I clearly remember my very first Internet experience. It was in a public library and I wanted to register to take the Jeopardy! test. Unfortunately, I lacked the required e-mail address - in fact, I was unsure what an e-mail address was - and the library helper was not interested in helping. My first Internet experience was an almost complete failure.
Then, about 6 months later, in early April 2006, I got my own computer through a group that was selling computer systems cheap to people who could not afford to buy regular computer systems. I suspect it was funded by Bill Gates. I had to sign a paper saying that I wouldn't sue them and I wouldn't use the computer for on-line gambling. I came home with a computer tower, a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, speakers, two discs, two pages of instructions, numerous cords and an ancient dot-matrix printer. (The printer was not part of the deal, but I smiled sweetly and the guy smiled back and gave it to me for free.)
I got everything hooked up, held my breath, pushed the on-button - and nothing happened. Nothing. Rereading the instructions, I found the button on the back of the tower. I pushed that, then again the start button. A red light and a green light came on. Victory! Well, not quite. That was all that happened. Then I realised that that button on the monitor screen was an on-button. I turned it on and got some sort of a screen. I don't remember what, but I do tremember that the next step was to load the security disc and the OS disc. I did those and Voila! I actually got something that looked sort of like the computer screen that I had seen at the library that day.
I was still not connected to the Internet, though. I followed the instruction paper, which was actually followable, to connect to NoCharge.com, a free dial-up Internet for where I live near Seattle. I waited impatiently while I heard the dial tone come on and then then numbers being punched in and then, after forever, there it was! The Internet! I do remember that I had to try several times until I got the telepone number right, so it would be a local call. Finally I made my first real Internet connexion, the only address I knew: "www.cbc.ca." I typed in those letters and there it was: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation right in my bedroom.
My equipment was antique, my operating system out-dated (Windows 98), my dial-up connexion was slow, but it worked! I connected to Google search - or it might have been Yahoo - and started searching. My first search was "Sikh." (Of course.) I had absolutely no knowledge of the delightfully anarchical structure of the Internet and immediately thought that Sikhnet must be the official Internet Sikh site, since it was the first entry and seemed to be everywhere. Of course, there really is no such thing as an official Internet site for a broad topic. I connected and thought, "What the heck?!" (My actual language would not pass the SPN censor.) I soon learned that either Sikhi had changed a lot in my 20 years absence (that's another story) or I had some sort of misunderstanding. What did kudalini yoga have to do with Sikhi? How was this "Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Yogi Harbhajan Singh Khalsa" guy both a yogi and a Sikh? Let me be gone from the Sangat for a few years and everything changes. Where were my beloved Gurus? A bit of research showed me that Sikhnet was an organisation and not some "official" Sikh site.
Relieved, I continued and eventually landed on Sikh Philosophy Network (SPN.) I found the name a bit intimindating - I am not a philosopher - but I read through a lot posts and realised that a lot of the people here were no more philosophers than I was! One problem was solved, but another remained.
I still had no e-mail. I had tried the Outlook Express on my computer, but couldn't get it to work. I never have, to this day! I had no one to ask and no idea what to do. (Now, of course, I know just to stick it into a Google search. How obvious are these things once you know the answer.) I was thinking what to do when---
A DISASTER! I had a major stroke and disappeared from the computer scene for a while. In fact, I nearly disappeared from life on earth entirely. But I am a fighter and I didn't give up.
When I came back, I could type only with one hand, I had trouble eating and drinking and I was very, very confused about everything. I had also lost all knowledge of Gurmukhi and the Punjabi language. (I have since learned that it not all that unusual for a multilingual stroke survivor to lose an entire language. Who knew?) With the only Punjabi word I could remember - Waheguru - I rebuilt some of my knowledge. Somewhere during this time I reconnected and registered with SPN and gingerly started trying to share and clear up some of my confusion. My 5 surviving brothers - two had been killed in Delhi in 1984 - all came to see me. The youngest had some computer knowledge and showed me how to set up a Yahoo e-mail account. That opened up a whole new world to me, quite heady to an already confused stroke survivor.
Before the stroke, I had again been blessed with Amrit and, after the stroke, had a lovely meeting with Panj Piyare who suggested that it might be helpful to share some of my experiences in 1984 with the On-line community. With some reluctance,I started doing this in SPN. I was overwhelmed with the kindness of the responses. I tried to write a blog, but it was a complete disaster because I had no idea what I was doing. It was deleted and replaced with sometimes - 2. (No one has ever asked about sometimes. It was the deleted blog.)
Aside: I am somewhat amused that my very first post referred to Sukha Singh and the Daily Hukamnama (misspelled in the blog). I have been missing his katha for some time and was mentioning that to someone just a couple days ago.
I am almost totally self-taught on the computer. I'm sure there are easier ways to do many of the things I do and I would be happy to get some help. For anyone lacking both computer savvy and a helper, I strongly suggest Googling on your problem. It's in there! Ignore the geeks with long, complicated explanations. Most things are simple, once you know how to do them. YouTube can also be a big help. Don't be afraid to ask for help. All of us started out knowing nothing and had to learn - although many of the old-timers have either forgotten this or just like to pretend they were born with this knowledge,
So, dear computer newbie, hang in there, experiment and keep at it. We have all been there.
