Timeline: Growing up with technology

1989

Sega Master System

My parents purchased this game system for us. It is probably my first experience in interacting with technology. Funny enough, we still have this in storage.

1990

My first Transatlantic flight (that I remember).

As a precursor: at 11 months old, we as a family flew home from Germany to Dulles International Airport. My dad (who served 20 years in the US Army) at that time was being reassigned in California. However, my first Transatlantic flight which I remember happened when my father was reassigned in Germany. My mom and I flew together to Frankfurt International Airport. This flight made the mark on me for enjoying flying and travel; including 3 more Transatlantic trips since then.

1991

The first family computer

Around Christmas, my dad brought home a used Cordata 286 computer. Watching him use it for basic word processing, maintaining records, navigating DOS, and playing Tetris, I gained the confidence to learn how to begin using a computer as well.

Jan 1, 1998

Buying my Playstation

While released in 1994, it wasn't until New Years Day of 1998 that I bought my Playstation. This gaming console was my 'go to' throughout middle and high school.

1999

Internet at home!

With the purchase of a new computer, and the need for me to use a computer for school work, my parents decided to get dialup (56k) internet installed at home.

2000

Burning CDs

With the addition of having internet at home, and learning about Napster, along with other p2p file transfer programs, I began to download music online and burn CDs for myself. As one of the few people in our school who had a CD burner at that time, I also began burning CDs for other people as well. How the times have changed since then!

2001

The iPod

This device, along with the Microsoft Zune, Sansa Players, and other MP3 devices, while never personally owning one, certainly changed the landscape of how music is stored and played for personal use. Funny enough, it wasn't until owning a Celluar Phone that I utilized digital music on a portable device.

2003

Thumb Drives!

When getting ready to go to college at James Madison University in the Fall of 2003, I was able to add this 'new' option of a portable Thumb/flash drive which would hold enough data for over 40 floppy disks! At 64MB, this is incredibly tiny in comparison to what we store on these drives today, but at that time, it felt as if I had limitless storage!

2006

My first Cellular Phone

A little late to the Cell phone scene, I bought my first phone, which was a Motorola RAZR V3. This phone went through quite a beating over the next couple years, including personally replacing the lcd display, and front glass. Since then, upgrades to an LG Vu, Apple iPhone 4s, and now Apple iPhone 6s Plus, have taken place.

2008

Working in College: Parking Services

During my undergrad, I worked as a Parking Enforcement Officer. Instead of writing paper citations, we used electronic tracking devices, along with handheld ticket writers which allowed for us to maintain records of citations easily between the field and office.

2010

My first job out of college: TSS

Before working in a Music Classroom, I was hired on a temporary waiver in a grant funded position as a Technology Systems Specialist in Grant County, WV. By working with software troubleshooting, basic hardware and networking installations. This experience helped me to apply my previous technological knowledge to the educational field; something which has helped me moving forward in my own classroom.

2013

Apple takeover!

As a teacher in Raleigh County, West Virginia, we were one of the first districts in the area to utilize a 1:1 device implementation with iPads, and Macbooks. As a 'PC guy' for all of my life up to this point, the transition over to Mac was mentally a point of resistance. However, today I embrace my pieces of Apple equipment including the computer I am using to put together this timeline!

2014