Memories of not IT

It has been pointed out to me by one of my offspring that he and his brothers have not been mentioned in these posts. He found them because they are being replicated over on Facebook as Notes, and he thinks by reading them he might understand what I have been doing for 30 years that put a roof over our heads and food on the table.

Unless requested, I will leave names out of this. I did marry my lovely wife in 1979, and sons arrived in 1981, 1986, and 1989. My wife claims she remembers nothing about the 80's except diapers and formula (I did my part too, so sleep-deprivation was equally shared).

It might be useful for these posts to give some geographical context, because it does start changing later on. I grew up in what was then the suburbs of Toronto, a place called Etobicoke (KE are silent). I went to University of Toronto (which I think I mentioned). My employer through the 80's was located in the "middle" of Toronto, Yonge and Bloor. When I started, I could take the bus and subway to get there, then we moved further out, so a car to the subway was needed, then we moved much farther out in order to afford a house in the time of 15% mortage rates, so that meant driving/carpooling , or commuter (GO) train and subway. The drive took an hour when we first bought our house, it was up to two hours ten years later.

Overall, the sons came along in a fairly stable time in terms of where we lived and where I worked. The company had a Children's Christmas Party each year, right in the head office, so children could be taken up the elevator to see daddy's desk. It's state of organization must have made an impression, because I started getting presents like mouse pads with the Tasmanian Devil on it whirling around leaving destruction in his path.

But things would change and become quite interesting, as you will see in future posts...