Darcy

My cousin Darcy is an amazing, talented person. In the years since I did this portrait of her, she also got married and has an amazing son. Those facts have nothing to do with the fact that I did a portrait of her. Did I mention that I'm thankful for my family?

Darcy
Steven Sauke
Illustration

Days of Yore Post-Credits 2: Glasses

Some movies even have two post-credits scenes! I'm pretty sure this is the last "Days of Yore" post, but never say never! :-)

Back in January of this year, I shared my story about when I had retinitis pigmentosa, and it miraculously healed! I got my first glasses at that time, and it took a long time before I really enjoyed wearing them. Now I'm proud to be bespectacled, and wouldn't have it any other way! I wish more people understood how helpful and awesome they are. Many who need them don't realize it for various reasons, such as not knowing anything different, or their eyesight diminishing so gradually that they don't notice it. It's common for the newly-bespectacled to be shocked how much better they can see with their glasses. I've heard multiple people comment that they can suddenly see the leaves on the trees that they couldn't distinguish in the past. I was one of those who didn't know any different.

Image by bravissimos on Adobe Stock

The process of getting glasses has changed a bit over the course of my lifetime. When I was younger, the doctor had to put drops in my eyes to dilate them, in order to be able to look into my eyes easier. After the exam was done, I had to wear sunglasses for a while because they were sensitive to light while the dilation was wearing off. While people still do this sometimes, I much prefer the Optomap that they do now. You put your eye up to a fancy camera, and it takes pictures. I also like this because I can then see the inside of my eye on the computer screen as well. It's a more educational experience, as the ophthalmologist can point out parts of my eye, as well as indicate any issues. I find that fascinating, and I like to ask them to send me the pictures. (I call it my super extreme closeup.) The Optomap costs extra, but it's worth it for me, particularly because then I'm not super-sensitive to light for the next while. I've never particularly been a fan of the part of the exam where they puff a burst of air in the eye to test the pressure, though. While painless, it's a weird feeling.

In a different part of the office, you sit on a chair, cover one eye, and read from an eye chart on the wall. Then you do the same with the other eye. Then they pull out the phoropter. It looks like this, or some variation on it:

Image by ijeab on Adobe Stock

You look through the eye holes, which have panes of glass in them that the doctor can change. They look a bit like magnifying glasses in there. They then have you look at the eye chart and compare two thicknesses of glass... "Can you see better with 1...or 2? 1...or 2?" After going through these and trying different ones, they can tell your prescription. That part hasn't changed much at all in my experience.

There is of course more to the eye exam than that, but those are the highlights. This site has good descriptions and pictures of the common equipment, if you'd like to learn more.

Once that is done, they can give you a printout of your prescription, though you sometimes have to ask for it if you want it.

Then you get to select frames (I love this part). Once you've picked out your frames, the optician (in the front office) has you put them on and look straight forward, and marks the temporary lenses where the centers of your pupils are. This tells the pupillary distance (PD), which is important for the people adding the lenses. (If you order frames online, you need the PD, and you usually have to ask for it. There are other ways of measuring it if you aren't picking frames in the shop.)

I went into changing frame styles over my lifetime in my post about what the cool kids wore.

Anatomy of Glasses (some of these may seem obvious, but people may find this useful):

• Lenses. These are the clear (or sometimes tinted) panes that have the prescription. The rest of the glasses are there to hold these in place in front of your eyes.
• Frames. These go around the lenses to hold them in place. They are basically everything that is not lenses. They can be made of any number of materials, such as various metals (such as titanium) or plastic. The frames have several parts:
• Rims. These are the part of the frames that go around the lenses. There are also half-rim (also called semi-rimless) glasses, which have a rim around the top and a fishing-line-type cord made of nylon around the bottom to give the illusion of no bottom rim. (Occasionally, mainly in some readers, this is switched and the rim is around the bottom and the fishing line on top.) They also have rimless glasses, which don't have rims, but they drill holes in the sides of the lenses to attach the rest of the frame.
• Bridge. This is the bar (or sometimes bars) between the lenses that holds the sides together. It goes over the top of your nose.
• Temples. Also called stems or arms, these are the two bars that go from the sides of your glasses back over the temples of your face, and rest over your ears.
• Temple Tips. These are at the end of the temples to provide padding for the ears. They can be varying shapes, from straight back, to bent down a bit, to a half circle that wraps around the ears. (That latter one isn't very common any more in my observation.) If you wear headphones, I find it's best to have the ones that go straight back as there's less touching the ears that the headphones could squeeze.
• Nosepads. These are small gizmos that provide padding for the nose. Depending on the material of the frames, they look different between frames.

