pixhellated

I got my first VCR (video cassette recorder for you young snots reading this) when I was thirteen years old. I mowed a lot of lawns and delivered a lot of flyers to earn that bit of kit. It was a Sears (Sanyo) Beta player. Beta was a technically superior format with inferior marketing and it wasn't long after I bought it I learned I was on the losing side of a war I hadn't intended to be conscripted into.

Not that I didn't enjoy the hell out of the machine. I mostly used it for taping and re-watching my favourite shows. I had a good collection of them and they were all on yellow and black Kodak brand blank Beta cassette tapes. (Kodak now, Kodak then. This is THE WAY.) The prize of my collection was that I managed to get ALL of the original Star Trek episodes off of television, with the commercials neatly paused out, and all recorded at normal speed for best quality.

Lots of good memories of sitting on the couch with my mom on a weekday evening after school re-watching The Doomsday Machine or Balance of Terror, cuddled together and sharing a bowl of popcorn. One of the reasons I like going to the town of Vulcan, AB, so much is that the town tickles awake pleasant old memories you forgot you had until you suddenly have them again.

It doesn't matter that it's not really the "correct" Enterprise that Vulcan has a large replica of, that it has the wrong registry number on it, or that they've muffed other small details. The town has a big heart and it's in the right place. I think the best tourist attractions evoke good feelings and this one does. The older I get the more I appreciate this.

If you haven't been to Vulcan, AB yet, go. Spend some money. Meet some locals. It's a good place.