This was written and photographed 12 Jan 2012 as part of a 365 project:
Dueling Laptops
In reality there's about a dozen stories that could originate from this pic. First and foremost...Day 12/365. second, It's a day of heavy rain for my corner of the world. Not really a problem, as we haven't had a lot rain of late. Just means it's a play inside day. Next would have to be the old drop front desk that i recently converted to my computer workstation. My brother runs a landscaping business and along with that does other side jobs such as cleaning out people's junk/treasure when the need arises. He's always coming up with some artifact that somebody didn't want. (One man gathers what another man spills. ~ Grateful Dead) He called me the other day and said "Hey brother, you should take a ride with me over to my shop and see what I got."... i did. Amoungst a bunch of old tools and miscellaneous other things was this Danner desk. I fell in love instantly. I sort of lean towards old antiquey things, especially if they can sort of be converted to some modern day use. My home is filled with odd, old pieces of furniture and what not. so he knew i would fall for this. Anyway, it's nothing spectacular but so quaint. The craftsmanship is run of the mill, but it has a few warming style points about it. And another point on the agenda, which is probably the main point, is the side-by-side laptops. I bought the one on the right several years back and she has performed pretty much flawlessly for me all this time. She is starting to get a tad bit slow, with all these heavily loaded website pages on the ever burgeoning internet. But as of the moment she's a keeper. On the left is her almost identical twin. It's a model older but nearly the same exact package. Slightly slower but still clicking. A friend of mine had her and was getting ready to upgrade to a new computer. She asked if i wanted it. Supposedly there was some issues with it. I did a factory restore of the software, and found it to be quite functional. Only problem is the pc card slot seems to be non-functional which renders the wireless capability useless. So to keep true to the course of not spending money on it, i just run a lan cable to her and she surfs alongside her younger sister. I have a couple of web based thingies that i do, so it makes for a very fuctional set-up. And for the final point in this tale...on the right screen is the greatest modern day funny car pilot, John 'Brute' Force. Always been a big fan. Long, long time ago he used to drive a car called the Skoal Bandit. Once, while they were racing in Epping New Hampshire, my friends and i watched him beat the top speed record for funny cars. I bought a t-shirt that day. He has since broken many records and won about 15 NHRA championships. He has always done autograph signings at local Ford dealerships around the nation. One year myself and my daughter went and stood in line to see him. He and his other team driver Tony Pedregon were to be there. I wore my t-shirt from what was his younger days. I remember he came walking into the car showroom making his way up the long line of fans, on his way to the desk where he and Tony were to sit and sign for the next several hours. As he walked by us he gave a friendly 'hey, how's it going?' and then reached out and rustled the hair on top of my daughter's head. We both smiled. We made our way up to the podium and he commented on my t-shirt and smiled warmly in rememberence of his younger days. I then asked if he would sign it to which he of course agreed. I turned my back and leaned over to allow him access to my shoulder. He wrote his signature onto the shirt whilst i wore it -- too cool. Then we get to Tony's side of the table and engaged in a bit of light chatter. He asked my daughter, "Are you a fan?" to which she replied, "I like your brother better." He laughed loudly and said "At least your a fan of the sport." On the left is Tony Pedregon. Son of racing icon Flamin' Frank Pedregon and brother to Cruz, my daughter's favorite.
