For some reason I recently recalled my first job out of high school. I worked at a now-defunct drug store, and was soon managing the beer & wine department. When Bud went on sale for $5/case, I decided how much to buy, how to set up the display, etc. The same went for all other items. It was pretty cool not having anyone look over my shoulder. There was a Safeway grocery store right next door. We were the only 2 businesses in that small strip mall, except for a dry cleaner and a small shop that rotated through owners. The Safeway used to sell sandwiches-to-order. If they sold it at the deli, you could have a sandwich made with it. The woman who managed the deli had a particular type of wine she liked, so when it went on sale I would squirrel away a couple of bottles and make sure she knew we had a deal going on. In exchange, I got some of the biggest honkin' sandwiches you ever did see. I was not old enough to drink at 18 (Virginia kept changing the age from 21 to 18 and then back again, testing hybrids for booze, beer and wine.) The Schmidts guy didn't think it was fair for me to have the job that I had and not be able to drink, so every once in a while he would take a case of beer and hide it under a box in the rear of the store by the delivery entrance. Good times.
I remember my father building me a crate scooter, with an old pair of skates. Me and my friends used to race these down the street sewer cover 2 sewer cover. This photo is taken from online it's a file photo.
I'll just leave these here...a few random memories. - Camping in the backyard with my sidekick, "Kaiser"... a black/tan standard Dachshund. - Nearly blowing myself up after turning on the gas to the space heater, then going to hunt matches. - Spending summers with my grandparents. - My dad's hunting dog, "Mack." He was a pointer. - Tormenting my older siblings. (Still do when the notion strikes.) - Jumping on the running board of my grandpa's 1951 Dodge pickup farm truck as he putted down the dirt road in front of our house. - Watching "Dr. Ghoulman's Shock Theater" every Friday night at 10:30 with my brother. - The time "Lady," my brother's horse, ran away with me.
1955 Listening to Wolfman Jack and then later Brother Al on XERF in the wee hours on my first radio, a Knight Kit one transistor, using the old bakelite earpiece magnetic headphones. I would wake up to blasting Mariachi if my mom didn't remove my headphones during the night. 1960 I never got my chosen Cocker Spaniel as it was bitten by a rattlesnake before it was weaned. I did get a .410 shotgun but never hunted birds. 1970 I became a fully licensed broadcast engineer but never realized my dream of viewing the massive transmitter at XERF. 1975 I kept a Cocker Spaniel for a friend while she was away on assignment. I decided to quit grieving never having one as a kid. Much too hyper for me. I was able to take the recoil of a 12 gauge repeatedly at that age and had purchased one, but just had it for up close and personal self-defense.
Faye, Bakelite brings back so many memories, used a lot in electronics, I'm not sure it's used anymore today.
No, the other plastics took over. Bakelite provided safety as cases for electronic devices. Much safer than the old metal-cased All American 5 tube that had no transformer for isolation on the power supply. Even the tube filaments were so a string of them would match the line voltage of 120. 35-volt rectifiers and 50-volt final audio. With that 85 volts, they added 3 more 12-volt tube filaments and 121 volts worth of filaments did the trick. About 1962 I added an isolation transformer to my old Hallicrafter S-38 5 tube after taking a few jolts. I was given it at a swap meet by an old ham that was selling off everything. He priced it for $5 to a couple of boys, wanna-be hams, struggling with morse code and when he saw my call sign ID tag proudly pinned on my shirt, he gave it to me and also a box load of all kinds of parts.
Sorry it took so long to respond, I was using the hospital's Wi-Fi earlier I try to park close to the hospital where I can get a signal while I wait for my wife to get a treatment. I to played with a lot of electronics, as a sophomore in high school I built a 5 tube superheterodyne radio, then the TV later. Build numerous kits Eico, Heath, Dynco, Harman Kardon citation amp and preamp, plus projects from Popular Electronics schematics.
Awesome! Those kits were fun. About 25 years ago my final project before I sold off all my radio and electronic stuff, was based on the standard old superhet 5 tube design using all 12-volt filament tubes. I added more tuned RF and IF stages for a dual conversion. I hated to sell it but it was time to give all that old vintage high voltage radio hobby up. I survived a 2KV jolt from my transmitter because of carelessness and that helped make up my mind. Give your wife my best and hope each day gets better for her and you also. Those hospital visits waiting are long days. I was lucky to avoid chemo. something I will be grateful for forever. With my other problems, I might not have survived chemo.
I wish you well. I to got rid of my electronic parts, chassis, it broke my heart to get rid of my tube caddy. Right now on Craigslist somebody is giving away electronic components free PC boards, resistors, capacitors, etc. I was so tempted to respond to the ad but then I thought what am I going to do with it I'm trying to clean out the house myself.
"Where ya been lately?" Couple months recovering from a great toe injury, watching ballgames. "share a few more memories?" Mostly hamburgers.