Since I don’t have a computer of my own I had to go over to my friends Jimmy and Cathy’s house and view my website there, on their computer. As we walked into the den, and I saw the sleek shiny machine, I felt like I was in an episode of Star Trek. Or, back visiting Tomorrowland at The World’s Fair in Queens, in 1964. It was the new Apple iMac with a 24” screen and it looked like it could very easily go to Jupiter and beyond. Cathy could sense I was a little nervous.
“You want me to turn it on?”
“Not yet.”
“Take your time.”
They had prepared some soothing green tea for me and I sipped slowly staring at the monster.
“It’s on there, huh?”
“Yeah. GaryDavidGoldberg.com.”
“Wow, that sounds pretentious.”
Jimmy assured me this was common. And, there was nothing vain about using your own name on your own website.
“That’s more or less the point,” he assured me.
There was brief silence then Cathy put her hand gently on my knee.
“You want me to turn it on, now?”
“Not yet.”
I sipped some more green tea and stared some more at the iMac 24 and I was instantly transported to my grandma’s living room back in Brooklyn. It was 1948 and she had the first TV in the neighborhood. I was only 4 and my brother Stan was 9 and all the kids on the block had come over to watch The Howdy Doody Show with us on our 10” black and white Crosley.
We sat silently, almost afraid to move, and stared at this incredible machine. Harvey Jacobowitz, who was fragile in the best of times, actually gasped when Buffalo Bob looked directly into the camera and asked us if we knew what time it was?
“It’s Howdy Doody time,” Jacobowitz screamed and then started to spontaneously cry, either from excitement or fear or just too much emotion. Or, maybe all three. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen to me when we finally turned on this computer.
I stared at the screen for another minute. Cathy’s screensaver a soothing sunset scene. Nice step up from the test patterns that were the 1948 equivalent. I took a deep breath.
“OK, let ‘er rip,” I told Cathy, and she clicked, and there it was. My picture. A lot of stuff about my life, about my family, about my book. One small step for mankind. One giant step for me. I gasped. Jacobowitz, I know how you felt.
Comments (2)
Hey, Gary, I'm there in the memory, watching the Howdy Doody show,too, with brother Sammy who's 6 years older. It's a 10 inch screen set in a blond wood cabinet with a top door that opens to a record turntable. My father is sitting on a vinyl-upholstered wood chair, there's a telephone table nearby. It's 2137 Cropsey Avenue all over again.
Thanks so much, and keep blogging!
Posted by Debbie Fershtman | February 24, 2008 2:51 PM
Posted on February 24, 2008 14:51
I remember when my eight year old son had to show me how to use the search engine on my computer. I even asked him...how do you get on the world wide web? no matter Gary, just keep on doing what you do! Waiting for book two..or at least your next blog.
Posted by Cindi | February 27, 2008 2:40 PM
Posted on February 27, 2008 14:40