Tuesday night, Tony spoke at the University of Maryland, College Park. Of course, this has given me reason to recall what college was like when I went, just few short years ago (haha). Really, it was THAT long ago, but long enough for college students today to not understand how difficult life was back then....
When I checked into college, back in 1988, I brought with me a tape player/stereo (left the record player at home, too bulky), my walkman (cassette player) and my brand new word processing typewriter!! Only one person on our floor brought her MacIntosh computer and I was the only one other than her who knew how to use it! In fact, she often made me come in a help her with it! Of course, I still preferred my new word processor to that Mac. I also waited in long, long lines each year to register IN PERSON - none of this online registration. And they sent my dad the big bill. They couldn't even process a credit card in the registrar's office!
The internet didn't exist, so we didn't have IM, or email, or any worldwide web of information to draw from. We actually had to go to the library to do research. If you were lucky back then, your library had some kind of networking with other libraries, but I'd say that was a limited value to me. Searching for articles? Don't ask!
When I was a senior, my college had set up their first Mac Lab with about 30 computers and three printers, named Larry, Curly and Moe - do you even know who they are? Anyway, each night I went to the Mac lab, checked out my startup disc, waited in line for an available computer and typed in my student teaching log. When I was ready to print my hard copy I would yell something like, "Is anyone on Moe?" and then print. In my apartment that year I was the only one who bought a MacClassic when I left college with a really sweet school discount. They all thought I was crazy! (I still have that dinosaur with it's carrying case, so portable!)
I believe it was my junior year when I returned to college after summer break with my first CD player. It was awesome, except that it kept breaking. And the cost of CD's??? I made sure my first CD player was a combo cassette player so I didn't have to replace all my Police tapes.
Imagine, going away to school and having only the telephone, pen and paper to contact your friends and family. It was harsh! I had to actually find friends at college and get a job to pay for my phone bill. I think I wrote a few letters my first year and that quickly dwindled until I finally had only one penpal my senior year - my cousin, who was serving in Desert Storm in Iraq. You know, the first time we went there. I lost touch with many of my high school friends, broke up with my boyfriend and got into huge fights with my parents if I picked up the phone to call home - what a waste of money! The nice thing was that communication came with a pricetag, so lack of it didn't necessarily mean you were ignoring anyone.
Probably the final hardship I can think of was that I had to actually write out my class notes. Boy was that a tedious task! I didn't have one of those little NotePad thingies, although I did eventually purchase a minicassette player so I could playback lectures where I couldn't write fast enough to take notes! Boy was that fun! Hopefully, some of the new college students still take notes by hand so I don't have to feel that super old.
Technology has really come a long way in 18 years, and it has certainly changed the college experience. People in CT can relate to me when I say, thank goodness for Total Phone!! Since there was no IM, we had to create these long phone chains through everyone who had total phone. Since we couldn't afford that at my house, I made the first call on my ROTARY phone that my dad leased from the phone company! to a friend with total phone, she hooked us up with another friend with total phone and so on until we had around 10 friends all talking to each other on the phone at the same time. We had to be REALLY careful what we said. Today's version of total phone, IM, is so much easier, more organized and your parent's can't hear what you are saying. You guys today are so lucky!
Well, enough of my "when I was kid" speech. Today is Yom Kippur and my kids are restless. It's the Jewish holiday of repentence, when they toss all their sins out to sea. We are going to the library after lunch with daddy. Of course, it is raining AGAIN! What a surprise! I think I'll enjoy some of this new technology today.
When I checked into college, back in 1988, I brought with me a tape player/stereo (left the record player at home, too bulky), my walkman (cassette player) and my brand new word processing typewriter!! Only one person on our floor brought her MacIntosh computer and I was the only one other than her who knew how to use it! In fact, she often made me come in a help her with it! Of course, I still preferred my new word processor to that Mac. I also waited in long, long lines each year to register IN PERSON - none of this online registration. And they sent my dad the big bill. They couldn't even process a credit card in the registrar's office!
The internet didn't exist, so we didn't have IM, or email, or any worldwide web of information to draw from. We actually had to go to the library to do research. If you were lucky back then, your library had some kind of networking with other libraries, but I'd say that was a limited value to me. Searching for articles? Don't ask!
When I was a senior, my college had set up their first Mac Lab with about 30 computers and three printers, named Larry, Curly and Moe - do you even know who they are? Anyway, each night I went to the Mac lab, checked out my startup disc, waited in line for an available computer and typed in my student teaching log. When I was ready to print my hard copy I would yell something like, "Is anyone on Moe?" and then print. In my apartment that year I was the only one who bought a MacClassic when I left college with a really sweet school discount. They all thought I was crazy! (I still have that dinosaur with it's carrying case, so portable!)
I believe it was my junior year when I returned to college after summer break with my first CD player. It was awesome, except that it kept breaking. And the cost of CD's??? I made sure my first CD player was a combo cassette player so I didn't have to replace all my Police tapes.
Imagine, going away to school and having only the telephone, pen and paper to contact your friends and family. It was harsh! I had to actually find friends at college and get a job to pay for my phone bill. I think I wrote a few letters my first year and that quickly dwindled until I finally had only one penpal my senior year - my cousin, who was serving in Desert Storm in Iraq. You know, the first time we went there. I lost touch with many of my high school friends, broke up with my boyfriend and got into huge fights with my parents if I picked up the phone to call home - what a waste of money! The nice thing was that communication came with a pricetag, so lack of it didn't necessarily mean you were ignoring anyone.
Probably the final hardship I can think of was that I had to actually write out my class notes. Boy was that a tedious task! I didn't have one of those little NotePad thingies, although I did eventually purchase a minicassette player so I could playback lectures where I couldn't write fast enough to take notes! Boy was that fun! Hopefully, some of the new college students still take notes by hand so I don't have to feel that super old.
Technology has really come a long way in 18 years, and it has certainly changed the college experience. People in CT can relate to me when I say, thank goodness for Total Phone!! Since there was no IM, we had to create these long phone chains through everyone who had total phone. Since we couldn't afford that at my house, I made the first call on my ROTARY phone that my dad leased from the phone company! to a friend with total phone, she hooked us up with another friend with total phone and so on until we had around 10 friends all talking to each other on the phone at the same time. We had to be REALLY careful what we said. Today's version of total phone, IM, is so much easier, more organized and your parent's can't hear what you are saying. You guys today are so lucky!
Well, enough of my "when I was kid" speech. Today is Yom Kippur and my kids are restless. It's the Jewish holiday of repentence, when they toss all their sins out to sea. We are going to the library after lunch with daddy. Of course, it is raining AGAIN! What a surprise! I think I'll enjoy some of this new technology today.
1 comment:
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for commenting! I know exactly who you are - Tony has told me all about you. Thanks for all you do in Mexico City. Congratulations on your little cutie!!
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