Older Folks and Vaping Back Porch - Part 2

[MattB101]

ha! My first computer had 1 external 5 1/4" floppy drive. So exciting to get a 2nd drive, then even more excited for a PC w/ a whopping 10 meg internal hard drive. Windows, who needs windows we said when it first came out and replaced DOS.

Never run an even numbered DOS!

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

 

[Uncle Willie]

 

[Uncle Willie]

 

[Uncle Willie]

 

[MattB101]

Uh, 1981, VIC 20. Whopping 5 meg of RAM, external TAPE drive

300 BPS dialup, and most could type faster than it could transmit. Hence the "birth" of all the abbreviations (LOL, LMAOROTF, TTYL, etc.) and smileys. (Actually, the first modems were 150, but I was patient )

I started with a 300baud. Package deal but when the first computer show/sale (remember those?) came around I bought the U.S. Robotics. Was supposed to be the best at the time.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

 

[MattB101]

May I once again tell my Heart Attack story .. ?? Sure, why not ..

At 4:00 on a Friday afternoon ... My first heart attack began as an instant cold sweat .. and I mean instant .. I was practically dripping sweat .. so, I sat down and drank some water, thinking what the heck is going on .. ?? About 3 minutes later, my left arm went numb and I knew without a doubt in my mind at that point what the deal was .. being the lifelong paranoid that I am, I had carried a pill case with aspirin and my regular Aleves for quite a few years, which I would advise everyone to do .. so, I reached into my pocket, took out 2 full strength Bayer and chewed them (which is the preferred way in this case) .. about 2 minutes later, I started to feel better and the sweat subsided ..

But I knew it could not end there .. so, being only 5 minutes from the nearest Heart Capable Hospital, I got in the truck and drove myself to the ER .. walked up to the counter and said "I think I've had a Heart Attack" .. the young lady that could not have been more than 12 looked at me and said "Please have a seat, sir, and we'll be with you shortly" .. no, I'm not kidding .. so, OK, I took a seat and waited 5 minutes .. the sweats and the numb arm came back .. I walked back to the counter and said "I don't know if I'm going to last much longer" and I guess I looked so bad at that point, they promptly placed me on a gurney and wheeled me into the actual ER ..

After an EKG / a shot of Heparin, a few Nitro tabs and a few more Aspirin, which at that point my blood was probably the consistency of water, they wheeled me into the Cath lab, where I was thoroughly captivated by the Monitor that displayed my heart as they snaked a cath up from my groin and proceeded to place two very expensive stents ..

Total time from initial symptoms to stents .. one hour .. the prime Heart Guy was actually walking to his car in the Hospital parking lot when they called him back in for me .. I checked out Sunday at Noon .. no heart damage detected .. so .. I was in the Hospital a total of about I think 43 hours .. $80K ..

I went back to work Monday morning, which, when you're self employed, is just what you do .. which the DR really did not have any problem with .. in fact, he stated it was almost like I had set an appointment for the stents .. that's the story of one of my lost weekends that I'd just as soon forget ..

Moral : Always carry some fresh aspirin .. get to the ER quick and make sure the Hospital has a Heart Center if you can .. don't ignore the signs .. a buddy of mine died last year because he waited 12 hours before going in .. another buddy died a few years back because he ignored the signs .. the heart damage was just too much and they died ..

You my friend are a lucky man. NEVER drive yourself in! You have no idea how bad it could really be and I sure wouldn't want to take anyone with me if I went while driving to the ER. Besides they are real ...... about parking!

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

 

[DancingHeretik]

Uncle Willie, thank you for sharing your story. I needed the reminder.

Heart disease is the one thing that runs strong in my family (both sides). I really need to start taking it more seriously instead of just letting it eat at me without doing anything about it.

I'm glad you did something about it quickly enough and that you're still around. The world is a better place for it.

 

[Uncle Willie]

You my friend are a lucky man. NEVER drive yourself in! You have no idea how bad it could really be and I sure wouldn't want to take anyone with me if I went while driving to the ER. Besides they are real ...... about parking!