Over the centuries, there have been multiple kinds of eyewear:

• Monocle. This was a round frame with a lens that people could either hold over their eye, or scrunch their cheek and brow muscles to hold it in place. It only went over one eye.
• Lorgnette. This was a pair of glasses without temples/stems that people had to hold over their eyes. It often had an extra bit to hold so you didn't have to get fingerprints on the lenses.
• Pince-nez. Literally translated "pinch nose," this was similar to a lorgnette in that it didn't have temples, but you didn't have to hold it because it clamped to the nose.
• Glasses. For lack of a better term, as most of these could be classified glasses, this is what we normally think of as glasses. They have temples so they can rest on the ears.
• Bifocals and Progressive. Bifocals were invented by Benjamin Franklin and provided an option for both far vision and close-up vision in one lens. They had a line down the middle that marked sections. More recently, they have developed progressive lenses, which serve the same purpose, but eliminate the line. (I just got my first pair of progressive lenses a couple weeks ago. It is a bit of an adjustment, but not as bad as I was expecting. The biggest adjustment for me has been getting used to looking through the right part of the lens for what I'm doing.) Some people need trifocals, which add another level of complexity.
• Reading Glasses. Also known as readers, these have magnification rather than prescriptions. They generally sell them in drugstores, and they can be helpful for people who don't necessarily need a prescription, but do need to have their text magnified a bit. They are only used for reading or other close-up stuff, as they don't work for distance.
• Blue-light Glasses. These look like regular glasses, but have a film over the lenses to filter out harmful blue light from screens and other sources. (This includes computers, cell phones, tablets and more. I think many mistakenly think they're only for computer use.) This is a fairly recent development. Depending on the strength of the filter, it can look different from regular glasses, though. The strongest filter has an amber tint. The kind I prefer is clear, but has a bluish sheen if you look at it from certain angles. The past few years I have made sure my glasses have a blue light filter, but they are also available in non-prescription glasses, which I recommend even for people who don't normally wear glasses. They are most commonly worn when using screens, but as the biggest source of blue light is the sun, I think it's a good idea to wear them all the time, even if they are non-prescription (unless of course you have a blue light filter on your readers).
• Sunglasses. Some people call these glasses, and while they are a kind of glasses, I don't feel they count. They are very useful, though, and I feel everyone should have a pair. For people who wear regular glasses, there are several options. There are some that attach magnetically to glasses. Some clip on the glasses. Some are larger and fit over glasses. Transitions lenses are clear when you are inside and turn dark when you go outside. (While I like the concept of Transitions, I wish they had a way of turning the sunglasses off when you want to take pictures outside and sunglasses seem odd.)
• Smart Glasses. These have been developing in recent years and have various capabilities, depending on the brand. Some have earphones built into the temples and can play music. Some can take pictures. Some can count steps and do many of the things a cell phone can. There has been some controversy around these, and while I'm excited about the possibilities, I'm waiting for further development before getting some.
• Contacts. These are small lenses that fit in the eyes. I'm not a fan of the idea of putting something in my eyes, but they do have some advantages. For me, it isn't worth the eyedrops, keeping track of them, the risk of them shifting back in the eyes (I've heard horror stories, though I don't think this is common), and more. But that's just my opinion.
• LASIK. While not eyewear, this replaces eyewear. It is an operation where doctors use lasers to correct some vision problems. It doesn't work for everyone, and depending on your age and other factors, may or may not hold for long. For people who are good candidates, it works great. It is a bit expensive, though. In some cases, it is necessary to prevent blindness due to injuries.
• Sports Glasses. These are specifically made for people who are into sports. They are more durable than normal glasses, and often have better padding. (Speaking from experience, I don't recommend wearing regular glasses while playing basketball, because the ball hitting them is a painful experience, but I think sports glasses take that kind of thing into account.)
• Doggles. These are also a fairly new development, but now they have glasses specially designed for dogs with vision problems!
• Safety Glasses. These are generally used for industrial work, and anything where you need to protect your eyes from being hit by flying objects. They also have versions that fit over regular glasses.
• Goggles. These protect the eyes when diving, and for various other purposes.
• I'm sure there have been others, but those are the ones that come to mind.

