Replies: 64 Unseemly Comments
Am I the first post? I got my first computer at the ripe young age of 13. It was a Commodore 64 that I plugged into my TV and all I knew to do with it was play Galactica and Jump Man. Those were the days...
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 09:21 AM PST
Twenty years ago I had three huge word processors in my apartment while I wrote manuals for them. These were dedicated machines that just did word processing -- with big square floppy discs that were really floppy. I then started working on huge Tandy TRS-DOS computers which integrated word processing and lots of other functions. Then, IBM compatibles and so forth and so on. I also owned a Commodore 64, which was really a game machine more than anything else. I still have a Toshiba laptop computer that does not have a hard disk in it. Just one megabite of built-in memory and a floppy drive. A single floppy disk contained the entire Word program! One Megabyte!!!!
I was also part of the Prodigy scene beginning in 1990 and met a playwright on their theatre board who sent me her script, which I helped her edit using emails. I then staged the world premiere in a New York showcase production. When I tried to invite other Prodigy members to the play, Prodigy deleted my messages because they considered them "commercial announcements" although they never censored postings about Phantom of the Opera or other truly commercial productions. Needless to say, I quit Prodigy shortly thereafter.
Anyway, I'm glad to see BK has become a true computer whiz.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 09:49 AM PST
My first experience with computers came in 1981, or thereabouts, and the computers I used were on some sort of system, possibly LAN, which allowed me to communicate with other folks in the U.S. (or at least in a region or so of the U.S.).
My first access to the internet occurred in 1995.
My first home PC I acquired in November 2000.
I am pleased to say that it is not as addictive at home as I feared it would be. Too many other distractions, I suppose!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 08/05/2002 09:54 AM PST
I had a couple of "first computers". I know that can't be true, but the very first one was so drastically different from any of the others I owned that it was like have a first computer when I got the second. The first computer came in 1984 and it was a Timex 1000 with a whopping 1K of RAM. It also had a membrane keyboard and you needed to hook it up to a TV for a monitor. It couldn't do much but I did learn a very basic form of BASIC (the programming language) from that computer. I don't remember much of it anymore. My second computer came a year later in 1985. It was an ATARI 800 XL. I think it had 8 or 16 K of memory. Wow! It had programs on cartridges which you plugged into the side of the keyboard. Again, the monitor was a television set and WYSIWYG (wizzywig or What You See is What You Get) was not even a concept for this machine. Still, it got me started with basic word processing and some games. We slowly upgraded, keeping with Atari, thinking it might win out in the early battles. We considered getting an Adam (anyone remeber that short-lived flop?) and a Commodore, but stuck with Atari until 1989 when we switched to an IBM. Now we have a Gateway and who'da thunk what you can do nowadays. Databases, the Internet, movies and more. My first Internet experiences came in 1990 and 1991 when I joined a couple of BBS' (bulletin board systems). Very primitive but lots of fun. Having worked on or with computers for a long time (even when I was performing I was interested in them) I took to the Internet easily and don't have any raucous or ribald stories to tell about getting on-line. I will come back later, though, and tell you about Blair Brown, Douglas Sills, John Dosset and the ever lovely Randy Graff in A Little Night Music at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Posted by Ben @ 08/05/2002 10:02 AM PST
Hot Diggity! Ah feel so good, ah could dance the ole ya-hoo step! I just got my sparkling trivia contest prize in the mail, and it was worth the wait. I can state fairly that I am very pleased. Thank you Mr. Bruce Kimmel.
As for computers, a year after I graduated from high school, in 1963 to be exact, I got a summer job for a "research institute" with a military contract and a hush-hush mission. I was told my duties would primarily involve programming a computer. I said I didn't know anything about computers. My boss handed me a manual and said, "Here. You're a computer programmer."
The computer was a Burroughs 220. It was all vacuum tubes and flashing lights, just like in the old movies, and it filled a room as big as the first floor of our house. The "memory" was a rotating magnetic drum. It worked in Binary-coded Decimal, which meant 4 lights for every decimal digit (and lots of waste). You could push a Pause button and actually read all the registers on the front of the computer.
We programmed in machine language--not Assembler, mind you, but real machine language with entirely numeric codes, but soon got an Algol computer. Input was on punched paper tape. It couldn't do a hundredth of what my PC can do, but we all thought it was a miracle.
