Sunday, September 10, 2006

tekkie

i love technology.

it's one motor of my existence. while my upbringing was marred by the usual inconsistencies of tech development (80s to early 90s weren't as profuse in terms of any technological advancement as what transpired a few years later), i ended up dependent on it.

my very first personal computer was a 386DX, hundred-megabyte wired box that my pop bought when my parents realized i've been spending too much loose change on spring-bound notebooks for my writing endeavors. actually, it was a gift---my ownership of the computer wasn't i could say, self-bequeathed---and i had to share with my younger siblings as well. my uncle had it stacked with games on MS-DOS mode, though my father disapproved of anything as unproductive as blasting TIE Fighters on arcade setting, that in the long run i had to be contented with Solitaire in monochrome.

the mid-90s saw our very first upgraded PC. a Windows 95, Pentium MMX system---that during those days was the hippest of the lot. although the software was usually buggy at times, having the latest copy of the operating system was an envy to a multitude who continued to use the perennial DOS as their primary OS. however, it was also the time that technology pushed to high gear and it careened straight towards the future highway. the PC market boomed. our computer suddenly found itself bordering on obsolesence, but pop didn't budge. as long as the system continue to burn excel spreadsheets and ink word documents, the issue on upgrading persisted.

not when the 21st century crept up like a madman. slowly, our PC showed signs of a viral infection that, ultimately, contributed to its anticipated demise a few months after [my uncle said it was a HD crash, and he replaced it with a new one one, only this time the processor gave up and the entire system just went kaput---on it was a 100-page unfinished manuscript i'd written for two years---but i didn't cry on the loss, somehow in my opinion technological mishaps are forgivable].

i've been a computer person since i've been indoctrinated by those who believe that personal computers make our lives easier. and in several cases, i could concur to what they said. i remember the time when i started fiction on a 100-page spring-bound ruled notebook and an ink-blotted Apache-brand black ballpen [Pilot pens were way expensive for me during that time---and it was later in highschool that i managed to afford one], the difficulty of longhand wasn't as excruciating as one would complain on a Trojan Horse malware attack. things were simpler, but at a price.

there were no complications, but there was this feeling of need. the malcontentment. as the world develops, as well as one's longing to sprint with the progress. when i bought my first notebook PC, the ever-reliable, though flimsy-built Acer Travelmate 202T four years ago, i thought that i would be contented with it. somehow, it cost me a little over four grand a month to pay for it [i pleaded to my folks to get it for me using their card]; but every expedition to SM's cyberzone brought demands [and probably, the personal wanting] of upgrade.

nonetheless, the Travelmate survived four years. bumps and grinds and a broken hinge epoxyed. it was my companion to work and back. suffered a bad concussion when the messenger bag that contained it snapped from my shoulder and cascaded to the cement. physically, the laptop turned out to be a mess, but it continued to breathe. chipped plastic and all; and proudly Philippine-made. hehe. deserved a ticket to Manila as a hand-me-down. nearly-crashed on a malware infection, but i succeeded in resuscitating it.

my upgrade [or what i would call as a worthy replacement] is an Apple PowerBook. my only experience with a Macintosh computer was when Sas mistakenly switched-on an unknowing system at a Kinko's shop to print a document. aside from that, my knowledge of Macs is comparable to how i fared in highschool algebra. gradually, i inculcated what most folks at philmug informally taught me. the Mac became the primary OS that i currently grew accustomed to. yeah. i'm still adept at using Windows if required.

my life as a tekkie didn't end with my ownership of a Mac [i don't know the reason, apparently they associate techgeeks with anything Apple---that at times, i think could be derogatory to some]. there is a continuous imploration to satiate the need, but financial limitations often preclude. for one thing, my purchase of an external drive was brought about by the realization that it is more convenient and practical to update Sas' iPod home rather than bringing it to my office merely to add songs. the justification alone established the fact that acceding to technology has a corresponding monetary renunciation as well.

i'll be forever a techie flyboy. and i won't probably regret being one.

latest musing of Etchie at 02:13

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