I remember when in school we could finally choose classes, the asst. principle said he had signed me up for secretarial courses, and I was Indignant that I would never do that! He insisted they were good basic skills to fall back on, and that one time listening to him, was a good decision. First, we typed on Royal manual typewriters, and I remember my aunt (9 yrs older) practiced day and night to be the fastest in her class. Next year we got IBM Selectrics and the trick was to type so fast the ball would skip and jump (which was around135 wpm). In those days, the typing tests were for 5 mins of perfect (absolutely no mistake) or your typing was thrown out. Occasionally we would get a one minute test as some were so disheartened, but I remember loving going fast enough to get the 135 wpm, but not make the ball skip so as to have my work thrown out. I think being a competitive drummer and learning to drive with a 454 hp car, helped! Nowadays, people don't even know what a "454" was, but I tell them that I think it can pull even 1 G force upon acceleration. LOL When I got married, the asst. principle was right, as I took a short term job as a secretary for a CPA firm and ran the Gestetner, etc., and not only was the copy to be perfectly typed (fills did not leave clear copy!) but it had to be run to perfection so it exactly replicated an original. As a perfectionist, occasionally I was stymied how the office manager could find subtle fault if a letter had a faint haze (over inked) or the edges weren't solidly filled, as if she had 20:10 vision! Then the documents were carefully bordered and bound with blue China paper . . . another "extinct" thing! After that, my husband (about 1975), said he has a new design patent at IBM that would revolutionize personal home computing so everyone could have a computer in their home, and I remember asking him (amongst other things) what it would be called and he said "a 386." I asked him why they didn't give it a nice name instead of a number. A woman's view. LOL He had built a computer in the mid 60's to win the national science award with dozens of patents since, and his passion lives on to this day (but mine for him did not). I was happy when the two worlds of typewriter and computer merged, as only a few years ago did my IBM Selectric II give up the ghost, and I still love best to type on a typewriter. The few you can find are not nearly the quality, but my best writing comes from them. I saw on TV that well known novel writer, still does all her work on her Royal. (Also, where the the quality go?) The evolution of technology is grand, but I worry about our priorities. Our grandparents endured so much through wars and the depression and what it took to do a days work. I always say that if I told my grandfather that most people would subsidize their living (or interests) with a moving picture in front of them, attached to an alphabet, he would have thought I was crazy. My mother tells of how my grandmother made a sunshine cake (an angel food cake with the yolk) every day as my grandfather loved them, yet it was all done by hand, and for the perhaps few who don't know, you whip the whites to stiff frothiness, and then fold in the flour to a delicate end result. My father tells of a tornado taking all the many structures on the property, but the house, which was lifted off the foundation so they could see 12" of light-then drop it back down, while my grandfather stood in the field with the horses heads buried under his arms, and then disheartened that he lost his Stetson in it all. Great and wonderful memories, this recounting, which hopefully remind us to never lose our priorities for things that really count. Love, integrity, etc., and of course a portion of that love is for lace. <S> We are so very fortunate! Best,Susan Reishus
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