Loadstar 234/234.d81/t.jim brain

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 2KB | 59 lines

u
         ME AND MY COMMODORE
             by Jim Brain


    When I was in grade school (early
1980's), I decided that I wanted to
buy an Atari 2600 game console. I went
up and asked my Dad, who promptly shot
down the idea, saying that I was going
to have to buy it myself, and he
wasn't going to allow me to spend my
allowance on a game machine. He
reasoned that I should buy a computer
system, which could do useful work in
addition to play games. So, I looked
through the magazines, and the
cheapest computer system was a
Commodore VIC-20, at $233.00 I believe

    I had $280.00, so I went to
Montgomery Ward's and purchased a
VIC-20, some game titles, and one of
the original CBM joysticks. That was
how I got into Commodore computers.
Surprisingly, I received the machine
in 5th grade, but put it on the shelf
after the novelty of playing games
wore off and didn't touch it again
until I entered 7th grade and found
the math classroom had VIC-20s. That
prompted me to pull the machine out of
the closet, and become proficient in
BASIC.

    I was hooked on the power of
computers from that point on, and
became very knowledgeable on Commodore
systems. The VIC-20 gave way to a C64
in high school (1985), and I used the
system all through high school and
through most of college to write
papers, calculate math problem
solutions, and even edit programs for
computer classes in college by
remotely dialing into the UNIX systems
at the University of Illinois.

    I credit my Dad's refusal to buy
me a game console with my career in
computing. At this stage, I'm a senior
applications architect in a
well-paying position and having lots
of fun working with computing
technology every day.

 JB