I am a big fan of Jame McMurtry in general, and "We can't Make It
Anymore" in particular. I consider it a very pertinent anthem of our
times. Like many here, I am also a fan of the old stuff. I mow my
large yard with a 1952 Allis Chalmers WD that my grandfather bought
new. I farmed for most of my life, I have literally grown up on this
tractor. The farm kept outgrowing it, but it still was a damn good
tractor. Relegated to smaller and smaller tasks over the decades, with
the addition of a finish mower, it became my lawn mower. When I left
the farm and started maintaining ecommerce servers (odd switch), the
old WD came with me. It's had the valves ground on it once, and
getting pretty faded, but it's stock as a rock.
While modern cars/computer combinations put out impressive horsepower
and good emissions, I am reduced to very little I can do under the
hood. My daily driver is a 1975 Ford Maverick w/17k original miles. I
was near to getting LBC again a few months ago (fell through), been
enjoying hanging out here nonetheless.
I have 6 PC's running in my house now, the last storebought one I
purchased was a 286 (they're all screwdriver jobs now).
For SAE, I use my great grandfather's tools. Nothing better.
I am a half-assed musician, my favorite guitar is a 1979 Gibson. I
have a violin that my great grandfather made. From scratch. It's
pretty crappy really, but it is very cool, and a good example of
making do.
My wife and I go for months without powering up the television, while
my much younger co-workers prattle on daily about CSI or the jokes
that they saw last night on South Park/TV. They all consider me the
weird old fart. That's OK with me, I consider them shallow and trendy.
|