The Valentine Image

One of the “proto-smart-phones,” it was called a Visor, and ran on a Palm OS, with a slot for a phone, or camera. Tech-toys at the time. I had one. Loved it. Made it to Europe and back. Fishing trips. Cool device.

Tech Tenure.

I have a few, well-preserved, digital images from that tiny camera.

The add-on camera had a footprint of 320 X 240 (pixels), which, if one can do the math, is half of the old standard of 640 X 480, so, in effect, it was a half-size image. Perfect for the web — at the time.

On the road in West Texas, I was riding with friends, and we were working in the Midland/Odessa area. Original setting for Friday Night Lights. No fancy coffee shops, no Starbucks, just convenience store styrofoam cups of coffee, questionable TexMex, and the deserted plains of West Texas — the original high lonesome.

Knew a girl, that’s a different story.

So must’ve been a late January, or better yet, February show time, deep in the heart of Texas — and before supper, buddy says, “You got to see this!”

Seems like a half-dozen years since I've been out to check with my oil-patch peoples. Wonder how it’s going.

That time, in West Texas, was on the eve of the big wave of oil, with the standard, West Texas Crude, headed to a $100 a barrel.

So the sign was an oddity. Reason my buddy found it, he was looking for jewelry for his wife, and I think he found a decent pawn shop tennis bracelet. I don’t recall. Might’ve bought her a sidearm, for all I recall.

That’s exactly where the image came from hardware and software, and that was several server farms back, so it’s starting to degrade, getting copied and moved around. However, it’s still in that original position — digitally — that it was when I took it the first time.

That’s its origin, where it started, at the beginning. Source.

What’s amusing, as I’ve trotted this out every year at Valentine’s Day, the real source is lost.

That’s the benefit from years on the road.

Tie the knot
Wedding rings and Shotguns
On sale now!

More prosaic? What sign gets along with what sign?

Astrology compatibility by birthdate

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