Dang it!

All right, I forgot AGAIN. Dang it!

So, let's say that yesterday, the 14th day of Thanksgiving (or T-minus 14 and counting, man I'm sorry I missed that), I was thankful for the Interwebs. It's useful.

Personal computers were just becoming commonplace when I was twenty-something. I actually learned how to use a terminal on the UTHSCSA's mainframe, and I would tell you all about it if I could remember that far back.* I quit that job in 1987 to go back to school, and my electrical engineer husband built me my very first personal computer (with a 12" VGA monitor!) to use for writing papers. The first modem I remember using was a 9600 baud, and was the envy of some of my tech-savvy friends.

But today I use Facebook to keep up with old friends and some relatives I don't get to see very often, so much so that I feel like I'm involved in their lives. I get information and news from Twitter. I do research (for money) on it, I compare all kinds of goods before I order something and have it delivered right to my door, and I can find out for sure if Jabo's Hardware has a dowel the size I need before I bother driving there (at TalkTo.com; you should try it). I see photos of enchanting gardens in all kinds of exotic places all over the world, search thousands of knitting patterns to find the one with the exact details I want. I find out where else we've seen that woman from that episode of Elementary¹, what started the fire in Milford, whether Sarah Michelle Gellar's second child was a boy or girl², who it was Jamie Benn collided with last night³, and what the heck is up with Rob Ford⁴.

It's an amazing world. And I'm thankful I get to see it.


*Really, all I remember is that the various machines were named after Lord of the Rings characters. So you worked on Frodo or Bilbo, etc. Yeah, those were the days.

¹ Independence Day.
² Boy
³ Hudler
⁴ Oy!