Going Out Alon(e)
This week I started doing stuff in my free time instead of staying home all day. It all started with me searching Google for information about the movie “Be Kind, Rewind.” That search popped up a link with showtimes in my area, so I decided to look around and see how much to movie tickets cost here.
So I browsed the ordering site, and found that tickets for the early screening cost $7.50. Not expensive, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, so I browsed out of the ordering screen. That popped up a message saying I could get the ticket for free. After a short signup on some other site I got my free ticket cupon (I’m a big sucker for free stuff). After going through all that work, I decided I might as well pay $1 for my “free” ticket and go see the move.
I went off directly from work to the theater in Redwood City: 20 auditoriums and lots of space, cheap and plentiful parking, and generally a nice place to be. As usual, I was about 15 minutes early, so I went into the theater and watched trailers before the movie. The movie itself was funny and enjoyable, and I didn’t feel weird watching it alone.
After the movie I felt like I wanted more, and wanted to see a more serious movie I heard good things about, so I went out to the cashier and bought a ticket for “Juno.” It was one of the best dramas I’ve seen in a while and I could really identify with the main character, even though my situation does not resemble hers.
That concluded that night out, but not my excursions for the week. Coming back to Google’s movies site, I noticed that an Israeli film called “The Band’s Visit” is showing in a small arthouse theater in literally on my way from work home. So I decided and go see the movie the next day. Even though I read very positive reviews about it on FishEye, I still think that Juno was much more moving. That said, I don’t think it was a bad movie.
Today is Saturday, and the day before Easter. I decided to finally do something I’ve been thinking of almost since I got here, and went to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, about a 5 minute drive from my home in Palo Alto. Admission is free and we got a nice tour of the exhibits. The docent has also shown us some of the exhibits in storage that are not usually accessible to the general public.
After visiting the museum I visited the museum website, and found out that they do not have a Dragon-32 computer and are seeking donations. The Dragon-32 was the first computer I’ve ever used (The 32 stands for 32 Kilobytes of RAM it has). We should still have a working Dragon-32 at home in Israel, and I would like to ask my parents if they are willing to donate it.
I knew it! I knew our Dragon will finally end up in a museum! it’s a good thing we kept it all these years!
We also went out yesterday to see a movie, and it was our first movie in German. I’ll tell all about it in my blog.
Comment by Rak | March 23, 2008
Surely we wont give up our Dragon. It is the first computer Alon was writing software for (when he was 4), and we would love to show them to his grands…:)
Comment by HuggyDad | March 24, 2008
You can still show it to whomever you wish when it’s in a museum. Arguably, a museum will take care of it better than us.
Comment by epsalon | March 24, 2008
I have to agree with Alon here. I’m sure that the museum will keep a little sign by the exhibit - “Donated by Alon Altman, Stanford professor. It was the first computer ever to be owned and programmed by him”.
The computer must go!
Comment by Yuvaler | March 26, 2008
On the other hand, a Dragon 32 goes in Ebay for about $30… It ought to become expensive sometime, don’t you think?
Comment by Yuvaler | March 26, 2008