I first heard about this thing called The Internet in 1988 or 1989 when I was still in high school. At this time it was a way to get files without getting it on floppy disks. What I did not know at the time was that the Internet had already existed for nearly twenty years before then.
When I attended my first university I learned more about the Internet and from then on I saw it grow from text-based email, text-based Gopher information retrieval servers to the World Wide Web with sound, pictures, animations and videos. When it comes to the Internet I feel like someone who has lived to see transportation go from steam engines and horse and buggy to the age of the nuclear submarine and spaceflight.
We live in a time of great change and we all need to change with the times. This is not a debate anymore. We need to learn to adapt to changing conditions. Many of us do not want to because change is unpredictable, uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous.
It does not matter. Life changes if you like it or not.
Myself and many people like me have attempted to prepare you for change but many refused to listen. You called us names, threatened our lives and livelihoods and generally attempted to make our lives uncomfortable just because you did not want to hear what we had to say.
The truth is that the universe doesn’t really care what you believe to be true.
I am here to talk about change, adapting to change and dealing with the world from my perspective.
Who am I? I am a one-eyed, legally blind, over-educated, highly opinionated jerk who reads too much, likes music, video games, technology and storytellers of all stripes. I have been a teacher, an advocate, a community leader and a writer. I have worked as a database designer, a college instructor, a standardized test grader and a concert promotor.
Welcome to my story.