Yeah, it took a while to find a parking spot, especially since I don't like parking in spots that are too narrow and risk a door ding ..

Uncle Willie, thank you for sharing your story. I needed the reminder.

Heart disease is the one thing that runs strong in my family (both sides). I really need to start taking it more seriously instead of just letting it eat at me without doing anything about it.

I'm glad you did something about it quickly enough and that you're still around. The world is a better place for it.

There are those that might disagree, but thanks for the sentiment .. my problem was pretty much self created .. my friends the Ding Dongs, Ho Ho's, Twinkies, The Ice Cream Man, The Pie Man, The Pizza Dude, Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler, Wendy, the MSG Family at the Chinese Buffet, etc, all played a hand .. although I never topped over 210 LBS at 6 Feet, I never really had a care about food nutrition .. I just ate what I liked ..

and I'll add the really ironic part was, I work out daily and had done a fairly strenuous workout the day before the heart attack with no problems .. so, no matter how you slice it, young / old / fit / unfit / the food can do it .. not that I've reverted to a Green Juicer .. although I did buy a juicer and now it sits in the garage since I could not stand the swill it created using kale and other assorted .. I mean, kale .. ?? I'd never even heard of it ..

The good news is, over the years of now sticking to a high fiber / almonds / small dose of cholesterol meds daily, my total cholesterol is 100 and my LDL is 50 ..

 

[MikeE3]

In that 1990 class I took, we used 5.25" floppies. Rumors of a 3.5" disc abounded.

A very progressive economics professor wrote his own textbook for Economics 101 at UMass. I took the class my 2nd semester in January 1970. The final exam was a 3-or-4-week long project where each student had to write a program to answer the final exam question. We used COBOL (I think), creating punchcards to run on the Univac (I think), which was in the computer building. The computer was so large that it basically WAS the computer building.

It was exciting and mysterious and marvelous and exhausting... seemed like everything was happening all at once back then, in more ways than one.

he he - In 1969 I was working for Univac, a Division of Sperry-Rand Corp. The project was an advanced graphics system for the Mariner Space Program. Whoope-de-doo, that advanced graphics system was a green on green screen capable of 2 dimensional graphics. Took a monster of a mainframe computer just to do the mathematical calculations which send the results to the graphics display controller (which was a whole 'nuther computer that probably measured 4ft wide x 8ft long and 6ft high). The company went through a number of name changes and then a merger w/ Boroughs Corp. When I left some 40+ years later the company name was Unisys almost back to the original name.

Uh, 1981, VIC 20. Whopping 5 meg of RAM, external TAPE drive

300 BPS dialup, and most could type faster than it could transmit. Hence the "birth" of all the abbreviations (LOL, LMAOROTF, TTYL, etc.) and smileys. (Actually, the first modems were 150, but I was patient )

I remember those - I think I had a least of of every 'outer Commordore made back then from the Vic, the C64 and the more serious CBM's. I dropped them along 'bout when the Amiga was introduced.

1970 I took my first and only computer class.

1984 I wrote my thesis. Had a technician do the stats with statistical package for the social sciences. I initially hired a typist to write the text, but ended up using university computers to write it myself, and a secretary with one of the departments cleaned it up for me.

1988 For work was given a desk-top computer for writing reports. It was a cheapy, not compatible with our secretary's computer. Which was a problem, because my reports did not transfer well to hers.

1990 We did our reports ourselves. Were issued laptops.

1996 We were given an old computer. My son tore it apart, had a large collection of boards and capacitors and other junk.

1999 We got our own computer, it was a group deal through children's school. Was afraid to get internet connection, but finally did it. Was used primarily to entertain kids.

2001 Life fell apart. Computer became link to world. Downloaded programs to limit son's computer time. He found his way around them, naturally.

2003 Computer showing signs of age. Got a rebuilt because son and I were tired of fighting for computer time. Since then, I have not gotten any new computers.

