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Apple ][+ Sketch

The Apple ][+ is where it all began for me. It was probably 1980 or 1981 when my brother brought one home, and it was our first “family computer” though as an 11 or 12 year old with few responsibilities I quickly became the one who used it the most. I remember at some point we put it on a desk in my room, which was pretty awesome!

I remember playing a lot of games, but I also remember learning to program in BASIC, often from typing in programs found in magazines, probably BYTE Magazine. I then discovered graphics! Lo-Res and Hi-Res blew my mind at the time… and here I am in 2024 drawing an Apple ][+ on an Apple iPad with an Apple Pencil.

I remember at one point I tried to write an adventure game in BASIC with Lo-Res graphics and I think that may have been my first “large” software project. I also remember abandoning it when I realized it was never going to work. Still, I learned a lot. When I got into high school and we used Apple Computers and did BASIC programming the teacher was none too pleased with me because I knew more than he did, and I think I let him know that a few times.

The best thing ever was MousePaint which was released in 1984. Since we couldn’t afford an actual Macintosh Computer you could connect a mouse to an Apple ][+ and use a version of MacPaint called MousePaint. Computer graphics without typing? Magical!

(Also, let’s take a second to appreciate that 40 years later I type in OpenSCAD to create graphical objects on screen that I then print as actual real-world objects using a 3D printer.)

I do these sketches mainly for fun, and to stretch my creative muscles using an Apple Pencil on an iPad with Procreate. If you ever want a framed print of my work please get in touch with me and we’ll work something out! Also, check out the Illustration page to see them all!

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Hardware Store Bike Ride

Up until now my bike riding has been for exercise and fun(?) but on a Friday Dana asked if we had any caulk. My answer was “I’m sure we do, and I’m also sure it’s dried up since we haven’t caulked anything in a lustrum!” So she said if we got a chance we should get some thing weekend.

And I said “Wait… I can just bike to the hardware store in the morning!” So I did. I actually rode my bike to the store instead of driving a car. I was just getting caulk and some work gloves, so nothing too large or heavy or unwieldy. Stuff that could easily fit in a backpack.

The ride there was not uneventful. Besides some fairly steep hills, I had to detour a bit due to Run Tosa Run taking over some of the areas around North Avenue.

The other issue was that when I got to the hardware store there was no bike rack! Or no obvious place to lock up the bike. I ended up going across the street and locking it to a street sign. This is probably not the preferred method, but I could not really find another suitable place. (I did see a fence on my way out though.)

I asked an employee if they had a bike rack and she said “Most people just lean their bikes against the mulch.” So yeah… not going to do that. Sure, it’s Tosa, but still, not gonna leave my bike just leaning somewhere while I’m in the store.

Is this how people get radicalized? You bike somewhere and realize there’s no bike rack? There’s a parking lot for cars, but no bike rack!?!?

Anyway, it felt good to actually ride somewhere instead of drive. I may try doing it more.

Update! See the exciting conclusion: Hardware Store Bike Rack!

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Holy Cross Bicycle Club

As you may know I ride my bike in the cemetery near my house. So when a friend posted something online about looking for people to ride with I replied “Meet me at the cemetery at 7am!” because I tend to ride there weekday mornings…

It was (mostly) a joke, but then I had the idea for the “Holy Cross Bicycle Club” which does not exist, unless you count me going there alone to ride my bike. I’ve never seen anyone else riding there…

But I decided the idea needed a logo, so I made one. (This is not a great logo! I spent about 10 minutes on it and then decided I wasted enough time on a joke and and should do something else.) Enjoy!

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Dischord (Style) Photos

I was recently given a Samsung PL200 digital camera, which was released in 2010, making it 14 years old. I’ve had a number of digital cameras over the years and I started shooting with DSLRs at work around 2007 and got a Nikon D40 around 2008 or 2009 so I don’t think I’ve owned a simple “point and shoot” digital camera after 2010 because I was probably using an iPhone for point and shoot stuff by then.

So Maks gave me this 2010 Samsung PL200 with no charger but I found one on eBay for $9 USD and figured it was worth grabbing one to get the camera working. My thought was that I’d toss it in the bike bag for rides since my phone is mounted to the handlebars while riding so it’s not the easiest thing to use for a quick snapshot.

So these photos do not show off the capabilities of this 14 year old 14 megapixel camera, but they do something different…

I was thinking back to 1988 or so, when I was hanging out with an old bandmate Ricky and he had just got some album from Dischord, and one of the photos was this black and white soft focus sort of blurry image. I remember we talked about the image, and we wondered if they put Vaseline on the lens, or plastic (“Saran”) wrap, or something else…

I should note that around the same time period is when I would have just started shooting on 35mm film at UWM using my sister’s SLR camera. (Thanks, Carol!) I do still have some of those prints and should scan them in one day. Anyway…

So yeah, I threw the camera in my bag along with some plastic wrap and biked up to Mount Mary. I got a few shots of the buildings and then one more of a street in Wauwatosa on the way home. The only editing I did for these digital photos was to convert them to black and white, otherwise no filters (as the kids say) and I sort of like how they turned out.

The process of shooting while out, then getting home, transferring the photos to the computer, converting them, and saving them… all before uploading them to this post is something some people have probably never experienced. I’m going to assume there’s a whole generation who just uses a photo to snap a photo and posts it online immediately, with no regard to the (old?) process. I’m not sure why I’m mentioning this but I’m going to ponder it a bit.

I think there’s sort of an ethereal quality to them, and they look like they could have been shot on film. I seem to be on a weird camera / photography kick lately and I’m totally fine with that.

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6 Button MIDI Controller

I was recently asked to build a 6 button MIDI controller. This will be used with a Midas M32R Digital Console by someone who runs sound production. They wanted (up to) six mute groups, so the MIDI Controller LC was a little short with only four buttons.

I ended up modifying the LC enclosure to fit two more buttons, and you’ll notice there’s actually a 5 Pin DIN MIDI output port on both ends. That was a request from the client, and fairly easy to do. Like most other MIDI controllers I build this one is powered via a Micro USB port. The nice thing about this is we can do USB MIDI output (if plugged into a computer) as well as standard MIDI out via the 5 Pin DIN ports. Alternately you can just power it via a standard USB wall wart power supply instead of a computer.

For the programming the client asked for something special as well. Instead of just sending a single MIDI command, it toggles between two different commands. I think the M32R expects one thing for mute and another for unmute. That was pretty easy to implement.

The bottom cover is removable in case the client ever needs a firmware update. Some of the devices I build have enclosures with small holes in the bottom to load the firmware without opening them up via access to a reset button. Not all devices have that, and it’s actually pretty rare that I do need to provide firmware updates, but it’s there if needed.

The client wanted all red buttons, though when I was sending in-progress shots I threw a bunch of other colors in for a quick photo.

As always, if you need some custom built MIDI or USB controller, get in touch!