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======Introduction======

My first experience with a computer was when my mother surprised my siblings and I by purchasing a Commodore 64.   I was about 6 years old and knew nothing about computers.  I did know that this was quite a stretch for my mother to afford and my siblings and I cherished it.  My mother also knew very little about computers and when she purchased the Commodore 64 she didn't know that it didn't come with everything that was needed, nor could she afford to invest anymore money.  We just had the system/keyboard.  We didn't have any cartridges that contained games or disks to save anything that we did.  But my siblings and I would spend countless hours using BASIC from the manual to write small programs that would allow us to print whatever crazy statements we could come up with to writing programs to play, such things as a number guessing game and hangman, just to have it turned off and have to start all over again the next time.

When I was in Junior High, I would go to school early and use any other free time in the computer lab.  Once again, I didn't know all the possibilities that were before me and limited myself to playing games such as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and other learning games.  I knew that there had to be more that could be done with these magnificent machines but didn't have the resources available and no one to teach me.

Once in High School, my exposure to computers was limited and I had lost that drive to know more and my fascination with them dissipated.  My school replaced the typewriters for typing class with computers, but they were only used for typing.  All of my papers were handwritten and I didn't seek to learn anymore.  We didn't have a computer curriculum either.

At the age of 17, I met the man I eventually married and had my children with.  I decided to attend college and by then papers were required to be completed on some form of word processing program.  He had a computer and I used it for writing my papers and to play some simple games.  However, he instilled the fear of God in me when I used it.  If anything were to go wrong with his computer, he would become very angry.  Even if it was something that I had no control over, such as the internet connection (which I didn't even know what the internet was then), he would blame me for breaking it.  I now know that I didn't break it, that he knew enough to simply fix it, and he used this as a form of control over me.  This is when I became afraid of technology and lost interest in learning. 

While earning my degrees in Social Work, I had to use computers for research, writing papers and eventually while employed.  During this time, I would watch my then husband take his computers apart, replace parts, put them back together and have his whole world revolve around them.  I stood from a distance wanting to know more but still finding myself afraid of breaking what seemed to be such fragile and temperamental devices.

After we separated, I was on my own with my computer.  I had nobody to help when I had a technological problem and found myself frustrated when I couldn't fix something on my own.  That is when I took on the initiative to learn about computers on my own.  I didn't want to have to rely on anyone again.  However, my knowledge was limited and once again, so were my resources.  It came to the point in my life where I need to change my career and found that I had no other interests, but in helping people.  I knew that I needed to go back to college, but had no idea what for.  After looking at CCC's catalog and programs I impulsively chose computers as an area of interest.  After my first couple of classes, I found that the long lost fascination and desire to know more about computers and had been rekindled.

These sometimes embarrassing yet enlightening points of my life have brought me to this class.  I have taken almost all my required classes for my degree in CIS and I still have that thirst for more knowledge.  I know very little about Unix and think that this class will quench that thirst and help provide me with even more confidence with my future in the computing field.
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