What The Internet Means To Me.
By Santos V. Nunez



What the Internet means to me. Now, let me see... Well, I guess I'd have to start at the beginning. Which would have to be back around 1986 or so. At that time I had no personal computer what so ever. I had heard quite a bit about them and what you could do with them and was very interested in finding out whether or not all I was hearing was true or not. So, I saved up some money and finally was able to purchase a TRS-80 which is affectionately known in the computer community as a 'Trash 80'. I suppose this is because the things that you could do with the TRS-80 were very minimal and you were most likely better off just trashing the sun-of-a-gun.

Well, anyway, with my brand new TRS-80 hooked up to my television set and with programs provided by PC magazine and the Home Computers magazine, I started to teach myself how to program in both "basic" and "C" program languages. At the same time that I was teaching myself how to program in these program languages I was creating simple games, such as Tic Tac Toe, and other simple spelling and math games for my two daughters who were, at that time, six and eight years old.

This learning process went on until the fall of 1989 when my family and I moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico and I started attending computer courses at (NMSU-A) the New Mexico State University Branch. There, I completed the four-year plan and received an associate degree in computer science. Soon after that, we (my family and I) moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico and I continued with the computer courses at (NMSU-DBAC) the New Mexico State University Dona Anna Branch Community Collage. There I received an associate degree in computer technology. Following that, I began attending computer-related courses at (NMSU) the New Mexico State University main campus in an attempt to acquire a bachelors' degree, and maybe even a master degree, in the computer field.

I was not really introduced to the Internet until I began attending courses at the Dona Anna Branch Community Collage where I was introduced to the concepts of email and surfing the net for information.

Being a Sponsored student because of my visual impairment, I was fortunate enough, at about the same time I was attending the Dona Anna Branch Community Collage, to acquire a REAL! home computer through the Commission For The Blind in Las Cruces New Mexico.

Once I had acquired a home computer I started to experiment with the concept of surfing the net, and of course, the concept of Chatting.

During the process of chatting with various individuals via the three or four messenger services I have installed on my system, I realized that, most times, the conversation would revert to a computer-related problem that these individuals were having at the time. This was, I suppose, because of the information I gave out during our conversation and because of the information about my computer-related abilities that these individuals read on my various profiles. This being the case, I decided to start up my own technical support services over the Internet which, to this date and time I do at home, mainly during the evenings.

The services I provide consist of helping individuals locate various sites and/or information, help set up various programs and applications, help troubleshoot their computer systems and, last but not least, provide follow up services. Problems that I cannot resolve or questions that I do not have any answers to, I refer to a couple of friends that are providing similar services.

Recently, due, in a big part, to the services that I provide on the Internet and also due to the classes and the A+ certification that I have acquired at (BSI) Business Skills Institute, I have begun to go out of town and out of state to do so called 'house calls' which consist of providing troubleshooting and technical support.

Most recently, because of the Internet class that I have just completed at Business Skills Institute, I have learned how to create a web site with HTML through the use of an online HTML interactive tutorial for beginners called Dave's HTML guide located at:

www.davesite.com/webstation/html

And also through the use of a free online tool for generating custom web page graphics and animations located at:

www.flamingtext.com

Now, the question was: (What does the Internet mean to me?) Well, to put it simply, the Internet has come from something that I knew little about... to it sparking a flame of interest in me... to providing me with fun and enjoyment... to providing me a livelihood.




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