Back in the day… from my first calculator to my first computer...

I was an early adopter of the Internet. My first modem was 1200 baud. I splurged and passed up a discounted 300 baud modem. If you don't know what "baud" means, don't worry about it. Measuring Internet speed baud rate today would be like measuring the moon's orbit in inches. (A mixed metaphor, but you get the idea.)

When I entered the advertising world, I used the Internet to research companies and products for advertorials.

You never knew what you were going to find, and no one was watching (IP sniffing was still a forensic science). This was long before companies began jealously acquiring URLs, and domain "squatters" or "profiteers" could often sell a domain to the company of the same name for a lot of money. (It wasn't too long before courts forced squatters to turn over ownership based on infringement laws.)

It was like the Wild West - few rules, few to enforce them, few consequences.

There was something rugged and exciting about it that quickly went underground as commerce came to dominate traffic.

Something else like it will come along again, and someone will make it boring again.

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My first computer:  An Amstrad PCW

My first computer was an Amstrad PCW. It ran on the CP/M operating system, used 3" disks (that's not a typo), and came with a keyboard, monitor, and 24-pin printer (which produced excellent quality at that time). You could also do BASIC and LOGO programming. And it all cost less than $500 at Sears.

My first calculator: A TI-30

I remember poring over the pages of the handbook that came with it, transfixed by the faux vintage illustrations (popular at that time) and new mathematical principles. It came with a denim print vinyl zipper pouch. I sometimes looped it on my belt. Boy, did I feel smart.

I loved math then and now. I was a very eager, but very uninspired, mathematician. I wanted to prove Fibonacci's theorem. I loved primes. But I couldn't even do my times tables through the twelves.

[2014-06-17]

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