Help yourself to some coffee. The mugs are in that cabinet over the sink, and the sugar and cream are over there at the end of the counter. Pull up a chair, and help yourself to those fresh molasses cookies.
Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Jim, as you may have suspected, and I’m a geek, nerd, or whatever other term you might use for a guy who is weird, and into lots of esoteric things. I live in a suburb of a megalopolis. (I first heard that word in high school, when I was assigned the task of writing a paper about what a megalopolis would be like. As I recall I only got a C, and if I could write what I know about living in one now, I doubt the teacher would believe me. Oh, another thing - I have a tendency to throw out frequent parenthetical things. I talk that way too.)
So a little more about me. I am a man of more than three quarters of a century in age. That gives me the title of “Boomer”. If that sends you screaming for the exit, no offense is taken. In my youth we didn’t trust anyone over 30, which pretty much included parents and all figures of authority. So I get it.
What can you expect to read here? Frankly I’m kind of wondering about that myself. I’ve been writing for more than 50 years, but the deathless prose I’ve produced has been in the form of explicit instructions for a digital computer. Most of my human-centric writing has been in the form of comments on posts I’ve read. I did Facebook for a while, until I realized it was sucking enormous amounts of time out of my life for the sole purpose of enriching other people. That’s why you don’t see any social media buttons here.
In my little slice of paradise I am “that guy” that folks turn to when they have issues with technology. That’s unlikely for somebody my age, and it happened by accident. Growing up I was what today might be called a “free range” child. I lived in a suburb very near a small creek, and I spent the majority of my time exploring that body of water and the creatures that lived in it. I liked it so well that I thought I might like to be a limnologist or ichthyologist. (I dislike throwing out pretentious words. In short, I was into fish and the idea of exploring the waters of the Amazon seemed like a great idea.) When I enrolled in university, I chose zoology as my major. The first semester was all basic stuff, but when the second rolled around, all of my required basic classes were full. I needed 3 more hours to be considered full time, and I was becoming frantic. The one 3-hour class that seemed to have ample openings was Computer Science 101. I grabbed it with both hands.
Within a few weeks I realized I had found my calling. It was a natural for an introverted puzzle freak like me. By the end of the semester I went to my academic advisor with the intent of changing my major to Computer Science. This wise old academic urged me to reconsider choosing a field that had a very uncertain future, and instead recommended mathematics. “After all”, as he said, “there will always be a need for mathematicians to serve as navigators for airplanes.” (In the ensuing 50+ years I have not once encountered a “Help Wanted” ad for an airplane navigator!) At that time, in a student body of 45,000, there were only 13 majoring in Computer Science. So I chose a math major with computer science as a minor. All these years later I recall just enough math to help my grandchildren with their homework. But I did stay with computers, and was the first in my neighborhood to have an actual computer in my home, built from parts assembled on the kitchen table.
As Jobs and Wozniak were building Apple, I chose a competing brand, built locally, to focus my efforts on. It flamed out after a few years, but lasted long enough for me to get my 15 minutes of fame. It also enabled me to quit my corporate job, and spend the rest of my life in self-employment. These days I make apps for the iPhone and iPad. They are targeted to a very specialized and narrow market, but the sales help to augment my pension funds a little bit.
Well it looks like the coffee is cold and the cookies are gone, so we’ll wrap it up here. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to talking again soon.
Hi Jim. I met you through a comment you left on Linda XOs Substack article about starting out on Substack. I have also just stuck my toe in the water. I have subscribed to your newsletter. Unfortunately, I haven't pledged any $$ to anybody yet, but we're all starting out and I figure there's room for us all.
As I was reading this post I kept thinking about how a book for us seniors to cope with modern gizmos could be a niche you could claim at KDP (Kindle publishing at Amazon). The publishing course I'm taking says to aim for 30,000 words. You do this as self-publishing.
My newsletter is Talking to Spirit. I'm a slightly deranged older psychic who talks to dead people. Sometimes people think I'm funny too.