I have a theory that, especially with the development of blue-light glasses that come in prescription and non-prescription, everyone should wear them even if they have good vision. In the case of people with good vision, it can help preserve their vision longer by protecting from the harmful blue light. Some people object that they don't look good in glasses, but I have another theory that if you feel you don't look good, you just haven't found the right pair for you. Opticians can help with that, but it also depends on your tastes. There are also sometimes issues with discomfort in the nose and ears. Opticians can help with this too. 

If you order glasses online, it's important to know the size of your face, as well as your PD and prescription. Once they arrive, it's best to go into an optical shop to get them adjusted for your face. When selecting glasses, in the shop or online, you want to be sure they aren't too large (which could make it easy for them to fall off) or too small (which could cause them to squeeze your face and cause pain in the temples and possible headaches). If they become loose or askew, you can go into any optical shop, and they typically adjust them for free.

The size is often indicated on the interior of one of the temples (or occasionally on the back of the bridge). It also generally tells on the website when you are ordering online. For example, if the size numbers say 54-20-140, that means each lens is 54mm wide, the bridge is 20mm long, and the temples are 140mm long.

Personally, I've been a big fan of the Oakley brand in recent years. My new glasses are Nike, and they are just as great. I love how both brands cling to my face, and I don't need to push them up as often. Your optician can advise on other brands, but those are my recent preferences.

If you are looking for more information on glasses and eye health, I have found some great YouTube channels. Doctor Eye Health and That Glasses Guy are two of my favorites.

SMS

One assignment in one of my design classes was to make a personal logo. If I remember right, I made this one in Adobe After Effects. I also have a simplified version without the blue background, which I use for the logo on my blog.

Steven Sauke
Personal Logo

Days of Yore Post-Credits: Video Games

You know how the past few years, certain movies have enticed you to stay through the credits by including a scene at the end of the credits? It often reveals something you need to know for the sequel. (Pro tip: Pirates of the Caribbean and Marvel movies are never over until the credits have finished rolling!) Think of this post like that, except that this isn't necessarily important to understand for future blogs. But you never know!

Image by Sergey Nivens on Adobe Stock

As you may recall, I covered some aspects of video games in my post on computers, but there is more! We had games on floppy disks back in the '80s. When friends came over, sometimes they brought their games on floppy disks to play together. I loved playing games like Digger, Carmen Sandiego, Mario Bros, Arkanoid, Galaxian, Tetris, Pac-Man and others. I learned how to play Solitaire on the computer and have only played it a couple times with real cards.

At that time, most of those games could be played using the keyboard (particularly the arrow keys, and certain numbers and letters). Some could also be played using a joystick, a small hand-held device with a knob that looked a bit like a gear shift in a car. Joysticks were generally pretty cool, but could be frustrating as well. For example, if I accidentally moved the knob in the wrong direction playing Tetris, the blocks would drop where I didn't want them to drop. As I grew up with a tremor, involuntary movements from time to time could be annoying. (That can also be annoying at times when trying to hold a camera still to take a picture.)

Space Invaders
Jason Kotecki
Oil on canvas
Used with permission

Occasionally we would go to a video arcade where we could play games on bigger machines. Depending on the nature of the game, we would be standing and pressing buttons or a joystick knob built into the machine, or we might be sitting on a motorbike built into the machine. Or we could be seated and turning a steering wheel. Games like Duck Hunt involved a toy gun that you pointed at ducks as they crossed the screen. Last time I was at the Seattle Museum of Flight, I used a flight simulator that works very much like an arcade game, where you try to land a plane smoothly.