Then, about 6 months later, in early April 2006, I got my own computer through a group that was selling computer systems cheap to people who could not afford to buy regular computer systems. I suspect it was funded by Bill Gates. I had to sign a paper saying that I wouldn't sue them and I wouldn't use the computer for on-line gambling. I came home with a computer tower, a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, speakers, two discs, two pages of instructions, numerous cords and an ancient dot-matrix printer. (The printer was not part of the deal, but I smiled sweetly and the guy smiled back and gave it to me for free.)
I got everything hooked up, held my breath, pushed the on-button - and nothing happened. Nothing. Rereading the instructions, I found the button on the back of the tower. I pushed that, then again the start button. A red light and a green light came on. Victory! Well, not quite. That was all that happened. Then I realised that that button on the monitor screen was an on-button. I turned it on and got some sort of a screen. I don't remember what, but I do tremember that the next step was to load the security disc and the OS disc. I did those and Voila! I actually got something that looked sort of like the computer screen that I had seen at the library that day.
I was still not connected to the Internet, though. I followed the instruction paper, which was actually followable, to connect to NoCharge.com, a free dial-up Internet for where I live near Seattle. I waited impatiently while I heard the dial tone come on and then then numbers being punched in and then, after forever, there it was! The Internet! I do remember that I had to try several times until I got the telepone number right, so it would be a local call. Finally I made my first real Internet connexion, the only address I knew: "www.cbc.ca." I typed in those letters and there it was: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation right in my bedroom.
My equipment was antique, my operating system out-dated (Windows 98), my dial-up connexion was slow, but it worked! I connected to Google search - or it might have been Yahoo - and started searching. My first search was "Sikh." (Of course.) I had absolutely no knowledge of the delightfully anarchical structure of the Internet and immediately thought that Sikhnet must be the official Internet Sikh site, since it was the first entry and seemed to be everywhere. Of course, there really is no such thing as an official Internet site for a broad topic. I connected and thought, "What the heck?!" (My actual language would not pass the SPN censor.) I soon learned that either Sikhi had changed a lot in my 20 years absence (that's another story) or I had some sort of misunderstanding. What did kudalini yoga have to do with Sikhi? How was this "Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Yogi Harbhajan Singh Khalsa" guy both a yogi and a Sikh? Let me be gone from the Sangat for a few years and everything changes. Where were my beloved Gurus? A bit of research showed me that Sikhnet was an organisation and not some "official" Sikh site.
Relieved, I continued and eventually landed on Sikh Philosophy Network (SPN.) I found the name a bit intimindating - I am not a philosopher - but I read through a lot posts and realised that a lot of the people here were no more philosophers than I was! One problem was solved, but another remained.
I still had no e-mail. I had tried the Outlook Express on my computer, but couldn't get it to work. I never have, to this day! I had no one to ask and no idea what to do. (Now, of course, I know just to stick it into a Google search. How obvious are these things once you know the answer.) I was thinking what to do when---
A DISASTER! I had a major stroke and disappeared from the computer scene for a while. In fact, I nearly disappeared from life on earth entirely. But I am a fighter and I didn't give up.
When I came back, I could type only with one hand, I had trouble eating and drinking and I was very, very confused about everything. I had also lost all knowledge of Gurmukhi and the Punjabi language. (I have since learned that it not all that unusual for a multilingual stroke survivor to lose an entire language. Who knew?) With the only Punjabi word I could remember - Waheguru - I rebuilt some of my knowledge. Somewhere during this time I reconnected and registered with SPN and gingerly started trying to share and clear up some of my confusion. My 5 surviving brothers - two had been killed in Delhi in 1984 - all came to see me. The youngest had some computer knowledge and showed me how to set up a Yahoo e-mail account. That opened up a whole new world to me, quite heady to an already confused stroke survivor.
Before the stroke, I had again been blessed with Amrit and, after the stroke, had a lovely meeting with Panj Piyare who suggested that it might be helpful to share some of my experiences in 1984 with the On-line community. With some reluctance,I started doing this in SPN. I was overwhelmed with the kindness of the responses. I tried to write a blog, but it was a complete disaster because I had no idea what I was doing. It was deleted and replaced with sometimes - 2. (No one has ever asked about sometimes. It was the deleted blog.)
Aside: I am somewhat amused that my very first post referred to Sukha Singh and the Daily Hukamnama (misspelled in the blog). I have been missing his katha for some time and was mentioning that to someone just a couple days ago.
I am almost totally self-taught on the computer. I'm sure there are easier ways to do many of the things I do and I would be happy to get some help. For anyone lacking both computer savvy and a helper, I strongly suggest Googling on your problem. It's in there! Ignore the geeks with long, complicated explanations. Most things are simple, once you know how to do them. YouTube can also be a big help. Don't be afraid to ask for help. All of us started out knowing nothing and had to learn - although many of the old-timers have either forgotten this or just like to pretend they were born with this knowledge,
So, dear computer newbie, hang in there, experiment and keep at it. We have all been there.
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