Friday, March 22, 2013

Wheels of Progress



When I got my first computer back in the early 90’s I had barely seen a computer, but I had a burning desire to find out what all the hullabaloo was about. The office I had worked in had joined the computer world before I retired, and I had some knowledge of them. I didn't know anyone that owned one so the only way I was going to find out was to buy my own. I brought that thing home and read the instructions and miracle of miracle I got it up and running. It was an MS DOS 305 or something like that. That probably is not the exact name of it, but I was able to get something on the screen and I didn't know how to close the page.  I knew you guided the mouse around, but I didn't know about the X in the corner. I joined AOL and it was a phone hookup, and you had a certain number of minutes or you had to pay more.I learned about email and they had chat rooms and they were even fun back then. They had web sites where you could find friends, and I found many friends that I exchanged email with. Everybody was sending the corny joke’s to each other. Everything was free, now you have to join things if you want to be a part of it.  What fun. I kept the "How to books for dummies" in business for a long time. I started hearing words like defrag, ram memory, windows, and floppy disc. Haven’t we come a long way? The following is one of those emails that had been forwarded to me. 
Most of my family live in Oklahoma so this is for them.




You might be an Okie if:


  1. You can properly pronounce Eufaula, Gotebo, and Chickasha.
  2. You think the people that complain about the wind in their States are sissies.
  3. A tornado warning siren is a signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.  (No kidding! This really happens)
  4. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
  5. You’ve had to switch from A/C to heat in the same day.
  6. You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by distance from the door, but the availability of shade.
  7. Stores don’t have bags, they have sacks.
  8. You see people in bib overalls at funerals.
  9. You think everyone from a big city has an accent.
  10. You measure distance in minutes, (“I’m about five minutes away.”)
  11.  You refer to the capitol of Oklahoma as “The City.”
  12. It doesn’t bother you to use an airport named for a man that died in an airplane crash.   (Will Rogers)
  13.  You go to the lake instead of the ocean.
  14.  You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit ti wear.
  15. You know someone who has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
  16. You have known someone who has a belt buckle bigger than your fist.
  17.  A bad traffic jam involves two cars stopped at a four-way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other go first. (It has never, ever happened in this State)
  18.  You know which State “Miam-uh” is and which State “Miam-ee” is.
  19.  You know cow pies are not made of beef,
  20.  You aren’t surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.
  21. Your “place at the lake” has wheels under it.
  22. A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F350 4x4 is.
  23. You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.
  24. You actually get these jokes and are “fixin: to send them to your friends.
  25.  Finally, you are 100% Oklahoman if you have ever heard this conversation:  “ You wanna coke?”  “Yeah”  “what kind?”  “Dr Pepper”
 

 

1 comment:

Stephanie Frieze said...

I was awed by all that my grandfather had seen from the Industrial Revolution changing the way we farm to putting a man on the moon and everything in between. I tell students at the high school where I work that a lot of the technology that they take for granted was just stuff in the funny papers when I was a kid. I would NEVER in my wildest dreams have thought that I could have a little device in my pocket that could connect me to friends and family at any time. Technology has kept me sane while my husband has been 1,500 miles away in AZ working. Your generation sent men far away and had only spotty mail delivery to keep people connected. I get at least two texts from my husband per day and we speak at least once. It has made his absence bearable (although it does little to get the lawn mowed and the garage organized).

Technology isn't all good. I think that children by-and-large spend too much time in front of the computer playing games and they emulate their parents by always being on the phone. It's good to find balance in our relationship with technology. But I admit to enjoying how I can keep in touch with people that even a few years ago seemed lost to me forever and made new friends like you.