As I grew older, smaller devices became more popular, such as Game Boy, Nintendo DS series and others. There were also some tiny ones like Tamagotchi, which involved a digital animal or character that the user could feed and nurture.

Photo by Cláudio Luiz Castro on Unsplash

Some of my friends in school got into Call of Duty, which I haven't tried. One job where I worked, a bunch of my coworkers were into World of Warcraft. As I am told it is very time-consuming, I haven't gotten into that one, but I'm curious. My brother Aaron works for Blizzard, who makes it. I did a seasonal job testing the French versions of games at Nintendo in 2009. That was when I got to know the Wii. This is a bigger console, and includes a board that you put pressure on in different places. The console also has other components. I tested Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort, which had exercises you could do on the board and it kept score. The player was represented on the screen by a customizable character called a Mii. I also tested the New Super Mario Bros Wii, which didn't use a Mii due to Mario, Luigi and Toad already being there. I then got to know Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the much smaller Nintendo DSi. I'm not sure why I didn't get into Zelda when I was younger, but it was fun! 

As time has gone on, video games have become more available. I even (I know this may be shocking) have some on my cell phone! (My favorite story there is one time when I downloaded a Mario Bros app. I can get very competitive, and I got so into it on my cell phone that my thumbs were sore the next day!) Pokémon Go was particularly popular a few years ago on cell phones. "Gotta catch 'em all!"

This seemed to be an appropriate way to end this post:

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

Tim and Annika

I made this portrait as a wedding present for my cousins Tim and Annika a few years ago. They now have two amazing kids! Today Annika advances in years. I'm super thankful for my family.

Tim and Annika
Steven Sauke
Illustration

Days of Yore

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

So wrote Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane in 1943 in their song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It was featured in the 1944 musical Meet Me in St. Louis, sung by Judy Garland. It has been a Christmas classic ever since, inspiring a sense of nostalgia. It has been recorded by multiple artists.

This is me back in the days of yore.

"Washington Heights. Say it, so it doesn't disappear."

So wrote Lin-Manuel Miranda much more recently in his musical In the Heights. Usnavi, the main character, is reminiscing with a group of children about a time in the New York neighborhood of Washington Heights before they were born. He wants to pass on his experiences from the past to the younger generation and ensure that these memories endure.

I feel it is important to remember how things were in the past. Usnavi had a point that we need to remember what we have experienced, as well as what previous generations have experienced. There is so much inspiration, along with other things we can learn from the past. Of course, we shouldn't dwell in the past, but we should remember and learn from it. The past couple months I have been writing about how things were when I was younger in an effort to remember and preserve these experiences and trends in society.

These are just some of the things that have changed radically over the years. Click on each one to read the associated post.

• Computers 
• Audio Recordings
• Video Recordings and movies
• Photography
• Books
• Mail
• Shopping
• Telephones
• Listening to Music
• Hot Drinks and Food (such as coffee, cocoa and chili)
• Transportation
• Julius Caesar (this was before my time)
• St. Patrick's Day
• Research and Organization
• Slang
• Lighting
• Restaurants
• Clothes and Hairstyles
• Chores
• Social Media
• My Time Trilogy (not to be confused with Madeleine L'Engle's Time Trilogy of A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet)
• Part 1: small clocks
• Part 2: larger clocks
• Part 3: time travel (or as close as we get to it)
• Broadway (guest blog by Michael Kape)
• Navigation
• Office Equipment
• Job Search

My brother Tim and me
at Crystal Hot Springs
Laguna, Philippines
A few years ago

Victor Hugo

"To err is human. To loaf is Parisian."

- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Victor Hugo had a very distinctive writing style. Best known for his novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (some English translations call it The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), but also the author of The Man Who Laughs, 93, The Toilers of the Sea, along with other novels and poems, I have found it useful to have a pad of paper and pen handy when reading his works. He often inserts a random statement in the middle of a narrative that is quite thought-provoking. He also spends whole chapters discussing concepts that may or may not be relevant to the story (I find reading the abridged version first is helpful, and then I can go back and read the full version).

