My History With Computers, Part 2

So, like I said last time, going to college changed the computer landscape for me. It was 1991, and home computers were becoming popular. I was thinking that I really needed one to get through college. But my parents were convinced that all we needed was a typewriter. So, I got a job at the Po Folks restaurant in Waco, and bought the two things I really needed to get through college: a truck (1991 Izusu pickup) and a computer. I took out a loan for $2000 and bought an IBM PS/1. The truck lasted until it blew a rod last year, but the PS/1 has been gone since 95 or so - so I guess you can see which one was a better buy :)

Anyway - the PS/1 was incredible. First of all, it came with Prodigy - an early Internet-like service that I loved. My parents got a little mad that the phone was always tied up, but it's not like we got that many calls. So, yep - I've been on the Internet for a long time. The funny thing is, I saw the PS/1 on some list of the 10 worst home computers of all time. Most of the problems they listed didn't affect me, though. The PS/1 had 30mb hard drive (NOT gb - mb), IBM-DOS (this was before Windoze came on the scene), and a monster mouse that didn't always click when you hit the buttons. But it had Microsoft Works - that saved my rear in college many times.

My parents caught on to the need for computers, and now my Mom currently has a super monster computer to transfer VHS to DVD and make home DVDs.

So, the next decade of my life was spent with a variety of computer upgrades and new services. I went from IBM-DOS to Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to Win 98 to XP. Haven't even touched Vista yet. Don't know if I will ever be brave enough for that.

Anyway, in college I also got my first experience with Macs. Baylor had all Mac labs, so around 1994-97, I spent a lot of time on the early WWW and the Mac version of what ever. Archive.org has a great service called the Way Back Machine, and it's pretty interesting to look back at the old versions of websites archived there. I remember many of them. Man, has the Internet come a long way.

I tended to shy away from programming computers in college, but I quickly got back in to it after getting in to the work world. I had no aversions to programming in college - I just got too busy. Anyway, I went to a computer training when I was a Junior High teacher called "Intel Teach to the Future Training." We all had to take tests online to see if we had the necessary skills to just jump right in the class and start. Or so we thought. The first day of the class, someone raised their hand and said "now, are you sure I won't break this thing by pressing the 'on' button?" The teacher of the class (who was also another Science teacher), looked at my wife and I (we were both Science teachers and in this class), rolled his eyes, gave us the "might want to entertain yourself for a while" look, and proceeded to baby sit this teacher for an hour's worth of basic computer training. Like, really basic.

So, I got on the Internet and learned html. Since then I have gotten into CSS, XML, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Flash, and ActionScript. All of which I learned because they were needed for my job at the time (whatever it was), but no one else knew how to do it.

Also, around 2003, I started my first blog. Been addicted ever since.

In 2004, I worked at a company that was (for the most part) all Mac based. So, I used my first iMac (the G4) in a work environment. I was pretty impressed. When Apple decided to come out with Intel-based Macs, I was almost convinced that it was time to switch. Our Mac-fanatic friend Chris was the final push that convinced Katie and I to go Mac. A few months ago, our new iMac Core Due arrived, and I've been loving it ever since. Now, if only the price of iPhone would come down, I could get one of those, and start a whole new chapter in my history with computers....

(by the way, the links I am putting in these articles are to pictures of the computers or programs in question).