My freshman year Introduction to Computers class professor told me I had no future in computers and not to take the class again. I was depressed for several weeks. Then, I saved up until I could buy my own computer. I bought a Tandy 1000 HX which had a 3.5\" floppy instead of a 5.25\" one. I was ecstatic. It had DOS 2.11 in the ROM, so I didn't have to start the computer with a boot-able disk. It had a clock speed of 8088 CPU as I recall but could clock down to 4.77 MHz for compatibility with the older applications. I used the Basic program to create a different version of a Sorry game and had success. I never could get it to work in my college class.

I remember buying a dot matrix printer also and hating it because the holes never matched up. The computer's memory could be expanded to 640 kb. This would be accomplished by placing a memory expansion card, which came with 128 kB, in the expansion slot and adding another 256 kB (for a total of 384) kilobytes in memory chips to this board. I brought this Tandy 1000 HX into my English and gifted studies classes at G.W. Carver Middle School. We actually practiced taking it apart and putting it back together whenever discipline got really bad and also many times during a Power Puff Mechanics class. ;-)

I wonder where that computer is now? I don't even remember what I did with it, but I miss it sometimes. Where is that Introduction to Computers teacher? 

The only reason I wrote about this is that Denzil Daniel, my Facebook friend and engineer, based in Dubai, was talking about negative experiences can actually inspire. I agree ... if you let them.

I heard that my Introduction to Computers class professor is in his 80s and lives in Atlanta. I think I'll sign up for Peachtree Petals' Atlanta Floral Gift Club and set up one reddish-black rose to be delivered to him on a monthly recurring basis with, \"Thank you so much for telling me I would never be able to understand computers.\"