Today-- son just got a new computer. I am using an elderly rebuilt computer which is slower than my internet connection. But it works for word processing (on Open Office-- I go to the library with a thumb-drive to use spellcheck for proofreading), a huge digital library, and communications. I had a tablet, but it was a cheapie and did not last long. I also have my basic kindle for reading on the run.

I wrote my 1st FORTRAN program probably around 1967. I was a mathematics major in college and had no idea what I was going to do with the degree when I graduated. Someone mentioned there was a hot, young, good looking female prof teaching something called programming. I took the course, then the few other computer/programming courses offered 'till I graduated and that started my career in computers.

And how do you people remember such a chronology of dates. I have a hard time remembering yesterday.

May I once again tell my Heart Attack story .. ?? Sure, why not ..

At 4:00 on a Friday afternoon ... My first heart attack began as an instant cold sweat .. and I mean instant .. I was practically dripping sweat .. so, I sat down and drank some water, thinking what the heck is going on .. ?? About 3 minutes later, my left arm went numb and I knew without a doubt in my mind at that point what the deal was .. being the lifelong paranoid that I am, I had carried a pill case with aspirin and my regular Aleves for quite a few years, which I would advise everyone to do .. so, I reached into my pocket, took out 2 full strength Bayer and chewed them (which is the preferred way in this case) .. about 2 minutes later, I started to feel better and the sweat subsided ..

But I knew it could not end there .. so, being only 5 minutes from the nearest Heart Capable Hospital, I got in the truck and drove myself to the ER .. walked up to the counter and said "I think I've had a Heart Attack" .. the young lady that could not have been more than 12 looked at me and said "Please have a seat, sir, and we'll be with you shortly" .. no, I'm not kidding .. so, OK, I took a seat and waited 5 minutes .. the sweats and the numb arm came back .. I walked back to the counter and said "I don't know if I'm going to last much longer" and I guess I looked so bad at that point, they promptly placed me on a gurney and wheeled me into the actual ER ..

After an EKG / a shot of Heparin, a few Nitro tabs and a few more Aspirin, which at that point my blood was probably the consistency of water, they wheeled me into the Cath lab, where I was thoroughly captivated by the Monitor that displayed my heart as they snaked a cath up from my groin and proceeded to place two very expensive stents ..

Total time from initial symptoms to stents .. one hour .. the prime Heart Guy was actually walking to his car in the Hospital parking lot when they called him back in for me .. I checked out Sunday at Noon .. no heart damage detected .. so .. I was in the Hospital a total of about I think 43 hours .. $80K ..

I went back to work Monday morning, which, when you're self employed, is just what you do .. which the DR really did not have any problem with .. in fact, he stated it was almost like I had set an appointment for the stents .. that's the story of one of my lost weekends that I'd just as soon forget ..

Moral : Always carry some fresh aspirin .. get to the ER quick and make sure the Hospital has a Heart Center if you can .. don't ignore the signs .. a buddy of mine died last year because he waited 12 hours before going in .. another buddy died a few years back because he ignored the signs .. the heart damage was just too much and they died ..

Whoa! Willie. Quite the story there. He, he your next post talked about all the 'health' food you used to like. I had a theory when I had a common diet - it was for the betterment of the human race. Someday there wouldn't be enough healthy food to feed the population so we had to eat that 'stuff' so the body would mutate and adapt to a different food source and mankind would survive.

