This is a post I decided to do as my life in the past 3 years have revolved so much around technology that I felt I’d give a quick overview on the computers that I not only encounter in my day to day life but what got me to where I am today.
The first computer I ever had any kind of interaction with was an old PC the sixth class students could use in primary school which were for games that helped develop skills in maths or English etc. but were actually used for playing games and listening to music. I found that I was one of the most prominent in the class with how the computer worked as I spent more time on it at lunch time while other people went off and did silly things like playing sports. Even the teacher would often ask me how to do things on the computer. I didn’t know how to do much or anything complicated, just simple things like finding your way around a computer and how to run games and programs, but things seemingly only I knew how to do.
It wasn’t until around 2nd or 3rd year of secondary school that we got our own computer in our house. It was an old Dell PC running Windows XP, and how i hated it. I loved it only because it was the first computer I ever really had extended access to and i discovered the joys of working on a computer rather than with pen & paper and the vast possibility of the internet. For these services I tip my cap to that old Dell which sits in the corner of my sitting room gathering dust, but i still look forward to the day i can introduce you to my good friend mister sledgehammer. Because while you were the first computer in my life, you were slow, riddled with viruses despite my best efforts and even once crashed when I opened solitaire.
This was the way of things for me until college. Wether at home, in school or in the library I was surrounded by Windows based machines that were unreliable, ugly and a constant source of frustration whenever I used one. Even on my orientation day in college I was brought into the college library where i saw myself faced with dozens of Dell computers that I assumed would cause me the same problems i had grown up around (turns out I’ve never had a problem with them).
But then two things happened; 1. I started my course which led me to the iMac lab in the CSIS (Computer Science & Information Systems) building and 2. I met a fellow student named James Foley.
These two occurrences introduced me to the world of Apple computers. James had an iMac at home, the same as I used in college in the iMac lab, and got a macbook when he started college. With these I found a not only a computer I could use without wanting to tear my hair out but a computer i found exhilarating to use as i marveled at the simplicity with which it could perform tasks which would cause my old Dell to break into a cold sweat.
My life was enlightened in that first semester as I was converted completely to using Mac’s over PC’s and my conversion was made complete upon the purchase of my first very own computer.
It was a 2.2 GHz macbook with 1GB of RAM that works almost perfectly to this day (this post is being typed on it right this minute). In the two years I’ve had the computer the only problems that have occurred were damage to the keys (which were replaced free of charge. Thank you Apple) and a recent problem with the disk drive that decides occasionally that it doesn’t want to accept a disk or that it will, but not peacefully.
There have been other minor issues that have nothing to do with the laptop itself. Electronic devices don’t always behave the way they should when I’m using them.
I was having a conversation earlier today with a friend of mine’s grandfather about my laptop and I said I didn’t know what id do without it. I didn’t realize how true that statement was until i thought back on it. I honestly cant remember what i did with my free time or how i got through college work before i got my computer. Someone once told me that “the curse of the technological age is that we rely too much on our technology” which i feel is very true, and I know I’m not the only person who doesn’t know what he or she’d do without our computers, our technologies or our day to day gadgets that make life so much easier.
I’ve had my laptop for two years, I love it dearly and even if I get a new laptop I’m not sure if I’d ever get rid of it. But last year in college I feared for my laptop as it was struggling to meet the requirements i was asking of it for college, not only the constant use but the use of Photoshop, Logic, Ableton Live, excessive amounts of programming among more, and i would have to ask more of it before I was done. i knew that in second year of college I’d be using more advanced and more demanding software like Final Cut Pro, Max/MSP, Flash, Illustrator and C-Sound. I had decided to get my laptop some help and resolved to buy myself an iMac over the christmas break so I’d have a computer capable of handling the excessive workload.
Turns out I have some amazing friends (namely James Foley and Paul Lyons) who bought me an iMac for christmas for having such a good semester. Part of me felt I didn’t deserve it, but being the selfish b*&%@$d that I am I couldn’t say no and risk hurting their feelings <ahem-cough-ahem> so I kept it and vowed to mend my ways and be a better person. I like to think that I’ve lived up to that promise, but I suppose time will tell.
So that brings my life in computers up to scratch i guess. I think that soon I shall end up buying a new laptop, maybe a 13″ macbook pro, as I feel my macbook may not survive the coming semester. But even then as I said earlier I doubt I shall part with it as it has been one of the most influential things in the shaping of my life. But then again if it dies and the cost to fix it is too much, i may grudgingly and with a heavy heart let it rest in peace.
