What would we be doing now?

I saw on Facebook that 27 years ago today, the fist Macintosh home computer was available for purchase. Which reminded me of this story.

A couple of weeks ago Bentley was either a) begging to play the iPad or b) whining that he doesn't have an iPad of his own. He asked Chod if he had his own iPad when he was 5.

Of course Chod answered no.

Bentley was surprised, "Why not?"

"When I was 5 we didn't even have a computer. It wasn't until I was 6 that the first home computer was even available. Before that computers were huge and you had to use punch cards on them. When I got my computer merit badge we used the computers at Ricks College that used the punch cards."

The story continued with more nerdy details than I can remember, but it confirms that Chod has always been a geek.

My parents may have had to walk to school uphill, both directions, in the snow. But Bentley's dad had it rough too, he grew up without an iPad. And he was alive when BYUIdaho was still Rick's College.

Wow. He's old.

Just think, if it wasn't for that first computer 27 years ago, there would be no iPad.

Computer Hacking Skills

Right now, Chod is hands down that smartest person in the house when it comes to computers. But I'm just counting down the years until Bentley passes him and takes over the title.

Bentley loves to play on computers, but not games like you would suspect.

No, he likes to play on the desktop. Trashing icons, renaming icons, making aliases of icons, rearranging, and essentially making a mess of our computer. More than once I've had to turn to our backup to undo the mess he has created.

Our computer is now password protected from the 4 year old.

This morning I was warning Chod that he needs to step up his game if he is going to remain smarter than Bentley. Chod insists he'll always know more. But I'm pretty sure before long he'll be calling Bentley and saying, "I know you showed me how to do (fill in the blank) but I don't remember how." And Bentley will sigh and impatiently remind his dad what needs to happen. Chod denies it's possibility, but I can see it now.

Printer Problems

Over the past 3 days I have been trying to get Tameka's graduation announcements printed. But our printer has been doing crazy things. After three hours on the phone yesterday with Epson support and countless times of deleting and re-installing drivers, they suggested I get a new USB cable. The problem happens using different programs, and different files. They were insistent that it had to be either a software problem, or a connection problem.

Last night, with a new USB cable, I thought, "Mmmm, if I use the laptop then all of these crazy problems should be avoided."

But nope. The stupid printer did it again. This time using a different operating system and everything.

I am beginning to think it is a printer problem.

You pick the caption

What is really going on in this picture:

A) Bentley logged onto watch his ticker Tuesday morning (a trick he learned from Uncle Troy) and just noticed that the stock market is crazy.

B) Bentley learned a new hacking trick from his dad and is showing off his stuff.

C) He's pretty much enjoying the day "working" from home. If only you could see the donut sitting off to the side.