I’ve been reading and writing (and criticizing) since I was 4.

In high school I did journalism and public speaking. In college, journalism and classical languages. When at loose ends, I produced newsletters, flyers, programs for funerals and other events.

Then I enlisted: more newsletters and programs, certificates and training aids, policy documents and briefings. And college. “You take too many classes,” said the First Sergeant.

After 12 years in the Cold War Army, I took an exit bonus, came home and went to work as a presentation specialist in the investment banking industry; that was the era of mergers and acquisitions. Meanwhile, I used Montgomery GI Bill benefits to earn a certificate in Desktop Publishing from Pratt Institute. I rooted around in the networks to see what interesting things I could learn. Scanning text, using proofing tools in different languages, making maps…

One day, the Towers came down, and the investment banking industry slid into the doldrums. I retired, but there was always a friend who needed a proofreader or a church that needed funeral programs, or me wanting to digitize my collection of Balkan folksongs and other World Music, design embroidery projects and quilt blocks, etc.

I plan to spend my golden years indulging in traditional fiber crafts and office technology. I can learn anything if you give me the manual, especially if it’s a machine that will make a clerk’s life less tedious. From mimeograph and telefax machines to a 4” cube that holds 24 terabytes of memory (I’m making what the geeks call a “home lab”) and a comfortable professional relationship with my CoPilot, I can be fascinated by anything that involves sitting at a computer all day. My current interests are GIS mapping and vector graphics. I do believe that since AI can’t generate vector graphic files, no matter what ChatGPT may tell you, there will be gig work for vector operators for the foreseeable future. I’m also keeping an eye on quantum computing wondering if it will have any office applications.

All this is to say that while I may not be able to demonstrate currency in BASIC any more than I can demonstrate currency in Attic Greek; having been introduced to the principles of data processing when dinosaurs ruled the earth, and all topics in computer science are special topics to me, I do keep up with the technology, so I can best demonstrate currency by discussing what I do now that grew out of what I did then.