Victor Hugo
Steven Sauke
Text-Based Illustration

One such random statement in Les Misérables is his observation when introducing the students who will figure prominently, "To err is human. To loaf is Parisian." Reading that made me burst out laughing.

One assignment in one of my design classes was to select a quote from an author and make a text-based portrait in Adobe Illustrator using the words of the quote. After narrowing it down, I selected this quote from Hugo. This was perhaps the most tedious assignment, particularly since my computer crashed at one point, causing me to lose hours of work. But I was very proud of the result.

Days of Yore: The Epic Quest for a Job

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

- Don Quixote de la Mancha
The Man of La Mancha, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion

Image by New Africa on Adobe Stock

As a fan of both musical theatre and high adventure, "The Impossible Dream" seemed an appropriate start to this post. The job search has been the great quest that most adults encounter at some point in their lives and careers, in some cases multiple times. The means of the quest have changed over the years.

Continuing with the theme of musical theatre (since we all know how extremely accurate that is), the musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying give us a glimpse into the methods of job search in the 1920s and 1960s, respectively. In Thoroughly Modern Millie, Millie Dillmount physically goes to different businesses to speak to them in person. I am guessing her aim in wanting to find a boss she could marry was likely not typical, but it does indicate the need to go physically and search that way. In How to Succeed, J. Pierrepont Finch ("Ponty") is also going to businesses on foot to find a job. But he has obtained a book with specific instructions, not only on finding a job, but also on getting to the top quickly (which he does within a few days). That show is satire, so again, much of it is not typical, but it also shows that the job search was more of a physical endeavor than it often is today. Of course, even today doing it that way doesn't hurt (at least i don't think it does), but things have changed considerably.

In 1935, the US government created unemployment insurance to help job searchers while they were searching for work, by temporarily providing a salary to help in paying bills. These days the requirements vary by state, but you generally have to be actively searching in order to get it. Washington State requires that you do at least three job search activities per week (which could include sending a resume, doing an interview, taking a course on work-related skills, and other things) and keep a log of it. Every week you have to file a claim and report what job search activities you did that week, in addition to certifying that you were "able and available" to go to work, and a few other requirements.

How did we search for jobs in the past? As mentioned above, people generally went to businesses and talked to the people there to find out if they were hiring. Newspapers had a "Help Wanted" section where businesses could advertise job openings, providing brief job descriptions (usually only a few words due to space restraints and per-word charges from the newspaper) and contact information. Many people searched the Yellow Pages in the back of their phone book and called businesses to find out if they had openings. When I was in college, our career center on campus had bulletin boards where they posted job openings sent to them by local businesses, as well as on-campus jobs. Colleges provided "work study" positions as well, so that students could have an income while attending classes. This was also nice because work could be scheduled around classes. I worked in the libraries both at Edmonds Community College and Seattle Pacific University when I attended. When I returned to Edmonds Community College, I took advantage of a "worker retraining" program related to unemployment, where I had an income from the state while attending school. This did not replace tuition, but it was a big help. This program is related to unemployment insurance, but differs in that you are learning a new skill to become more marketable, rather than searching for a job.

Image by New Africa on Adobe Stock

Even in the old days, there was a lot of calling potential employers. In the past, it was when responding to want ads. On the phone you could schedule a time to come in and bring your resume, possibly schedule an interview. While interviews were almost always in person in the past, it has become more common to do them over the phone in recent years. However, it is still common to do them in person. An interview would often consist of questions to assess a person's fit with the company and how well they might do the job in question. They may also include assessments either on computer or using a typewriter or other means to show how well the candidate can do the job. Most commonly, the phone interview these days is used in the initial screening process. If the company wants to proceed with the candidate, they may schedule a second interview in person.

Another option that worked for me in the past was going through staffing agencies. They contracted with companies looking for temporary workers, also called temps. Companies would need temps for various purposes, such as a limited project that will only last a short time, covering for a worker out on vacation or maternity leave or other kind of leave, or for any number of other reasons. Some temporary positions were considered "temp to hire," in which case the company would contract the person on a temporary basis to get a more practical idea of their fit. If they do well, they can be converted to a permanent employee. Most of my positions in the past have been with the help of staffing agencies. An agency placed me at Wireless Advocates in 2017 for a "3-4 week" position, which ended up getting extended multiple times, and finally became permanent at the beginning of 2018. It lasted until the beginning of 2023, when the company went down. My initial interview for Wireless Advocates was over the phone. I would have another interview, in person this time, a few months later when they were considering converting me to permanent employment.

