Coming Out to the Bleeding Edge

Once upon a time, I was an early adopter. The newest thing that comes along, if it was high-tech, was absorbed as a must have.  But not every new thing.

Ooooh! A Apple II+! Gotta have it.  It was the only game in town, short of buying timeshare hours on some PDP-8 somewhere.

But not a PC (a Sperry clone to be exact, as this was the dawning of the 16-bit personal computer revolution).  Earlier that year, I was toying with the idea of buying a Lisa (remember that old dog?) but didn't.  Lucked out with that decision.

A VHS! (But not a Beta).  Lucked out with that decision.
 BTW, my job is in software engineering. I help make the crap stuff that pulses under the hood of all these gadgets, and now that I consult, I am always forced to learn new things, new APIs, new interfaces, new languages, new patterns of thinking to solve the same problems that we still had from 30 years ago (I'll skip COBOL and FORTRAN, the less said, the sooner they'll die off on their own) .

GPS! Great technology. Never got one. Despite having worked on some software that made sure those GPS satellites were healthy enough to get launched into space...


I did buy a Compaq Armada laptop, fresh off the stamping presses. Windoze 98... (zzz). Sorry, blue screen flashback.

A wireless phone! Err, no. It was the size of a hefty brick (the kind that goes through windows, or used for building foundations).  The antenna looked as long as my arm. Lucked out with that decision.

Technology marches on. Moore's Law gets invented to explain it. Murphy's Law makes a comeback with the software that makes the machines go (OR NOT...).

Dialup! AOL and CompuServe. Joy. I commune with the world, as the  phone lines glow a ruby red from the electron friction.

Cell phones. Nope. Pass by a few years. I'm getting behind the curve here.  Eventually I settle for a tiny brick, an old Cingular Nokia, with no gee whiz gizmos built in.  Lasts 4 years, then a trip through the rinse cycle of my washing machine put it to an end. The Pantene that replaces it is still no IPhone, Razor, or whathaveyou.  

Maybe I wanted to keep my other 8 fingers (we evolved with 10 after all).  I told the salesman that, and I believe I made the right decision.

No IPad yet.  But I have this honking big metal beast in the study (a Mac Pro). But, I've yet to push over to Lion (soon to be replaced by Mountain Lion). Apple better watch it with these cat names; they're running out of predator felines that look awesome on packaging.  The only one left is Ocelot (a let down, as it is smaller that all that came before), then all that are left are the domestic house-cats.  Maybe the extinct Sabertooth might do for MacOS X v9???

No Twitter. Passed on MySpace (lucked out with that decision), but joined FaceBook (pre-TimeLine).  Something happened to me during the last few years, but the enthusiasm level is creeping back up. I have no answers yet, but I'm sure that I'm not retiring from the brain race, even if I don't have every toy in the apartment that was ever created.

Now, I may be a blogger. Stay tuned (or not).