Curiously, I have a memory of our Algol expert, a particularly grumpy middle-aged lady, being so happy one day when the tech guy fixed some quirk that she burst into "Put it back the way it was," from Li'l Abner. Only time I saw her smile.
Now this story is getting a little long, so I will continue it in tmy next post.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 12:02 PM PST
I watched two movies on DVD yesterday: "The Big Bus" with Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing and an all-star supporting cast including John Beck, Sally Kellerman, Ruth Gordon, Lynn Redgrave. Lots of fun for a Sunday afternoon, although not quite as funny as the original "Airplane." It lasted 88 minutes and didn't seem to "end" as much as it just stopped.
The seconf film is a doozy -- "Legally Blonde" is lethally funny. I had several - count 'em several -- big belly laughs. Nice featurettes include a piece called "The Hair That Ate Hollywood". Reese Witherspoon is a treasure. I think Hollywood ought to team her up with Alicia Silverstone for some blonde bitch-out comedy!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 08/05/2002 12:09 PM PST
Ron: Did you see Alicia in The Graduate? Oy vey is all I can say. Oy vey.
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 12:21 PM PST
And why is it 3:20 EDT and there're only 8 posts 8 (including this one)?
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 12:21 PM PST
In my third summer there, we got a brand spanking new state-of-the-art Burroughs B5500 with a super-Algol compiler. My coworker (how do you ork a cow? Isn't coworker a curious word?) wondered what they were doing with the old one. "Maybe I'll buy it and put it in my basement." "Red, you're crazy!" I replied. "Who on earth would want a computer in their home?"
My own first computer must have been in 1983 or thereabouts. I already had an IBM PC at the office--or rather my office mate had it, but she was scared of it. I immediately started using it to write a novel--uh, not one of my listed job duties. But when my rich aunt said she wanted to buy me a computer--and it must be IBM, because she had stock in Big Blue--I managed to spend $ 6,000 on an IBM PC-AT with all of 128 K of memory (using piggy-back chips which proved a couple of years later impossible to find), two 5-1/4" floppy drives and a 30 meg hard drive--and a monochrome monitor. I was in hog heaven. I became addicted to Robert Wilson's PC-Write word processor, from which I am trying to wean myself right now still today.
Oh, the joyous hours I spent shuffling floppies and writing batch programs! I even got a program to print fancy type styles, but you had to type in long macros in your files. I thought it was a miracle!
[continued overleaf]
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 12:24 PM PST
And then came the Internet.
I can't really remember the year that our university got hooked up, but I was the only faculty member I knew who had the patience to log onto the main computer and run the ftp program, with arcane Unix commands, that allowed you, with a long delay, to download files that you could actually look at later to find out they weren't what you were looking for.
Soon, however came http and WWW and Yahoo, and we had Lynx, a text-only internet browser. It was a miracle! One of my students told me about something called Mosaic over in the computer lab, which actually let you view pictures as well as text!
I joined a dozen newsgroups and discovered now at last modern technology allowed instant access along the Al Gore Memorial Highway to billions of pieces of misinformation and asinine opinions.
And there was rec.arts.theatre.musicals, where I could spend all day reading asinine opinions. Until one day someone mentioned starting a Sondheim list-server, which led me to sondheim.com, Mr. Mark Bakalor (who was just a wee twig of sprig of a lad when he became an internet media mogul), and thence the unnamed CD company and eventually, the peak and pride of the Internet, i.e. hainshisway.com.
Yes, I remember visiting all those sites with Lynx who proclaimed "THIS SITE CAN ONLY BE VIEWED WITH NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR. IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT, GET IT." Well, excuse me for living, but my computer didn't even have enough memory to run Netscape at that point, and I had upgraded to a 386.
I remember discovering that if you hunted carefully you could actually find dirty pictures on the Internet--long before the dirty pictures came looking for you. I remember when my students said, "Internet? What's that?"
I remember the cries of rage around the ether when AOL opened its Internet portal and newsgroups were flooded with ignorant "newbies" who were going to ruin our private net. I remember when the dire news came that the domain name bodyodor.com had been registered and commercialization of our internet was imminent. (Not the rap singer Imminent--or was he M&Ms?)