Now, on a lighter note :
Favorite Movie : Cool Hand Luke
Hottest Living Woman : Halle Berry with Salma Hayek a close Second
Hottest Deceased Woman : Ingrid Bergman
First Computer : 1981 / paid a lot .. 8086 .. LOTUS 123 / DOS / and let's not forget ZORK
Best Guitar Riff : Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Favorite Food : King Crab with Lobsta as a close second
Favorite Alcoholic Beverage : Jack Daniels straight / rocks ..
Favorite President : FDR with Thomas Jefferson a close Second
Favorite Criminal : DB Cooper
Favorite Shoe : Chuck Taylors for the ankle support / not the Hipster factor
Favorite Books : Game of Thrones hands down
Favorite Holiday : Memorial Day
Best Sports Event Ever : Super Bowl XLII
Favorite Car Ever Made : 1974 Lincoln Continental Mark IV
Favorite TV Show : Game of Thrones with The Simpsons a close second

I was with you there for awhile understanding your picks. Then you went and used Game of Thrones and The Simpsons on the same line. Never liked nor watch the Simpsons. Couldn't understand why it was such a huge hit w/ so many people.

 

[Uncle Willie]

Whoa! Willie. Quite the story there. He, he your next post talked about all the 'health' food you used to like. I had a theory when I had a common diet - it was for the betterment of the human race. Someday there wouldn't be enough healthy food to feed the population so we had to eat that 'stuff' so the body would mutate and adapt to a different food source and mankind would survive.

I was with you there for awhile understanding your picks. Then you went and used Game of Thrones and The Simpsons on the same line. Never liked nor watch the Simpsons. Couldn't understand why it was such a huge hit w/ so many people.

It's Soylent Green I tell ya ..

The Simpsons was not all great, but when it was hitting it's stride, it was funny as all heck .. but, then again, I liked "King of the Hill" as well ..

And using "Game of Thrones" and "Simpsons" in the same line is a real head jerker / head slapper ..

 

[Uncle Willie]

And, BTW, I still own a fully functional Compaq Lunch Box ..

 

[garyoa1]

Yeah the Simpsons were great in their day. And I liked king of the hill as well! Still like family guy.

 

[therussellv]

My heart attack, about 4 years ago, I was at work, got hit with the chest pain, pressure, and arm pain all at once. I sat down and waited for about 15 minutes. It went away, so I told my boss I was going home. Drove home and walked across the street to the doctor's office there, he checked me out, confirmed that I had indeed had a heart attack, and sent me home with a bottle of nitro pills and an appointment with a cardiologist. No damage, just a jolt.

 

[MattB101]

My heart attack, about 4 years ago, I was at work, got hit with the chest pain, pressure, and arm pain all at once. I sat down and waited for about 15 minutes. It went away, so I told my boss I was going home. Drove home and walked across the street to the doctor's office there, he checked me out, confirmed that I had indeed had a heart attack, and sent me home with a bottle of nitro pills and an appointment with a cardiologist. No damage, just a jolt.

Another lucky man! I consider myself lucky too. I am having serious health problems but believe it or not all my numbers are in check. Cholesterol, BP everything. Better living through chemistry. Now if I can get rid of the knee pain, nerve pain where they split me open for the cancer surgery and can get my mind right and move on all will be right in the world.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

 

[3mg Meniere]

And, BTW, I still own a fully functional Compaq Lunch Box ..

I was scrolling up, saw the keyboard, and the bottom quarter of the 'puter, and my mind screamed "COMPAQ" Don't ask me how I knew-- I guess because we were talking about antique computers.

 

[Iffy]

Won't try to itemize my digital evolutionary history. I'll just say that my first serious 'puter exposure involved a USAF project using an HP-9825 system using 8" floppies (still have a few) for an Electronic Countermeasures semi-automated test station. Wound up being the lead instructor worldwide. Baby, we've come a looooong ways!

Other than da lack of a mouse and GUI, I miss DOS and AB. At least dat memory was under my control... unlike my own nowadays!

 

[garyoa1]

I dunno if I kin even write a simple batch file anymore but they did drag me kickin' n' screamin' frum DOS.

 

[MattB101]

he he - In 1969 I was working for Univac, a Division of Sperry-Rand Corp. The project was an advanced graphics system for the Mariner Space Program. Whoope-de-doo, that advanced graphics system was a green on green screen capable of 2 dimensional graphics. Took a monster of a mainframe computer just to do the mathematical calculations which send the results to the graphics display controller (which was a whole 'nuther computer that probably measured 4ft wide x 8ft long and 6ft high). The company went through a number of name changes and then a merger w/ Boroughs Corp. When I left some 40+ years later the company name was Unisys almost back to the original name.



