About that same time I got a PC for home. I had an old Apple in the 1980's, but never got it up and running. It was given to me second hand and even dial-up was a new concept and spotty at the time.
Recently I took stock of just how connected I've become and to say the least it surprised me. I have two computers in my news studio. One to type and file stories and edit sound. Everything we do now is digital. Another computer is used to record and send newscasts and interviews to our AM studio. On the infrequent days I do my own engineering for our AM talk show I work with three computers in that studio. At home I have a laptop.
Then there is email. I have my personal account at home and 5 at work. I'm also responsible for news on our website and a newsletter. At work I have two phones and a smart phone to take to meetings and news events. At home I have two phones and a cell phone.
Then there is social networking, it's just crazy. I have two Twitter accounts and four Facebook accounts. And somewhere along the way put together a LinkenIn account. With the smart phone I am now posting on Facebook and Twitter during meetings and news events. This gives the news more immediacy. My work smart phone is on 24/7.
It strikes me as funny that when I worked in Minocqua, Wisconsin our AM station programming was actually run off a Commodore 64 keyboard and the system was hooked up to a marine battery so if we lost power the memory wouldn't also be lost. That was the late 1980's.
In 1981 I was in my senior year at Northern Michigan University. Taking stock of what I might need for my professional career I asked my advisor if I should take any computer courses. That sage professor said I wouldn't need them! And while I'm taking stock I also write a blog.
