First Computer Memories – When I Got Started…

Remember when you sat down in front of your first personal computer? I vaguely remember sitting there as a pissed off eight year old in 1991, starring at a DOS prompt. I was trying to play a 16-bit race car game and it kept complaining about HIMEM being unavailable.

That’s how it all started for me – I wanted to be Mario Andretti, and be damned if that big cold metal box was going to get in my way. No one else in the house could figure out what was wrong, so my grandfather handed me the user manual for the IBM 386/DX Personal Computer and told me to figure it out. After all, Wheel of Fortune was on and it was much higher priority than these “computers” were ever going to be. That was the day I learned that RTFMing is probably the best way to go when problems happen. I’ve been RTFMing ever since.

Teaching An Old Dog

Nineteen years later – about a month ago – I gave my father his first computer to help him run a convenience store he recently bought (his first business). Nineteen years after sitting at my first computer in 1991, he’s in the same situation of not knowing a damn thing about computers other than he has to use them to stay in business. But he’s got a much harder learning curve to deal with, and I’m sadly unprepared to help him through that journey.

I take the last 19 years for granted. Computer jargon is almost it’s own language now. What IS a link? What IS a URL? What IS a tab? More importantly, how MUCH knowledge is required to be effective when using a computer?

What is a Link? How Do I Plug In a Galvanized Chain Link?

ME: A link is a URL…
DAD: URL? Ugly Rearrangement of Letters?
ME: …yes, that tells the browser…
DAD: I hate trousers! I prefer blue jeans.
ME:  …the BROWSER…how to request content…
DAD: Like those slow people at the Luby’s line? Why would I want those in my computer?
ME: …oh boy. Let’s start over. It’s like an index card in the card catalog at the library.
DAD: Well if the internet just tells me to go to the library, what the hell good is it?

Who The Hell Is Windows Defender? Is He Hitting On My Girlfriend?!

DAD: Why does this guy named Windows Defender keep telling me to run a scan? The only scan I have to run is with my shotgun when the dogs bark at night!
ME: Please, don’t point your shotgun at the computer! Windows Defender is a great guy once you get to know him. He’s the Trojan Man’s second cousin – he helps keep the good times rolling and the viruses at bay!

How Do You Make a Computer Stutter? Ask It To Define Itself!

So the question my father asked that I can’t answer:

“How do I learn how to use a computer without spending 19 years and giving up what’s left of my social life?”

The knock on my social life aside, what are the best resources to give new computer users, and what is the best way to teach them? Do we order him some of those DVD’s I see on late night TV? A Computers for Dummy’s book? What’s considered a “good enough” level of knowledge for beginners? Give him an abacus and pray? Any help would be appreciated!

The guys at LifeHacker just put up a post about starting conversations with strangers. Now, I’m a pretty introverted guy – which actually helps me as a programmer look inside to find solutions to problems. But recently since I started consulting again I’ve had to find my extroverted side and start up those difficult conversations. I’ve found things like JellyBCS (Facebook, Twitter, and old fashion web) and user groups (.NET, PHP, and AgileBCS) have helped with this.

My challenge for you is to start up conversations with at least 3 random people a week!

I was tagged by Daniel Cousineau over at his Tower of Power for the 7 things you didn’t know about me blog chain letter. So, here’s my list:

