I started using computers back in 1990.  Before that year, I was afraid of computers.  Since 1990, all that has changed.  At the current time, I work at a company where I use a computer every single day.

Before 1990, I didn't know how computers worked at all.  I thought if I did anything wrong that I would mess the data up on the computer.  I knew very few people who had personal computers before 1990.  In the mid 1980s, I saw my first personal computer.  A student at KU had one and it was hooked into the school's system so he could do his computer science homework on it.  He didn't even have a printer.  Computers were being used in offices back then.

In 1990, I was formally introduced to computers.  The origanization that I was volunteering for at the time was getting its first modern computers.  It had computers that were older.  Microsoft Windows was very uncommon back then.  Most computers ran on DOS (disk operating system).  I can remember having to boot a computer off a floppy drive. <GRIN>  When I first started using computers back in 1990, I mainly used the computer for simple things, such as playing games and writing letters.

In September 1991, I bought my first computer.  It was a custom-made computer with a 386/16 mhz processor.  I had 2 megabytes of ram and a 30 megabyte hard drive.  It had a 14-inch VGA montor. I bought a dot-matrix printer too.  Everyone thought I was great with all of that. <GRIN>  When I first got my computer, I didn't know anything.  I didn't even know how to change directories. <GRIN>  My typing was soo slow back then.

In February 1992, I got online for the very first time.  I signed up for Prodigy.  I remember having to pay for the software.  Now they send you free software.  I spent seven hours on Prodigy the first night I had it installed. <GRIN>

Between September 1991 and February 1995, I upgraded the computer and used it for more and more things.  For example, I went from a 2400 baud modem to a 14.4k modem.  I added a 130-megabyte hard drive.  I eventually added Windows in 1992.  In 1994, I bought a new printer, an HP Desk Jet.  My brother still has that printer.

In July 1993, I signed off of Prodigy.  I left when Prodigy changed from a flat fee per month to hourly fees.  In March 1994, I signed up for AOL (America Online).  I didn't use it too much because it was expensive.  It had hourly rates.  In the spring of 1994, someone told me about DELPHI Internet Services.  On Mother's Day 1994, I signed up for DELPHI Internet Services.  It was sort of difficult to navigate at first.  But, by the end of that summer, I was chatting and navigating DELPHI quite well.

In February 1995, I bought my second computer, a 90 mhz Pentium I custom-made IBM-compatiable computer with 16 megabytes of ram.  My first computer needed some serious upgrading.  I sold it to my next-to-the-oldest brother.  I did some upgrades to this computer from February 1995 to September 1997.  I added a bigger hard drive (1.2 gigabytes).  I also upgraded both the sound and video cards within a year of purchasing the computer.  I went from a 15-inch monitor to a 17-inch monitor.  In 1995, I replaced the HP Desk Jet with a Canon BJC-4100 bubble printer.  I sold that printer in October 1996, when I bought a Canon BJC 620 bubble jet printer.

In September 1997, I bought my third personal computer (and I still own and use it).  I decided to buy a Gateway computer.  It is a 233 mhz Pentium II processor with a 4.0 gigabyte hard drive.  Since owning the computer, I've added a UMAX scanner (purchased in February 1998), a HP DeskJet printer (purchased in June 2000), and a cable modem.  I am hoping to buy a either a Dell or Gateway computer in the not-so-distant future.

Since May 1994, I have been with several Internet Service providers.  I stayed with DELPHI from May 1994 until February 1998.  While with DELPHI, I became a beta tester for graphical access to the Internet.  My first glimpse of the World Wide Web was through text in 1995.  In the beginning, I used Netscape 1.0 back then.  Everything about the Internet was much different back then.  For better graphical access and cheaper rates, I would try various Internet Service providers:  I tried the following:  AOL, Prodigy Internet, AT&T Worldnet, Netcom, Southwestern Bell Internet, Q-Networks, Internet Direct, MSN, and Earthlink.  I didn't like any of them.   My cable operator finally brought cable modem service to my area in July 2000.  I was one of the first people in my neighborhood to have cable modem service. 

In March 1997, I buit my first webpage.  My pages looked so different back then.  I didn't even use graphics my first year.  I used a multitude of colored text and backgrounds.  Around the first anniversary of my page, I started using other people's graphics.  In late 1998, I started learning how to build my own graphics.  Now I use my own graphics for the most part, except where noted.

Today, I use a computer full-time as an underwriting assistant for a major life insurance company.  I built and continue to maintain my own website, which keeps growing and growing.  I use my personal computer at home to access the Internet and create my pages.