I began writing as most of you did with paper and pencil. Although I do not really remember the process I do remember when I learned cursive writing. That was not an easy process for me. I remember getting a poor grade and that hurt my feelings.

When I got into the upper grades we were told to use a pen. I had a pen that you filled with ink. I remember trying to write an essay. The pen kept dropping blobs of ink and I would have to start over. The essay was for a contest. After many tries I gave up and pitched the thing in the garbage. The next day when I got to school the teacher told us that even if we were not entering the contest we had to write something about conservation. I went home and dug my old copy out of the garbage and tried again to get a clean copy. Eventually I succeeded. That essay won me third place in the districtwide contest.

Recently, I began thinking about how I started this whole writing process. I thought of the early days when I was at home. I used my mother’s portable Royal typewriter to do all of my work. It was not easy. The keys did not have a nice touch. You had to strike the keys hard. If you made a mistake you had to take a little piece of white paper and type over your error.

I traded in that model on a newer version during my college years. The touch on that was a little better, but it still worked hard. Eventually I traded that one for an electric typewriter.

I used the electric typewriter in the years that I did resumes and personal books. That was a whole new experience. If my fingers lingered a bit too long I soon had a whole line of gibberish. The personal books were completed from customer’s pictures. I took the pictures, wrote the text and put it together much like a scrapbook. I did books for shower gifts and wedding gifts. I did some for grandchildren. Each book was unique.

When the bank had an offer where if you deposited a certain way you got a computer I took advantage of that. My first computer was an Apple. When I was ready to upgrade I could find no way to read any of my disks so all of that was lost.

I purchased a PC and have been happy with the models that I had up until this last one. I have called for service more times than I ever called on the previous models. Each call involved several hours in front of the screen working with a technician that I could barely understand. Of course, they eventually helped me but it was a long arduous task.

When I first began to write for the newspaper I was recruited to cover township meetings. At that time there were four of them a month. Each township was unique and had its own set of problems. One township dealt with delinquent properties while another was putting in a sewer system.

At the meetings I took copious notes that I developed into an article at home. The next morning I called the paper and dictated the article to a typist who frequently reminded me to give all details in case someone had not read the previous piece. More than once I lost my voice to laryngitis and was unable to dictate. My husband was my stand-in. He read the piece with me standing looking over his shoulder to make sure he got it the way I intended.

When I began doing features for the paper I was printing off my photos and mailing them in. By then I had a fax machine so I could fax the text to them.

I remember telling a clerk in the store I wanted a camera where I could send my photos to newspapers. At that time they were not available. I was simply ahead of my time looking for something that did not exist.

Finally, I hooked up to the Internet with a dial-up modem. I limped along with that for a long time. To say I was overjoyed when wireless technology became available was an understatement. Now I find that is not sufficient either. Today I spent several hours waiting for a program to download so that I could use it. It began to download at 10:30 a.m. and did not finish until early evening. I would say that is unacceptable. I will deal with the Internet provider after I get the program installed.

I am at a loss at this point. The Internet provider told me that the connection is working properly yet I cannot access my e-mail or use it. I am back to using another device until I get things straightened out.

Technology is wonderful — when it is working! When it is not working it is terrible. Thanks for letting me vent a little.