Computer Chromosomes

At a young age I was fascinated by switches, buttons, and light bulbs. I wasn't allowed in the front seat of the car because I would press all the buttons and drive my parents crazy.

This love of technology was not something that was passed to me genetically. For most of my growing up my parents could barely turn on the computer. I remember one day in High School sitting in Mrs. Beckstrand's Sociology class when the office messenger walked into our class, approaches my desk and says, "Rusty come with me, there is an urgent message from your mother, you need to call her immediately."

My heart sunk as I thought about who could have possibly died. "One of my Grandparents?" I thought. "No, they had lived great long lives and surely their deaths wouldn't require a call from the office. Oh no, it's my Dad. He loved to drive fast and it has finally caught up to him. Great I'm going to be fatherless. Who am I going to play tennis with now?"

I was pale white by the time I reached the office. I made the phone call and my mom answered in a frantic tone which only helped confirm my fears and said, "RUSTY YOU HAVE TO TELL ME HOW TO PRINT THIS PAPER, I have a paper due today and I can't print this paper!!"

My mom had been taking a continuing education Art History class and her first big paper was due today. Rather than wait till I got home I was summonned out of class by the office messenger. The office secretary just laughed as she listened to me describe the steps of printing the paper:

"Mom, is the printer on? It has a green light when it's on. There's a switch on the side. Okay now, press the print button. No it's not a real button, it's a button inside the program. It's on the toolbar. The toolbar is the thing at the top of the page."

My mom forwarded me this video this week that summarizes things perfectly. My favorite part is when the monk declares the book "Not as fast as the scroll!" If I had a nickel for every time I heard my mom say, "If I could just have my typewriter back this would have been done hours ago!"