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Archive for the ‘typewriter’ Category


I finally came home with an IBM Selectric II

I have a small collection of vintage typewriters. Until very recently, they were all completely mechanical and I’d avoided getting anything electric. But since I work at IBM, I routinely get asked if I own an IBM Selectric. The Selectric used to be ubiquitous in offices in the US, and it is memorable because it […]

Critters, typewriters, and cable cars

Our summer adventures have continued with a lot of trips to the zoo. We got an Oakland Zoo membership a couple months ago, and I quickly learned that our boys love going to the zoo, and since it’s less than 20 minutes away, it makes for a nice late afternoon getaway if I leave work […]

1975 Olympia Traveller de Luxe, it’s portable!

I mentioned that the Alameda Point Antiques Faire was where I got my wide-carriage Royal FP Elite. A couple weeks ago we went back, on the first Sunday of the month, to try our luck again. I saw a lot of Royals there, but after my experience with the Magic Margins on my Royal FPE, […]

Wide-carriage Royal FP Elite

Several weeks ago I proposed going to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. I learned about it through the documentary, California Typewriter, but very specifically didn’t go there to look at typewriters. I like antique fairs! I wanted to browse some vinyl records! The fresh air would be enjoyable for the whole family! Besides, the secret […]

Childcare, anniversary, trucks, and antiques

We participate in the Au Pair program. It’s an exchange program overseen by the State Department that matches families who have childcare needs with young people who are looking to spend a year in another country and take some classes abroad. We started with it when Adam was just a few months old and have […]

Green and purple Skyriter

It started with my Smith-Corona Skyriter needing a new ribbon. I’d been coping with a pretty dry ribbon, but after some searching I discovered that while the ribbon spool is not the most standard size for typewriters, it is A standard, and TheModernTypewriter on Etsy sells ribbons on those spools. Not only that, they sell […]

We went to a typewriter shop in Philadelphia!

My new found fascination with typewriters is a bit unusual. I’m a computer-focused tech enthusiast and while I’ve always held a special place in my heart for the mechanical, it wasn’t until I had an old manual typewriter sitting on my desk every day that it blossomed into something a bit more. I don’t use […]

I’m now the proud owner of a 1950 Smith-Corona Skyriter

I’ve had the book The Typewriter Revolution on my reading pile for a while, but I made my way back to it earlier this year and have put a good dent in it. It’s prompted me to start using writing prompts with my 1938 L.C. Smith-Corona so it gets a bit more use and I […]

Wet/dry January, old/new tech

It’s now the second month of 2023, and I can confirm that the arbitrary changing of the calendar year has not, in fact, made our immune systems better at fighting off every random bug that Adam brings home from preschool. At the beginning of January it was a brutal stomach bug, and we are now […]

Typecast from my 1938 L C Smith & Corona

“A typecast (blogging) (a.k.a. typecasting or typecasting blog) is a form of blogging by media type and publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of and focus on text created with a typewriter and then scanned rather than text entered directly into a computer.” via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typecasting_(blogging) Before and after […]