I might have made a huge mistake today. I gave my Mom the address here at Chez Fred.

(Just kidding, Mom.)

Actually I'm really proud of her. She bought her first computer (that she actually used...sometimes) in 1994. It was a Mac LCIII, and I bought it for her when I was at San Jose State. And when we sat down for me to teach her how to do stuff, she told me she just wanted a list of what to push and what to click and what not to accomplish what she needed to.

And I did it, 'cuz I'm a good son like that, but I didn't like it. I tried to explain to her that her life would be a lot easier if she learned what the concept of, say, "opening a file" was and meant instead of just knowing "okay, if I want to change this document, I click File then Open then the filename then Open again." It would pay off in the future, and once she knew how to do it conceptually, she would be able to do it in damned near anything. But, nope. "I'll never get how to do all of that, just tell me what to do." Sigh. Okay, fine.

And, several years later, when her office (she's a school secretary) went mostly computerized, she learned the concepts, and she can do all kinds of things. I knew she could do it, 'cuz she's Mom and she rules. Now they have their very own PC at the house and they have their dialup account (man, that is gonna KILL me next time I go home and I have to use the MODEM in my laptop...what kind of neanderthals do I have for parents? :)), and they're getting online.

Not bad at all for a couple of complete technophobes. :)

So, please make Mom welcome to our little party here, and be sure to be on your best behavior, because we need to make a good impression.

(Just kidding, Mom.) posted at 1:52 PM | Permalink |