My World and Welcome to It!

These are my thoughts and opinions about life in general. I also get daily prompts from DSP which inspire me to write. If I throw in some scrapbook pages I've done, photos I've taken, and stories about me, you will have an idea about my loony life!

Monday, June 12, 2006

How I Got Started on Computers

The first computer my husband bought me was a Commodore 64. I remember learning to write programs so we could play games. I thought I was a big shot because no one else I knew had a computer. In fact, people didn't trust them back then (in the dark ages! lol) I remember taking a class on Apple computers through my school district on how to write programs for doing grades on them. Since I took the class I was one of the first ones in my school to get an Apple computer. In fact, I was allowed to take it home during summers which I loved. I got lots of shareware programs for my daughters to play learning games. My first internet computer was a Hewlett Packard that came with a printer from Best Buy. I had just gotten my tubes tied and my first granddaughter was born so hubby thought it was time for me to get a special present. I know some bright students at my school who were really into computers and we had been talking about them for months. One boy, Brian, who was 16 promised to help me if I had any trouble so my hubby agreed to buy one. I set it up on a square card table for a long time! As I started to use it, I wanted new hardware added on and Brian always was able to install it for me. His mom and dad said that he just wanted to play with this but couldn't afford it so he talked me into buying things to give the computer more memory or to make it go faster. He was my computer guru for over 15 years and now he lives in Arizona with his wife but we keep in touch. It is really interesting to see how far I've come from the old Commodore!

7 comments:

Gabby Faye said...

Interesting how one of your students was able to help you. Good for you for embracing computers right from the start. Teachers SHOULD have paved the way but in my blog you will read how that just wasn't so.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful friendship you built over those years :o) Great story :o)

Unknown said...

The "dark ages" seem so long ago now, don't they?

Glynis said...

Great story about your own computer 'evolution', Pat!

Karen said...

You said "people didn't trust them back then (in the dark ages! lol)", Pat. Are you saying you trust them now???!!?

heather said...

I always had students who knew more about computers than me (not that knowing more than me was any great achievement!!)

Tiffani said...

good ole commodore 64....they dont make them like they used to any more....THANK GOODNESS.....