I remember going from awe at the mere existence of a word processor to jaded impatience when Google takes all of ten seconds to do a search and find me 12,546 sites with the words to "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts."
But I must say that my word processor was instumental in prodding me to actually write a novel. And the Web was my impetus to illustrate the novel.
And the friends. Oh, the friends I've made, many in distant lands! It's even worth the spam from Korea that I can't remove myself from because I can't read the instructions.
....
But I don't have a cell phone. And I don't want one.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 12:47 PM PST
Isn't it curious what Grey Matter did to my mention of the World Wide Web? Just type www and it will be fooled. Yes, indeedy, www will fool it. What about ftp? Or does it have to be ftp:?
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 12:49 PM PST
Hmmm. Maybe nobody is posting anymore - maybe that's it. Or maybe everyone is working now and can't post until the evening - if that's the case then we'll have to have many many many (that is three manys) posts this evening - we'll be racing with the clock because we must not fall behind we must spring forward.
I am actually truly enjoying these computer stories, they're all quite wonderful and we need more of them.
I do find it intriguing (with an emphasis on INTRIGUE) that one of our major posters has not been here in six days, and a handful of others haven't either. I shall try to process that information and see if it leads to processed cheese slices. Now, more stories you Hainsies/Kimlets - do not tarry, do not delay, we must get this paltry number of posts WAY WAY WAY (that is three WAYS) up or we will fall behind and we must never fall behind or we will not be the most popular site on all the Internet and the envy of all. Now are we mice or are we HAINSIES/KIMLETS?
Posted by bk @ 08/05/2002 01:11 PM PST
Vivant les Hainsie/Kimlets!!! Viva la guerra! Viva la revolucion! Viva...whatever it is!!
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 01:35 PM PST
I was busy all weekend showing our 17 year old guest from Germany the city of New York. Even took a round-trip on the Staten Island ferry. She's doing an intensive two-week training course with the David Parsons Dance Company. So, although I read the columns, I didn't have much time to write.
As with William, I was involved with the internet before I knew there was such a thing. When I was writing manuals for Tandy in the early 80s, I connected to their Unix network in Forth Worth using a very primitive modem from New York. I could type faster than the words moved over the phone lines! Because my father was one of the founding scientists in the computer industry, I was playing with "home" computers when they were little more than a circuit board with a tiny lcd read-out and no keyboard.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 01:35 PM PST
And William, Google only has 143 instances of "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts."
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 01:36 PM PST
Urrr, that's FORT Worth.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 01:37 PM PST
Well, being of a younger
generation (I'm 22 years old), I
grew up with computers in our
classrooms. Ahh yes, the
hours to be spent playing
"Oregon Trail" on the old Apple
2e. I remember it was quite a
thing when the school
upgraded from 2e to 2gs.
But I was late joining the
internet world for my age.
Never surfed the web or used
e-mail until I entered college in
fall of '98 (when I almost
immediately discovered
sondheim.com, etc etc to
here). No home computer
until just this February,
actually.
Posted by Jed @ 08/05/2002 02:23 PM PST
Ouch! Ya got me, Robert! To exaggerate is human, to point it out unseemly.
But what is interesting, since I was searching for that song in order to settle a dispute with our young niece, is that every site has a different version of the words. And since, as far as I know, "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" appears on no Bruce Kimmel album--I could be mistaken--there is no difinitive version.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 02:38 PM PST
Jason, Viva is a paper towel. Just wanted to let you know :-)
Posted by Ben @ 08/05/2002 02:41 PM PST
Jason - don't be errant and truant (or truant and errant) - didn't you promise us all a review today? ;)
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 02:55 PM PST
So is Brawny. :-) Thanks for the tip, Ben.
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 02:56 PM PST
To Robert Armin: I, too, used to write Technical Manuals for dedicated word processors, including Wangs (I kid you not), Xerox 860s (the first word processor to use the prototype for what later became the mouse--though in this instance it was a pad that you pushed on, and it worked very poorly, if at all), IBM Displaywriters, oy, oy, oy, the list is too long and the memories too fluorescent. And let's hear it for the CPT 8000. Does anyone still wear a hat?
