The Houlden Report for July 11,2013
Well aside from the fact i finished turning 53 on the 6th,I am finding myself relishing at the simple joys of life with no complexities at all.I guess it is much easier to enjoy life at this age then to rush and worry like i did back in the 90s and the 2000s.
A decade ago,this month,I took that last photograph of Mom alive,when i had my Compaq Presario 4090 US sitting at my mom's kitchen table and was showing her the technology of digital photography for the first time in her life.The machine had a P3 processor and at that time,it was the fastest Intel chip available.I purchased that computer new and had set it up in front of her when i realized "Hey,Mom's not seen how a digital cam or webcam works".So i began setting it all up on windows ME (XP was still two years old and i had doubts XP would function on that machine .... something that i later realized that i was wrong and wound up using XP on the presario all throughout the presario's lifetime).So i proceeded to showing her how it took pictures.Needless to say she was in total wow.Her IBM PS/2 wasn't as advanced and definitely didn't have the video capacity to handle such a task. Since those years,I still have the two machines Compaq Presario 4090 and the IBM PS/2 that she had. both sit in storage and the Compaq's processor finally gave out.Honestly i think it is a future project to replace the CPU in the Compaq and fully restore that old machine.. Mom's old IBM,however.. has seen better days.
back then,I didn't think i would ever have the equipment that i do now.Even the hard disk drive is different. The best we could have had back then was a 50 gig IDE format HDD ..
Today,I am on a 500 gig SATA HDD and even the operating systems have changed.back then we had available windows 95,98,ME,2000 and XP... now we have windows VISTA,Windows 7 and Windows 8. I still have flashbacks to a commercial Microsoft had on TV with Madonna's tune "Ray of light" playing and hear her singing "Faster then a ray of light,she's flying" emphases on XP being super fast and sleek features. I recalled saying "One of these days I will have XP ".I had no clue that within several months I would have XP home edition handed to me.
I felt the same as i did when I went to the computer shop and made my purchase of windows 98 SE for $150.00 US and took that disk home back in 1998.Here it is 2013 and i still have those very disks.I also have the same old machines i had back then.the only things that changed is two of the folks i shard my knowledge of tech with have since passed on.All Mom and Dad used windows for was writing letters and playing solitaire.That was fine for windows 3.1 and windows 95. I can say solitaire and WORD are still part of windows 7 and 8 but they have a different look and feel.These days everything is done ONLINE all of your office documents and interactions are done online for speed and productivity.
My version of office I chose is one i have liked ever since XP. Microsoft works 8 and Office 2003 for its simple design and for security.I don't like to have my important documents online for others to see unless i use my Google docs app so i can review on my iPod touch using iOS 6. The online experience has grown tremendously the last couple of decades.
back then My kid brother Carl didn't know what the internet was nor was trained in computers. These days Carl Houlden is online and interacts with me in several services like twitter,and YouTube. Back in those days i didn't have my daughter nor my grandkids Derek,Olivia and Alicia,nor my uncle Karl Meyer online either.Out of my family,Mom and Dad was the first to own a PC,I was first to Own,get online,repair and run my PC.I am also the first to own iPods,iPads,and macs.I am also still the very first to run Linux in my family.
My Uncle was close second to me when he began using a computer.it was the year 2000 and i was running windows 98 SE on a computer i fully rebuilt,when he needed some help running his PC which ran windows ME and he had used it to write his sermons down for his ministry.Being My Mom's only brother,he and I were very close.My working his PC was the second time that i dealt with windows ME (the first time was in Wommelsdorf,Pennsylvania for a month's time). so by then i was familiar with the OS.
A SAD NOTE: Mom passed away in Late September early October of 2002 due to complications from diabetes. Dad passed away March of 2012 due to a Blood infection he caught while recuperating from a massive stroke.he was months away from being exactly 10 years widowed.Neither of them saw Alicia or Olivia but both did see Derek when he was only a toddler (he is now near 18) and Miranda (My daughter) is nearly 31.so when mom passed she got to see 4 generations of her family (Herself,me,Miranda,and Derek) in one spot,A BBQ on July 4th,2002. Both Mom and Dad are interred at Sunset Memorial/Ocean View Cemetery in Eureka,California and the number to call is (707) 445-3188
This ends the Houlden report for today 7-11-2013 and I hope my sharing this will be a blessing. Until Next time,May the good lord take a shining on ya.....
