Today I was listening to (and still not finished with) Library Geeks episode 4. I was listening to the introductions and was thinking - I’m a library geek - I should be part of this discussion These guys are so much fun. Of course I don’t own a microphone - shame on me - but I could buy one if the right offer came around.

Anyway, Dan asked “What was your first computer?” and either I’m really really young or - and more likely - I just didn’t care about computers when I was younger. I know we had an Atari (not a computer per se) and that was all I cared about - I loved my Donkey Kong! I know we had something that I used to type letters on and print out on our dot matrix printer, but I have no idea what type of computer it was. I was perfectly happy sitting in my room with my electric typewriter - I would write letters, short stories, and my first short novel (by novel I mean I was 10 and it was 12 pages). It wasn’t until I got into college that I paid much attention to computers and even then they had limited abilities - IM, Email, games.

Then the library geeks started talking about their first programs - I was happy to hear one person say it wasn’t until five years into working in a library before they programmed anything - I’m pretty similar to that (with the exception of the stuff I did for my degree). My husband used to program things on his calculator when he was in school - but that would have never occurred to me - for 2 reasons really. First, and most important, I have a $10 scientific calculator - I couldn’t do anything with it. Second, I didn’t care about all of that programming jazz. I was all about reading and writing in my pre-college years.

The last major question I got to hear before my bus arrived here at home was “When did your computer go from a toy to something serious?” I’d have to say it wasn’t until Sophomore year of college - I took Intro to Comp Sci (because I needed a science class and I was no fan of Biology) and I fell in love. I wanted to do nothing but program. It was around that same time that I stopped writing fiction and started writing web content and programs.

Well - now I feel like I was there I’ll listen to the rest on the bus ride to work tomorrow and I’ll probably have more answers to important geeky questions.