Oops

I had the directions to Elevate Coffee Co. wrong. This is the corrected graphic:

The Saga of the Mexican Oliver

I have been on the quest for a Mexican Oliver for some time. They are nearly impossible to find here in the US. What makes a Mexican Oliver special? Well, I have found some pictures from Mercado Libre to give you and idea:

A Mexican Oliver is nickle plated on the bottom while still retaining the green paper table and front piece. I can glean no information about why the two-tone Oliver was so popular, but it's all you find in Mexico.

For a long while I felt as if I would never get a lead. Mercado Libra frequently has them for sale, but my inexperience with the language and fear of buying something so expensive so far away makes it prohibitive. I can't take a vacation to go look for one because there 32 states and one federal district and they could be hidden anywhere. But now there is a slight hope.

Andres, one of my students, has an uncle who is a journalist with a newspaper in Mexico City. He's spotty on the details because they have never met, but this summer he is taking a vacation to visit him. It was kind of Andres to offer to ask if he knew the location of one and I am sure that a journalist would know just the right people to contact.

So, this little quest is taking on a new dimension, but it's still exciting.

I Didn't Really Think About It

It is proven:

The Royal HH is the funniest typewriter, ever.

Mini Type-In

Beneficient Bill

The Time Is Now!

Big and Little Brother

As the semester winds down (we are three weeks from graduation) I have started to take inventory of machines both at home and school that I had all intentions of showing off here. I was thinking about this all the while looking at a very nice (if not dirty) Olympia SM-3 that I got a few weeks ago. There were two things that made it a pretty special little typewriter; the touch and the color.

Touch

I have one other SM-3 in sky blue. It's a great little machine, but for some reason the keys are a little stiff for my taste. They aren't pillowy like a Hermes 3000 (which I don't care for), but sluggish. It's very clean. That's not the problem. Even when the key tensioner is set to the lightest position it feels like I am typing through treacle. The green SM-3 as a totally different feel. It's lithe and very well balanced. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed typing on an SM-3. Maybe it's worn. Maybe there is something wrong, but it is really very good. Coincidentally, the only other green machine like this was brought to the latest Phoenix Type-In. It had much the same feel and it was green too. Hmm. I wonder if there is a connection between color and touch?

Color

There isn't much exciting about the color other than it matches the Beast of Wilhemshaven. They look like  a big and little brother.