My mother-in-law (Joan) is getting her first computer this Christmas. She’s in her early sixties and has never been exposed to technology. It’s not because she lives in the mountains or anything like that, quite the contrary she lives right in the heart of Pasadena just a few miles away from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cal Tech University. She just has not ever found a need to use technology and is resistant to any sort of change.

Tracy (my wife and Joan’s daughter) and I have decided that the time has come for her to get a computer and we are giving her our current laptop computer and a new printer. We’ll also help her get setup with a DSL line and WiFi for the house. We are going to give her a reason to use the PC by sending her regular emails and giving her interesting web sites to read.

As I am VERY engrossed in technology and everyone I know either has a working knowledge of a computer or actually create tech for a living, it is rare that I witness someone starting to use a PC from scratch. I am going to chronicle her transition from a non-user to a user with little anecdotes over the next 6 months.

Today Tracy called me up with a funny quote….

“There’s no letters on the keyboard!”.

Joan signed herself up for a computer class and will be starting it later this week. In advance of this, she tried to recall her typing skills from high school (45 years ago) by practicing on a table. She quickly found that she forgot the “alphabet” (the key layout) and called up Tracy with concern. If she can’t remember where the keys are and there’s no letters on the keyboard, then how can she type??? Tracy re-assured Joan that there are indeed letters on the keys.