Ancestry & Inventions
Ava, it might be hard to imagine what a short period of time things you grew up with just did not exist that long ago. Your oldest living relative to my knowledge is your Great Grandmother (Clark) Konichek who turned 94 years old last July 28th, 2017 when you were ten days short of 7 months old. So Great Grandmother Konichek was born in the summer of 1923. In 1923 there were no cell phones, no computers, no microwaves, no TV's, no flush toilets, no radio and cars were just becoming affordable.
Let's start with your mother & father and see what common things have came about in their lifetime that has changed their lives. When your mother was in high school your grandparents (me) probably got our first cell phone that did not do much but allow you to make phone calls. Your mother probably got her first cell phone when she started college in Whitewater, WI. I know she had a cell phone as a sophomore because your 1st cousin once removed, Megan, and your mother witnessed an auto accident coming home from college one evening and your mother was driving so she woke Megan and asked her to call 911. Megan, not fully awake replied, "How do you call 911?" Remember, your Uncle Aaron is five years younger than his sister (your mother) so he probably obtained his first cell phone in high school. It was your mother, father, and Uncle Aaron that convinced Grandma & I to get rid of our land line telephone since we were already paying for the cell phones. There are neighbors back in our old neighborhood who still just have a land line and no cell phones. Forms filled out today may still ask for a home phone number (land line) and a cell phone number. Companies still advertize getting unlimited calling for land lines but by the time you are old enough to read this, land lines may just be a thing of the past.
In 1978 -79 school year I received my first computer as a teacher at Pittsville H.S. in Wisconsin. Interest rates at the time were the highest by far in history as 15% - 16% interest was not uncommon and on top of that my schools principal found an add in the Milwaukee paper that if you started an account with at least $1500 that you's get a Radio Shack Model I computer for free. So the principal asked me if I wanted two computers and started two accounts with previous class funds. The computers back then had no software other than DOS (disk operating system) and the BASIC computer language. I added a unit in my Geometry classes both in 1978 & 1979 teaching them some basic BASIC Programming computer language. I had taught myself how to program at the time.
I switched schools in 1980 and the new school I was at (Assumption High School) just had two Radio Shack computers when I started teaching there. A mathematics teacher had a computer class in a closet size room with them. In 1981-82 the mathematics teacher put me in charge of them because she did not understand how to fix all the problems with the printer & cassessette data storage that she was always calling on me to fix her problems with the computers. Your mother was born late in 1984 so by 1988-1989 I had sixteen Model III Radio Shack computers networked to one with a 5.25 floppy disk drive (all the money to buy these I raised with the help of my computer students selling ice cream treats after school and having all school computer matching dances. Your mother would help me by loading software in each of the computers after school. By the time Uncle Aaron was in the Montessori on the 3rd floor of Assumption H.S. (like your mother was before him) I had changed all the computers over to IBM compatible (cheaper than the IBM computers) and the old Radio Shack computers were upstairs in the Montessori for the pre-kindergarten teachers to use. When Uncle Aarons teachers had problems with the computers, Uncle Aaron, (even though he was only 3 or 4 years old) would fix the computer problems for his teachers as he always helped me with the computers in my classroom and upstairs (like his sister, your mother, did before him).
Let's start with your mother & father and see what common things have came about in their lifetime that has changed their lives. When your mother was in high school your grandparents (me) probably got our first cell phone that did not do much but allow you to make phone calls. Your mother probably got her first cell phone when she started college in Whitewater, WI. I know she had a cell phone as a sophomore because your 1st cousin once removed, Megan, and your mother witnessed an auto accident coming home from college one evening and your mother was driving so she woke Megan and asked her to call 911. Megan, not fully awake replied, "How do you call 911?" Remember, your Uncle Aaron is five years younger than his sister (your mother) so he probably obtained his first cell phone in high school. It was your mother, father, and Uncle Aaron that convinced Grandma & I to get rid of our land line telephone since we were already paying for the cell phones. There are neighbors back in our old neighborhood who still just have a land line and no cell phones. Forms filled out today may still ask for a home phone number (land line) and a cell phone number. Companies still advertize getting unlimited calling for land lines but by the time you are old enough to read this, land lines may just be a thing of the past.
In 1978 -79 school year I received my first computer as a teacher at Pittsville H.S. in Wisconsin. Interest rates at the time were the highest by far in history as 15% - 16% interest was not uncommon and on top of that my schools principal found an add in the Milwaukee paper that if you started an account with at least $1500 that you's get a Radio Shack Model I computer for free. So the principal asked me if I wanted two computers and started two accounts with previous class funds. The computers back then had no software other than DOS (disk operating system) and the BASIC computer language. I added a unit in my Geometry classes both in 1978 & 1979 teaching them some basic BASIC Programming computer language. I had taught myself how to program at the time.
I switched schools in 1980 and the new school I was at (Assumption High School) just had two Radio Shack computers when I started teaching there. A mathematics teacher had a computer class in a closet size room with them. In 1981-82 the mathematics teacher put me in charge of them because she did not understand how to fix all the problems with the printer & cassessette data storage that she was always calling on me to fix her problems with the computers. Your mother was born late in 1984 so by 1988-1989 I had sixteen Model III Radio Shack computers networked to one with a 5.25 floppy disk drive (all the money to buy these I raised with the help of my computer students selling ice cream treats after school and having all school computer matching dances. Your mother would help me by loading software in each of the computers after school. By the time Uncle Aaron was in the Montessori on the 3rd floor of Assumption H.S. (like your mother was before him) I had changed all the computers over to IBM compatible (cheaper than the IBM computers) and the old Radio Shack computers were upstairs in the Montessori for the pre-kindergarten teachers to use. When Uncle Aarons teachers had problems with the computers, Uncle Aaron, (even though he was only 3 or 4 years old) would fix the computer problems for his teachers as he always helped me with the computers in my classroom and upstairs (like his sister, your mother, did before him).