The Compressed Backstory

Okay, so we start back in my childhood. Since I'm in my late thirties, that means the glorious '70s. Everyone was on the Bell system and, at my house, there was ONE wall-mounted rotary phone. By the way...I'll try to remember to post the Google Video link for the educational film I watched in Mrs. Mintz's second grade class; produced by AT&T and called "Telezonia," its sole purpose was to teach elementary school students about telephone use and all of the magical things the "Phone Company" could do.
Let's not forget the other areas of life. Television (in the Chicago metro area) consisted of ABC, CBS, NBC, WGN, WTTW (PBS), WFLD (Before it was FOX), and two Spanish-language channels: 26 and 44 (I have forgotten the station call letters). Back then we were rockin' the Vinyl LP's and 8-tracks. Before MTV, radio was everything...and no, I won't list all the great Chicago radio from the 70's. If you get it, you get it...if you don't, you don't.
As I grew up, I did stay a bit behind the times where tech is concerned. The main reason for this is being lower-middle class and not having the funds to jump on every tech development that came along...whether just a trend or 'here to stay." As a result, I kind of stayed with the "johnny-come-lately" theme.
I built up a huge cassette tape collection and didn't switch to CD's until the mid-90's, when no one was releasing new stuff on tape anymore. Never had a full-on stereo system; I just used those "boomboxes." Never had cable T.V. in my parents' home (they still don't), Though, these days, I'm not watching T.V. anyway. Internet? I had a brief encounter with it in the early 90's, and while the concept blew me away, I didn't think it had any practical uses for me at the time. I finally got an email account in 2001, and had to use an "Internet cafe" for a while. Nothing wrong with those, but if it's your only source for Internet, even moderate usage adds up to big $$. I held out on a cellphone until early 2002, when I ditched my land line and got a Cingular prepaid phone. That didn't last long, because I had seriously misjudged my usage and it seemed I was forever loading more and more minutes, spending way too much. At the moment I'm with Sprint PCS, but I have an upcoming change to AT&T Wireless (and whatever tasty smartphone/PDA I end up with). What really brought me up to date, and has shortened my tech lag time, was moving in with my former roommate in 2004. He's an Internet/Systems tech, so his PC (Windows XP) along with all the hardware and gadgety goodness really has given me an education.
I moved out of his place a year ago, got my own little Toshiba laptop with a Sprint Mobile Broadband (Sierra Wireless Aircard 595U), Vista Home Premium (don't hate...pre-loaded Vista is not as problematic as "upgrading" XP to Vista) and should soon be adding a home Internet connection.
So, there you have it. As you can see, I fall somewhere in the middle (along with most people) between "total tech noob" and "grand supreme tech guru." I'm neither bragging, nor putting myself down. I'm an average end user who learns when he needs to, and is a fairly quick study.