I got on the internet the first time after I got my first multimedia computer (back when they were called that), the hilariously named Tandy SENSATION. America Online was a largely text-based service (and I use the term "service" VERY loosely) in those days.
Posted by JMK @ 08/05/2002 03:01 PM PST
Worked on the Wang and the CPT, along with Lanier and something else I can't recall. Also worked on a typesetter called, I think, the Compuwriter, though my memory is probably faulty. Also worked on early spell check programs and a now-antiquated atlas program for the Apple that had less information on it than a gameboy program today.
I thought it was funny that Multimate was a PC version of the mediocre Wang system and has now gone the way of the Wang.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 03:13 PM PST
Craig: You are so right, and I am so sorry. Here is my review of the new yet-to-open-but-it's-a-hit-already Broadway production of Hairspray.
I knew the minute I walked in the theatre and saw a curtain of fluorescent red strings that looked much like Twizzlers Candy that the show was going to be a dandy. (No, this entire review will not rhyme...I mean, who am I? Steve Sonheim?) D'oh! I did it again! Anyway, this show was funny from lights up and continued to be so until the candy curtain went down (by some stroke of sheer genius, the candy curtain actually becomes the bangs of a gigantic Patty Duke 1960's hairdo at one point in the show.)
The music is catchy...all of it...and the sets, costumes, and of course, wigs, are simply a great. Marissa Jaret Winokur was sweet and funny with impeccable timing and a splendid voice, and she even managed to hold her own with Harvey Feirstein as her mother, which is no small feat, I'm sure. Harvey had one of those "stops the show" entrances and thankfully never played the role too over the top, which could be done quite easily by a lesser actor. I definitely smell a Tony award for him.
There really wasn't a weak performance in the bunch--even the ensemble kids were fabulous--but there was one standout performance that I wasn't expecting--a simply hilarious character actress by the name of Jackie Hoffman. I can't even describe how funny this woman was. She probably only had 10 lines in the whole show, but she made the absolute most of every one of them...and she plays three different characters (including Kerry Butler's mother)! I enjoyed our very own Ms. Kerry Butler in her role, though I must say during act one she reminded me SOOO much of her character in Bat Boy that I started to get concerned that that was all she was good at. She proved me wrong in act two when she really let loose vocally and belted some of the best high notes I've heard in a while. She was a lot of fun. Her wig, however, was not.
The boys are cute...the girls are cute...there's a doo-wop girl group that is another show-stopping moment...the choreography is a blast...and get this--the show's story is moving! I actually found myself getting a bit teary-eyed in a few scenes. I liked it more than Cats and I really did buy the t-shirt.
Good luck getting tickets, but I tell you now, you MUST see Hairspray and you must see it soon. It opens officially on August 15th and the Cast Recording is being released on August 13th. Pick it up!!
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 03:13 PM PST
Regarding missing persons, freedunit hasn't posted here since July 31. He didn't say "boo" about going away, either.
Does anyone know where freedunit is?
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 08/05/2002 03:16 PM PST
My first computer usage was at the the School where I was teaching typwriting. We had an Apple IIE. It was an alternative treat to be being able to use the golfball IBM! The classes used old manual typewriters - This was in the early 80.s (1980's that is). I had to teach myself how to use the APPLE. Eventually I ended up typing up a book published here - not a novel but a data base a la Joel Whitburn on our local pop charts from 1960 to 1990. (I used to type in the data at School whilst waiting to take a night class for adults wnating to learn to type). When computers really hit the school it was the students who taught me all I needed to know about internet. The School issued laptops to the chosen people (Science/Math/IT/Commercial) so I was able to get on line at home and discover the world of the Real A.
Posted by Tom Guest @ 08/05/2002 03:17 PM PST
First of all...How's that for a review, Craig?
Secondly...I misspelled Mr. Sondheim's last name and I am sorry beyond infinity for that.
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 03:17 PM PST
Jason-
Well well well (that is 3 wells) that was some review! Thank you. I actually have tickets waiting for me for memorial day weekend (I am seeing it twice - isn't that just too too?). And then there is that secret project Donald and I are working on...hopefully we will know more soon!
