"What can you do with it?" another colleague asked me back then. Well, right away it proved a great writing and editing tool. Within a year, after I got a telephone modem and email address, it also proved a good way for me to connect with other techies who shared my interests in soccer and cars.
By 1989, my boss asked me to bring our department into the computer age. Happily, I obliged. To the dismay of the information technology department, which to that point had only provided work stations to secretaries (and still considered Apple computers a hobbyist toy), I specified and arranged the purchase of a network of Macintosh computers for our team. To this day, my former boss considers it my legacy.
In the early 1990s, the prospect of working with Macintosh rather than IBM computers was a factor in my decision to choose one new employer over another. When that company eventually decided to standardize on computers running Windows, I answered many of my colleagues' questions about them. As I snidely pointed out, "Windows is just an imitation of the Macintosh operating system -- and I know how it's done on a Mac."
In early 2002, I bought an original click wheel iPod. My eldest son, a high school sophomore at the time, asked, "What can you do with it?" Within a few months, the iPod was more often in his hands than mine -- I had to ask him for it when I went away on business trips.
Of course, not all my favorite brands and products have caught on over the years. I've been a loyal customer of Puma athletic shoes since my high school days, though they've never subsequently approached the popularity of Adidas or Nike shoes. I was a big advocate of People Express in the 1980s before financial problems led to its integration with Continental Airlines in 1987. Dent- and rust-free plastic bodies on cars and minivans like those in a couple of Pontiacs I owned never did catch on, despite General Motors' efforts between the mid-1980s and '90s.
I think the Raveonettes are one of the best rock bands of the century, but they are so little known in this country that their U.S. "tour" this year consists of eight shows in nine nights (including two in Brooklyn next week). I remain a loyal New York Mets fan, but it's been several years since they were considered a "cool" baseball team. And, I still can't find my favorite brand of expresso coffee, El Pico, in my local supermarket.
I can, however, quickly compose an entire blog post on my new iPhone 6. Next year, perhaps I'll know when it's time to call it a day with a simple glance at my Apple Watch.
