So I’m reading all of this fun stuff about kids programming robots and I’m feeling a little left out. We never got to do that kind of stuff in my schools. We did have a pet gerbil that ran around in one of those balls and a bear that the kid of the week got to take home, but sadly no robots. It wasn’t like we didn’t have computers. My elementary school had a large computer lab and every class had time in which they rented out the lab. The computers where huge! They were the old school kind that took those gigantic floppy disks where you slid them in and the pressed that lever down. Then the computer would make this loud noise and sometimes you would have to switch disks in between games. The sound quality was really whacked out too. It wasn’t really so much music as it was a bunch of different notes that made sounds. I’m feeling kind of old now…. Even in first grade, we would be able to go in there and play things like Oregon Trail, Dino Park Tycoon, Word Munchers, and Number Munchers but we never played with robots. It’s crazy how far technology has came since then anyway. If I described my old elementary school computers to an elementary school kid today they would think I was crazy or ancient. I remember reading in my Weekly Reader (did anyone else have those?) that some day everything would be run by computers and every home would have one. They were completely right (and incidentally, they seem to have correctly predicted numerous things). I hope I’m not going to be one of those people where the technology passes them by. I don’t want to be calling in my grandkids to set the clock on my VCR….

Here is the link to Virtual Apple 2 where you can play the Oregon Trail (the old school version that I played in Lee Hill)…Enjoy!!!

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