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 03:20 PM PST
Craig...should you magically finding yourself with a spare ticket to the show, I'm sure I could make time in my ::ahem:: busy schedule to see it again. :-)
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 03:22 PM PST
Jason
Email me..
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 03:25 PM PST
errr that would be LABOR day weekend of course...
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 03:35 PM PST
Of course....
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 03:45 PM PST
Oh.. and for the topic of discussion. My very first computer that I owned was an Atari 800. I got it just before I turned 13. The first time I used a computer was 2 years before that, a TRS-80 (which we called the trash 80) TRS, of course, stood for Tandy-Radio Shack. I also used a Timex Sinclair - remember those.. tiny little portable computer with a membrane keyboard.
During the early 80s, I had a few programs that I wrote, published in a magazine called "Compute" - they were written in Basic and one was the "Editor's Choice" -- a computer version of SIMON - the memory game. The other big program that was published was called Casino 800, and was a bunch of casino games for the Atari computer. Haven't even thought about those two programs in AGES!
The first time I was on the internet, it wasn't really the internet.. I used to dial up lots of BBS's. And then one day I signed up for GEnie (which was GE's text based AOL type service). After that, I signed up for AOL..I am pretty sure it was just AOL then and not Version whatever. I know that I have had the same screen name for over ten years. I am pretty sure about that. I finally got a REAL internet account about 8 years ago. I think we all could say that having known then what we know know.. I would have invest a ton in domain names and stocks along the way...
Well I could technobabble for a long time because it's interesting to see how various mediums have converged over the years and what is in store. I have attended many a technology and media conventions over the past few years and it's very exciting to see what's in store for the near and distant future.
I'll post again another day with some fun stuff I have seen at these shows if anyone is interested...
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 03:58 PM PST
Didn't Freedunit mention a trip to Vegas a while ago?
Posted by Laura @ 08/05/2002 04:01 PM PST
He did post on July 29th that he had to go to Vegas in a few weeks.
That should be the third week, or so, of this month, though.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 08/05/2002 04:33 PM PST
I would like everyone to take note that Mr. Robert Armin has admitted to working on a Wang. Let us all process that information and see if it leads to processed cheese slices. Shortly I shall be going to have Mexican food with some authentic Jewish people. Isn't that exciting? Isn't that just too too? And then I shall be playing poker.
Posted by bk @ 08/05/2002 05:11 PM PST
Don't poker too hard, she might fight back! And interestingly enough BK, a jewish cuban in S. Florida is referred to as a Juban...
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 05:27 PM PST
Robert-
Yeah.. what's the deal. A month or so ago it was talk of Bruce's package and today you talk of your Wang experience. What will be next- talk of your weekend on the back nine working on your putts?
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 05:42 PM PST
If your floppy is not functional, you must reformat your hard drive.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/05/2002 06:32 PM PST
William - be careful where you put your floppy disk - you don't want to get the reputation of being "USER FRIENDLY"
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 06:38 PM PST
I didn't say it was my Wang. It was some Korean guy's Wang. And I only touched it when they paid me!
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 06:44 PM PST
Robert-
I think I speak for everyone when I say TMI (too much information!!!!)
Posted by Craig @ 08/05/2002 06:49 PM PST
Get your mind out of the gutter!!!!!
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/05/2002 07:16 PM PST
Oh, GEnie. I forgot about that one. I signed up for that. When I think of how excited I was to get a modem that was faster than 300 baud. The good old, bad old days.
As I mentioned earlier, I was in DC this weekend and saw the second performance of Night Music. It began on Friday, August 3rd and I saw it Saturday. It's a good production (certainly better than the awful bus and truck I saw in the mid-70s as it chugged it's way through Saint Paul, MN) with some stand out stuff. Blair Brown does a good job as Desiree. She's still finding her way vocally here and there but the acting is solid and good. John Dosset is wonderful as Frederick. Great vocally and a wonderful performance. Also wonderful were Ms. Barbara Bryne as Madame Armfeldt (so great in the original Sunday in the Park) , Danny Gurwin as Henrik (his almost constipation as he hides his love for Anne is very funny) and Douglas Sills as Carl-Magnus (every so often I saw glimpses of Pimpernel but he held his own). The stand out was Ms. Randy Graff. I love her! Every Day a Little Death is always a heartbreaker but she brought new life to it for me. She has such a way with a sharp remark. The biggest laughs all went to her.
