old 8-bit ISA a run for its money.

The clues that it was too damn old to be of any use abounded. For one it came with a peripheral-dependant I/O card. That’s a sure sign that it predated good-ol’ standard parallel cables. Also it had a rainbow ribbon cable attached to said I/O card. Now i don’t know about you, but the only place i have ever seen those is on fantasically old Apples. ][e sort of old. But to cut to the chase i confiscated it immediately and hied myself on home (to the office). Hey, you never know when something like that might be fun to play with.

So any clues on what a tannish box that is about 4″x6″x19″ that says “Sider” on the front and only has parallel and power connectors might be?

Geez, i should do some research before i blog next time. Turns out the damn thing is a 10 meg hard drive for an Apple ][e. I guess my insticts about the card really panned out big-time. That doesn’t sound like much, especially given that my desk now features 32 megs on a keychain. But by 1970’s Apple standard this thing is gold. I guess as soon as i get the mouse and joystick i can consider my museum peice complete.

Ho ha!

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Why money, of course. You ever hear the one about a fool and his money? Well, i must be a fool then, because damn but i can’t keep a hold of a dollar to save my damn life. See there’s this place that anyone has access too that just drains money from me like some sort of gravity well. See i was tipped off to the location of the local State Surplus Depot, and have since become quite the habitue. There is, probably in every state, a place where state agencies (dept of transportation, highway patrol, universities, etc) drop off their used crap for tax writeoffs and for sale to the public at fairly reduced rates. Most of the stuff i’ve bought there has been less than eBay’s rates, even before shipping has been added. So i’ve come into possession of a heavy ass cabinet, a Cisco FastHub 300, and the final piece, a Cisco Catalyst 2901.

The 2901 is something of a crown jewel of my collection really, being a switch comperable to the Catalyst 5000, just smaller in stature and fixed configuration. The long and short of it is that the thing is a small computer. It runs CatOS and if i can get into it is really an impressive piece of equipment. If i can ever get into it, that is. I’m having a hell of a time actually getting a functional console cable, let along following Cisco’s password recovery instructions.

More on this experiment to come, really. As soon as i find out what kind of console cable i need, because this damn LapLink cable is next to useless.

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So anyway, sorry about not getting back to you guys. Turns out my labor (labour?) day was profoundly full of stuff. Namely buying pants (three pairs) and showing the Girl Haibane Renmei. She enjoyed it, and i would almost say she really enjoyed it. It took three seperate episodes to get her hooked on Bebop, but only one of HR to get her to respond to “So, shall we go?” with “Nah, just one more episode.”

Little known fact, she watched Real Folk Blues Pt. 2 (the ending episode) as her first viewing of Bebop. Then Jamming with Edward, then Toys in the Attic. When she mentioned that she watched Toys on her own and thought it was badass then i knew she was hooked. That was pretty awesome because well, Bebop itself is the cat’s pjs.

This weekend was very productive though. I’ve watched almost half of Full Metal Panic, and because of such i’ve ordered a cheap 2.5″ USB 2.0 hard drive enclosure. This should make sharing anime and movies with the Floridians quite a bit easier when i can cart 6 gigs back and forth in my pocket.

And the pants were not entirely boring. I replaced a pair of blue jeans that were shrinking quite a bit (i don’t know, i may be too rough on my clothes with the dryer). I also grabbed a pair of pants for work, and with my Girl’s help i mustered up the courage to buy raver pants. You know, the kind that have pockets from hell to busciuts. Unfortunately they can’t fit my screwdrivers. However, two volumes of manga, the Diesel Sweeties book, the Scary-Go-Round book, my B.P.R.D. Lighter, a PDA, my black notebook, a pen, a sharpie, three throwing knives, and a compass can all fit in them with room (and pockets) to spare. Needless to say i’m in heaven.

I’m still working on the damn swtich i purchased from surplus. Stay tuned for a more in-depth entry about it.

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