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Technology

Violet has already got the flip-phone thing down playing with Greg’s cell phone from work! *LOL* She’s 16 months old. She also plays Mario Kart with Pap-Paw, she likes that. She has a V-tech as well.

I don’t think you can really get technology out of kids lives, it’s here.

I remember back in the day before email, cell phones and computers in our lives, in our home. We always encouraged reading, coloring, play-doh and playing outside if it was nice! I remember playing outside as a kid until the sky turned that purple color. Then I knew it was time to go inside for dinner. We rode bikes, roller skated, just hung out. Then Atari came out with Pong! Remember Pong?

We bought our first computer the year we got married, 1984. It was a Commodore 64 and we played games on it. We also learned a lot about computers that year and for the next few years. I so wish we had bought stock in Microsoft, can you imagine?! Over the next few years we built our own computers, I have one that’s a few years old, it works, so I hang onto it. We had a Packard Bell at one point, haha, I remember how that thing used to lock up. That was when Greg decided to build our own if possible.

With the girls, computer time/video games was for a reward after homework was finished and we limited it a lot. Our oldest was 16 before she was given a cell phone, we gave her a very used car at the same time. She’s 23 now. Our youngest got a cell for when we needed to pick her up from activities. I think she was 14 or so. She’s almost 20 now.

The pre-schoolers I taught a few years ago were learning computer things already, 3 and 4 year olds. Seriously. They will never know no computers, iPods, cell phones. How weird! And we thought cassettes were the bomb! Haha, Greg had an 8 track player when we met in 1983! He actually wanted to hold onto it after we were married. I wish we had now, we saw one in the Smithsonian! *LOL*

I remember my first “cell” phone. It was a bag phone, it was 1995 and I loved it. It was heavy and I had to carry it around. Compared to what I have now, it was huge. I also had a Motorola Star Tac. It was the newest thing in 1997! *LOL* I had a pager when I worked at the bank and then at the truck garage.

I love our cordless phones. We have three levels, so we need to have one phone on each level. We have 4 phones that are cordless and two that are corded. Greg has one corded one in his office and one in the garage. I have a cordless in my office, one in our bedroom and one in the family room and living room. We seriously considered getting the phone system where you can use your wireless minutes, but, we had these already from the last house. Oh well. Maybe after Jacqueline has moved out we’ll look at that again.

I remember when we got married and bought our first VCR, it was a top loader! The thing lived for 6 years though, which was a miracle with a two under 5 in the house. “My Little Pony”, “Care Bears” and all the Disney movies wore that thing out! Then we bought a VCR/DVD player. We have replaced those with new ones, but still use the VCR’s sometimes. *Star Wars isn’t the same on DVD for episodes 4, 5 and 6!* We also have 2 DVD players. The DVR was the best invention. Either a chick created it or a guy that was tired of his woman bitching all the time about missing something because he was watching something. We had a TiVo, then we got DTV and used theirs, or Cox. Now we have Comcast and have two DVR’s. We got a deal when we moved into this house in February 2008. When that year is up, we’ll have to see what’s going to happen! We also have a DVD writer. We have to use the VCR for that, since we’re transferring tapes over. I cry when the girls come on the screen, I cannot sit there and watch them being little while making a DVD.

We got on the ‘net for the first time through AOL dial-up in 1992. I made graphics with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro and updated our page monthly, so everyone could read about our lives as our family was so far away. We kept on with dial-up for a few years, but when cable came out, we signed up right away. Wow, what a difference! Greg didn’t have email through the military until the cruise in 1999. I still remember writing letters to him and waiting patiently, most of the time, for an answer. I bought my first digital camera on eBay in 1999. It was my first eBay purchase! I started blogging back in 2001. My in-laws were visiting and I needed to VENT! I’ve jumped around to so many different domains since then, but, I like this one the best. We hosted blogs in 2002 and websites for two years from 2002-2004. I joined Twitter in 2007 and Facebook as well. I think My Space in 2006. We joined Flickr in 2005. Netflix is the bomb, we love it! We joined Netflix in 2002.

Greg built an arcade cabinet that runs MAME for video games, about 10 years ago. We still play it, too! It’s nice to play Frogger, Galaga and Pac-Man as much as we want. Plus it has like 5,000 games on it. It’s fun when we entertain! We also have a PS2, a Wii and 2 TV’s in the basement for video games.

So there’s our technology background. Wasn’t that a fun walk down memory lane?

Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 ♥  
Filed Under Geekdom

11 Responses to “Technology”

  1. Melissa (blk_eyeliner87) Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Great blog! It totally made me reflect on my childhood! My mom had a green buick from the 70’s with an eight track player, we only stopped driving it about 7 years ago..lol! Our first VCR was totally worn out with my Disney Princess and Care Bear videos.

  2. Technology | starwars-fanatics.com Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am

    [...] the rest of the post here: Technology facebook, family, flickr, girls, green, house, military, movie, office, photography, running-girl, [...]

  3. Busy Mom Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    I’m glad you hosted blogs those years.

  4. Sara Says:
    September 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Me too! I cannot believe it’s been 4 years!

  5. cady Says:
    September 28th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    my childhood, too, was filled with playing tag outside rather than sitting in front of the tv playing video games. my parents *really* limited our video game time, and i’m going to do that with my kids as well.

  6. Julie Says:
    September 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    It’s sad that my kids won’t know what it was like without the computer or cell phones. I, myself, try to go back and remember what it was all like back in the 80’s and early 90’s without those “luxuries.” Now, most of those things are a necessity!

    When our power went out because of bad storms, I didn’t know what to do without cable or a computer. That was a long night…especially with a 2 y/o that doesn’t understand why the “choo-choo’s” won’t come on the TV.

    Neat post!

    Julie´s last blog post..I’ve been meaning to upload this…

  7. Sara Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Wow, that’s an old Buick! We had one too, it was golden color.

  8. Sara Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Thanks Julie! I’m sad that Violet will never know a time before everything we have now. I’m sure her kids will have technology light years beyond ours!

  9. Sara Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    I’m glad you are going to limit the time, Cady. It will make a huge difference!

  10. Wendy Says:
    October 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    Wesley can have no video or computer games on school nights. In the winter we may give in a little if he’s been trapped inside for days though:) Also rainy days! I figure that he will get a cell phone when it comes time that he is away from us and other adults. Right now he is never with someone without a cell so there is no need. He also told me last night that he can’t wait to get a job and save money for a car, LOL !I wonder if he’ll feel the same way in 8 years.

    Wendy´s last blog post..Last weekends happenings!

  11. Sara Says:
    October 6th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

    He’s so young still! *LOL* I cannot imagine an 8 year old with a cell, but there are a few out there that we see here and there. I guess it’s just about what you need with your family. I guess our girls were at the beginning of all of that.