When I was a kid, one of my favorite hobbies was playing around with
electronics. I really didn't understand most of what I was doing,
which is why I refer to my hobby as "playing around." But I had a lot
of fun.
I also enjoyed looking through catalogs of electronic junk, and one of
my favorites was from a company called All Electronics. They had not
just electronic components (which was handy), but also parts of
things, modules from various appliances, and even kits I could use to
learn more about electronics. Their monthly catalog in the mail was
like porn to a teen. I was hooked.
Yesterday, I got the chance to actually walk into the doors of All
Electronics here in Los Angeles. It was just like the catalog, only in
3D and living color, all that gadgetry right in front of me to pick
up, touch, fondle. It was wonderful.
While I was in the store, I saw a dad, a few years younger than me,
with his young kid. The kid was excited about every little thing he
saw, asking questions that dad was all-to-ready to answer. I looked at
the two of them fondly, and told the dad that I wished he were my dad
forty years ago. He smiled. That was one lucky kid right there.
My dad did not know about electronics. He knew a lot about business,
but not much of the things that grabbed my attention as a kid. He
honestly tried. I remember one time when I was in bed, sick, dad
brought home something I had never seen: an electronic calculator.
These were fairly recent things at the time, and this one had bright
red LED digits that would spin around while the calculator tried to
figure certain functions. I didn't know what half the keys were for,
keys with cryptic names like "hyp" and "tan," but I loved playing with
it.
My dad once bought me a 6 volt battery. It was one of the large
lantern batteries, and I have no idea what possessed him to buy it for
me (I have no recollection of pleading for it), but he also bought a
light bulb and a knife switch. You know the knife switch. It's the
kind with two large metal blades exposed, the one that Dr.
Frankenstein throws amid high-voltage sparks to bring the monster to
life. Yeah, that was cool.
Mine didn't spark, though. I mean... 6 volts. You know. Not much to
work with there. But I hooked up the light bulb with the switch in
line, and played with that switch and light bulb, turning it off, then
on again. I must have been about four years old, but something like
that really caught my attention. I wondered about the power, how it
traveled in the wires, what made the light bulb get bright... all that
kind of stuff.
Perhaps my dad saw something in my eyes, saw my brain working,
wondering about things. And dad did the best he could to feed that
curiosity, even if he couldn't answer my questions.
My mind back in the store where my body was, I picked up an LED work
light, then remembered back to that battery, switch, and light bulb.
Simple things like that can spark the imagination. From humble
beginnings...
