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Life With A PuterGeek

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You may think I have it really easy having my own PuterGeek.  Yes and no.  Here's a little background for you. I had a computer class in high school which, to be honest, was pretty useless since it was 1984-5 and computers were just really starting to come into place.  I actually majored in Computer Science in college (for 1 semester) but found out I didn't like programming, I just wanted to use the thing.  Jump to 1994(?), Peter's brother, Tom, had been into computers for a least 10 years, but he was strictly a DOS, BBS, and gaming person and Peter's only person he could turn to for help.

We tried a Nintendo and Sega but Peter wanted the games like Tom was playing.  So Peter and Tom went to Best Buy and since Peter had no clue what to buy, Tom helped him pick a laptop: an Acer 486 DX2 50 with 4 megs of RAM (memory) and a 420 meg hard drive and no CD-Rom (they weren't out yet) and no sound card.  Tom thought this was really good and that this would be all the computer Peter would need to get into gaming! (Boy, have times changed!)  Peter brings it home, reads the manuals, gets Tom's help and off he goes computering.

Well, Peter fubared the laptop and called Acer many times but what usually happened was when he got off the phone with "tech support", the laptop was in worse condition than when he first called.  You don't know how many times he tried to install Win 3.1...and reinstall DOS...and back to Win 3.1...and back to DOS.  I didn't really think anything of it.  I was just glad that he'd have something else to occupy his time so I could have the TV all to myself!  So Peter gets really ticked - tech support is supposed to help him so he figures he can't screw it up worse than them so he goes and gets some computer books and starts reading....this is how it all began.

Peter tried to get me interested in the laptop but I was fine reading or watching TV while he tinkered with it.  But then he told me that solitaire came with the computer. OH BOY!  No more shuffling cards!  So I started playing solitaire when he wasn't using the computer.  Peter had some games and he wanted to show me them while he was playing (Zzzzz).  Ok, I watched and boy, was that fun. (sarcasm there)  The game was Heroes of Might and Magic.  Well, he kept bugging me "Why don't you play a real game?"  I told him, I don't know how many times, "But I LIKE solitaire!".  So to keep my hubby happy, I started watching him play Heroes of Might and Magic (HOMM)...and I started thinking to myself, "Boy, that was a stupid move Peter, why didn't you do this...I could do better."  So I told him I'd like to play it....that was how it all started.

So now Peter and I have a dilemma....who gets to play HOMM?  We tried allocating computer time...didn't work.  HOMM was the first time I understood "Just one more turn!"  I could never understand why he was staying up until 3-4 in the morning.  Well, once I started playing it, I UNDERSTOOD.  And let me tell you, he thought it was so funny.  Well, here's where he got smart.

We had been sharing the computer for about a month when Peter said to me, "You know, if you let me get a new (little did he know that I realized that new=faster) computer, you could have this one!"  I himmed and hawed for about another month or so, finally got tired of not being able to play HOMM, and said yes, he could get another laptop.  Well, I played HOMM and started surfing the internet.  I didn't really know what genre of games I liked so I just played HOMM and card games and web surfed.  Then a game came out that released the beast inside of me....DIABLO. (hee hee, no pun intended there)  OH MY GOSH! I WAS HOOKED!

But this is the "rational" side of me...Peter bought the game first.  He said, "Amy! You gotta try this...we can play together!"  (This is where Peter learned how to setup a network.)  Of course, me being me, I said "No, that's ok I'm fine with what I'm doing".  I did look at the game while he was playing and saw dungeons and remembered Tom with his graph paper, making maps so he wouldn't get lost, and said to myself - "Ain't no way".

Well, Peter kept pestering me and pestering me and finally I said, "Don't we have to buy another copy? What if I don't like it?".  That's when I learned about spawning:  we both installed the game, one person on the LAN (Local Area Network) had to have the CD in their CD Rom and they had to start the multiplayer game and then I would just join without a CD...that took care of not having to buy another copy...for now.  So we started the game and down into level 1 we go - we're hackin' and slashin' and really going at it.  He asked me about 5 minutes into it if I liked it...I told him just give me some more time.  Well, 10 minutes later I turned to him and said, "Let's go to Best Buy"....and this started my gaming experience.

As I re-read what I've just written, I have to laugh at myself.  I mean, this is REALLY how it went.  I would be fine doing what I was doing and Peter would have to practically drag/force me into something new.  All I can say in my defense is that I just had no clue as to what area of computering (is that a real word?) I wanted to go into.  Plus, being a newbie, I didn't want to mess up the computer.  I saw how much effort it was for Peter to reinstall Windows and I didn't want to get him mad at me.  I knew that I wouldn't fubar the computer just by hitting keys, I was afraid of installing and deleting things that shouldn't be deleted (that'll be another topic...believe me!).  I didn't fubar my own computer until a few years later.  I was lucky, I had my own guru/helpme person right there.  

