Technology
I feel fortunate to have grown up in an era including most of the development and commercialization of modern computers. My life has straddled times when there was almost no influence of computers, early adoption of technology and the eventual widespread use of a networked world. Times change.
I studied basic computer programming at a junior high school level through an experimental course. Years later I purchased a Commodore PET computer that was more trouble than useful. But the real turning point came around 1983 when I got access to the Apple LISA. It preceeded the Macintosh but I was hooked from day one and remain an Apple user today.
For a brief period in the late 90's I bought and used Windows-based computers. It was probably not so much that I had given up on Mac (although their products and future were uncertain) but that I needed to use Windows OS in our office enviroment. Once Steve was back at Apple, I turned my attention to his efforts and have no regrets.
My first Apple computer was an Apple LISA for my work at a hotel in 1983. It was purchased at a cost of $9,995. I spent hours on it for work projects, often staying late in the evenings.
The Apple Newton MessagePad was launched in 1993 and I couldn't wait to get one. But I was in Japan at the time and it wasn't available there.
During a business trip to London in late 1994 I took an extra day and tracked down an Apple retailer. It took several subway rides and one bus ride to reach this shop. I was very fortunate they had the Newton 120 model in stock! Years later I found the last version of the Newton, the 2100. I still have it but its functionality is limited.
I have seen and experienced many changes in the music formats in my lifetime. Vinyl 45's and 33's were in the early years. Then came 8-track tapes and eventually cassette tapes. In the mid-1980's I enbraced compact discs and later, for a short time in the late 1990's... Mini-CD's. In late 2000 I purchased the first generation iPod and I was hooked. I still have it and still working.
In 2015 I discarded almost all my CD's and DVD's.