Mike
Well aside from the fact i finished turning 53 on the 6th,I am finding myself relishing at the simple joys of life with no complexities at all.I guess it is much easier to enjoy life at this age then to rush and worry like i did back in the 90s and the 2000s.
A decade ago,this month,I took that last photograph of Mom alive,when i had my Compaq Presario 4090 US sitting at my mom's kitchen table and was showing her the technology of digital photography for the first time in her life.The machine had a P3 processor and at that time,it was the fastest Intel chip available.I purchased that computer new and had set it up in front of her when i realized "Hey,Mom's not seen how a digital cam or webcam works".So i began setting it all up on windows ME (XP was still two years old and i had doubts XP would function on that machine .... something that i later realized that i was wrong and wound up using XP on the presario all throughout the presario's lifetime).So i proceeded to showing her how it took pictures.Needless to say she was in total wow.Her IBM PS/2 wasn't as advanced and definitely didn't have the video capacity to handle such a task. Since those years,I still have the two machines Compaq Presario 4090 and the IBM PS/2 that she had. both sit in storage and the Compaq's processor finally gave out.Honestly i think it is a future project to replace the CPU in the Compaq and fully restore that old machine.. Mom's old IBM,however.. has seen better days.
back then,I didn't think i would ever have the equipment that i do now.Even the hard disk drive is different. The best we could have had back then was a 50 gig IDE format HDD ..
Today,I am on a 500 gig SATA HDD and even the operating systems have changed.back then we had available windows 95,98,ME,2000 and XP... now we have windows VISTA,Windows 7 and Windows 8. I still have flashbacks to a commercial Microsoft had on TV with Madonna's tune "Ray of light" playing and hear her singing "Faster then a ray of light,she's flying" emphases on XP being super fast and sleek features. I recalled saying "One of these days I will have XP ".I had no clue that within several months I would have XP home edition handed to me.
I felt the same as i did when I went to the computer shop and made my purchase of windows 98 SE for $150.00 US and took that disk home back in 1998.Here it is 2013 and i still have those very disks.I also have the same old machines i had back then.the only things that changed is two of the folks i shard my knowledge of tech with have since passed on.All Mom and Dad used windows for was writing letters and playing solitaire.That was fine for windows 3.1 and windows 95. I can say solitaire and WORD are still part of windows 7 and 8 but they have a different look and feel.These days everything is done ONLINE all of your office documents and interactions are done online for speed and productivity.
My version of office I chose is one i have liked ever since XP. Microsoft works 8 and Office 2003 for its simple design and for security.I don't like to have my important documents online for others to see unless i use my Google docs app so i can review on my iPod touch using iOS 6. The online experience has grown tremendously the last couple of decades.
back then My kid brother Carl didn't know what the internet was nor was trained in computers. These days Carl Houlden is online and interacts with me in several services like twitter,and YouTube. Back in those days i didn't have my daughter nor my grandkids Derek,Olivia and Alicia,nor my uncle Karl Meyer online either.Out of my family,Mom and Dad was the first to own a PC,I was first to Own,get online,repair and run my PC.I am also the first to own iPods,iPads,and macs.I am also still the very first to run Linux in my family.
My Uncle was close second to me when he began using a computer.it was the year 2000 and i was running windows 98 SE on a computer i fully rebuilt,when he needed some help running his PC which ran windows ME and he had used it to write his sermons down for his ministry.Being My Mom's only brother,he and I were very close.My working his PC was the second time that i dealt with windows ME (the first time was in Wommelsdorf,Pennsylvania for a month's time). so by then i was familiar with the OS.
A SAD NOTE: Mom passed away in Late September early October of 2002 due to complications from diabetes. Dad passed away March of 2012 due to a Blood infection he caught while recuperating from a massive stroke.he was months away from being exactly 10 years widowed.Neither of them saw Alicia or Olivia but both did see Derek when he was only a toddler (he is now near 18) and Miranda (My daughter) is nearly 31.so when mom passed she got to see 4 generations of her family (Herself,me,Miranda,and Derek) in one spot,A BBQ on July 4th,2002. Both Mom and Dad are interred at Sunset Memorial/Ocean View Cemetery in Eureka,California and the number to call is (707) 445-3188
This ends the Houlden report for today 7-11-2013 and I hope my sharing this will be a blessing. Until Next time,May the good lord take a shining on ya.....
Mike
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