Careful where you put that CD

I studied a Bachelor of Applied Science degree majoring in Biology at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University) from 1981 to 1983 (aged 17 to 20).

We used floppy disks in computers and magnetic tape on cassette recorders for computer programmes, or rather, I let my team members roll the tape and record statistics on the tape.

The only computing at Uni that I loved was using an awesome Macintosh standalone computer to run a programme called SODA, which means Sole Online Dietary Analysis.

I had to enter into this programme, everything that I ate and drank for a week and assess the nutrient value, and the results weren’t what they should be!

My twin sister studied Information Processing and during our last one and a half years we lived in the Student accommodation, just an oval or two away from the Uni buildings.

My sister would get up super early and march over to her Building with me excitedly in tow as an interested observer and a helpful assistant. She would collect print-outs from huge dot-matrix printers.

It wasn’t until we were about to leave Uni, that Compact Discs containing huge amounts of information regularly appeared.

Some months after graduating we were at the Uni library and I remember staring with awe at the array of CDs now neatly stocked and available for loan.

Work-wise I moved from the Australian Public Service where we used data entry programmes, and in 1993 switched to Windows 3.11 which scared and worried a lot of my colleagues.

I love using software and writing technical instructions and jumped in eagerly to try out the Windows Operating Systems.

In 2001 I moved to the Western Australian Public Sector and tried desperately to record over a Digital Video Disk or DVD using my own work computer. I attempted this for weeks, getting more annoyed by the day.

I remember one day vehemently telling a person who had computer-smarts that the computer was rubbish because it wouldn’t record onto my DVD.

She calmly informed me that my computer only had a function that would read DVDs and not record or save information onto DVDs.

Well, imagine my astonishment that such a thing was possible! What, you had to have a device that could not only read but could write, and it was possible to have a computing machine that only READS information from those silvery round platters!! 😲

In 2003 I set up my first personal website Peace in Practice, which I designed, typed out and arranged, and uploaded myself to the WWW (World Wide Web).

I love to be creative, and love researching, reading and writing, and sharing and supporting others.

I familiarized myself with “code” or HTML and looked at the Source code behind other websites, and pinched some elements from other sites, like marquees.

One day in setting myself up for this great journey in Life, which well and truly started my blogging adventures and my forays into online Forums or Discussion Boards, I enrolled in a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) course on HTML.

HTML means Hypertext Mark-up Language and is the set of instructions that a computer’s browser (i.e. software which displays things) will render visible as readable forms on a screen.

There I was in the classroom, holding onto my computer’s mouse for dear life, even when the instructor told us we wouldn’t need to use the Mouse for the next section.

“Celine, let go of the mouse!” at the instructor’s firm command, I reluctantly released my grip on my beloved mouse, which I had got so used to using with the Window OS.

Then I was just about to do the unthinkable.

The teacher shouted, “Celine don’t put the CD into the floppy disk drive!!”

Boy, was I bewildered. What, I thought, there’s a floppy disk drive and a CD drive, what next?? 😢

All the other students had happily put their CD into the correct slot but I was trying to push mine into where it shouldn’t go!

I was shown which slot it should go into, and sheepish that I didn’t know which was which or even that my machine had both.

You live and learn. I did, and nowadays one doesn’t have to worry about Floppy Disk drives because they are skeletons from the past.

I have two computers and an iPad at home now, a Verizon Desktop PC with a big screen, on which I do most of my computer work; and a Think-pad laptop.

The days of the past when I didn’t know a DVD Writer from a Reader or a Floppy Disk drive from a CD drive have gone, and I now consider myself fairly expert with using PCs at home and work, and using my iPad.

No more shoving shiny silver platters where they don’t belong!

About the Author

Celine Lai was born in Malaya (not Malaysia) and is the oldest inter-country adopted person in Australia. She loves reading and writing, and runs WordPress blogs and writes technical documents. She blogs mainly on Fascinating Animals.

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