Archive for April, 2009
Portable Computers … Amazing, if you stop and think about it
by admin on Apr.27, 2009, under Amazing Life
I am in my fifties and remember a time when nobody had a computer or a calculator. So yes, I used to use the TRS-80, the Atari 800 (Great Machine, back in the day) and a desktop XT class PC, first with CPM, and then with DOS. Then I used the GEM UI instead of that Windows 2.0 junk. I was forced to move to Windows 3.1 because some of the software we used required it.
Then I got my first “portable” PC, it was 26lbs and only ran when the cord was plugged in, but at least I could take it with me to a customer’s location, because they didn’t have one, or had none to spare. We booted and ran everything off of 5 1/4″ floppy disks, until I got my 20MB hard disk, WOW! so much space, I could never fill that up!
Boy have times changed. Now our portable computers weight less than 5lbs and run for 6 hours on a battery. We can do everything with them and we still complain about Windows. Email, IM, Web browsing and all the standard office apps.
Now our phones can do half of what our notebooks can do. They can do Email, IM, Web browsing and we can even touch our docs and spreadsheets.
We should be amazed, every day!
We Forget to Marvel
by admin on Apr.24, 2009, under Amazing Life
Wednesday morning I got up early, 4:20am to be exact, and by 9 in the morning, I was standing in Jacksonville FL, a mere 728 miles from my home in Maryland. In less than 5 hours, I had eaten breakfast, driven about 60 miles and flow 700+ miles. AND, I expected to do the same in reverse that evening and sleep in my own bed that same night!
Can you imagine trying to explain that to one of our founding fathers? The 60 miles I drove would have taken 4-10 hours by horse or 2 1/2 days by foot. The 700 miles would have taken several weeks to a month by ship, winds depending. Over land, this would have taken approximately ~450 hours, which is between 57 and 75 days. Just think of how many meals, beds, changes of clothes one would need. The cost was enormous and the supplies need would be tons. I didn’t even take a tooth brush or a change of underwear.
The founding fathers would have had so much more to worry about, from the horse that would get left in Baltimore to transportation in Florida. We just rent a car in minutes and we are off and running. We really are blessed to be living in America in the year 2009. Would that we would marvel at want we can do and that we would be thankful to God.
