Computer Toys

Computer Toys ©

By Michael  Casey

To start with I was a computer operator back in 1978, then people where impressed when you used the word “computer”, 35 years later, is it really that long ago. Anyway today 35 years ago everybody and his dog has a computer, just as everybody has a TV and it’s not on the Census anymore, so too computers are as ubiquitous as that.

I only applied to one job and I got it, I blame my brother it was his idea, though it did provide a good living for 20 years. Now life moves on, I am married to a Shanghai girl and because of her I moved into  technology. Back in 1978 and the 1980s nerds emerged,  they really would take their computer to bed with them. Me it was just a job, I started on a DEC PDP 1170 and we progressed to DEC 1184, we had a guy whose initials really were PC, so he was called PC all the time.

After my big job I got married, so how do you stay in contact with Shanghai when you are in Birmingham ? You buy a Sky blue keyboard thing, so you can sit in front of the tv and send loves messages to a email  address in a downtown Shanghai computer repair shop. The owner a Yobi or Gobi would wait till there were a few, he could not read English, then he’d tell my future wife and she’d come to the shop and read them and send a reply to, after printing them all off.

Once reunited and pregnant   we updated to a computer, a real computer that was as heavy as a toolbox and had an old square monitor.  What’s always funny is seeing the old fashioned monitors in old films, kids nowadays must think we are cavemen to have such monitors. In fact I updated to the modern flat screen monitor years before they became commonplace, we had friends at a computer manufacturer. I updated our computer and we donated the old one to Fr.Jacob our local Korea priest, who was a dab hand at computers. Years later when we updated the computer again Fr. Jacob had the old one again, I also slipped in a copy of Don Camillo, I think all priests should read Don Camillo.

My fancy flat screen was finally replaced with a Dell wide screen, nice picture quality, HD quality. So technology moves on, 14 years of computers if you like. However Apple is the new king, everybody wants a wireless iPad or a mini iPad I have sausage fingers so I’ll never get one myself, they are nice toys, to be honest I’d be afraid of dropping one. Though if somebody slips one through my letterbox, and they are so small that can fit through a letterbox, then I’ll say thank you very much.

I love words,  well I am a writer after all, so being able to share my words by uploading them to a website now that really is a nice thing. Should I be asked to travel and write then they could donate an iPad to me, what book would the Editor slip in, the complete works of Shakespeare or a new Don Camillo omnibus?

Updating software is a big thing, I have just updated to Windows 8 on our home PC, it was only 29quid with vat. I did have a few hiccups like my computer not working for 2 days,  I even had a message on screen saying the computer would restart in 2 days. Eventually after contacting our Chinese IT friends they suggested it was the antivirus, so I took off Avast  and hey presto I could go online again. Firewall was so good I couldn’t use the computer. Yes it’s my own stupidity, but how many other people out there have had this problem? Maybe I  should  have phoned a friend, Fr.Jacob can you help me?

I then restarted the computer and later on it updated Windows 8 again, that’s what software does it updates itself, and then I got the computer will restart in 2 days message again. So I groaned, but it was only joking. The computer is back and Windows 8 looks nice and Safari seems not to hang as much. Though I discovered you have to give your files permissions, before you can use a family photo as a desktop background you have to give permissions to your files or it just does not work. I have tried to play music via Windows Media Player   but it stops between tracks, so I’m going to give my music files permissions and I’m guessing that will work. Or I’ll have to play with the antivirus, and if that does not work then I’ll just have to go to confession and talk to Fr Jacob