Nick Carter Stunk at Softball
Published July 2, 2009 @ 16:29 in Memories

During the summer months, softball or slo-pitch are my participation sports of choice. For years and years I've played in at least two leagues, averaging about three games a week these days. I'd guesstimate I've played over 250 games this decade, but one game six years ago has provided me with the best story.

Six years ago, on Canada Day, I played a softball game against Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame. You can read all about it in this six-year old entry.

Enough time has passed that I can call out Nick Carter on being a brutal ball player. That's right girls, your teen crush couldn't catch a ball to save his life.

I just had to get that off my chest. Carry on...

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iPod vs. Walkman: Could You Go Back?
Published June 30, 2009 @ 13:45 in Memories, Music

The BBC had a 13-year old swap his iPod for a Sony Walkman. It's a pretty fun read as the kid compares the two portable music devices.

I loved my Walkman. I took it everywhere and spent a great deal of time making perfect mix tapes. Here I am gushing about my good ol' Walkman days back in 2004 and here I am doing it again in 2005.

Once you adapt to the iPod, there really is no going back. The shuffle, the sound quality, the storage capacity, the size... it's simply not a fair comparison. But back in the day, when we didn't know any better, Walkmans rocked.

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Heinz Ketchup and My Brother Steve
Published June 17, 2009 @ 20:50 in Family, Memories

YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time.

This retro ad is for my brother Steve. Steve consumes vast quantities of Heinz ketchup. Chime in if I'm off base here bro, but I'd guess he can kill a jumbo bottle in a single month. Maybe two.

Steve has always loved ketchup. For a while, he was even obsessed with ketchup chips. If you invite my brother to a BBQ, a single bottle of ketchup likely won't do, so ensure there's a second on stand-by.

This ad for Heinz ketchup aired in 1984. I still remember that "you're the top" jingle.

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The Toothbrush Family
Published June 14, 2009 @ 16:41 in Memories, TV Time Machine

YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time.

A couple of years ago I wrote about Polka Dot Door. In the comments of that entry, someone asked about The Toothbrush Family. I remembered The Toothbrush Family well and wrote the following comment:

There's not a lot out there about the original Toothbrush Family. They modernized it in 1997, but I can't find any audio, video or images from the version I remember.

It seems these cartoon shorts originated on Captain Kangaroo, but I don't recall it that way. Maybe here in Canada a station licensed the shorts or maybe they found their way onto the Commander Tom show.

Retrontario tells me The Toothbrush Family did in fact run on Commander Tom's World, and on Global TV and CHCH 11 almost every morning. It first ran in 1974.

I'd guess I've seen these four minutes dozens and dozens of times, but I haven't seen this in about 25 years. I've been looking for this for some time...

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1980s PSAs From My Youth
Published June 1, 2009 @ 21:51 in Memories

YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time.

I recently shared an Ontario Health public service announcement (PSA) from 1984 that I remember like it was yesterday. Today, I'm going to share a few more PSAs from the 1980s that I remember well.

First up is the Go Electric campaign from Ontario Hydro. This scary looking singing oil furnace freaked me out back in 1984.

Then there was this Really Me anti-drug ad from 1987. I remember this one vividly, because I was going to wear my hair like the kid at the end in the cool denim vest.

And finally, this Ministry of Health Ontario ad with a kid talking about his dad's mental health issues really touched me back in 1983. I wasn't too sure what the kid was talking about, but it made me sad and I felt bad for him.

Ontario produces the best PSAs in the world, no doubt about it.

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My Dusty Old Rawlings Fernando Valenzuela Glove
Published May 15, 2009 @ 16:44 in Memories

I got my first baseball glove when I was six or seven years old. I played with that plastic Canadian Tire brand glove for years until I received a Black Diamond glove made by Cooper.

That Black Diamond glove was used every day of every summer for years until I received the glove that would see me into adulthood. That glove, which I absolutely adored, was a Rawlings mitt with Fernando Valenzuela's autograph printed in the palm. I've had several gloves since, and it now seems like I go through a glove every 18-months, but I've never had one I've liked as much.

I liked it so much, I couldn't throw it out. The insides were completely eroded when I found her stored in my basement last weekend. Here are my final photos of my old Rawlings Fernando Valenzuela glove before I chucked her.

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Drunk Dad Can't Fix General Lee, Sends Kid to Bed
Published May 13, 2009 @ 15:27 in Memories

YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time.

This Ontario Health public service announcement from 1984 really struck a chord with me. Maybe it's because I was 10 years old at the time and my favourite show was the Dukes of Hazzard. I also had a haircut like the kid in this PSA.

Everything's coming full circle, because now I'm working on a hairdo like the Dad in this ad. I'm almost there...

Go to bed.... NOW!

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Andre the Giant Glass Beer Mug
Published May 12, 2009 @ 16:55 in Memories

In addition to finding floppies, I stumbled upon my old Andre the Giant glass beer mug this past weekend.

Back in 1985, when I was a big fan of the WWF and Andre the Giant in particular, somebody bought this for me and I've had it ever since.

The funny thing is, I never used it as a mug. I've stored everything in it from pens to tools, but I've never used it to store liquid.

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Cleaning Out The Basement, Finding Floppies
Published May 9, 2009 @ 18:40 in Memories, Technology

I spent 7 straight hours today cleaning out the basement. I purged a lot of stuff collecting dust down there, including some old relics from years past.

For example, I found a bunch of old 3 1/2 inch floppy disks. Back in the day, I backed up all my digital pictures on floppies. Today, that almost seems laughable. In an age where 160GB external hard drives go for $50 and flash drives are practically free, the floppy reeks of the 1990s.

The floppy disk may be dead, but it's still the de facto save icon.

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GeoCities to Close, A Part of My Web History Evaporates
Published April 23, 2009 @ 15:14 in Memories

GeoCities is closing later this year. If you were on the web in the late 90s, you knew GeoCities.

I cut my web page teeth on GeoCities, signing up for a free account over ten years. I remember when my GeoCities page got tied to my Yahoo! member name, shortly after Yahoo! bought GeoCities in 1999.

The cause and effect on GeoCities prompted me to learn HTML. I had a taste of simple web development and I wanted more control. I wanted to hand code, and the rest is history.

I haven't really thought about GeoCities in years, but I'm sorry to see it go. Another part of my personal web history is evaporating.

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