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The people who inspire me.
Maybe someday I'll get an award. <g>
Do you really care who made this?
Please don't be mean.... I'm sensitive you know.

 
     I decided I wanted to get a computer. I did.
  Anyone remember the T1000? I thought I was the
  coolest thing because I could track my grocery
  coupons. How far we've come since then!

     I decided it was time for a new computer when
  my sister ordered one some years later. I had
  such fun with that machine at her house,
  although if you asked me now exactly what I used
  to do on it I couldn't tell you. I do remember
  it was very pre windows and she would print out
  pages of address labels for me so I could get
  through my bills quicker. (It should be noted that
  all this happened before I had children and
  actually had enough money to pay those bills.) 

     Well, I didn't end up getting one until many
  years later. (It should also be noted that during
  this time I managed to accumulate 4 children, lots
  of bills and absolutely no extra money.) What I
  did manage to do was get an insurance settlement,
  decided that 10% was for me and the very first
  thing I did with it was buy a Dell 486-33SX, the
  best of the time. I still have it although it is
  now living it's life as a home for dust bunnies in
  the corner of my bedroom.

     One of the employees at the store where I
  bought it came to my house one afternoon, you
  know how computer people are.. and introduced me
  to a totally new world by showing me that the
  modem actually had a function. He dialed into a
  BBS. Whoa! I was done. On the exit screens of
  most of them there were phone numbers to other
  BBS's.... 

     We had a second phone line installed.

     Somewhere along the line I discovered that I
  could talk to people other than those that called
  into that particular board. Lots of other
  people. The problem was, most of the BBS's had
  time limits unless you were a friend of the person
  running it and even then I'd feel guilty if I
  spent more than an hour or so online because I
  didn't want to chew into anyone elses time.

     I started my own BBS and got a Fidonet node.

     At first I was only getting echoes located in my
  home state, which was actually pretty boring since
  it was a bunch of guys talking about stuff I had
  absolutely no interest in. Remember, I didn't
  have much in the way of extra money, and it took
  a lot of begging just to get the second line in,
  never mind paying to get echoes in.

     I discovered that there were a lot of echoes
  that I would definitely be interested in one night
  at a friends house, and he knew someone that
  would forward them to me for free. Well, who could
  turn that down? Certainly not me.

     I discovered the cooking echoes.

     I discovered offline mail.

     I had discoverd a new source for my addiction.
  I have been an avid recipe collector for many,
  many years. I can remember, and this is honest
  truth, being in the hospital with stomach
  problems and having my husband bring me index
  cards and pencils so I could copy the recipes from
  the magazines in the waiting rooms. (I ended up
  having my gallbladder removed after about 8 of
  these 2 week hospital stays so that ended that.)

     My family no longer had a doting wife and
  mother. They now had a woman with a cause. I
  decided that since so many of these other people
  enjoyed recipes as much as I did, I needed to
  share as many of mine as possible with as many as
  possible. I haven't lost that feeling. As a
  matter of fact, I haven't lost anything at all,
  I've gained in more ways than you could possible
  imagine. 

     In my time online, I have made many friends.
  Some of them stand out more than others and
  there are several that I've kept in very close
  touch with (Hi Paul, Flo, Serge, Dan, Gail & Dail,
  Neysa, Katherine, {who am I forgetting?}, Sharon,
  April....). I've also made new friends, been
  adopted by a new Mom and have a cyber-
  family that I spend a lot of time around the
  home hearth with.

     And here we are. I now have friends all over the
  world and am able to indulge not only my recipe
  addiction, but also my crafting and homesteading
  obsessions. 

     I wouldn't trade any of it.          
     


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Last Modified Friday, 04-Jul-2008 14:53:42 EDT