Special offer

Ahhh To Be Young Again, I Feel Like An 8 Year Old

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty

I truly do have a love-hate relationship with technology.  I am just being honest here and have to say that I'm glad part of it is:  loveIf it weren't for the friends that I have met on Active Rain or Twitter with I probably would never "get it".  If I say "get it" about technology, I'm lucky there are no standards for "getting it"  because I am  sure people would that are in the know would call me out on that one.

Oh where do I begin to tell the tale of my relationship with technology?  I'm going to show my true age here, but bear with me on this point.  I remember in college entering data into a computer and each line of code was a card.  If you had ONE typo on ONE card the whole program would stop and nothing would work.  These were the ancient days of computers being as big as a room and the engineering students stayed up all night to run the programs because unlike me their programs were piles and piles of these cards.  Mainframe computerThey were often programs written in COBOL, FORTRAN and others and all of this was pre PC time.  Yes, children there were times when there wasn't a computer to be found in a home.  (This is very hard to imagine, I know, but true.)

If someone had suggested that there would be computers in every household in the future it would have seemed very "George Jetson" and crazy.  Remember at that time there was no such thing as a Personal Computer.  Now we have the small personal computer but of course I could NEVER explain how it got from room size to tiny size.  I think it has to do with tiny memory...but that might even be wrong.

But how in the world did we get from the room size computer to the tiny Blackberry today?  I don't get it.  I admit; I don't understand how tiny memory can hold so much data.  But this is just the beginning of what I don't understand about computers.  I'm going to jump ahead to some of the items which keep  me in the dark, you might say.  If understanding a computer and programs are like our ages...I'm a 8 year old compared to my techie hubby who is clearly an adult.  8 year olds have lots of questions and sometimes annoy the people around them.  Lots of questions, they don't take good notes and they certainly think they have answers which often get them in trouble and are off the market.  Get the picture?  (We all know in the real world the 8 year olds "get it" much faster than all of us.  Right?  Well they are able to get things to work MUCH faster and probably just figure things out faster...but this is about the age of knowledge.)

How to sort of explain my "age in technology knowledge" which ends up being an average of ages:

Uploading of YouTube videos:  I love Cheryl Johnson for helping me load YouTube videos; but I still have to switch back and forth from her directions to put in text around the video.  (I'm like a 4 year old in this department.)

 Twitter:...well, I use it and I like it.  (I'm A2Karen there if you want to find me lost again.)  Have no idea how it works...or if I irritate people with my posts there.  I think you aren't suppose to post, like 4 in a row...you are just polluting the twit that way ( I think???  Guess I'm about a 6 year old here.)

Blogging...I think I get it.  Although some who visit my outside blog might say otherwise.  I upload my own words (sometime successful with images) and I do enjoy it.  Guess I'm about a 12 year old here.  I think I know what I'm doing but I'm sure adults would point out a ton of problems with my work. My outside blog is http://treetowntalk.com and I have much to learn.

 

Active Rain posting and commenting:  Well, I may not always show it with my post but this is where I'm the oldest.  I would give myself a 16 year old knowledge in this department.  Reason? I have learned so much on Active Rain.  Sometimes this knowledge is in spite of myself.  I guarantee it because of me but the way all the helpful people write helpful hints and the time you spend here teaches what people like, how to do it and I have learned.  ActiveRain.com

Well there you have it:  my ages in knowledge and understanding of software and hardware. Is my 15 year old older in technology age than I am?  You betchya.  I'm sure he's the adult in that department.  Yikes!  

Dare I ask how old you are in technology knowledge? 

