Have computer, will travel!
Isa wrote, “Why *did* we bring that computer with us?” That would be the computer in the picture, which is now in a dark gray-green greasy Limpopo corner of the Landfill Dungeon. Isa is one of my five or so readers and she is also my daughter and therefore was on that trip to Floriduh. At the grand old age of seven. She was sharply observant then and I certainly don’t get a break now (that she is 25, yikes) and that’s okay. How did *I* raise someone that wonderful. I dunno. And my sister-in-law Kathy says things well (in the comments). We schlepped computers around then because we were who we were.
Before we had children, we bought an even older computer. It was the Apple II+ and we hooked it up to our then new and fancy 1980 Sony Trinitron TV so the GG could play Space Eggs or run his probability machine. Or we could play around with the BASIC programming language (and yes I did, “Hello world”). I remember one weekend when we drove to Houghton Lake in one of our loverly Ford Fiestas. It was Friday night and there was no one there and there was a *lot* of snow, so we couldn’t just drive in. We parked in the road and started schlepping stuff in (and shoveling). Clothes. Food. Skis. Computer. Sony Trinitron TV. Calculus books. I kid you not. We were nuts. Or were we? I mean, we *were* nuts but maybe we actually *were* just a bit ahead of the times somehow. I take my MacBook laptop almost everywhere I go nowadays. I am not the only person who does this kind of thing although I was a relatively early adopter. (Hmmm, a fly just flew by, odd occurrence on this otherwise typical Meesheegan January evening.) Except that now I am kind of moving ahead a bit and sometimes I just take my iPhone with me because it does just about whatever my laptop does except that I don’t have a full-fledged keyboard.
Now, taking that MacPlus computer (in the photo) to Florida and forgetting to include the keyboard that went with it? That was pretty stupid. On another tangent, I also used to use that Sony Trinitron to watch things like The Love Boat and Dallas. Who shot JR? (-;
January 21st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Our computers in the schools were Apple 2es. (or something like that) They were the monitor and computer all in one. Now we have no Macs, so I’ve forgotten how to use one. My laptop has traveled all over the country to gymnastics meets. But now it just lives in Puyallup!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Aunt Kathy is right. I didn’t know Grandma Sally took computer courses. She was a pretty cool lady. However, it is still hard for me to imagine wanting to take a computer with you when everyone and there mom isn’t on the internet. Sure you can nerd out on programming, but…
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:28 am
Kristen shot JR.
(how embarassing that I know that.)
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I remember going through a department store and seeing baby onesies that had printed on it, “Who shot JR??” I wasn’t following Dallas and was horrified because I though it meant “Who shot Junior?” and once again bemoaned the human condition! LOL