I remember those - I think I had a least of of every 'outer Commordore made back then from the Vic, the C64 and the more serious CBM's. I dropped them along 'bout when the Amiga was introduced.



I wrote my 1st FORTRAN program probably around 1967. I was a mathematics major in college and had no idea what I was going to do with the degree when I graduated. Someone mentioned there was a hot, young, good looking female prof teaching something called programming. I took the course, then the few other computer/programming courses offered 'till I graduated and that started my career in computers.

And how do you people remember such a chronology of dates. I have a hard time remembering yesterday.



Whoa! Willie. Quite the story there. He, he your next post talked about all the 'health' food you used to like. I had a theory when I had a common diet - it was for the betterment of the human race. Someday there wouldn't be enough healthy food to feed the population so we had to eat that 'stuff' so the body would mutate and adapt to a different food source and mankind would survive.



I was with you there for awhile understanding your picks. Then you went and used Game of Thrones and The Simpsons on the same line. Never liked nor watch the Simpsons. Couldn't understand why it was such a huge hit w/ so many people.

Mike,
My first exposure to real computers was in the Navy. It was a CP-642B with an ECMU (extended core memory unit). Used ferrite core memory and sometimes would crash when we fired the main gun. Used it to run the NTDS (Naval Tactical Data System). Very weak in computational power but darn did it have some I/O capability. Any of that ring a bell?

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

 

[MikeE3]

Mike,
My first exposure to real computers was in the Navy. It was a CP-642B with an ECMU (extended core memory unit). Used ferrite core memory and sometimes would crash when we fired the main gun. Used it to run the NTDS (Naval Tactical Data System). Very weak in computational power but darn did it have some I/O capability. Any of that ring a bell?

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 Android phone on a keyboard that waaayyy too small (or my thumbs are waaayyy too big).

Oh man does it. I entered the 'field' when wire wrapped core memory was just being replaced w/ the 'next best thing'. The building I was in was slowy being converted to all office space. It had been a manufacturing facility. There were still 'little old ladies' who where good doing those lady things like knitting and crocheting employed in the 'memory' section of the factory. They did the wire wrapping for that old time memory.

And there was still a working vacuum tube Univac II in the main computer center. It was mainly for show purposes but it was still working. Presper Eckert of the Eckert and Mauchly fame for inventing one of the 1st universal calculating machines (computer) was still a staff consultant and had an apartment in the building. Some of my 1st mentors had been students at University of Pennsylvania where Eckert and Mauchly did most of the research and development and work, and were on the teams working on those early 'computers'.

But I don't remember her:

 

[my4jewels]

I am so happy those of you who had close calls with health issues made it through. I believe everything happens for a reason, and it's no accident that this group of folks met here on the porch. It wouldn't be the same without a single one of you! May we all be overcomers!

On another note, it's been a month since my 6th chemo, which is what I was scheduled for. I had surgery on Thursday, the 18th, looks like I had my throat cut clear across the left side. The only dressing is some dermabond, like superglue, because I have been getting a reaction from medical tape. I'd prefer it to be covered and outtasight. I had another 7 lymph nodes taken from the side of my neck. In addition, the nerve was severed that gives feeling to my left lower ear, no big deal. The nodes were wrapped around a muscle, so the muscle had to be shaved down a bit, bu this won't affect anything. I have been sleeping on and off since Thursday, starting to be up and around more today. Overall, I feel okay, considering, just a little wobbly, and a pain in the neck, haha. Every day, I'll get a little stronger. I will get the results Wednesday or Thursday. Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts!

My youngest son and his family came over today to watch football, and brought some delish pulled pork and coleslaw sandwiches and homemade apple pie. We also found out that grandchild #14 is on the way, so excited!