Accidental Affiliate - Pt 1
Accidental Affiliate - Pt 1
So there I was, knocking back a shot of tequila (Jose Cuervo Gold to be exact), about to chase it down with a beer (Heineken to be exact), when this bloke in the seat next to me; we’ll call him Anthony, for his name was indeed, Anthony - and I say “bloke” because he had a pretty thick English accent, so “bloke” seems a proper fit.
Now, where was I?
Oh yes! So as I’m about to take a well deserved swig of my beer, this bloke in the seat next to me says, “You need to learn HTML. It’s the next big thing”.
To which I answered incredulously, yet somewhat befuddled, “I-I-I’m sorry. What?”
He said, “HTML. It’s the next big thing. You really ought to learn it”.
And with that, he introduced himself. He stuck out his hand and said, “Anthony”. I shook his hand and said, “Hal”.
Turns out he already knew who I was. I’d been a regular at this particular bar and he had just started coming in. Apparently, he’d overheard some of my conversations with my Mac guru friend Chris. At the time, Chris was an animator for a cartoon show called “Ren and Stimpy”.
I had been talking about buying a new computer and he suggested I wait a few weeks and get a Power Mac 6100. It was the tail end of 1993, and in a few months, this “blazingly fast” new computer was about to hit the market!
Meanwhile, Anthony was working for a company near Pepperdine University developing “websites” (whatever the hell THEY were). Knowing I was getting into computing but not sure what exactly I wanted it for, suggested I learn this new code called HTML. He wasn’t wrong. And here I thought I wanted a Mac for recording music. But that’s a whole OTHER story. I was about to take a major detour…
And so it began. Anthony proceeded to write out some HTML code on a bar napkin, and that was my first white paper on the subject. He wrote “HTML”, “Title” between two sets of brackets, with the words “Welcome” between them. Then the same brackets around the word “BODY” . It looked like this:
<html>
<Title>Welcome</Title>
<body>
</body>
</html>
I said, “So, what do I do with that?”
And the lesson had begun. Websites 101 at the local bar between beers and shots of Gold.
Soon after, I bought a brand new Mac Power PC and took out that napkin I had set aside. I opened up a program called Text Edit and started messing around with this weird new code. This thing called HTML. I saved my document as an HTML document.
Anthony had explained how to see the internet on a web browser. The Mac came with a browzwer called Netscape by Mozilla. I opened my saved HTML doc in the Netscape browser and OMG - it WORKED! Anthony had created a monster! This is what I saw…
To be continued… https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/halinphilly/blog/accidental-affiliate-pt-2
Please leave a comment if you would like to see where this is going.
Recent Comments
12
Cool story, takes me back! I remember my first 486 computer with 4 meg of ram, and 4 times speed cd rom, and a 15" monitor. Payed something like $1500.00. Or more. Now an Apple IPhone can do more than any computer could back then.
My first computer was a Mac SE.
Standard RAM: 1 MB
Maximum RAM: 4 MB
Standard Hard Drive: 20 MB
We've come a LONG way!
That's fantastic Hal. Takes me back to my administration role at a boarding school. Computers were the word of the day, so to speak. Mystery.....decisions....consultations...advising Board members and waiting for more decisions. Those were the days!!
Next chapter, please!!
Oo good to know that bar is not always about drunk, shake and chick... :D
I'll wait in the bar for your next story Hal.
Yes. Very progressive dive bars in Sherman Oaks, California. Like community college with alcohol, a jukebox and pool table.
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LOVE it, Hal...only in Philly...I do miss it so...went to La Salle and love the "City of Brotherly Love"...enjoy Easter, My Friend...