Julie Barrett is a freelance writer and photographer based in Plano, TX.

Weekend Assignment

Fresh when it gets here from Julie Barrett
Friday, February 8, 2008


Valentine's Day is coming. Tell us a love story.

Where do I begin? Yes, it was that era - a little over thirty years ago.

She went to university to pursue a degree in broadcasting and hooked up with a boyfriend from high school, who showed her the wonders of the IBM 360 computer hidden away in the basement of the computer lab. The behemoth was past its prime, washing machine-sized hard drives humming away forlornly. The boyfriend showed her how to load a stack of punch cards into a reader and stood back as she watched the terminal print a grid on a piece of paper.

Yes! It was a Star Trek game!

The couple broke up, but still remained friends (and are to this day). She popped in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to fill a half hour between classes with a game of Star Trek, or, perhaps, Lunar Lander.

He was a business major at the same university, but spent all of his elective hours - and free time - taking computer classes and generally hanging out in the computer lab. A friend of his showed him the IBM 360, and he found that he spent more and more time in the basement.

The inevitable happened.

One day she popped in for her Star Trek game, and there he was. The nerve! It was her time to zap Klingons!

The pair began to talk. The discussion quickly turned to the merits of various television camera pickup tubes. He casually mentioned that the remains of a couple of video cameras were gathering dust under his bed. She felt her heart race. Was it the after-effects of her dash across campus? (Damn, that asthma!)

Soon, they began to bump into each other on campus. He took to hanging out in the radio and television labs. One day he glanced at her across a turntable and asked her out.

Over the summer they fell hopelessly, maddeningly in love. (There's your extra credit, Karen!)

Ah, geek love. What was there to do but get married?

We celebrated our 28th anniversary last month.

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Filed under: Weekend Assignment            

  8  Comments
 

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Raoul said:
Very nice, and very sweet! Congratulations to you both! :-)
Date: 2/8/2008 10:58:06 AM Date: 2/8/2008 10:58:06 AM

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Karen Funk Blocher said:
Oh, that's lovely, that is! Heck, I never even got a date out of ADVENT.EXE.
Date: 2/8/2008 7:20:22 PM Date: 2/8/2008 7:20:22 PM

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kiva said:
Ooooooh, another geek in love. I really identify. Great story.
Date: 2/15/2008 11:43:31 AM Date: 2/15/2008 11:43:31 AM

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Becky said:
OMG! Star Trek on punch cards? I think my husband wrote the code for that game!!
Date: 2/15/2008 4:41:11 PM Date: 2/15/2008 4:41:11 PM

Gravatar
Raoul said:
Very nice, and very sweet! Congratulations to you both! :-)
Date: 2/8/2008 10:58:06 AM Date: 2/8/2008 10:58:06 AM

Gravatar
Karen Funk Blocher said:
Oh, that's lovely, that is! Heck, I never even got a date out of ADVENT.EXE.
Date: 2/8/2008 7:20:22 PM Date: 2/8/2008 7:20:22 PM

Gravatar
kiva said:
Ooooooh, another geek in love. I really identify. Great story.
Date: 2/15/2008 11:43:31 AM Date: 2/15/2008 11:43:31 AM

Gravatar
Becky said:
OMG! Star Trek on punch cards? I think my husband wrote the code for that game!!
Date: 2/15/2008 4:41:11 PM Date: 2/15/2008 4:41:11 PM





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