Well, to continue.  Peter got a desktop system right before we got off the road.  We saved and saved because our income would go down once we got townie jobs so we got the best we could afford - a Pentium 166MMX with 64 megs of RAM, a 4.3 gig hard drive, a Sound Blaster 16 sound card, a 16x CD Rom,  a 4meg video card, and a 15" monitor...all for the low price of $2500.  (A big difference from what he has today - a PIII-600, 256 megs of ECC RAM, a 9.1 gig 10,000 rpm SCSI hard drive, SCSI: 20x CD Rom and an 8x CD-R, a 32 meg TNT2 Ultra video card, a Monster MX-300 sound card, and a 19" monitor and a bunch of other stuff).

I traded my laptop for Tom's desktop since he just learned how to drive a truck and needed a laptop.  (I won't tell you what it was besides it had a Cyrix PR150+ chip...which isn't very good).  Well, as you know, computer hardware keeps getting better and better and you're constantly upgrading...especially if you're a gamer, which we are.  But try to upgrade two computers at the same time.  It's very hard.  So what we did was that Peter would get the new parts and I would get his hand-me-downs.  I always thought I got the short end here but in reality, I got the best end because all the components were tested and worked well with each other.  We went through a few incompatibilities but it was on Peter's system. (ha ha)  This was also how he learned.

He finally decided to be really wonderful and got me a new system from a major computer manufacturer last year...never again...Why you ask?...read all about it here.  So now I'm content to take his hand-me-downs although since I have a PIII-600, it should be awhile (I hope) and when I get the "I feel the need...for more speed" bug, I'll take the good (what few there are) parts out of my existing system and build one.

But anyway, my computer experience has been in steps, first solitaire, then HOMM, then Diablo, then Quake II, (see how it's progressing...video video video), Half-Life, The Sims, Roller Coaster Tycoon (LOVE IT), and Quake III.  Peter saw Quake II and didn't like it because it was a "twitch" game and it was awkward using the keyboard to move around.  When he was working at Quality Computers, I would drop him off at work on Saturday mornings.  This one morning, they had Quake II installed on a system for sale and I wanted to try it.  I did and thank goodness Larry (sales guy) taught me God-mode (I was really stuck and kept dying) and I liked it! (I would spend an hour there playing it and it threw off my whole schedule for the day so then I would show up an hour early and play it some more!)

We went out and bought it and learned about the online-multiplayer and LAN part and thought it would be neat to play together.  Well, using the keyboard arrow keys was a pain but I just kept at it but not Peter.  He thought it could be fun so he went online and started researching the game and found some sites that talked about  remapping the keyboard.  He kept reading and reading and finally got it so we were tweaking our autoexec.cfg like writing a letter.  Once we got it down, that started our Quake-a-thons and we eventually started our own server.  If it wasn't for Peter, we wouldn't be Quaking like we do now...and think about what we would be missing!  

Actually, if it wasn't for Peter, I most likely wouldn't be into computers at all.  It's a blessing in disguise.  When we go home for time off, the first thing we do once we get in the door is fire up the computers.  Gotta check that email right away!!  Now, I have laundry to catch up on, errands to run, and a house to clean but let me tell you, if I could afford it, I'd hire someone to do that stuff so I could stay on my computer.  It's hard to make time to do all the things I should be doing.  But doggone it, I gotta check my mail, read my web pages, check for new software/shareware, get more mp3's, chat, and play Family Feud!

And as for my lovely husband, it's not 30 minutes after we get home when the phone starts ringing.  People check his PeterCam to see if he's home and when they see him in front of his computer, the phone starts ringing.  So one of the first things we do when we get in the door, is go over what things he needs picked up at the store so I can get my list done right away.  Although, lately we just order pizza delivery and do our lists later that night!  Now some of you may feel sorry for me...I can hear your sniffles from here!  But don't.  When he's on the phone, I'm left to do whatever I want without interruption.  

One other thing.  I hear from PuterGeek that there are some men that have, how do I say this delicately, a problem getting time or parts for their computers because their better-half either thinks it's a waste of time or just a low priority.  Now of course, people need to take care of their responsibilities.  We can't forget to pay bills, especially the phone bill because how else can you get online (unless you have a cable modem like us, then it's the cable bill).  So what's a guy to do?  Get your better-half involved into computers!  Find an area that the other person has an interest in.  Don't have him/her look at a web page on golf when they have no interest.  Show them all the different things you can do on a computer and once they get interested, encourage them and pretty soon, you'll have created a monster.  But remember, that monster will say yes to computer parts and software when they know they will get things in return.  But also heed this warning, you may have to put a load of clothes in the washer/dryer or fix dinner because he/she is too busy or involved in the project they are on from time to time.

I better wrap this up. (You're still here right?...GOOD! Thanx!)  I guess you could say I'm not a newbie anymore.  I'm still pretty ignorant in some areas but I'm learning and still having fun.  I've made quite a few mistakes but it's all part of learning.  You won't learn to make your computer "your own" until you tweak it, break it, fix it, and break it some more.  I do have to say that I can wipe and reinstall Windows without Peter's constant supervision.  He used to sit beside me and tell me the steps.  But now, (honest to God he did this) the last time I had to wipe and reinstall, he told me "Go to my boot disk, install, and performance tweaking pages and call me when you're done".  What a guy :-)  But guess what?  IT WORKED.  So listen when I say...read those pages and you too, can fix your system when you fubar it.

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Last Revised: 10/27/2000

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Thanks for the help Thomas!