Comment by icantdrive55

I bought the Palm 111, then the Palm TX. The Palm TX was great! It had internet access. That device made me an easy $15 grand in two months.

Now this was before smartphones were commonplace, and Goodguy's was going out of business. They had a huge section of video games. The wholesaler didn't know anything about video games, nor did I, but I knew they were worth more than $5 a game.

It was 9:30 at night, so I went to the outside of a local library. Got on the Internet, and found out people were buying Halo 3 Collector's edition for at least $30-$45.

I rushed back to Goodguy's and bought every box. They even threw in the displays.

The staff laughed at me. I remember thinking, I couldn't have pulled this off without that Palm TX. That TX gave me such a business advantage.

Two to three years later, everyone had a smartphone. My magic box was common place. I didn't have a commpetitative edge anymore.

Out of all business failures; the failure of Palm really bothered me then, and now. The Palms I had were rugged little products.

I connected the Palm to a gps, loaded the unit with Delorme maps, and took it down the Rogue River in a Baggie. The Rogue is a River in Oregon. I could see when Rainey falls, and Blossom Bar were about to hit us on that little black and white screen. Actually, with the zoom the screen size was more than enough. It worked beautifully.

A previous year I went over Rainey falls by accident. My best friend went over with me. He was 57 and a three pack a day smoker. He was under the water for a long time, but popped up, and swam to shore. The first words out of his mouth were, "Are my smokes wet?". Actually, his first works were yelling my name--then the smokes. Unfortunately, the smokes did survive. After that accident, by the fire at night. He told me, "I just had a hillbilly ECG!".

Years later, a doctor insisted he get a scan. His arteries were squeaky clean. He made it to 70 smoking--only quitting two months before he died. The last year he did need lung medication, and oxygen. Actually, he need albuteral for at least five years? A few weeks before he died, he told me he was lying about his smoking habit. He said he was smoking close to four-five packs a day since 14. I figured he had good genes, or maybe it was his diet? He barely ate.

Anyways, he died peacefully in his sleep ten years ago. I do miss the guy.

On a selfish note, don't make friends with people who are much older than you. Or, if you do--cultivate a lot of friends. He was basically my only friend. We did a lot of crazy stuff together. My life hasen't been the same since he passed away.

Sorry, got off subject.

(When he finally quit-- a few months before he passed, he said, "I thought it would be harder to quit? I actually believed all those commercials comparing smoking cigs to heroin." "I would have quit years ago if I knew what I know now.")