You know you have some history under your belt when, on a trip to California to visit colleges your 17-year-old son is considering attending next year, you come across this relic at a computer museum — and remember when it was the most kick-ass thing EVER.

The Radio Shack TRS-80. The “Trash 80,” as we called it at The Cincinnati Post. It was awesome.

Built like a brick. Gave you, I think, four lines of text to work with on that tiny monochrome screen. Maybe — not sure — even had a spell check. I think it held, like, four or five game stories before you had to start clearing memory.

But, man, what a step forward in filing from the road.  I felt like freaking George Jetson with that thing.