I’ve Created a Monster

Mar 11, 2008

posted by Shelley

I was going to post about Perry getting a new keyboard and mouse, but he beat me to it. As to not turn-off all you PC users (those of you that simply don’t know any better — it’s not your fault), with the flood of MAC posts lately, I will only say that I’m quite certain that I’ve created a monster. There’s no turning back now.

Can you remember your first computer? You know, the very first one that was yours at home and not a school or work system? I think everyone has fond memories of what would now be called a POS. I know that I do.

my first computerMy first machine was a MAC that my brother purchased new. It was powered by a whopping 128k of ram (yes that is 128k — for me now, 2G isn’t enough) and had a HUGE 9″ display. In the photo you can see the slot for the floppy disk…you had to have the boot disk in there before starting it up. It sold for $2500 new, and in the day (early/mid 80’s) that was a ton of money. I wonder how many hours Scott had to put in to purchase that bad baby.

I can also remember the first time I logged into the Internet. At the time, the only way you could connect in my rural area was to be an AOL customer. Of course, there were no local Internet access numbers, and the cheapest dial-up number for me here in Crothersville was Dayton, OH.

At the time, AOL offered programs as shareware for download on the main page — and I was frantic to get them all. Even though programs were extremely small compared to the size of the applications we use today, the connection was pathetic. By the time I got the famous AOL update downloaded each time, and grabbed the coolest shareware program, I was pretty much over my allotted time from AOL AND was bracing for my phone bill. Still, I was way ahead of the game. I can’t remember anyone else in the burg that was Internet connected when I first was, although I’m sure there were others.

I hope as you finish this post, you’re smirking while thinking about YOUR first computer, and maybe even your first time online. It’s all pretty amazing, huh?