Converting Old 8 mm Films to iMovie

Yesterday my sister-in-law Barbara sent me an e-mail requesting a clip of an old 8 mm movie that I had transferred from VHS format to a DVD.  I would be glad to do this for her but there was one BIG problem.  How do I convert the DVD to an iMac compatible video?  Oh woe is me.  My brain was going to get exercised again.

Hey folks, I'm no tech guru, far from it.  I'm a 72 year old man with a brain that is cluttered with the debris of over 40 years of office work.  I don't have the clear (empty) head of my boss's five year old daughter who probably knows more about computers than I do.  And to be quite frank, I'm sometimes just plain afraid to mess around with my computer lest I cause it to explode.

But folks, I've been putting off this latest challenge, converting my old VHS tapes to DVD then to iMac.  Thy name is procrastination.

Well folks, I could put it off no longer.  I jumped right in today and figured it all out.  Yes, I DOOD it.  And yes, my head is hurting right now but I finally got that short black and white film of me departing from the family home in April of 1960 for Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, after I finished Army basic training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey.  Wow, was I EVER that young?  

So here it is folks, Chapter One of the Old Family Films.  Some of you may not find it interesting but hey, this is my blog and I find these old films fascinating.  Plus, I'm leaving a history behind which is my goal now that I am entering my Twilight Years.  It's all good folks.  Enjoy!