Category Archives: rambling

wachovia

I saw this at Antique Marketplace near the airport. Is it a sugar bowl, ink well?

Wachovia Bank, sometimes called WatchOverYa. I had my first checking account there many decades ago.

One of the early banks to roll out ATM service in the area, Wachovia named the machines Teller II. BB&T named theirs Tillie (the all-time teller).

The old ATM’s had a scrolling plastic tape with dozens of messages on it that you could see by looking through a little window. The motors would run to scroll the tape to the right message, then a light would turn on underneath to make it readable. It looked like the window on the Magic 8-Ball except bigger. By noting the amount of time it took the machine to display a message (the common ones were grouped together for speed), one could sense a transaction decline comping up even before seeing it display.

After some service incidents where I felt like I was being screwed over for being young, I left Wachovia and would never go there again.

I think Wachovia was given away to Wells Fargo at some point.

mewe

Run long, run strong, dear MeWe ❤️

1991 pride

Me, 1991, Pride in Carrboro. Brian and I were already together, so things were looking up.

I often push it out of my mind that by that year I’d lost a good third of my friends to “that disease.”

radio gaga

I went out on dates almost none in high school and didn’t go to the proms. I just wasn’t up to tackling all the issues that would  have made it possible for me to do it the right way.

Instead, I got an amateur radio license (ham radio), covered my parents house and yard with huge antennas, and sat down in their basement alone with my tube-type radio (Heathkit HW-101), and geeked out by talking with people all over the world.

My parents seemd to like it because it mostly kept me out of trouble.

I was often up by 5:00 a.m. before school so I could run downstairs and work the USSR for a couple of hours before leaving.

Then when I hit my twenties, I tried to make up for the lack of dating.

I still have a valid radio license.

lips sealed

Can you hear them, they talk about us, telling lies, is that a surprise. Go Go’s. Our lips are sealed.

kindness

There’s a main-line denomination church over in high point where Brian has played a few times and we know the minister. I was over there last September for a drive-up ice cream party they had. The minister was chatting with me and asked, “are you and Brian doing okay during Covid.”

When I replied “yes, okay for now thanks,” he said, “if you ever need anything, let us know. You don’t have to be a member here.”

I thought that was generous AF.  ♥️ I think about that moment frequently.

joy of soma fm

The joy of radio stream.

~~

Space Station Soma from SomaFM.com [SomaFM]

Ambient Space

Zen Mechanics – A New Philosophy

columbo

“Just one more thing”

OMG yes. Columbo Complete DVD set. It just arrived yesterday.

34 discs, nearly 100 hours. I like it.

Growing up hiding in my room from my family, Columbo, especially the NBC Mystery Movie series including Columbo, was good company on a GE black and white portable TV.

This DVD set has coverage from 1968 through 2003.

calzado

It takes me so long to get into these that I don’t wear them that often and tend to leave them on all day when I do. I usually get at least one leg cramp trying to shove my feet down into them.

coffee equip

A couple of pieces of my coffee making equipment. The bean grinder is new. I had been wanting one for quite a while.

I usually finish everything off in an AeroPress or a French press.