Since it just began performances there were a few technical glitches here and there but nothing that won't work itself out during the run. My only complaint was the sets looked a little cheap. I know it's not a full out production with buckets of money for everything but the sets were little more than painted backdrops. Though I do think the large, large leaves were nice.
If you get a chance to go to DC, I would recommend seeing it.
I'm seeing Hairspray this Friday. Can't wait!
Posted by Ben @ 08/05/2002 07:17 PM PST
The only Wang I ever sat in was in Boston. I saw the Music of Andrew lloyd Webber.
Posted by MDS @ 08/05/2002 07:40 PM PST
Danny Gurwin...I saw him and his Wang in The Full Monty in Chicago. He has a lovely...um...voice. Yes, that's it...voice.
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 07:59 PM PST
I just found out some interesting things about yesterday's Roundabout experience. Apparently the woman sitting next to us saw a wire or something connected to the camera and mistook it for a BOMB! Hence the crazy reaction to the camera being in my friend's lap and the unseemly frisking of my friends and myself. Can you imagine? How embarassing...
Posted by Jason @ 08/05/2002 08:09 PM PST
A friend who knew from computers bought us an IBM PC in 1983. It was more complicated than I wanted, and you had to know Basic. I wqas taking some classes at the time, so I only learned enough to be able to do my homework on the computer and print out the results. A glorified word processor.
I ahve never been one to embrace new technology and welcome it to my world, so I was a bit slow withe internet. By this time, I had worked with a number of different computers, and we had a Macintosh. I still thought the internet was most unnecessary. Same with e-mail. I didn't want to be one of those people who e-mailed people and chatted with others online and never actually talking face-to-face with another human being.
Now, of course, I love where the computer has brought me...because I'm here.
Posted by Kerry @ 08/05/2002 09:50 PM PST
I was interested in computers long before there were pc's. On first hearing about ‘the machines that could process information,’ I knew immediately that I wanted to work with them when I ‘grew up’, although I had no idea then what kind of work that would be. In college, I took a few programming classes in Fortran IV. I remember my excitement when the stack of cards that represented the program I had just written succeeded in passing through the mammoth-sized computer without jamming the system.
I bought my first computer in 1984. I was actually looking to buy a dedicated word processor, to aid me in becoming a writer (another childhood dream), but ultimately decided that a computer would potentially offer me so much more versatility. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I wanted to leave my options open.
Then, the choice was between a Macintosh and an IBM. Although the menu-driven Apple system was quite attractive, I opted for the challenge of the other: manually keying in the commands to manipulate the programs. I didn’t want to be led; I wanted to control.
What I bought was a Compaq portable computer. ‘Portable’, yet it weighed about 25 pounds, or so it seemed to me whenever I wanted to schlep it somewhere (I needed a set of heavy duty wheels to tote it around). It looked something like a portable sewing machine with a built-in monochrome monitor and two 5" floppy disk drives. No hard drive. The computer cost me $2,800, without a printer and without software. At the time, I couldn't afford the extras. And, sadly, there wasn’t much I could do with the computer without software.
So, a friend’s friend’s husband gave me a copy of the word processing software that he had written, but without the manual to go with it. He told me all the documentation was in the program. I should work it out. So every night, after my then three young children went to sleep, I ‘played’ on the computer until dawn, discovering how it worked and teaching myself the software.
From that computer, I graduated to an IBM desktop, still with monochrome monitor, but this time with a hard drive. Now I had power. I also graduated to Windows with its pull-down menus. Shifting into automatic, I now had speed.
Computers became my passion. Although I never took a course beyond that first experience with Fortran IV, I’ve worked with every program I could get my hands on, from the various word processing programs to desktop publishing; from programmable data bases to creative 2d and 3d graphic programs. I love the challenge.
