How far were you from that Church when you found it?
Peace... Sridhar
On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Tarsi wrote:
> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 00:39:06 -0600
> From: Tarsi <tarsi_at_binhost.com>
> Reply-To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: A story
>
> Hi, folks. A story for you.
>
> A long time ago and not so far away, a small town church obtained it's first
> computer. An IBM PS/2, quite sophisticated for the day. It was in the
> secretary's office for use of keeping budget and some word processing.
>
> As luck would have it, a young boy was around when his father was working on
> the computer. He must have been around 12 or 13. His father got to work on
> the computer because he was treasurer. The boy was jealous, a toy! A toy
> with lights and whirring sounds and computer sophistication, similar to the
> Apple computers that he had known so well from school. The boy wanted to
> touch the computer, but knew better.
>
> Sort of.
>
> The boy touched it once when his father was away and the office was open. He
> started up the fancy computer and looked as it powered up. He was very
> impressed. He looked through the manuals. He tried to run some software.
> He marveled at this wonder of technology.
>
> Fast forward to 2002.
>
> The same boy and a friend of his had gone to a town quite far from the church
> to have some Chinese food and catch up with each others' lives. Now being
> grown up, the boy still had a great liking for old computer toys and things.
> Being bored, the two friends went to the local Goodwill to look around and
> see what there was.
>
> Back in the corner on a table was a small computer system, quite old. It
> didn't have much with it, just the computer, a monitor, and a keyboard.
> However, the boy didn't have this type of computer in his collection yet, so
> he went to the local ATM and got some cash, came back, and bought the
> computer.
>
> Bring this computer home, it sat in the corner for some time, preempted by
> some other computer hardware, for the boy had a large collection. One night,
> being quite productive, the boy decided to boot up this $10 computer and see
> what was on it.
>
> The boy knew very little of what he would find hidden in the secrets of the
> hard drive of this computer. For the new, fancy computer that the church had
> purchased and the little boy had marveled over so long ago had served its
> time, and had been replaced. It went to a number of other people, the files
> left on its hard drive a testament to the movement of the computer. And
> eventually, the computer came to be donated to a Goodwill and put up for sale.
>
> The boy, Nathan Pralle, found that the computer he had admired so long ago
> was sitting before him. Indeed, the very first PC he had ever touched, the
> one at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hampton, IA, and one which had contributed
> to his becoming a computer programmer, was now sitting on the floor of his
> very living room, about to become part of his computer collection. An IBM
> PS/2 Model 30.
>
> And now you know the rest of the story.
>
> (I love this hobby.)
>
> :)
>
> Nathan
> 210
>
>
>
> --
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Received on Mon Jan 14 2002 - 01:04:17 GMT