I've already described the first personal computer that I owned, the Sinclair ZX81, but I had some more memories to go with that post.

The amount of memory (RAM) that the computer had was 1K, that's 1,024 bytes of memory. Take out just over 100 bytes for system usage and you ended up with around 900 bytes of memory for your program and its data. My current desktop computer is about a million times more powerful than the ZX81 with its 24 Gb of memory but back then the few home computers available came with only a small amount of memory.

An additional memory pack was available for the ZX81. It was known as the Ram Pack and it brought the memory capacity up to 16K of RAM. Unfortunately, its connector was not very well designed and it literally just plugged straight into the edge of the circuit board inside the ZX81. The result was that it would wobble if you bumped the computer and would cause the computer to crash. Owners of Ram Packs tried many different ways to keep their computers from crashing. I had the most success with resting my computer on a small book to keep the Ram Pack in the air and prevent it flexing on the surface of my desk.

I love old hymns, but I dislike covers of them done in country-style, so this means that there are very few hymns I can listen to on YouTube. One of my favorite hymns is I'll Fly Away. I've previously shared the awesome Christian Celtic Punk version by Flatfoot 56 and still love it, but then after some more searching I discovered that Go Fish have a great version together with a fun video. It's a much lighter version than that by Flatfoot 56 and includes a very nice guitar solo that I honestly don't remember being in the brown hymnal that we sing from at church.

Image from Wikipedia page for ZX81

Back when I was a lad, I started learning about computers at school. There was no official computer curriculum, but one of the physics teachers started a computer club, brought in a couple of his home computers and started teaching interested students how to program in BASIC. I was one of those students and I fell hard for the subject of computer programming and started spending many of my lunch breaks at the physics lab working my way through the manuals that the computers came with back then.

I preached last week on the need for Christians to armor up against the challenges of life and to protect their hearts. Last week's main scripture was from the Proverbs. There are plenty of scriptures that speak to the importance of protecting ourselves, but this one particularly stood out to me this time.

23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23

One of the natural references when addressing our need for self-protection is The Whole Armor of God. I didn't have enough time to go deep into it during that sermon, so this week it gets its own time in the spotlight.

Time is rushing by and I'm into my fifth month of driving a school bus. The changes are subtle, but noticeable. I am mostly over my fear of reversing. I still don't enjoy it, but I don't get nervous. Recently, I had to reverse about a third of a mile along a country road, around two corners and down a hill, when my only available turnaround point was not plowed out and was too full of snow for me to safely use. I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis, but I did it and that pretty much put the final nail into my fear of reversing.

Despite my bad memory, I have both of my current routes memorized. I drive Blue in the morning and Purple at night and know where to go, when to be there and am making good progress learning the names of my students. For some reason I remember more naughty student names than good ones.

Having driven for far too many years on the Madison Beltline I've seen my share of bad American driving, but at the helm of a school bus I've had a grandstand seat to witness some awful driving. (Ok, not as bad as the Russians, but pretty bad. Search on Youtube for Russian dashcam footage, but be warned that it's scary stuff.) There are three main things that people are getting wrong. First, they are failing to understand the warning and stop lights on the school bus. I'm pretty sure that's in the driving test around here, but it feels like most drivers skipped class that day.