Meet George Jetson

Baby Boomers like myself probably remember The Jetsons better than anybody else. It was a cartoon set way into the future and depicted a society where humanity didn't have to work much anymore and when they did, they simply had to push buttons and computers did all the work. The only problem with that vision is that the reality is much different. Now we have computers that can "push the button," so to speak, without the need for human involvement. A good point to illustrate this is this:

I was "promoted" to being an administrator over on the great Wikipedia project, in one of the little side-wikis known as the Hot Wheels Wiki. The first task I was told to always be sure and do was to greet new users when they first appeared. It was imperative that this be done, so as to make sure users would stick around to do more work, editing the wiki and uploading new pictures. Well, I agreed to take on this charge and loved the responsibility of doing this important task. It was nice to be able to greet each new user personally, and with helpful suggestions that would get them up and running on something that can be complicated. If I had only had some of the hints that I'm aware of now when I joined, there could have been a lot less trouble.

But now, the great staff of Wikipedia has been upgrading everything and adding new features. One of them is, you guessed it, automatic software that greets every new user within 1 minute - 60 seconds - of when they first join. Now, this might be a good thing, but I enjoyed doing that task myself and making each greeting a personal thing, from a real person and not a "'bot." What is a person to do when progress keeps making people obsolete? I'm practically not needed anymore over on the wiki, thanks to all the new features.

What was the purpose of humanity again? Are you now or have you ever been?

Diecast Copies

Did you know that there are diecast companies that copy other companies' designs? Sad, but true. Rather than go to the expense of creating their own original designs, they'll just copy somebody else's that has already been released. Personally, I can't conceive how a person or company in a creative field such as this could ever even think about copying somebody else's work. Where's the joy of creation? Anyway, it does happen more often than you'd think, so it will probably continue to happen for just as long as diecast cars and trucks are made. Here are a few notable examples.

Above you will see a fine Porsche 911 Turbo cast in 1:64 scale, made by Tomica. Below, you will a pretty good copy of the same exotic car, only this one was made by Welly.


Here's an ambulance model made by Hot Wheels, called an "American Ambulance." Below you will see an almost identical copy, even down to the tampo design, made by Maisto. You tell me, was this intentional or not?

This is the Deora, made by Mattel in 1968. Below you can see a copy of it from Argentina. It was made by a company called Muky, and as far as I can tell, they named it "Furgon."

Pretty similar, eh? If you like copies, some of them are quite well made and sport features sometimes not found on the original versions. So, keep your eyes open as they "send in the clones."

You Say It's Your Birthday - Well, It's My Birthday, Too, Yeah!

As promised, here are some pictures from the night of my birthday. The place where I deejay is what used to be called a roadhouse. The name of the bar is Lonzo's Place and you can play the jukebox, get in a game or two of pool, sit at the bar and drink, order pizza or shake your booty until it hurts. I love that place!

The night started out slow, with the pool players keeping it mellow over in the corner. But it built until everybody got really loose. I'll mostly leave the pictures to talk for themselves, as they are self-evident in their nature!

Here you can see the girls are starting to shake their booty. Alcohol will do that.



Table tops were just made for dancing.

Please remember to tip your bartenders!

This was the spinning disco light. I love this shot - it was a hand-held, timed exposure.

Yours truly, with Miss Budweiser or something. Anyway, she was flat chested.

Don't ask.

Strike a pose! Vogue.

At the end of the night, these two guys became brothers. It's the alcohol, I tell you!

All in all, it was a fun night and turning 48 didn't seem that much of a big deal. Just wait until 50, though.

Diecast Mystery Trucks

I was going through my old diecast vehicles and came across two different trucks of indeterminate age that I had forgotten all about. I can't remember where or when I got them and they have no company name stamped on the bases. The first one was just the semi cab of a tractor-trailer rig and it was in pretty rough shape. It was so bad, I decided to restore it and bring it back to life. I would, however, like to know what company made these two trucks, or even what real-life models they are based on. If anybody can help me, please leave a comment. I will post a few different views of each truck for help in identification purposes.

Here is the first one, just the cab of a semi rig. It was originally painted bright red, but most of the paint has been worn off. The axles are rusty and the chrome on the face of the wheels is rubbed off.

This top view shows more of what the original paint looked like. There was still some left, but not much.

Here is a view of the plastic base. Just to the left of the tiny hole toward the top left, there were the tiny words "Hong Kong," so I'm assuming it was made there. The tiny hole was the secret to getting it to come apart so I could strip the old paint off and give it a general cleaning, inside and out. By putting a tiny screwdriver in the hole, I could disengage the grille unit, which pushed out the front of the truck.

Here is what my unknown truck looks like with 3 coats of paint. I have one more final coat to go, some detail painting, and then a coat of gloss finishing paint. It's already starting to look much better! I think the new wheels really set it off, what do you think? Again, if anybody recognizes this model and can tell me who made it or what it's based on, please let me know. It looks like it's based on an American-made truck of some kind to me.

The second truck was in much better condition. It's a box truck with opening doors in the back. Everything about this vehicle was shiny, non-rusted or clean, so I'm not going to be doing anything to it. The "ice cream" decal on the driver's side was slightly askew, but that's the way it came.

On the other truck, there was no emblem on the front of it. But, this one has a flying wings symbol just above the grille. I'm not sure whether it represents the company that made the original truck this one was patterned after, or a logo for the toy company that cast it. Either way, maybe somebody can recognize it. The truck itself resembles an Isuzu or a Hino, to me.

On the plastic base of the ice cream truck were the words "Made In Hong Kong." They are a little hard to see, but they are stamped in the area right between the two rear axles.