• I’m 1/32 Choctaw – My dad’s side of the family comes from Arkansas where the Choctaw Nation is largely based. About 10 years ago we started investigating our links to the Choctaw and found a direct ancestry.
• My great great great grandfather died at the Alamo - Dolphin Ward Floyd was a member of the Gonzales 32 that went to the Alamo to fight for freedom knowing they were going to die. As such, I am a member of the Sons of the Republic of Texas.
• I played trumpet in high school - I started as a saxophone player in 5th grade but my 6th grade band teacher switched me to trumpet. I love the trumpet and I’m very sad I sold mine. I was second or third chair throughout my middle and high school band career.
• I was only allowed to write code on paper in my high school - Due to some misguided creative energy and knowledge on my part (i.e. I messed with school systems usually reserved for administrators, teachers, and network admins), I went to alternative school for 6 weeks and was only allowed to write code on paper. My teacher would then read it, type it in, and see if it compiled and ran. I was not allowed to touch computers at my HS after that.
• I was Linux Team Leader in the first Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition - After the high school incident and a brief incident with a three letter federal agency, I turned my skills to good and helped lead the UTSA team to a third place finish in the first CCDC competition. This year the competition will be held at Texas A&M, where I work. I really wish I were a student so I could compete again!
• I’m a blue belt in Shaolin-Do Kung Fu - While I lived in San Antonio I got pretty into Eastern culture, religion (Taoism), and exercise. I found out there was a Shaolin-Do school in San Antonio and was thrilled to join. I’ve done several martial arts before (Karate, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido) but nothing was as fulfilling and strenuous as Shaolin-Do. I would give almost anything to have Shaolin-Do back in my life here in Bryan College Station.
• I practice Tai Chi and meditate - I also took Tai Chi while at the Shaolin-Do school. I now use Tai Chi, meditation, and breathing techniques to help me deal with stress, life, and exercise. It is a wonderful art and helps focus the mind and body in ways I did not think possible before.

Now for my list of seven poor souls who have to come up with seven things:

• Michael Cummings – Michael shares a birthday with me. But that isn’t what makes him a great friend. He’s ambitious, entrepreneurial, and friendly. He was one of my first friends when I moved to BCS several years ago and I’m sure we’ll be friends for a long time.
• Gabriel Cornyn – Gabe is a great friend (he was the best man at my wedding). We have had a great many discussions ranging from technical to political to philosophical. Here’s to always thinking in the abstract!
• Thomas Weeks – After the high school incident, Tom helped steer me in the right direction (probably keeping me out of trouble with the law). He is a great teacher, friend, engineer, and writer. I will always be thankful for the opportunity to be involved in some of his user groups and to learn from him.
• H.D. Moore – H.D. Moore is a brilliant security researcher who is well known for Metasploit and several other projects. I’ve met H.D. and his humbleness and intelligence are rare in this world.
• Dylan Kulesza – Dylan has been a great friend for a long time and we constantly push each other to the limits of technical knowledge. He’s one of the reasons I strive to learn as much as I can – so I can one up him once in a while!
• Greg White – Dr. White helped start the first CCDC competition, and while he could not mentor the UTSA team, he gave us the opportunity to shine at something we loved to do.
• Chez Pazienza – Chez has an excellent blog and a real talent for writing. He also wrote a book, Dead Star Twilight, that is now one of my favorites. I’ve had experiences similar to his and I related to the book, and I’m glad to see we both have happy endings.

And, of course, the rules to pass on:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some wierd.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

With the purchase of my new iPhone and the reenabling of SMS messages, I’ve started getting back into serious social networking. You know, mobile Facebook updates, Brightkite, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. One of the things I really like about Facebook, Brightkite, and LinkedIn is that you can find friends from your contacts in GMail and other social networking services. I was able to find several friends on several of these networks by importing my contacts.

However, I’m pretty old school as far as “social networking” goes. I was there when AOL first released a stand alone IM client and ICQ was all the rage. Then came the latter entries of Jabber (GTalk for example) and MSN. By far most of my friends and contacts are on AIM. I don’t have email addresses or facebook profiles for them, so I can’t import them into the other social networking sites I’ve started using. This is a big bummer for me because as people change screennames, or quit using one protocol for another, I lose contact with them.

I’m thinking about finding or writing a plugin for one of the popular clients (Pidgin, Digsby, etc) that would allow you to put this information in and share it with your other instant messaging friends. Similar to what Off The Record (OTR) does when it initiates a conversation, you could send a specialized request that would automatically be answered with the information to import into Facebook or whatever social networking site you desire.

If you know of something like this, let me know so I can install it! Otherwise, post some comments on features and clients that should be supported for something like this.