Back in 1987, everyone was getting the 8-bit Nintendo. Of course, I wanted one too, but I decided to get Nintendo’s 8-bit competitor at the time: the Sega Master System.

At the time, Sega hardly had any games at all in comparison to Nintendo, and their marketing & packaging was far inferior than Nintendo’s. In Japan, it was a different story, as they had more games to choose from and seemed to spend more money on advertising.

For example, here’s the American "Alex Kidd In Miracle World" packaging:

Oh, that hypnotic simplistic grid with clip-artish illustration.

And here is the Japanese packaging of the same game:

Much more exciting!

I can’t tell you how many lame hours I spent in grades 7 - 9 playing the 8-bit Sega Master System. But, what could I do? I was a total dork and soon realized that I actually wasn’t going to be the next Mike Schmidt…or even Steve Jeltz for that matter. It really didn’t help with the ladies being holed up in my bedroom, mapping out role-playing games with pen and paper either.

Of course, seeing things like this didn’t help me either.

For all you Sega dorks out there, there’s a YouTube user named talbot1939’s that video tapes himself kicking ass and easily winning several games with ease. Brings back some memories! Here he is conquering the game "Black Belt":

I remember very clearly the first time that I rode a bike without training wheels, when I was four or five years old. My Dad must have had a lot of faith in me because he simply jogged with me, while holding onto the back of the seat, and pushed me down down the road. The bike was an all black Huffy with a mammoth sized banana style seat. My Dad and I would later decorate it for 4th of July, and I’d ride it in the Oreland Parade.

Biking as a kid was my first true taste of freedom. It was really one of those trust bonds that you broke with your parents. Sure, I biked on down to Billy’s house four blocks away, but I didn’t tell them how we biked purposely until we were lost, or taking a wobbly ride on railroad tracks until we saw the white lights in the distance.

1987

In 1987, I was influenced by the freestyle bike craze that was happening in the burbs, and so, my parents got me a GT Performer for my birthday. I remember assuming an enormous responsibility with this bike, as it was expensive. I learned quite a few tricks with this thing and can’t believe that I was doing frame-stands down the Garden Road hill. It’s amazing that I didn’t destroy my manhood while learning how to do the “cherry picker”. (The above photo was taken from BMX Museum. My bike was actually lime green with pink tires, but was the same model as this.)

Throughout my 20s, I stuck with mountain and hybrid bikes. They were ideal for the hills of Berks County where I spent my college days, and ideal for Wissahickon Trail in Philly. I particularly had a GIANT Rincon and a GIANT Cypress.

2007

My current bike, the Bianchi San Jose, is an absolute joy to ride throughout the city. It is a single speed, super light Cross bike, that has a free wheel. The ride is ultra smooth and quiet. It is ideal for getting somewhere fast and commuting around the city. People often jump up if I momentarily ride up on them or along their side because they can’t hear it! What’s more amazing is how quickly you gain optimum speed after having to come to a dead stop. It’s way faster than my 21-speed GIANT Cypress was, void of the grip shifting that seems pointless and annoying for urban cycling.

Old video game heads unite! Check out vgmuseum.com to view old screenshots of your favorite video game endings. I admit that I was a total dork back in 1988 and spent hours trying to do one thing: get to the ending of the video game. It was something that only few had seen, and it usually took days of playing to get to that point. After that, you could rub it in and tell people that you "solved" the mystery. VG Museum has practically every system and every game as well.

With the mad craze to buy these new video game systems, such as the Playstation 3, I can’t help but laugh and be nostalgic for a moment about my first video game system: The Odyssey. Have you ever even heard of it? I haven’t met many people who actually had this one, but from what I remember, the games were slim pickins. It must have been 1980 when my family got this one.

The Atari 2600 and the Intellivision were classics too, but the Odyssey was simply awful! Just look at the console! Instead of Pac-Man, they had a cheesy version of it called “K.C. Munchkin”. Check out this great commerical for it…What a Pac-Man rip off!

The glorious, and ultimately most dorky days of my life, occurred when I got the 8-bit Sega Master System in 7th grade. This was Nintendo’s rival, and I chose this over the Nintendo…on purpose. I’m still trying to figure out why, but I delved into those role playing games as if my own life depended on it.

Melissa and I were delving into a nutritious cereal called “Basic 4″ by General Mills. Ever since I was a kid, I would scrutinize and eye up practically every cereal box that I ever ate from. It all started when my sister and I were forced to sit across from each other at the dining room table. We were always in little battles with each other, and so I would stack the cereal boxes in a wall so that I wouldn’t have to acknowledge her presence.

Basic 4 touts that it is a low fat part of your heart healthy diet, and you’d think that it comes jam packed with the “basic 4″ of something. On the box (click the image to see it larger), it states that it comes with fruits, nuts, and grains. But that’s only 3 items. What was the mysterious 4th item?

Instantly, we thought it must be the milk, but that’s not included in the box, and I was hoping for something more mysterious than that.

The next day at worked I asked around about the Basic 4 phenomenon. Alas, nobody had an answer…until Shelby decided to do a Google search on it. But, that’s cheating and no fun…With Wikipedia and Google, a lot of the world’s uncertainties are suddenly revealed with ease…And so, it is the milk. Watch the Basic 4 commerical.

Regardless, now that there are 5 food groups, they really have to revamp this cereal into something a whole lot better. Come on, now.