Lindsey Harkins

I cannot remember my very first computer experience, but I can, however, remember my early days using them. In 3^rd grade, I remember going to the library’s computer lab to play games (especially Oregon Trail and some science game). I remember in the computer lab there were two “special” computers that had a dark blue screen with white text, as opposed to the black with green. Obviously those two blue ones were fought over.

We had a similar computer at my house, but we didn’t own any games, therefore I had no interest. The “coolest” computer I had ever seen was my cousin’s when I was in about 5^th grade. It was the more modern computer/color monitor set up, and they had great games! One game I really liked was Put-Put. He was a purple car that went on a different adventure each disk. Soon after, we bought a “cool” computer like my cousin’s, Put-Put, Barbie magic Hairstyler and other games for our home. We also had a program called Print Shop Deluxe, a basic word processing/creative-printing program. I still remember the themes, borders and backgrounds you could choose from.

We finally got Bellsouth Internet in my house when I was in 5^th grade. It was dial-up and it was slow! I remember (as with most everyone) the dial up sound. That terrible sound! The computer was in my parent’s bedroom. I don’t really know why. We only had the one phone line at the time, so I would have to ask permission from my parent to make sure they weren’t expecting a phone call. After my mom and dad got cell phones, we would call forward the phone line to the cell phones. In 6^th grade I got into email, MSN messenger, AOL messenger, and selling/trading my beanie babies online. I used my instant messenger’s until my parents went to sleep or told me I couldn’t be on any longer. My restriction when I got in trouble was “no Internet”.  I think my first email address was lindsey_loo_hoo@yahoo., and I can’t remember the day that I stopped using that address. It was probably when I started to mature a little! The problem is that my AIM name is lovelylindsey***, which I wish I could change but I have it so well established that it’s hard to now. I should have thought about that in 6^th grade. I wasn’t allowed to download Napster, but my cousin was. I also wasn’t allowed to listen to rap, but my cousin was. You can probably guess where I went to download rap songs. It was rare though, since my cousin was in Charlotte. I had two “mix” CD’s that were purple and they were so cool!

Late in 1999 the Internet changed my family’s life. We searched adoption agencies and came across a picture of a tiny Vietnamese baby that is now my little sister. By this time the Internet was developed enough that we used it during the adoption process for booking flights. I guess you could say that the internet has changed my life!