In the 18 years since my first computer, I have gone through innumerous upgrades, until now, I am enjoying my second Dell, hosting an oversized monitor to accommodate the high-end desktop publishing, graphics and animation programs I work with. Yet, I still have my original Compaq portable computer, hidden in the back of my closet. A relic? Yes. But also a trophy. Probably worth nothing to anyone but me
Posted by Susan Gordon @ 08/05/2002 11:04 PM PST
I got my very first computer the summer before my senior year in high school (I graduated in 1984). It was a Texas Instruments 99/4A that had all of 16K memory. The only thing that I really did on it was play the two game cartridges that I had (I don't even remember which ones they were, but I loved one of them) and I taught myself (with the help of the manual) to program music. It could play only three notes at a time and you had to program each note by entering values for the pitch, the volume and the length. I tried (successfully) to program The Manhattan Transfer's "Birdland" in 3-part harmony but only about 2/3rds of the song could be programmed before the memory filled up. It had no internal memory, so I had to save the first part of the program onto an audio cassette (it sounded exactly the way a modem sounds) and then program/play/save the rest of it separately. I haven't thought about that in way too many years.
Posted by George @ 08/05/2002 11:09 PM PST
I fought against getting a computer. But my DH felt it was necessary to have one so that the kids could learn how to use one. Of course, it was he who wanted to play with it. So the boys played stuff like Centipede and I wondered why we needed something so dumb.
I fought against getting the internet. My son begged and pleaded and pleaded and begged. So we got the free one month at AOL. He showed me how it worked, figuring his chances of getting to keep it were greater if Mom got hooked. And it worked, sorta. The day after the free month was up, son sent an email bomb to someone, and AOL banned ME from ever having an account with them EVER AGAIN. In that one month I met a few internet folk I still keep in touch with after all these years.
We got another internet service, as I had been bit by the internet bug, although I could only do the things the kids showed me. It's been tons of fun, and I've met several online people in person
Posted by Laura @ 08/05/2002 11:37 PM PST
Susan:
Ah, what's in all our closets! Although I now have a Dell Pentium 3--3 years old and hopelessly antique!--I still have the old 486, the old 386, and of course the IBM PC-AT, even though Joe has quit insisting that we could "donate" it to somewhere for a tax write-off. What, a dollar-ninety-eight write-off on a six-thousand-dollar investment? But there it sits in its box, looking big and clunky, sad and unloved.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 08/06/2002 03:14 AM PST
Oh, my dear, dear Bruce Kimmel San and all my other dear, dear Kimses and Hainsels!
I am so, so very sorry that I have not posted here in simply ages. But I have been away from home in Tokyo and in other places, doing some not very pleasant things, about which I shall tell you, and also doing some very pleasant things, about which I shall not tell you in hopes of keeping it from the tabloids.
I went to Tokyo to talk about script approval for Ninja Geisha V: Three Bean Salad, and let me tell you it was not an easy time. The producers want to make it all CGI-Matrixy, climbing walls and pausing in mid-air, and I wished to stay true to the character, true to the series, true to the genre. I want a sense of reality, which is why I have never, never allowed film trickery to interfere with my stunts. I want my audience to know that that is me there actually doing what I appear to be doing--with the help of my very able stunt doubles, of course--but not some computer-generated animated figure. Well, the producers were adamant, but I was adamanter, and by the end of it I was climbing the walls, and I do not mean CGI climbing.
Anyway, no need to go on about this. Suffice it to say that we have still reached no agreement, and it was necessary to take an extended vacation after all of the negative karma that was swirling about me. That proved much more pleasant, but I must remain silent about any person of the male persuasion that I met during that time, lest I be savaged by the tabloids, as I have been so often in the past.
But now I am back, and I must spend several days reading all of your lovely notes, and your posts, and listening to my dear, dear Donald Feltham San's Broadway Radio Show with my dear, dear Ron Pulliam San's favorite show tunes.
I love you all. I love all of y'all. (Teehee.)
Your Sushi
Posted by Sushi Tomoto from Kyoto @ 08/06/2002 04:11 AM PST
Hello Sushi! It's so nice t have you back wher you belong.
Have you ever sconsidered appearing in a revival of "Hello Dolly!" or "Mame"? Not that you're old enough for either role, although you do have hte requisite glamour and presence for both roles.
Posted by Kerry @ 08/06/2002 06:38 AM PST
So I have to ask, since we've never been properly introduced, who is Sushi Tomoto from Kyoto?