Leesa Finley
RED Properties - Wake Forest, NC
RED Properties - Raleigh NC Real Estate
Karen - that post cracked me up!  Very funny yet very true.  What gets me is I sooner "get one down" enough to be comfortable that another one pops up!  Continually learning......
Apr 05, 2008 12:58 AM
asdf zcxv
Keller Williams Realty - Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor Area Real Estate
Leesa,  Thanks are you on twitter at all?  I look for you to pop up.
Apr 05, 2008 01:06 AM
Ricardo Bueno
Diverse Solutions - Los Angeles, CA
Sometimes there's just soooo much in social media to keep up with! But the great thing is, there's always people willing to help :-)  Keep participating, keep learning, and keep asking questions. I know there's a lot I haven't learned either! 
Apr 06, 2008 10:36 PM
Sarah Cooper
Real Estate Shows - Hurricane, WV
Hi, Karen!  I know you best from Twitter and it seems to me that you've got that DOWN.  Don't worry about Twitter rules.  I talk WAY too much in there but I'm chatting with friends, and I don't want to not respond just because it means four tweets from me in a row.  (I did have one friend tell me he turned off my tweets to his text messages -- and all I could say to that was  why would you have my tweets go to your phone in the first place?!)  ;)  It's all good, you're doing fine.  Ask away when you don't know, that's how we all learn.
Apr 06, 2008 11:04 PM
asdf zcxv
Keller Williams Realty - Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor Area Real Estate

Ricardo,  Thank you!  The encouraging message means a lot to me.  I can use all the help I can get.

Ohhhh Sarah, you make me laugh out loud!  I can write the whole thing here on Active Rain.  Yahoo!!  You do NOT talk too much on twitter at all!!  But that did make me laugh, have to admit. 

Apr 06, 2008 11:29 PM
Anonymous
Anonymous
Karen - I remember the ancient days of card readers:) Came here from Twitter (I am fsechzer there), which proves that technology could be a connector of people and ideas. 
Apr 06, 2008 11:39 PM
#6
Faina Sechzer
Henderson-Sotheby's International Realty - Princeton, NJ
Real Estate Expert - Princeton, Montgomery ,Hopewell, NJ
Hi Karen, it's me in the previous unsigned comment- forgot to log-in. Something else to remember with technology -one needs to log in, before they can speak:)
Apr 06, 2008 11:42 PM
asdf zcxv
Keller Williams Realty - Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor Area Real Estate

Faina,  Oh glad to hear others remember the card readers and its not just me.  I'll make sure I'm following you too on Twitter.

 

That silly sign in thing will get ya every time.  Thanks for stopping by.  I'll look you up here in the rain too. 

Apr 07, 2008 12:17 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate
Well, we had fun over there today, and yea I don't talk enough probably, that's what @ gotbob says but it is fun and I've got to know so many people there. Gee, I"m probably in kindergarten with the tech stuff ! 
Apr 07, 2008 01:55 PM
Kate Elim
Dockside Realty - Spotsylvania, VA
Realtor 540-226-1964, Selling Homes & Land a

Hi Karen...Sometimes I feel like I'm still in my mom's tummy.  I learn (partially) one thing and find out that there are now 72 more things I need to learn just to not fall further behind.

Am I sounding concerned???  I am!  So guess I'd better get to bed.  Maybe I'll be more optimistic tomorrow (later today...it is 2:14 a.m.).

Cheers,

Kathleen

P.S.  I need some 8 year olds and 15 years old hanging out at my house.

Apr 18, 2008 06:17 PM
Susan Walters
Keller Williams Realty, Ann Arbor, MI - Ann Arbor, MI
Karen, I am a toddler but I still hold on to the furniture to get from place to place.  :)
Apr 19, 2008 01:30 PM
Marianne Sweet
Home Sweet Home Staging - Rochester Hills, MI
Home Sweet Home Staging, LLC Rochester Hills, MI

Too funny!  Believe it or not, I was just telling my teenagers the other day about Cobol, Fortran and feeding the punchcards into the mainframe that was as big as Tiger Stadium!  They looked at me like I was from Outer Space!  I think one even suggested that I should write a science fiction novel.  I still have nightmares of being in the computer room at Wayne State and having the mainframe spit all of my cards out all over the room, while I try desperately to shut the machine off.  The robot from "Lost in Space" is waving maniacally, saying "Warning!  Warning!  Warning!"  Oh yeah, good times.

Thankfully, I've come a long way since then.  I created and host my own website, as well as the website for our subdivision.  I've become a pretty active blogger in the last year.  I've even been called a "computer guru" by one of my friends. 

I have no clue about Twitter though.

I'd say technologically speaking, I'm in my late teens.  Now, if only my body agreed...........

Apr 20, 2008 11:49 PM