The passenger's side decal was straight and looked much better. If anybody recognizes what this truck is supposed to be or who made it from this profile, please let me know. I hope these views are good enough for someone to be able to identify these models. Perhaps the style of wheels will give a clue as to who produced them and when. If nothing else, please just enjoy looking at these two heavy duty workhorses in 1:64 scale!

March 8th, 2009 Update: Having cast out various threads onto the internet, I think I can now safely say I know what these two vehicles are. The first one, the red one I'm restoring, was made by Universal in the early 1980's, and represents an International Transtar. The second one, the yellow ice cream truck, was made by Welly, and is supposed to be a Japanese Hino. Thanks to everybody who helped out on this!

Authentic Cuisine

The day before my 48th birthday, I felt in sort of celebratory mood. My brother, who had just flown in from a year in South Korea; and his wife, who had stayed at my house that entire year; all went to the city for some dining and shopping. His wife and I had been to the city a couple times during that year and had noticed a nice-looking Greek restaurant that we wanted to try out. And we had already stopped at a certain Mexican restaurant on our last visit, so we knew it was good. We planned on arriving around lunch time, filling the entire afternoon with shopping, then eating dinner before we left for home. This would allow us to have Greek for lunch and Mexican for dinner.

We arrived at the Greek restaurant, called Acropolis, at the end of the lunch rush. We had a short wait of about five minutes before we were seated, so we didn't mind. Once seated and after having placed our order, we planned on dining at a leisurely pace so as to kill even more time. Several courses came and went and I have to say that I enjoyed them all.

I chose Gyros tortellini in a white garlic sauce as my main dish, plus I had a Gyros sandwich on the side. The sandwich was as good as I had eaten anywhere else, but the tortellini was a new taste sensation. It was one I'll have to revisit soon, let me tell you!

Above is the front facade of the Acropolis, which featured "Authentic Greek Cuisine." After finishing there, the three us proceeded to shop till we dropped.

After we had gotten everything we needed from at least a dozen stores or so, we headed further down the main road to where the Mexican restaurant was located. It was called "Acapulco," and featured "Authentic Mexican Cuisine."

That was the third time I had eaten there and it was as good as the last two visits.

Having grown up near the border of Mexico in Southern Arizona as a child, I have been accustomed to Mexican cuisine most of my life. One thing I miss not living there anymore is when you go in just about any restaurant out there, as soon as you've been seated, they bring tortilla chips and salsa. The Acapulco restaurant did as well, and it was a miniature flashback to my childhood - I can practically eat my weight in those things! And the hotter the salsa is, the better to my liking.
For my main course here I chose the numero once dinner platter. That's number 11 to all you Yanks. It featured a beef burrito, a taco and an enchilada. I was still kind of full from lunch, so I forgot to order the usual frijoles refritos (refried beans), topped with grated mild cheddar cheese.
All in all, it was a veritable world cuisine day that satisfied our palates to a "T." If you're ever in Evansville, Indiana, I highly recommend you stop at either of these establishments and taste their fare. They are both located on Green River Road and are easy to find.

Dining at both these places made a good start for my birthday the next day. I had to work the night of my birthday, but being as I'm a deejay in a club, it's almost like playing and they pay me for it! I have plenty of pictures to post of the night and you'll be able to see that everybody, including myself, had "nothin' but a good time!" As soon as I get my brother and sister-in-law on their way back home to Utah on Monday, I'll post my birthday pictures. Stay tuned!

A New Station Wagon On The Block

This is just a short post to show off a new Hot Wheels Station Wagon model that came out. It's a '70 Chevelle SS Wagon and is pictured below (it is on a used station wagon lot in the front):

Spam

Today's post is about Spam. And no, I'm talking about that wonderful meat, the kind with who know's what's in it and that Monty Python sang about back in the 1970's; I'm referring to the junk e-mail that always clogs up my Outlook Express. I'm sure everybody gets a ton a day and it's a chore just to stay ahead of it. The point I'd like to speak about today, is not just that it's annoying to receive so much, it's that there's a certain kind that really annoys me. They are the kind that look like they came from - me!

Yes, I routinely send myself news about penis enhancers, sales receipts from Amazon, offers to get a Phd., monthly newsletters and invoices and alerts from banks I don't even go near. As if! I don't know how the spammers figured out this little trick, to make spam look like it came from me so that I'll look at it, but it certainly needs to be looked into by somebody that regulates interstate commerce. I mean, this needs to be nipped in the bud! (As our old friend, Barney Fife was always saying). I most certainly do not send myself bills or statements, offers (no matter how enticing they sound!), newsletters, purchase confirmations, eBay alerts, or the one that shows the most chutzpah - an e-mail from me to me and all it says in the subject line is "Hi." Would I bother to send myself a message that just says hello? I don't think so.

So, in closing, I'd like to hope that the spammers get past this little gimmick, and soon, and that this annoying practice ceases and desists.

Oh, and there's one other kind of spam I won't ever fall for, never in a million years. If you want to catch my attention and have even a slim chance of me looking at your message, don't - whatever you do - don't address it as being from [no sender] and containing the subject line [no subject]. I mean, would you look at something that's about nothing from nobody?

I didn't think so.

Keep up the boycott of Wal-Mart, and together we might send them a message. Although, at this point I've forgotten what it might have been, seeing as how other places I shop instead of Wal-Mart keep going out of business. Whatever, it's still a relevant thing to do. We'll show that giant corporation that David can still put a knot in his kneecap. And who knows, maybe they'll get back to selling real merchandise once more, and things that people actually need. Aloha.