Extra! Extra!

It took quite a long time, but here I am. Back in the late 1980s I had just gotten my first “modern” computer. By modern I mean it was an MS-DOS based Personal Computer (PC) - a significant upgrade from the Commodore where one had to type in exhausting strings of code in order to get a “Pong”-like game to run on it. (Heavens to Murgatroyd! How old am I???) Anyhoo, the new PC felt very slick and powerful. I found the possibilities dazzling and the realities frustrating. In some ways, it was little more than a dedicated word processor, which had it all over electric typewriters, but only hinted at what might be possible down the road.

Well, I wanted “it” now. I wasn’t completely sure what “it” was. I felt as if I were looking at a wheel before there was a barrow or a cart or a carriage or a car to go with it. But I craved something creative, something exciting with words and images. Printshop was wicked cool at the time, now of course stunningly primitive. Then I stumbled across a software program for creating newsletters. It was words and graphics combined. That was “it”! Mind you, I didn’t have a group to send a newsletter to. I didn’t belong to a club or a PTA or even a company that needed or wanted some sort of internal missive. I didn’t care. I bought it. I tried it. Really I did. If you are a regular reader you are probably beginning to get an inkling of how this turned out. Well, you’re right. The program was very complicated, very limited and narrowly designed to publish, well, a newsletter. Which was exactly what the box said it would do, but I was dreaming bigger dreams. I was looking at the first wheel and already feeling the wind in my face, my hair streaming out behind me, as I was driving a Porsche.

Those dreams didn’t come to fruition until about nine months ago when I discovered blogging. My words, my pictures and I didn’t have to belong to a club or have a mailing list. I just had to do it. Create something of my own, push a few buttons and Ta Da! - Pink Granite.

Aaaah... I love the feeling of the wind in my face! ;o)