Module 8

I’m a little slow with new technology and wasn’t introduced to computers until I was a senior in high school in 1986.  One of my classes had a very cool Commodore 64 computer that had 64 kb RAM + 20 kb ROM plus a 8 inch floppy disk  - back then that was a big deal…”we had computers!”   I personally really didn’t do much with our high school computer and most our class mates really didn’t have an opportunity to learn the uses because the computers were new our school in 1986 but given the chance we would rather play Pong or Dungeons & Dragons.  I suppose that computers during those days were mostly just a wonder for the mere fact that we would only see one in schools or a business.  Gaming devices like Atari or Play Station dominated the teenage market.  Of course, I was mostly interested in playing games than using a regular computer during the 80’s.

My real application of computer usage for me and my education started to emerge in the early 90’s.  During this era the computer industry was beginning to find its own legs to market to mainstream Americans and to new global markets as well.  There was definitely a huge frenzy in 1992 with Microsoft’s release of Windows 3.1 or at least I remember it being a big deal back then.  Unfortunately, at the time my wife and I wanted to purchase a new computer but we had a new baby and house which made it hard for us to make that kind of investment even for school.  We had to make do with what we had which was my wife who had an old IBM from the 80’s that took most of the room in our new home.  Nevertheless, years later the price of computers really didn’t drop but the technology had jumped leaps and bounds from our last research.  I really needed to upgrade our old computer for school and now my job required that I purchase a computer/laptop too.  It was a very exciting time to shop for new technology and all of the different type of computers that were now on the market during the mid - 90’s. Of course, I wanted to have the greatest and latest technology for school and for my business.  We finally purchased a Compaq that had Windows 95, 8 mb of memory, 1 gigabyte hard drive with 33 MHz processor plus a 28.8 internal modem.  We were both very excited of our new acquisition but probably just me.  We filled half of my truck bed up with our new computer stuff.  I was going to be the best college student ever – I thought as I signed my life away with a hefty bill of just shy of three thousand bucks.  I didn’t finished school but did start a new business during this time.

I returned back to school after a fifteen year hiatus and discovered that there is no way to function in school without access to internet with a computer.  A lot has changed since my last experience in college and now computers dominates the whole college experience.  My son who currently attends Arizona State University seems to believe that he needs to purchase new computers every year that he is in school.  Of course dad needs to pony up and buy because he claims that his classes require that he have certain software and hardware for him to stay up to date with his classes.  I found out the main reason why he needs a new computers is the gaming programs that he “needs to have access to.”  Perhaps I have to realize that this is my new reality as I return back to school.  I definitely understand now that the atmosphere here at Weber has changed.   Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead as I continue to finish my education.