This just in from our good friend and content expert, Mary Goodbody -- James Beard Award winning cookbook author, and content creator for the new website cookstr.com -- Take that, you digital natives.
What I Have Learned
I learned how to type on a big, black manual typewriter in typing class one summer with the keys covered with tiny squares of masking tape to hide the letters and numbers. This is how I learned to touch type. I also learned to make carbon copies, to use Wite-Out when necessary. Then I learned to use an electric typewriter, followed by an IBM Selectric — super fast — with self-correcting tape. Then came computers. I learned first on an Apple II E and then switched gears and learned WordStar on an IBM computer. WordStar was a crazy word processing program that covered all the bases. Once you got it, you loved it. But then WordPerfect came out and I learned that, because while not as effective as WordStar, it was easier and knocked WordStar off the shelves. Soon, the programs were already installed in the computer when you bought it — no longer did we have to program our own computers or have to decide what program to use. I learned to use a fax machine, with the perforated paper — the same paper we had to feed into our old printers. Next, I bought a fax that used regular paper: a godsend. Ditto for my printer. And then I learned about email and the fax seemed old fashioned. I learned about modems, how to attach documents, to download photographs and pdf files. Concurrent to all this I learned how to buy a stereo, to test drive the huge speakers at stereo stores so that my 33s sounded amazing. Then I learned to operate a Walkman and all sorts of cassette-driven machines. But wait, say goodbye to cassettes. I then learned about CDs and CD players. But what about downloading music onto iPods? And first there were Beta tapes, soon replaced by VCR tapes and VCRs we had to hook up to our televisions. I learned about DVD players, DVRs and TiVo. And watching televison on my laptop. I also remember using rotary dial phones, then pushbuttons, and then cordless. Who needs more? Oh yes, answering machines you had to hook up yourself but allowed you to screen calls, replaced by voicemail operated by the phone company and caller ID so you could screen calls. I went through car phones, cell phones with huge antenae, and then tiny cell phones that flipped open. And Skype.
I think I can create a Facebook page...
I learned how to type on a big, black manual typewriter in typing class one summer with the keys covered with tiny squares of masking tape to hide the letters and numbers. This is how I learned to touch type. I also learned to make carbon copies, to use Wite-Out when necessary. Then I learned to use an electric typewriter, followed by an IBM Selectric — super fast — with self-correcting tape. Then came computers. I learned first on an Apple II E and then switched gears and learned WordStar on an IBM computer. WordStar was a crazy word processing program that covered all the bases. Once you got it, you loved it. But then WordPerfect came out and I learned that, because while not as effective as WordStar, it was easier and knocked WordStar off the shelves. Soon, the programs were already installed in the computer when you bought it — no longer did we have to program our own computers or have to decide what program to use. I learned to use a fax machine, with the perforated paper — the same paper we had to feed into our old printers. Next, I bought a fax that used regular paper: a godsend. Ditto for my printer. And then I learned about email and the fax seemed old fashioned. I learned about modems, how to attach documents, to download photographs and pdf files. Concurrent to all this I learned how to buy a stereo, to test drive the huge speakers at stereo stores so that my 33s sounded amazing. Then I learned to operate a Walkman and all sorts of cassette-driven machines. But wait, say goodbye to cassettes. I then learned about CDs and CD players. But what about downloading music onto iPods? And first there were Beta tapes, soon replaced by VCR tapes and VCRs we had to hook up to our televisions. I learned about DVD players, DVRs and TiVo. And watching televison on my laptop. I also remember using rotary dial phones, then pushbuttons, and then cordless. Who needs more? Oh yes, answering machines you had to hook up yourself but allowed you to screen calls, replaced by voicemail operated by the phone company and caller ID so you could screen calls. I went through car phones, cell phones with huge antenae, and then tiny cell phones that flipped open. And Skype.
I think I can create a Facebook page...
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