Bryan's history with computers

It's a slow Monday, so let me give you a brief history of my experience and ownership of computers.


Circa 1985: I begin using my first computer at Echo Park Elementary School in Burnsville, MN. I believe it was an Apple IIe, seen above. You know: black/green screen, Oregon Trail, etc.


Circa 1986: We buy a Commodore 128 for the house. Games like Jumpman, Zork and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego are played for hours. The color screen was ultra-pimp.



Circa 1987: My dad buys an Apple Macintosh and I begin playing around with it at his house on the weekends. Same sort of thing as the Apple IIe, but this one's screen was black/white...AND, it had a mouse. I played many a game that was so primitive, yet incredibly fun, with this new-fangled invention the mouse. However, I think ejecting disks automatically by dragging the disk icon to the trash can was more fun than anything else. The GUI was here to stay



Circa 1990: Mom buys a Macintosh Classic II for the house. Not a lot of advancement here unless you count the 80MB HD an advancement. This computer would last quite a while until I'd move to the Dark Side and to Windows-based PC's.

1995: I move to Kansas and need a computer for school, so at my dad's request and financial assistance I pick up a Dell laptop. I'm not sure which model it was, I just remember it being big, heavy and having a really shitty battery-life. I had moved to the brand-new Windows 95 and thought it was cooler than anything I'd seen. Apple/Mac was in a bit of a funk at this time and Windows was gaining momentum everywhere, including academia as almost all the computers at KU were PC's; a stark contrast from K-12 where it was rare to see a PC.



1996-present: I have purchased approximately 12 Dell computers during the past 12 years, both laptops and desktops. I am never without a laptop and a desktop machine in the house and seem to replace each machine every 2 years. Both laptop and desktop are nearing their short lifecycle and will be put to pasture fairly soon.

Present - future: Well, you just knew this post was leading somewhere. Stay tuned a bit later this week and I'll unveil to you what the near and dustant future holds for my stable of computers and electronic gizmos.