When I graduated from high school, I got a typewriter from my parents as a graduation gift. It was for college. They knew I liked to write, and they envisioned that I would be typing papers. As an English major I wrote my share of papers. The process was much different than it is today. I would write an outline and then I would write a rough draft, or several rough drafts, and then I would type up the paper. Making mistakes was not an option really. I had a correction tape, but it was good for a letter or maybe a word, but not an entire line.

I liked the typewriter. It was fun seeing the finished product. None of my papers were that long. The longest paper was maybe 15-20 pages. Switching to word processing was not as smooth as I would have imagined considering I liked to write. I had to learn how to use the computer options. This was before YouTube and it was trial and error. It also seemed like when I first started using a computer to write with that the word processing program, whatever that might have been at the time, would crash or end. The biggest fallout from that was that I did not always remember to save my work as I went along.

Now I love writing on the computer. I also like to write some things down like notes, grocery lists, and packing lists. I think writing has its place still today. I think the laptop is revolutionary because it is so compact and easy to move around. I had several desktop computers that seemed like they became obsolete long before I was ready to discard them. The last desktop I had was an eMachine and it came with the whole set up including a printer. I also got my dad the same computer so I could help him troubleshoot if necessary. The computer had a good life and lasted about eight years before Windows XP was no longer being updated and it became a security risk. By that time, my sons had used the computer and we were ready to move on, but my dad still loved his and he could not grasp that just because a program was no longer being supported that a perfectly good computer all of sudden became junk.

After that desktop, I had a HP laptop that also lasted a very long time. I had it from 2009 until last year when Windows 10 needed to be installed. The laptop was too old and after that I moved to a MacBook. I like the MacBook, but I have had my share of struggles with the photos and the photos application. I also use a MacBook for work and that has been convenient.

Next blog I want to talk about technology at work.