While I was working at Wireless Advocates, COVID changed everything. We transitioned to working from home in March of 2020. This was a new experience for me, and I was impressed how well our team adapted. It was also great, as I have been taking care of my parents, and I was more available for them while still being able to devote much of my time to my job, often even doing overtime. I was thankful to have a steady and dependable job when so many people were unemployed due to the pandemic.

When Wireless Advocates folded, I once more filed for unemployment, and found a changed method. Many of the requirements were the same. However, in the past, we were required to go to our local WorkSource office for an orientation session. They didn't ask me to do that this time (though they did state there was a possibility they may require me to go at some point). Methods of hiring had changed. Staffing agencies post their openings on their websites, and I didn't have as much success as in the past at contacting them. For the first time, much of my job search was done on LinkedIn. In the past I had posted my resume there, but I hadn't done much job searching there. LinkedIn has also added some excellent courses that I have taken to help with job skills as well as blogging.

Years ago, I often used online job boards, such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and others. This time, I used LinkedIn, indeed.com, and a few others, but didn't have as much success on the boards that worked in the past.

Image by New Africa on Adobe Stock

When doing interviews this time, more were over the phone than ever before. Rather than do it in person, some were done over Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other online video chat services. After an initial phone screen at USI Insurance in Seattle, I was invited to the only in-person interview I have done during this job search. I was truly excited with how well it went. This one seemed a perfect fit. My amazing previous manager was a tough act to follow, but this manager seems an excellent candidate. Following that in-person interview, I had another interview over the internet with a manager in another state.

All that to say...

Today I start my new job at USI Insurance! I am super excited for this new adventure, and I can't wait to get started!

Canvas Trek Chocolate Wrapper

In our ongoing campaign to introduce the Canvas LMS (Learning Management System) to Edmonds Community College, our fearless leader Steve Sosa challenged me to make a wrapper to put on chocolate bars, and do something that was different from my normal "look and feel."

Canvas Trek
Steven Sauke
Illustration, Chocolate Wrapper
2013

To work with this challenge, I considered that we would be putting it around a chocolate bar and researched the origin of chocolate. I found out it originated with the Maya and continued with the Aztecs. As my previous art for the project had a more overt Star Trek theme, I decided to go with a more Mesoamerican theme in this case, as a nod to chocolate's rich history (pun intended). But this was also related to Star Trek, so I managed to include some subtle nods to that theme. In my research, I found the Mayan glyphs for Star, Road, Life and Wealth. Thus, as close as I could approximate it, I included "Star Trek, Live long and prosper" in Mayan. (Of course, not being an expert in their language, they may have used different glyphs that more closely worked with the meaning and grammar and such.) I also found a Mayan mural with a chief preventing a servant from taking his vat of chocolate. I based the illustration on that, but modified the fingers to make a Vulcan salute. I selected a texture that looked most like it might be on a rock wall. The background is a photo of the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

Days of Yore: Office Equipment

As with so many other things, offices have changed a lot over the years. Ancient artists and writers used chisels and other instruments on rock. Cavemen chronicled their hunts and other events on cave walls. Eventually, people started using other materials such as papyrus, parchment, and eventually paper. Scribes copied down text by hand.

Image by Pavel Timofeev on Adobe Stock

Quill

Long before I was born, people used quills (made of large feathers) to write on paper. They had to keep their inkwell handy, as the quill didn't have ink in it, and they regularly had to dip the end of the feather in ink. Some quills had a metal tip. The man in the picture below is writing with one. (These days, they are hardly ever used, though if Harry Potter is to believed, wizards still use them.)

Fountain Pen

Eventually, fountain pens become more common, adding the new feature of ink inside the pen so it didn't have to be dipped regularly. It did have to be refilled from time to time, though. They were not typically made of feathers.

