[speaker001:] well Nancy what kind of a personal computer do you have
[speaker002:] uh we still have an old uh Texas Instruments Professional Computer back in the days when TI was making uh computers that were similar to in terms of power to the IBM I don't remember what those were the ATs or something like that or
[speaker001:] something like that yeah I have one of those too
[speaker002:] way back when I don't know where to get any new software for it unfortunately so we just sort of stumble on using the same stuff that we always have
[speaker001:] yeah do you use computers at work or
[speaker002:] um well I used to I have a Master's degree in computer science but I haven't I I took a time out on careers about
[speaker001:] uh-huh so do I
[speaker002:] six years ago when my first one turned a year old and
[speaker001:] I see
[speaker002:] so nowadays I'm teaching him at home and we're using the computer to drill him on math and to let him do some creative writing without having to have uh uh the mechanics of handwriting get in the way of his words this way he can he this way he just has to hunt and peck on the keyboard I have to admit I'd like a
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] a more logical arrangement of the letters and uh what do they call it the Cortiope or something
[speaker001:] something like that
[speaker002:] arrangement
[speaker001:] oh do you use your computer for other things balancing checkbooks do you keep budgets and that sort of thing in it or
[speaker002:] um we haven't for we ended up uh actually just sort of keeping it in the closet for a number of years isn't that a terrible statement people who are we're pretty involved with computers in all sorts of other aspects but um I guess I wanted something that was easier to use than this and that was more intuitive and so we just it just ended up not not getting used I should use it to balance my checkbook but then you have to remember to write it down
[speaker001:] that's right that's right well mine mine kind of died so it's being worked on right now
[speaker002:] or enter it oh my where do you find a place to work on a TI
[speaker001:] I found a technician who works at TI
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and does things like that in his spare time
[speaker002:] well that's nice to know that there are still such people around
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah but I most of the stuff I've used that computer for were work related just bringing work home
[speaker002:] yeah well I used to do that I'd used it um until as I say until I took a hiatus hiatus from working I used to to uh trying to think of what you call it I I used it essentially as a terminal then
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know and
[speaker001:] yeah I've done a lot of that
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] and I suspect most people do uh use them as terminals or have a spreadsheet and a word processor and that's about it
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] what else do you need right
[speaker002:] well my kids think I should have games
[speaker001:] well that's probably true
[speaker002:] on top of games on top of games and of course we don't have any I keep telling them well you know just learn how to program
[speaker001:] yeah write your own games right
[speaker002:] write your own games yeah I just
[speaker001:] the computer I work have at work came with uh Windows software and it has a couple of games on it one of which is a solitaire just
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] just standard card solitaire
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but the graphics are so incredible and you can choose what you want the deck of cards to look like you know you can have flowers on the back of them or fishes or oh yes or a robot who has a little gauge that moves in his tummy and
[speaker002:] oh really  uh
[speaker001:] I just I just happened to stumble across that of course I don't play games at work right
[speaker002:] no who would do something like that but uh yeah we have basically we use the WordStar on it
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know for a bunch of I'm taking a class now and um I'm actually getting a degree in nursing at this point and I asked the and the class I'm taking now all of a sudden they want everything typed till now everything's been handwritten so it was a good thing that the computer was back up and running hooked the printer up to it
[speaker001:] that's right I was going to say you must have a printer then
[speaker002:] right right well I couldn't figure out how to it's been a while since I've gotten it going all right so I tried to hook the printer up and I was sure I put all the
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] connectors in right and everything and had checked to make sure the pins were all facing the right way and I couldn't get the computer to recognize that there was a printer there to save my life and so I was like oh this thing doesn't work and we've lost the you know we've lost the install software documentation what am I supposed to do so my husband took it in to work