great post! I did almost the exact same thing. I still have many of the tapes I made as a kid with that trusty Panasonic tape deck. That thig filled so many hours and provided so much fun. With the wired hand-held mic we did hundreds of hours of "man-on-the-street" interviews. We taped ourselves reading mad-libs and laughing hysterically, we did skits and taped TV shows and when my best friend moved to Arizona, we would tape a whole one-sided conversation to each other and mail it back and forth each week as our parents woldn't let us make the long-distance phone call. Band concerts, my Mom and Grandmother taping themselves in the same way each month as they couldn't afford the long-distance charges.

Thanks for reminding me!! and sharing such a great story of your own.