Hard Hat Mack

Back in Jr. High we got our first computer, an Apple IIe. I had played around with them at school a little bit and we used to pass around copies of games on old 5 1/4 floppies. Cannonball Blitz was the first but I couldn't find anything about it on Youtube. Hard Hat Mack was the 2nd game we traded back and forth. It was a Donkey Kong clone but a little faster and (I thought) a lot more fun.

In 8th grade, tired of taking woodshop for the millionth time, Jim and I persuaded our assistant principal (later Lisa's boss in Wilmette) to create a computer programming class for us. Mike Daley caught wind of it and joined us. The librarian pulled the class out of a book and would hand us lessons to work on each day in basic and then go back into the library to do whatever it is she did. Most days, when we'd finish out lessons early, we'd play games. Since these were illegal copies, they weren't too happy when they caught kids with the discs. One day, we were all playing and Mike and I heard the librarian coming in. We quit out of the game as she walked in the door but Jim didn't notice and kept hammering away at the keyboard as she stood behind him. I'm pretty sure that disc was confiscated and we monitored more closely from that point on.

My mom probably still knows the librarian's name or has lunch with her every month and is mortally embarrassed that I'm admitting to this on line.