Introduction, and Cast of Characters

I'm really new to the world of computers, beyond buying toasters on Ebay...I mainly thought the internet was about pictures of slightly out of focus nude people. My sister enlightened me on the more practical applications of E technology, and I would like to thank her. She has a Blog
http://bathtubspider.blogspot.com/
and is a source of great knowledge and sage advice (must be her advanced age). Excuse me if I don't use geek speak like lol or smiley faces :), but I haven't the time to learn a new language other than possibly Khmer.
Anyway, as my profile states I collect toasters of the vintage variety, I have about 82 of them now, and to answer your question, no, I'm not a toast freak, in fact, my tastes run more to the english muffin side of breakfast carbs. But I really admire the aesthetic impracticality and beauty of what are considered practical objects. We really lack this in the modern world. Function does not have to be ugly or boring, it can be beautiful and unique. The toaster above was manufactured in 1929 and is regarded as the first truly automatic "pop-up" toaster. But as beautiful as it is, it has a few impractical "flaws". Firstly, it only toasts one slice (this may have been due to its creation at the start of the great depression when two slices may have been an pipe dream for most people), but the quirk I love the most about this shiny machine is that the light/dark controls are in increments of A to K. Perfect toast is about a G and a half??? I don't really have a toaster fetish, I don't want cute little knick-knacks that look like toasters, nor am I impotent in a kitchen with a modern toaster oven (ugh!), but to paraphrase the immortal (but quite dead) Frank Zappa "...we are all latent appliance fetishists...).
Toasters aside my life involves a flatulent but lovable 85 pound dog nammed Sasha, whom my life revolves around, and my girlfriend of 13 years (yes, we;re still at the friend stage) Kira who lives far, far away. You will be introduced to them in later posts.