THE DINOSAUR STEPS DOWN A NEW PATH

True confession: I met my first computer when I was 13. The computer was about five feet wide, six feet deep and seven feet tall. All it did was play tic-tac-toe. Like even the most sophisticated computer today, it didn’t always win, but it never lost. Fast forward 25 years. My first encounter with a PC. It occupied a desk in the university library, had a monitor that only displayed letters, numbers and symbols in green against a black background, and used 5 1/4" floppy disks. I faced my first computer crisis. I couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing on. The switch was hidden in the back in those days. Well, I’ve gotten more adept at computers. I use them daily for writing and research. They still present challenges to me. A while back I had to consult a twelve-year-old on how to play a computer game. Usually I consult his nine-year-old brother who doesn’t sneer at my ignorance as much. However, the brother was busy slaughtering Orcs or something. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not anti-technology. I’m just a generation or two behind whatever the newest technology is. I was still playing 78 rpm record when everyone else had moved on to 45s and LPs. (Somebody is going to ask what a record is.)

Now I discover this whole strange world of bulletin boards, chat rooms, blogs. There’s a universe out there I didn’t know existed. I make the following observations based on limited lurking. (I think that’s the right term.) First, the vast majority of people using these new means of communications are thirty to forty years younger than I am, except for the unusually large number of people who claim to be 102. Second, people put stuff out there for the public to read that in my day (did I really use that term?) we would barely have whispered to our best friend. Third, people use a language that is largely a mystery to me. I have acquired a list of abbreviations and emoticons so I finally have a clue what lol and <3.

CLUMP! That’s the dinosaur taking a first step down a new path on his pilgrimage.

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on you arrival.

Wayne