Continue Your Education

by Jim Brain

Here's my editorial for the latest issue of the GOCUG newsletter.  Pitch or whatever.  --Jim

School's In Session!

Well, as many of you already know, I'm spending time getting my house ready for our new arrival,
creating a nursery, buying baby furniture, etc.  I knew about all of this ahead of time.  I am enjoying the
remodeling, and I am bearing the many trips to "Baby-(insert any word here)" stores to search for that
perfect crib.  (And they wonder why men hate to shop).  Anyway, my wife informed me a while back
that we needed to sign up for classes.

WHAT! I graduated from high school and college not too many years ago and I vowed never to return.
(I suppose I've softened a bit, but still.) She explained that we needed to learn techniques, refresh our
CPR knowledge, blah, blah, blah.  This did not sound like fun to me.

Someone wiser than I told me the future father who endured the shopping, and answered "yes" to the
endless questions, and took the high road would not regret doing so. Well, we signed up for classes,
even though they will take me away from the GOCUG meetings this month and next.  I'll be there for
my wife in class, at least until they start replaying the delivery video.

While I am away, I challenge all of you to follow in my footsteps.  No, I'm not suggesting a bumper
crop of children, any major remodeling of your home, or a killer shopping spree. I am speaking of
education.  A child is new territory for me, so classes don't seem out of line, but education isn't just for
new topics.

I challenge you to further your education on the Commodore or computers in general this year.  For the
adventurous, consider a class at the local college or university on any number of computer topics. Sure,
they won't cater to the Commodore owner, but don't discount the information solely on platform usage. 
For the folks who learn by doing, grab a good book or a new software program and start learning. 
Formal education isn't for everyone, but everyone has a style that works fr them.  Find yours and learn
something new about your computer this year.

In this era of 32 bit Pentium II machines with plug-and-play hardware and zero-administration
software, many users treat computers like toasters: no education needed and throw it away when it
breaks. However, we're not there yet, and today's PC is hard to understand completely.  Commodore
enthusiasts can celebrate the fact that our platform is "mature" and well documented, software
compatibility is likewise well understood, and users can troubleshoot their own systems instead of
pitching them into the trash.

However, you can't enjoy this fact if you've decided you know everything about your computer.
Developers update existing software and create new software with new features to learn and put to
work.  Some folks continue to uncover new secrets about this 15+ year old technology and document
them.

Please take up my challenge to become more knowledgeable on your computer system.  If you didn't
heed my suggestion last month to go enjoy the great outdoors, consider starting your education today.
As for me, I'll see if they can upgrade our child with the "toilet-trained" feature. 

(Jim Brain is the Intranet Systems Supervisor at  jim_brain@csgsystems.com (402) 431-7754.)

Via The Commodore Information Center web site (http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)