POST // 005 - Overhaul

While we were still using the Apple IIe at home, my middle school classrooms had switched to the original Macintosh computers a few years prior, so having a graphical interface no longer felt strange. We were used to using Macintosh computers and their operating systems. We'd use them to create images for presentations and type reports. Meanwhile, the Apple IIe sitting at home had become outdated.

One day after school my dad asked me if I wanted to get a new computer and I, obviously, said yes. The only place close to our house to buy Apple products was about 120 miles away, in the next state. Team Electronics in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

We knew the drive well because my grandparents and a lot of my aunts and uncles lived in the surrounding area. They were farmers, and my grandfather had even been named a Master Farmer and received an award for it. We'd been making that drive to visit family for as long as I could remember. My dad always took the same route there and back, so we knew the roads pretty well. My dad and I also had another reason we were very familiar with crossing the North Dakota border.

Fireworks.

Minnesota didn't let you have the good stuff, but North Dakota, at the time, would let you buy almost anything. For the previous three years, sometime around the last week of June, my dad and I would make the drive to Generous Jerry's Fireworks and buy an obscene amount of fireworks. Jerry was, in fact, very generous. He'd give away soda and snacks while you were there shopping for explosives. I remember one time Jerry came up to us and introduced himself and followed it up with a question.

"Does THE BOY want a cold POP?" he asked, pointing toward the coolers.

My dad looked at me, waiting for a response. I said, "Sure, I'll have a Mountain Dew."

My dad turned back to Jerry.

"THE BOY would like a Mountain Dew!"

Why is everyone talking about me like I'm not standing right here?

A few moments later Jerry came back with a cold Mountain Dew, handed it to my dad, and announced, "Here's THE BOY'S cold POP!"

For the rest of the time we were there, Jerry continued to refer to me simply as "The Boy." My dad thought this was fun.

To this day, when my dad asks me if I want something to drink, he'll still ask, "Does THE BOY want a cold POP?"

My dad had a white Dodge Dakota with little hidden storage wells underneath each of the back seats. We'd lift up the seats, open the compartments, and load them up. I dubbed them the "Smuggler's Compartments."

The problem was getting back into Minnesota. Right around the North Dakota/Minnesota border, the Minnesota State Patrol would sometimes be waiting for people coming back across. They'd stop motorists, ask a few questions, and look for illegal fireworks.

I remember one year seeing them ahead of us and my dad saying, "We're going to have to stop and talk to them."

I looked at him. "I don't know... fly casual."

We pulled up and the state trooper leaned toward the window.

"Where are you coming from?"

"My in-laws live here," my dad said.

True.

The trooper looked at him. "Bringing back any fireworks?"

My dad looked back at him. "Isn't that illegal?"

Also true.

The trooper paused for a second.

"Yep."

Then he waved us through. "Carry on."

And off we went, with the Smuggler's Well underneath the back seat packed with an obscene amount of fireworks.

So, the drive to Grand Forks wasn't anything new, but this trip was different. Later that week, I was allowed to take a day off from school to go with my dad to Team Electronics and get a new computer.

Did he call ahead to make sure they had any? No clue.

That morning was a very exciting morning for me. We got up relatively early, my mom went to work, and my dad and I set off on our journey to get this thing. We stopped along the way for snacks and arrived in Grand Forks a few hours later. I remember walking into Team Electronics and just thinking that this must be the Mecca of Apple stuff.

Oh... the money I could have spent!

We talked to the salesperson and discussed what the computer was going to be used for. What it was going to be used for? Ahhh, sir... what won't it be used for!?

In reality, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. My dad said schoolwork, writing reports, and learning. I guess it made sense why he wanted to get us a new computer. Those were all the things we couldn't really do with the Apple IIe at that time.

It wouldn't have been a good sale if we didn't buy something we didn't know we needed... a printer. When all was said and done, we settled on the Macintosh LC III computer, a nice Apple monitor, and the classic Apple StyleWriter II black-and-white inkjet printer.

There was just one problem. We'd have to come back next Friday to pick it up because it wasn't in stock. The drive back home was a little bittersweet, but next Friday I'd have a new computer.

The following Friday I had another day off from school!

We set off again for Grand Forks, making the same familiar drive we'd made so many times before. Somewhere along the highway there was a man walking along the side of the road. As we came up behind him, he put his arm out with his thumb up. He was looking for a ride.

My dad started slowing down as we passed him and I'm sitting there thinking, Ahhhh, what are we doing!? My dad looked at me and said, "Watch this."

He pulled the truck onto the shoulder and stopped maybe 25 yards ahead of the guy. I'm watching in the side mirror as this guy starts running up behind the truck. He gets maybe five or six yards away and my dad guns it. We go peeling down the highway as my dad starts laughing hysterically.

I hear him yell, "You son of a bitch!" and he throws something at us. I hear it bounce off the back of the truck.

Then he looks at me and says, "That's funny, but don't ever do it! It's not nice, and the time you try to do it your car will break down ten feet into your getaway and he'll catch up to you and kill you!"

Then he started laughing again.

We made it to Team Electronics, picked everything up, and drove it back home. Finally, we brought the boxes inside and got everything organized and situated, and that's when the real work started.

Buying a new computer is great, but you always forget that you have to disconnect everything from the old computer and figure out where you're going to put all that stuff. Then you have to open the new boxes and unpack the new stuff and connect everything and then does everything fit on the desk the same way? Are the cords long enough? What else did you forget?

It's a process when all you want to do is play with your new computer!

We decided that we no longer needed the word processor now that we had the Macintosh and the printer too. I got everything swapped out and set up and struggled with the printer for a few minutes, but that eventually worked too. My dad loaded up the old hardware and I have no idea where it went. Hopefully someone else was able to use it.

I sat there for a few minutes in front of this new Macintosh computer. Graphical interface, applications pre-loaded, things to do. What an exciting time. Now I just needed more software to run on this thing.

There was some pretty cool software that I was learning how to use at school for a class that I was in, but how do I get it?

It wasn't long after we got the new computer that we started getting disks in the mail from America Online and you can be absolutely sure that I saved those disks, peeled off the sticker, and reformatted them. Free disks!

I was also curious about what America Online was and how it worked. There was just one problem... America Online wasn't free.