Interesting year.
* Democrat Presidential Candidate Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, first woman vice president nominated on a main party ticket
* Summer Olympics were held in Los Angelos and up the West Coast and Russia boycotts them
* The major leaders of the Evil Empire, the USSR, (which no longer exists) were dying off
Mike Bonacelli, a regular on swings, came into work before shift change. Then he handed in his resignation.
“Why, Mike?” Dan looked up from his desk. He suppressed a smirk, not that disappointed.
Mike’s dark eyes flashed. “I don’t care to get trapped in the golden handcuffs.”
“Where’re you headed?” Rich looked up from his desk.
Mike puffed up his chest. “I got an offer from Apple. Working on Macintoshes—personal computers. It’s the future, where the big money is.”
“Hey, I saw that awesome Apple ad during last year’s Super Bowl,” Rich said. “It only aired once though.”
“Yep,” said Mike. “MacIntosh. The most awaited event of 1984, taking a page from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The girl destroys Big Brother conformity to bring on a future full of new possibilities.”
“So, you’re leaving this job, defending your country, for private industry?” Dan grew a grin as fake as the sincerity in his voice. “All in hopes to be a millionaire?”
“Which is something you lust after, right, Danny boy?”
“Mike, Mike, Mike.” Dan asked with the taint of sarcasm in his voice, “Why would you think such a thing?”
Mike lifted his dark eyebrows. “You talk about it all the time. It’s no secret you just don’t want to be well off. You want to be rich.”
“You want to be like me, Dan?” Rich twitched his dark mustache as Dan shook his head.
Smith, S K. S*T*C (pp. 258-259). Kindle Edition.
For a feel of the times, 1984-1986, especially for women breaking into space programs, please feel free to check out:
Your readership is appreciated.
I didn't get an Apple SE into my office until 1987. Our computer center director dropped one off and my overly ambitious assistant who was foisted on me because no one else wanted her around in spite of her intelligence told me, "I know how to use it, I sold computers for Apple."
For about a year, she struggled making spreadsheets for me in Excel. And then, while having a bout with pneumonia, went to the University president claiming she wanted to be his consultant with all the information that she and I had. I got in deep trouble and she didn't come back to work. She had showed me how to use the SE at all. But I turned it on and started figuring out how easy it was to use and started writing memos in MS Word, much better spreadsheets in Excel, and with a copy of PowerPoint that a buddy of mine gave me by chance when I visited him in North Carolina, I started making presentations that were the envy of everyone at the University, wondering how I did them.
Even when the University bought cheaper PCs, I stayed with Apple until I retired. My only fault was not buying as much stock as I could, being terribly in debt those years.
Ron