Remembering early tech days

 The year was 1996.  Our son, Michael, was doing a semester in England and we knew the long distance calls were going to be expensive.

We heard about this email thing and thought we should give that a shot.  First step was to buy a computer.

I have to back up just a wee bit because I was introduced to computers when I was working at Saugatuck High School so that had to be late 80s, early 90s.  I brought a computer home during summer break determined to figure out how to use the dang thing.

I never got past turning it on.

Fast forward to '96.  My best friend, Sue Lange, already had a computer so I told her when she'd learned everything about how to use that machine, she could teach me.

I don't remember how that tutorial went but I guess ok because we were soon owners of a brand, spankin' new, computer.

That was back in the dial-up days.  Remember that annoying sound?

Remember how incredibly slow it was?

By then I was working at L.E.White Middle School in Allegan.

I picked up little tips along the way which led me slowly into the internet world.

I remember well the day I heard one of the teachers talking about a particular web site and he said "yeah, I just bookmarked it."

Bookmark???

Then came "copy/paste."  That one tripped me up for an embarrassingly long time.  Now I feel like the "copy and paste queen."  I wonder if there's a crown that goes along with that title?

Then social media hit.  What was the one before Facebook?  Was it My Space?  

Last spring my niece, Sara, got me hooked on Instagram.  Now I'm one of the cool kids.

When Skype was invented it was like a gift from beyond.  When your only child takes flight and lives on a different continent your life line is Skype.

Now it's Zoom.  Talk about a gift.  The workshops I used to attend in person to gather CEUs for my interpreters license turned into webinars thanks to Mr.Covid. Weekly services from our temple came to us via YouTube first and then Zoom.

Speaking of YouTube.  What a teaching tool.  Anything you need to know is there.  As a novice ukulele player I have learned a ton from various musicians on YouTube.

Can't forget the cell phone.  Petey and I had Tracfones for a very long time.  Now we're iphone geeks and Petey even has an Apple watch???

Life is moving at warp speed and our old legs are moving as fast as they can.