The Times Are A Changing

I can tell the grandkids that I started using computers in the olden days. The first personal computers I used only had cassette drives for memory and professionally it was server-based word processors on Wang workstations.

The first PC-based word processor I ever used as a technical writer was PC Write with ASCII text files and embedded control codes for bolding, italics, etc. WSIWIG was unheard of. It pains me to admit that I was around when the first IBM PC was revealed. It makes me feel very old.

Shoot forward many years and today I am sitting in front of my laptop watching a collegiate rivalry football game on cable TV and surfing the Internet for blogs of interest. Oh, and did I mention IMing with my friend and ex-coworker in Japan who happens to be listening to the same football game (tomorrow morning our time) on his laptop PC?

When I began cable TV, the Internet, and blogs were not household words. To use a computer, I would have to go to a user group meeting and migrate from table to table watching others on their computers and wait for an offer to take their place at the keyboard. Today, we have two laptops and a desktop computer at home (not to mention two Palm handhelds). Even our cell phones do more today than those early PCs!

Anything I can learn about blogs has been an insatiable desire. Although my goal is to hone my writing skills with this blog, I am curious about what others are doing with their blogs. I want to know about voice, ads, interactivity, trends, techniques, and all the other things that go into a successful blog.

So, the journey has begun. Daily blogging will help me to improve the writing skills while lots of Internet research reading other blogs will help me to make this blog more successful.

Hold on for the ride.