Image by Nomad_Soul on Adobe Stock

Typewriter

My grandpa and I had a running argument (in good fun) about whether the typewriter or computer was better. He insisted that his typewriter had always worked, and he didn't see why he should use a computer. He did comment once that he saw a typewriter in a museum that looked exactly like the one he still used. When I stayed at his house while I was in school, I enjoyed doing my homework on the typewriter because it was a novelty. But for me, being used to computers, it wasn't as efficient. (My grandpa eventually told me he wished he had been more willing to learn the computer, as he did realize near the end of his life that they are very useful.)

Typewriters had a roller on the back where you threaded the paper. There was a ribbon on a spool that you had to replace from time to time. They had the same keyboard (generally) as the average computer keyboard, but you had to push the keys a lot farther down, and it took more muscle. Each key had a corresponding striker that jumped up and hit the ribbon, placing ink on the paper in the shape of the letter you just typed. If you hit the key too hard, the striker could punch a hole in the ribbon, and sometimes the paper! Also, if you pushed too many keys at once, all the corresponding strikers would jump up and sometimes get stuck. If you made a mistake, you had a couple options: you could go back and type "####" over each letter that you accidentally typed, or you could move the paper up and put white-out over it to cover up the mistake, or you could go in after the fact and cross it out with a pen. Those options could end up looking messy, and the other option, which was neater but much more tedious, was to pull the paper out and completely retype everything on that page, hoping you wouldn't make another mistake. White-out came in a couple forms: a white fluid with a brush built into the lid of the bottle to brush the paint-like fluid over the text, or a roll that resembled white, opaque Scotch tape, but narrower, that you could draw over the text you wanted to hide. You had to give the fluid time to dry, but once you were done, you could go back and type over it. When you reached the end of a line, there was a lever that moved the roller and paper down a line and back to the other side of the paper.

For the most part, typewritten reading material looked like this.

Computer

Computers, so named because they compute, seemed much more practical to me than typewriters. I went over changes in computers here, so I won't go into great detail on how they have changed. However, I will say before I was born, they filled up a room and were very expensive. As they progressed they got much smaller, but still a good deal larger than they are now. These days, we can take laptops, tablets and cell phones with us most places we go. A small thumb drive can hold many times the data the massive computers of yesteryear could hold.

No more did we need to #### out mistakes, or white them out, or crumple up the sheet of paper, throw it in the trash, and retype everything. Now if we made a mistake, we could just hit Backspace or Delete. Computers offered so many more options. You can't play Mario Bros or Carmen Sandiego on a typewriter, now can you?

Calculator

I find it interesting that computers and calculators are not the same thing, but both words have similar meanings. Their root words, compute and calculate, are fairly synonymous. They have certain functions in common, as computers can also do math problems. Back in the day, though, an old-fashioned calculator was a lot more portable, and even if you had a computer handy, more practical for doing math.

Mimeograph, 1918
Life magazine
Public Domain

Mimeograph

I remember we had a mimeograph machine at our school when I was in elementary and middle school. I know that many have had varying feelings on machines replacing workers, but I can assure you that mimeographs do not do the function of a mime, and I doubt it could replace Marcel Marceau (though I imagine he may have used one from time to time). That's a mime-o-graph, and as far as I'm aware, it does not exist. It had a similar function to a photocopier, but involved a roller, and the copy was not the greatest quality. You could theoretically mimeograph pictures, but it came out very poor quality. At least in my experience, you could tell a mimeographed sheet because the ink was blue. At school, they generally used them to copy text, and sometimes we would get mimeographed quizzes. As I haven't used one or even seen one since the '80s (possibly early '90s), I forget how they worked, but I was able to use it at the time. 

