i have these moments periodically, when i’m flipping between iTunes, Firefox, mail.app, NewsFire, Adium, etc, when i honestly can’t remember what working was like before exceptionally fast laptops and Internet connections. i literally can’t imagine doing the work that i do today, or living the life that i lead, without this stuff.
how’d we do research before?
how’d we schedule lunches?
how’d we figure out how to get anywhere in a foreign city?
how’d we keep up with what’s happening in a 2 year old friend in Philadelphia’s life? or his parents’?
i honestly can’t remember. i think that in the years since i got to Stanford (1989, 2 weeks before Loma Prieta) that something incredibly fundamental has taken place. a shift that’s impossible to get your head around. and it’s touching absolutely everything.
now & then i just have to pause and be amazed at it all.
John's Blog 
This was all predicted, coincidentally the year you entered Stanford.”Everything is different, but the same… things are more moderner than before… bigger, and yet smaller… it’s computers… San Dimas High School football rules!”- Ox, in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”via: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/quotes
This was all predicted, coincidentally the year you entered Stanford.
“Everything is different, but the same… things are more moderner than before… bigger, and yet smaller… it’s computers… San Dimas High School football rules!”
– Ox, in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”
via: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/quotes
It’s all changed. I marvel at how I was able to move through college, let alone exist, without a cell phone, a laptop with wifi and wireless broadband that never leaves my side, the ability to email someone outside of my immediate classes, being able to look anything up at any time or having the ability to even locate someone whose phone number you no longer had. I work in a college now where the students have all of these things by default. The web was available on campus in a few places my last year at UCSD but it wasn’t really commonly available until later. One of the roommates I had during the early 90s just went back and completed his degree at UCSD last year so I got to compare notes. The changes really are astounding.
It’s all changed. I marvel at how I was able to move through college, let alone exist, without a cell phone, a laptop with wifi and wireless broadband that never leaves my side, the ability to email someone outside of my immediate classes, being able to look anything up at any time or having the ability to even locate someone whose phone number you no longer had. I work in a college now where the students have all of these things by default. The web was available on campus in a few places my last year at UCSD but it wasn’t really commonly available until later. One of the roommates I had during the early 90s just went back and completed his degree at UCSD last year so I got to compare notes. The changes really are astounding.