October 30, 2009
October 30th, 2009 by Gary Osberg
Good rainy morning from Collegeville,
Yesterday was a big day in history for all of us and for me it was special in a couple of other ways. First, forty years ago yesterday, Charlie Klein, a 21 year old computer programmer sent a message to a friend at Stanford Research in California over what he called the “ARPANET”. The computer that he was working on was an IBM SDS Sigma 7, about the size of a two car garage. That one event changed our world.
Secondly, 37 years ago yesterday, my son Erik Jon was born at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. I missed the actual event since my mother-in-law who was supposed to come to our house to baby sit my daughter Kerry, had purchased a new car and she confused the temperature gauge for the gas gauge. The fact that the Vikings game was on TV had nothing to do with it. That event changed my world forever.
Last of all, 10 years ago yesterday was my first day with Minnesota Public Radio. It had taken me 2 months and 7 interviews to get this job and I don’t plan on ever giving it up. You would be hard pressed to call what I do for a living “work”.
The show this week is a hair-raising Halloween episode broadcast live from the Bismarck Civic Center on the Great Plains of North Dakota. Special guests include Maria Jette, Andra Suchy and Janet Sorenson. The usual cast of characters will attempt to scare you out of your seats. Check out the newly redesigned web site www.prairiehome.org
“For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.” Arthur Miller in “Death of a Salesman”
Category : General 