For many years I was a "have to have the latest electronics" kind of guy. I bought my first record player when
I was 7 years old with my First Communion money combined with change from bottle returns when they were only worth $.02 each.
My stereos improved with each raise in pay from my news carrier days all the way to my career in telecommunications.
By the time I had slowed down on my annual stereo related purchases(the mid-90's), I was already deeply entrenched in
computers. I learned FORTRAN computer language in college circa late 70's. My first PC was an AT&T Unix
bought in 1984. Seven or eight upgrades later, here I am with a smartphone as my constant companion. Again along
the way I started blogging and slowly joined the world now known as "social media".
Six years ago, I was ready to get out of computers and figure out what I really wanted
to do. Now move ahead to 2008 and I've come to the decision that I want to jump back into the computer world.
In some areas, it has been a bit of a struggle to get up to speed. Hence my creation of many webpages for family, alumni
and a local historical society (albeit using templates to get me started!) followed by a smartphone purchase back in March
and my finally first (well, it quickly became 3) domain name purchases a few months later. I was making leaps I didn't
even consider making just a few short years ago. I rekindled a part of me that had been dormant for too long.
My current job is to post comments and replies on behalf of the company I represent. I literally fell into this
job 18 months ago, just happy to continue working when those around me were laid off. The job description as it was
presented to me was "something to do with computers and customer service." The job and I are growing and changing together.
Although, I had some feedback from different areas, the number one thing I heard is that "there is nobody in this industry
doing exactly what you are doing." I must admit, that scared me a bit because I couldn't help but be cynical and think
that it was just a clever way of saying "we can get rid of you at anytime."
Now I know that this has been and continues to be a huge opportunity for me. As I've made contacts and posted hundreds
of posts on various sites, I have a really comfortable feeling about posting. Tomorrow I'll be attending a meeting that
is bringing a few departments together to figure out our company's strategy going forward.
I know this post has been rather long and I do apologize. But stay tuned. I promise I will avoid being
such a windbag unless absolutely necessary. Hi internet, did you miss me?