Carbon Paper

Another way of making copies was using carbon paper. It was maybe half the thickness of a normal sheet of paper, and generally black or charcoal-colored, and glossy. You would put a sheet of paper on the table, put a sheet of carbon paper over it, then put another sheet on top. You could then write on the top sheet, and the pressure of your writing instrument would also place what you were writing on the bottom sheet thanks to the carbon paper in between. You could also thread a couple sheets into a typewriter with carbon paper in between to type two copies at once. If you were writing with a pen, you had to make sure to press hard to ensure that what you were writing would transfer onto the lower sheet. This was often used on contracts so you only needed to sign one sheet (and not again on other copies), and then you would keep a copy and the person you were doing the contract with would keep the other. It is still sometimes used with checks. These days, the word is generally used when you "cc" (carbon copy) someone in an e-mail. You can also "bcc" (blind carbon copy) people if you don't want your recipients to know who all is getting the e-mail.

Photocopier

In my lifetime, photocopiers have changed, but not as much as other machines. They generally produce higher quality copies now than they used to (especially with pictures), and some can now copy in color. They have also become more digital over the years. In my experience, they have always produced better copies than mimeographs.

Image by Nomad_Soul on Adobe Stock

Bookshelf

I covered books here, so probably don't need to repeat myself too much, but with ongoing automation and the internet, books aren't as common in offices as they used to be. The same goes for bookshelves. Someday I dream of having an office with a bookshelf that opens on a secret passage. I've never been in an office like that (as far as I know), but I love reading about them and seeing them in movies!

Filing Cabinet and Rolodex

I covered filing cabinets and Rolodexes here, but you don't see them in offices nearly as much these days as in the past, with computers, electronic files, and more people trying to conserve paper in an effort to help the environment. The Rolodex has largely been replaced by Microsoft Outlook on the computer, as well as cell phones.

Telephone

I covered telephones here. They were in just about every office in the past. Most offices still have them, but these days they are often built into the computer as software, rather than a physical device. It made the transition to working from home when COVID hit a lot simpler. It's also nice to be able to use headphones with a mouthpiece attached, rather than having to balance the receiver between my head and shoulder if I want to type with both hands!

Fax

I remember when we got our first fax machine (short for facsimile) in the Philippines. My mom was the secretary for our mission agency. Our office was in a Manila highrise, and while my brother and I watched the new machine in our office, the adults went to an adjoining office for another mission agency on the same floor. Pretty soon the fax machine came to life and a paper came out of it with a handwritten note saying something to the effect of "Hooray! It works!"

It was nice when we could fax things from our office for free. Most places charged per page, and that could add up. I'm kind of glad we don't use fax much any more, but it was pretty nifty. Early in my career, I had to fax timesheets at the end of each week. It was a challenge on the occasion where the person who approved the timesheet signed in red ink, which doesn't transmit well by fax.

Elevator

Storey time! (Get it? I'll see myself out.) While the elevator isn't exactly equipment, they have changed over the years. During my lifetime, they haven't changed much, but I once had a temp job in Seattle's Smith Tower, which still had the old-fashioned elevator with an attendant. (I hope they still do. It's an experience that I recommend.) Rather than pressing a button by the door, you would tell the attendant which floor, and they would turn a large crank to take you there. When I was younger, all elevators I used had buttons beside the door (inside the elevator) that you could press for the floor where you wanted to go. Outside the elevator, they have a button that you press to tell it whether you want to go up or down. (Side note: A fun conversation that sometimes happens in the Philippines: "Bababa ba?" "Bababa." ["Is it going down?" "It's going down."]) Most elevators are still like that. However, some of the newer ones have a bank of elevators, and the buttons are outside the elevator on the wall. You punch in the floor, and it tells you which elevator to go to when it arrives. It then whisks you where you need to go. As always, the elevator is a very uplifting experience, unless you're going down, which can be a bit of a downer!

Elevator Attendant, 1917
Martha Washington Hotel
Public Domain

These days, most of the above things can be done on a cell phone and/or computer. My phone has a scanning feature and a camera that often works really well for sending documents and other things that I would have photocopied, mimeographed or faxed in the past. With my Kindle and Audible apps on my phone and tablet, I can read and listen to books. I can file documents on the computer (and on my cell phone, though the computer is generally more efficient for that). While I still use pens (though not generally quills or fountain pens), I don't use them as much as I used to, though my phone has a stylus that works similar to a pen when I write on my screen. Not all phones have that. However, I have yet to see an elevator that operates by means of a cell phone. I imagine someday there will be an app for that.