Write about your first computer.
Our Compaq Presario. It ran Windows 3.11 and was a fantastic cat butt warmer!
For readers who don’t recognize the scene (From the cat in the bottom left corner of the image, clockwise), a description and commentary:
- Samuel was our very first cat, adopted by PN and TS. We chose the most rambunctious kitten from the litter. I think it was from a condo owner near the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver. Samuel was a feral beast with 1 working kidney at the end of this life. And both he and his adopted brother traveled with us from South Vancouver (Marpole)… to Coquitlam (near S.F.U.)… to Campbell River… to rental across from my mom-in-laws’ home… and finally to our very own condo, just down the hallway from Laurel’s suite.
- Human. Yes, that’s me: PN. I used to have long red hair tied up behind me. And a red beard. I think I’m replacing the ribbon on the printer. Can you see the oversized surge-protector used to protect the computer from B.C. Hydro? Yeah, this was the same rental that had the cloth-wrapped wiring in the walls. And PN experienced his first 115VAC 5A shock. Gross feeling.
- Sebastian was our 2nd cat and was forwarded to us from an acquaintance (who had a plethora of felines). He kept being beaten up by the other FIV+ cats. Sebastian was a cutie who won PN’s heart over after several years. I regret my disdain for that cat (it was the result of me not being consulted before Seb was brought home [and my complicated relationship with the acquaintance at the time]). Sebastian was a dog in a catsuit. When he was happy, he wagged his tail. He might have had a lingering respiratory ailment, but he outlived Sam by at least 1/2 a decade. PN was blessed with having his very own cathat during days when PN’s day was particularily shitty:
- Can you see all the items on the wall and cork bulletin board? A framed puzzle completed as a couple; wedding vows; TS & PN in junior elementary schools (in different provinces); cutouts of cards; awful horizontal steel blinds that were torn apart by cats; and our last super-uncomfortable futon sofa-bed.
- Computer station details: 3.5″ disc, 10-50MB mechanical hard drive? Compaq-branded machine sent to us by AES (I think we paid you back for it, yes?). A dot-matrix printer. No external speakers from what I remember. A US Robotics 14.4… followed by a 56K telephone modem. Compuserve ISP (never AOL, thankyouverymuch). Possibly, a Netscape browser (yuck). Microsoft Home for Win3.x. Christ, I might have even attempted Microsoft Windows 95 on that machine! When we purchased our own machine from Peter Kho (a mountain of a young man who TS tutored), higher powered computers entered our home. When we upgraded to Windows-NT, I was able to move over to Microsoft Office (that was my first robust OS).
TS and I have been early technology adopters since we met. Sunday, Today? I’m living 4.5 hours north of Canada’s largest city, off-grid, in a highly energy efficient home at the end of a meandering gravel driveway, on a peninsula hugged by Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. I abandoned Microsoft operating systems and moved onto Linux (thus saving an obsolete PC from the electronic waste pile). Hail Mint-Mate! We are CONNECTED by satellite to a server somewhere in North America. I’m using personal audio to manage my tinnitus, caused by SCUBA diving the Saint Lawrence River (east of Kingston). Am I privileged? Yes.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND UPDATE = OH, SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FUEL SUPPLIES FAIL!
BCB&B, neemtree, bdb, and blog 