0115 technological advances ... fact or fiction?

The son of a cousin called me and asked if he could interview me. I answered in the affirmative, but I was curious what it was about. He told me that he had a school assignment to write a report about changes in technology and his father (my cousin) recommended me as a source. I think it was because I was the only one at home.

A few days later, the two of them came by. While my cousin was visiting with my mother, his son came in for my “interview”. I asked him about his notebook, which was closed and he told me that he would remember everything. So I told him to go ahead and start.

Him: “What was your first home computer?”

Me: “It was a Radio Shack TRS-80, but we had to pay extra for the 8K of memory.”

I asked him if he was sure that he didn’t want to write anything down. He slowly opened his notebook and jotted some notes. I actually had to spell “TRS” for him.

Him: “Okay .... what kind of sound system did you have in college?”

Me: I had to think about that one. “It was a top-of-the-line system from Pioneer, complete with built-in 8-track player.”

His eyes started to glaze over. I asked him if he ever asked his father about this. “Yeah,” he said. “But I thought he was just kidding.”

I told him that it was good that he wasn’t interviewing my father, or else they’d be talking about vacuum tubes.

The “interview” continued on for about fifteen minutes, during which I told him the first song I owned was on a 45, that I saw the funeral for John F. Kennedy on a black-and-white television, and that my first mobile phone had to remain plugged into the cigarette lighter of the car or it wouldn’t work. Plus, all it could do was make phone calls and was the size of an electric razor, although that was considered ‘mini’ at the time.

When the “interview” was over, he just rolled his eyes and excused himself to go find his father. My cousin came in for a few minutes to chat before they left.

That night, my cousin called and said, “You actually told him about the 8-track tape player?”

“Yes,” I said. “Why?”

My cousin replied, “He’s Googling it now, along with ‘vacuum tubes’.“ We both laughed.

I told him, “You’d better get ready to answer a bunch of questions.”

Kids. (sigh)