Learning something new

So, here I am trying to figure out how to slip a photo inside the blog. Bare with me -- this may take a while. Although I can type about 115 WPM, it takes me a while to figure out this computer stuff.

My first job in the business world was the position of secretary. I was hired at CPT Corporation in Eden Prairie to be a secretary for a director. She had a big glass office. I sat outside her glass bubble so I could anticipate her every whim. I felt l was watching a little gold fish in an aquarium. It could have been worse, she could have been a piranha.

I had a very nice cubicle all by myself. There I had a CPT word processor, a typewriter, phone and a telex machine.

I knew how to use the phone.

Computers were just beginning to move into offices. Not many desks hosted personal computers. But CPT manufactured some of the best word processors and desktop publishing for the times, or so I was told. I didn't know the first thing about computers and I couldn't type. So, my boss sent me to school to learn how to type.

I learned to type. I got a raise. Then she sent me to learn shorthand. That didn't work out as well. But I tried and I learned to write really fast and made up my own symbols. The ones in the book didn't make sense to me. I didn't do well on the shorthand tests in school, but I wrote so fast in the board room, nobody ever really knew. I got a raise.

I worked at CPT for quite a while. Everytime I learned something new, I got a raise. And continued to type making my way up the administrative assistant ladder. I survived about three lay offs as the company began downsizing before its final demise. I finally took my lay off and moved on to a new career. Actually, I took the summer off, waitressed at a few local pubs and had a blast (thanks to a severance package) before I started a new career. That is another story.

But learning a new skill takes time. I like learning something new, just for the sake of learning. When I can look at something and say to myself, "Hey, Self. You did that -- yourself!" That is pretty cool. Learning to post photos to my blog mightl take time as well. When I learn that skill, I might try video and audio clips ... and then ... well, you just never know what you will find ....

Ummm, of course, I would never turn down a raise.