Me and Computers
Aug. 13th, 2002 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmdr_zoomIt's been a love affair since my school down in Roseburg got a pair of Apple ][s in the library, back in the early 80s. I still have the first floppy I ever bought, as well as a disk image of it and other old Apple disks that I play with on an emulator now and then. After a brief flirtation with BASIC programming and then learning Pascal in high school, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't as interested in the nuts and bolts of computers as the fun I could have with them.
So I'm basically a user, not an admin, for all the little bits of knowledge I've picked up along the way - no formal training, no certifications. I'm a fast typist, can tweak a Windows install or insert a new hard drive or PC card, which apparently puts me above a great number of other end users (the kind that are the butt of innumerable tech-support jokes). But when something seriously breaks, and resists my attempts to fix it on my own, I'm lost. Worse -- I'm frustrated, anxious and betrayed.
Not only are there issues of ego involved (I thought you were smart, so why can't you fix this?), I've invested so much of my focus and time into these machines that when they don't work for me, it's a major crisis. It's like having your hand-tuned sports car break down, or a relationship go on the rocks. Suddenly I can't check email, or play games, or surf the web, or listen to music, or talk to my friends, or... With such a big chunk taken out of my day-to-day life, it's hard to think straight about it. It can send me into a deep funk, or cause me to lash out at people. Just like love, eh?
To wrap up the metaphor: I've learned to read my lover's moods, but I can't say that I know exactly what makes her tick. I don't have the necessary detachment. But hey... the rest of the time, it's a lot of fun.
So I'm basically a user, not an admin, for all the little bits of knowledge I've picked up along the way - no formal training, no certifications. I'm a fast typist, can tweak a Windows install or insert a new hard drive or PC card, which apparently puts me above a great number of other end users (the kind that are the butt of innumerable tech-support jokes). But when something seriously breaks, and resists my attempts to fix it on my own, I'm lost. Worse -- I'm frustrated, anxious and betrayed.
Not only are there issues of ego involved (I thought you were smart, so why can't you fix this?), I've invested so much of my focus and time into these machines that when they don't work for me, it's a major crisis. It's like having your hand-tuned sports car break down, or a relationship go on the rocks. Suddenly I can't check email, or play games, or surf the web, or listen to music, or talk to my friends, or... With such a big chunk taken out of my day-to-day life, it's hard to think straight about it. It can send me into a deep funk, or cause me to lash out at people. Just like love, eh?
To wrap up the metaphor: I've learned to read my lover's moods, but I can't say that I know exactly what makes her tick. I don't have the necessary detachment. But hey... the rest of the time, it's a lot of fun.
