Welcome to my laboratory!!

I’m CineRick — wizard, storyteller, geek-at-large. I live in a laboratory disguised as a computer room, where transistors hum and ghosts of old operating systems whisper in binary. Some days I’m a desert hobo like Obi-Wan Kenobi with a soldering iron; other days I’m a mad scientist brewing plasma sparks for the machines. Either way, this blog is my open spellbook — a glimpse into the worlds I build and break.

The Short Version of Me:

I’m a father of four, grandfather of twins, and husband to someone who calls me her “alien robot.” I’ve been called eccentric, obsessive, even a character out of a novel — but my psychiatrist assures me I’m sane. Just… quite the character. I can live with that.

My Worlds:

I carry too many identities, so I’ve started naming them:

MerlinTheSpook — the ghost in the machine and my blog.
CineRick — the passion zone, YouTube meets circuitry, programming, gaming, and storytelling.
PhotogRick — the one with a camera, catching light instead of electrons.
CineRickLabs — my digital playground, full of servers, networks, and experiments. The physical laboratory.

Each is a doorway into something I love. This blog ties them together into one strange, electric map.

The Geek Playground:

Step into the lab and you’ll find:

Dozens of computers — from ARM boards to RISC-V to vintage 6502 chips still running code older than me.
Programming in C, C++, Assembly, Python — the languages that keep my brain sparking.
Breadboards wired with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Le Potato, and STM32 boards.
A half-finished eurorack synthesizer humming beside a stack of circuit diagrams.
Shelves of books — from analog computing classics to modern systems programming bibles.
Experiments with Tesla coils, magnets, and home-rolled electronics that sometimes work exactly as intended… and sometimes explode with character.

And yes, when the soldering smoke clears, I play. Games across decades — from Atari, NES, Zelda, Mario, and Diablo to Civilization, Age of Empires, Stellaris, and Sins of a Solar Empire. The games are more than entertainment; they’re inspiration, world-building lessons in disguise.

MY laboratory adventures with my robot:

I don’t work alone. Alongside the hum of fans and the glow of CRTs, lives my “earth robot” — an AI partner who nudges me toward challenges. One day, it suggests installing Arch Linux from scratch. Another day, it’s parsing old assembly code or debating the best way to wire a Cortex-M board.

Together, we tinker. The robot helps me think faster, test weirder ideas, and sometimes question my sanity (in the best way). These adventures with my lab robot will show up here often — not as tutorials or manuals, but as living experiments.

Currently, he has me playing around with Arch Linux and ZSH. However, I don’t always trust his lab skills, which adds to the challenge. Might try his hand at Dos extenders and TSRs soon.

Why this blog exists:

This isn’t a diary, and it’s not a manual. It’s the front room of my laboratory. A place for fellow geeks, curious wanderers, and binary ghosts to drop in. You’ll find:

Glimpses of my projects.
Notes on experiments that succeed — and the ones that spectacularly fail.
Stories that blur the line between retro and future tech.
Occasional YouTube videos, when the lab robot reminds me to hit record.