1988 me

[susandennis]

I went into my office supply closet to find a little pocket notebook in case I wanted to do my spending tracking the old fashioned way. I found an IBM Thinkpad... no, not that kind, the 1988 version



The first few pages had actual notes on it. I know it was 1988 because the notes were all about the announcement of the AS/400. A list of reporters, notes for some event ("Tom - red tie" "Geri ticket for hubby" - Tom was my boss, the head of AS/400 development and Geri was his secretary). But, one page was personal. It had a HotPoint serial number and two dress pattern numbers.

If you had asked me I would have told you that I did not do much of any sewing between about 1985 and 2015 but, maybe I was wrong. The magic of the internets allowed me to see both the patterns and they were absolutely something I would have made.

Here's what I looked like then (white suit in front - That's Geri in the blue suit and Tom is just behind her over her right shoulder.)



Here are the two patterns:





Waltzing down memory lane...

Comments

[asher63.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is awesome! I love the pad. That's a great photo of you and the team.

And ... pagoda shoulders! Whoa.

[susandennis]

The really funny part is that I have really small shoulders so the era of shoulder pads was my heyday!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I have customers who are still running AS/400s that don't look that very different from what's in the picture!

[susandennis]

Very cool. It was - or actually is - a fine machine.

We set up a photo room so that every single team - hardware and software - who built the AS/400 could come get a professional photo with it. And then we took the photos and framed them with a little brass plaque that said AS/00 June 21, 1988.

I love hearing that it lives on even after all these years!

[allanh.livejournal.com]

It's The Machine That Will Never Die. Every Caterpillar Tractor dealership still runs a set of AS/400 systems linked back to the Mothership in Peoria. My team has become expert at helping clients deploy AS/400 terminal emulator programs to contemporary Microsoft networks.

[susandennis]

OMG yes! Caterpillar!! The AS/400 was developed in Rochester, MN and Caterpillar was one of our showcase customers - I think for the System/38 (father of As/400). Anyway, we were always wining and dining the tracker peops :)

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

My dad worked for IBM...we used to have tons of those little THINK pads!! I had totally forgotten about them until your photo. :)

[susandennis]

I have an embarrassingly healthy supply. Office Supply Hoarder Syndrone.

It was an adventure googling for a photo... Think Pad means something totally different in the land of Google.

[luzclarita.livejournal.com]

Incredible photo!

[remlap.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is some great history! Thinkpads have come so far!!

[susandennis]

Probably it means that on my list of things to do was to get a ticket to some event for my boss's secretary's husband.

[timbear.livejournal.com]

Neat!

I'm envious of your old work photos, I have no pictures of me at work. Mind you, with my long hair and casual clothes, I didn't scrub up well back then so probably just as well!

[found-world.livejournal.com]

Neat photo.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting to see, thanks for sharing