Where the geek came from.

We all have things that affect who we are. I was a teenager in the 1980's - which seems like a lifetime ago now because things were just so different then. Most people I knew didn't have computers yet and cell phones were non-existent. I was a geek even then, back in the heydays of John Hughes geekdom.


I clearly remember when Apple came into my life - my boyfriend had a Mac that his dad gave him. His dad was a bigwig at a public television station in town and did a lot of work at home, on the computer. My boyfriend and I were in our early twenties, and instead of going out and doing whatever twenty-somethings do, we would mostly stay home and play games on the computer. 


I want to say the game was Uninvited, but I could be wrong. When I think back on it, it seems like the video game that Tom Hanks plays in Big - very primitive, but we loved it. There would be a picture on the screen, and you click on something in the picture that caused some change and you could move on to the next clue, making your way through the game one logical little step at a time. It was addicting.


Twenty five years later video games are still a complete daily part of my life, but sitting in front of that tiny little Mac screen made the geek in me feel like it had come home. I love everything Apple - it's clean and sleek and elegant and simple and perfect. As a music lover, the iPod is amazing - I can put a ton of songs in my pocket and feel like I'm walking around with my own life soundtrack. It didn't replace my LP collection but it made my life better.


My MacBook is the same way - I have had it for years and never had a single problem with it. It intuitively fits with what I want and do, and to hear yesterday that Steve Jobs had died really just shocked me. 


Not many other people have made such change in the face of how we live on a day to day basis and I just wanted to say my thanks.


image from oldcomputers.net