Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Middle Aged Dementia

I grew up in an age where computers were the norm. Every child had some version of a computer at home, although most of us didn’t know what to do with it. I remember a Texas Instruments that we owned. Every couple of minutes you had to swap cartridges to give the thing the next section of code. My brother was the best programmer I knew at the time because he was able to program the screen to change colors to the beat of a Pink Floyd LP. He had to adjust the timing if the weather was too hot or cold.

I never considered myself a programmer but I stay fairly competent with the programs I used regularly. Since I work in an office, I mainly used spreadsheets and occasionally looked up something on the internet. Now that I’ve started blogging I realize just how much I need to learn. It isn’t enough to blog but apparently I’m supposed to have myspace, facebook and youtube too (or is it you tube). I’ve never used google as a verb in a sentence. I did try to use yahoo as a verb once but that didn’t go over too well. Do you know that I actually shop in this thing called a mall. I have never purchased anything from ebay and I think craigslist should be craig’s business and no one elses’. Leave poor craig alone.

6 comments:

melvisx said...

Don't beleive the hype! Googling, spreadsheets and power point is as far as I'm going; my head's full of enough crap!

generic Brand said...

Google is a verb, Yahoo! is an interjection, and MSN is probably some muscular disease, so I would avoid using that one in a sentence.

Anonymous said...

Yeah once get involved in small part of the internet you get drawn right in. I opened a facebook even though I spend very little time on it for the purposes of promoting my blog. Things just aren't as simple as they used to be. ( oh dear now I am sounding like my mom)

Anonymous said...

Just wait until you find something on someone else's blog that you want to duplicate on yours. Then the fun of coding really begins.

Growing up, we took computer classes in middle school, but all the screens were green, and programming meant getting the stupid thing to answer your questions by typing in some simple code.

And we played a lot of Oregon Trail. That was the latest and greatest game at the time. It's horribly obsolete now.

Sure do miss the good ol' days...

Anonymous said...

I just saw a book on this topic, sort of. It was all about the technology generation gap. I couldn't believe it. Who are these parents who don't know how to use pcs and ipods?

And here you are, talking about how you have never used google as a verb. lol.

Inspector Clouseau said...

When I entered engineering school in 1969, everyone used slide rules. By 1972, Hewlett Packard calculators began to appear. Professors began to tailor exams, particularly statistics exams, to the new calculators. Those of us unable to afford the new items used the Wang calculators in a large room, with giant cable running to the keyboards. Different era.

Very much like your stuff. Wish I could be as succinct. Please consider this as my personal invitation to you to serve as a Guest Author, the guidelines for which are contained in Post No. 34 (http://theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com/2008/08/post-no-34-opportunity-to-serve-as.html ). Write about anything that you want as long as the tone fits within our guidelines. Give it some thought.