Posted by Jason @ 08/06/2002 06:52 AM PST
My dear, dear Kerry Hughes San. Thank you so much for your gracious words. I have done a small amount of musical theatre, although my singing voice is not the most spectacular.
I have appeared in younger years in Japanese productions of Once Upon a Mattress (as Winifred the Wobegone) and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (as Lucy van Pelt). And of course you are probably familiar with my cabaret show Shusi with a Hiragana Shu.
I would love to tackle Mame or Dolly, but that must await some brilliant producer's brilliant production now mustn't it?
Your Sushi
Posted by Sushi Tomoto from Kyoto @ 08/06/2002 06:58 AM PST
Oh, my dear, dear Jason San! We have not been properly introduced.
I am, if I may say it in all modesty, a megastar of the silver screen. You may know me from my direct-to-video megahits Mothra Does Dallas and the Ninja Geisha series.
I was evoked one day, like a genie from a bottle, by my dear Bruce Kimmel San, who was asking in his notes about my name. I happened to find this particular note while browsing the Internet, and here I am.
And who, if I may ask, is Jason San?
Your Sushi
Posted by Sushi Tomoto from Kyoto @ 08/06/2002 07:12 AM PST
Sushi San: I am a future megastar of the Broadway stage. Though I was not evoked by our dear Mr. Bruce Kimmel, I was quite familiar with his fabulous fabulocity and his wonderful CD projects.
Though I'm not sure if I'll be playing Kyoto anytime soon, you keep an eye out for me...perhaps I'll be in Japan soon. :-)
Posted by Jason San @ 08/06/2002 07:24 AM PST
Jason -- Sushi San is every bit as spectacular as she would have you believe. I have seen many of her movies and consider her a favorite. I tried several times to interest her in one of my directing projects in New York City, but she always insisted on being paid something, so it hasn't happened. Maybe someday.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 08/06/2002 07:35 AM PST
Jason - Thhanks for the advance notice on "Hairspray". Was glad to see that Jackie made such an impression on you. We did theatre together about 20 years ago. Jackie has trod the boards all these years, and its great to see her get the recognition she deserves. She was a talented character actress back then, and if anything has gotten better over the years.
Re PC's - I had the dubious honor of working for Tandy in the late 70's when the "Trash 80" was introduced. In general, Tandy had a winner - compact equipment at reasonable prices, an excellent marketing and distribution setup, etc. All except for the operating system -it was proprietary to Tandy PC's and not compatible with anything else. Story has it that Bill Gates offered to sell DOS to Tandy, and they turned him down. Big OOPS!
Early on, we also could not outfit complete business systems. We could supply the main PC, power supply, B&W monitor and secondary 5 1/4" floppy drive (back then the floppy drives were separate unit), but there was a shortage of parts to manufacture the primary drive (which contained the controller hardware). At one point I had an inventory of 6 or so business systems - over $25K worth of inventory, all prepaid, and could not deliver or set up even one system for lack of the primary drive. Talk about frustrating (and hell on your inventory count, too!).
And now, my Palm Pilot can do more than the full blown '80.
Since then I have owned (or used) an IBM AT (286), PS/2 (386), Aptiva (P III), Compaq Contura (486 laptop, running at the amazing speed of 25Mhz!), Dell Latitude xPi(150Mhz Pentium II laptop) and now another Dell Latitude C600 (Pentium III version). Each more powerful - and cheaper - than its predecessor.
We have gone from 5 1/4" floppies to 3 1/2" floppies to Zip Drives and CD-ROM's. What's next?????
Posted by Phil @ 08/06/2002 07:45 AM PST
I think cake should be next. Yes, definitely cake...to celebrate the arrival of palm pilots, zip drives and CD-Roms.
Posted by Jason @ 08/06/2002 07:50 AM PST
Robert Armin San,
You are too kind.
S
Posted by Sushi Tomoto from Kyoto @ 08/06/2002 09:03 AM PST
i got an apple 2 ga old computer for my kids that are five and tree years old. do you know where i can download games for them like pacman and other easy free games so they can play on it?
Posted by curt @ 05/21/2003 05:41 PM PST
i got an apple 2gs old computer for my kids that are five and tree years old. do you know where i can download games for them like pacman and other easy free games so they can play on it?
Posted by curt @ 05/21/2003 05:42 PM PST
