Days off are wonderful, busy and
essential, and today is my weekly day off. I will get some work done, do some
laundry (actually, a lot of laundry), sweep and wash the kitchen floor, make
dinner, and talk with Aearwen. Between all of that, I hope to get some beading
done, some computer work done, and I probably should see if I can purchase an
inexpensive printer for the shop since my printer there seems to have died
during the past two weeks. Every resurrection trick I've tried just hasn't
worked and I'm about to give up, toss the sucker, and get something new. Of
course, I only need that new printer for less than a year, so I don't want to
spend a lot.
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| Although I despise WalMart, they do have this HP printer available for $28. It probably would be fine for what I need at the shop. I guess I'd better take a closer look. |
I rely on things like my computers
and printers. When I think back to life before those backlit screen monsters
perched on our desks, in our bags and on our wrists, I find it hard to imagine
how life was before the advent of personal computers and the ability to do
extreme miniaturization. Wow, things have come such a long way!
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| Hamline University is a lovely, small private university located in the heart of St Paul. My life has revolved around it. I had my first job at the Law School, and my business in located only one block away from the south-eastern tip of the campus. I drive by it twice a day to get to work and return home again. |
When I was young(er) and starting
out up here in the Frozen Northlands, my first job was at the Law School of a
private university nearby my home. Although I could have walked to and fro, it
was a bit easier to jump into my Subaru (named "Creampuff", of
course) and head to the campus. I had a new puppy at that time, so had her
"puppy sitting" at my future MIL's home during the days, and rarely I
would bring the pup along to work with me.
 |
| This CPT 8100 dates from 1982, so it's a bit more recent than the 1980 version I was hunting for. But, as much as I looked for pictures of my old IBM with the separate storage that took up half a room, I was unsuccessful at finding one. This is as close as I can get. Fixed keyboard, small screen that only displayed text, and those dual large floppy drives. That's what I started on a long time ago. |
The Law School had one of the first
electronic word processing machines - a giant IBM model that took up a
ridiculous amount of space. It was that machine that led me to accept the job
proposal. I knew I could type on the Selectric machines, I had always been an
extremely good typist. I wanted to get my hands on the new technology. So I
worked at the Law School for a bit less than a year. DH completed his thesis
defense and moved up to join me. We spent some late night with me sitting at
the giant word processor typing his final thesis into the accepted format for
submission to complete the final requirement for his MA.
 |
| DH purchased one of the first IBM personal computers available in 1984 or thereabouts. He used it for his business and inventory and it was SO expensive. But it was cool, too. A computer that could sit on a desk and didn't require a ton of space. I think this one finally died in the early 2000's. We weren't using it any more, but that's when we decided to trash it. |
Technology was my golden apple and
I followed its' siren song from job to job for several more years until DH
finally purchased an early IBM personal computer for his business. After that point,
we were chasing tech for ourselves. Now I have my computers built for me by my
Computer Guru - amazing machines. But, the start was that huge machine that
only did a single task, had a black screen with green text, saved data on large
floppy discs, and took up most of an office with its' bulk. My phone has more
computing power than that behemoth - progress can be a lot of fun.
Have a great Wednesday and I'll be
back tomorrow. At least, that's the plan!
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