It was 1981, but this technology got me my first date. Community College Fortran (77) class, punched (IBM 029 keypunch) cards fed to a 360 emulator running on a

It was 1981, but this technology got me my first date. Community College Fortran (77) class, punched (IBM 029 keypunch) cards fed to a 360 emulator running on a Burroughs 6800. Had to hand the cards in at a window, wait anywhere from hours to the next day for a green bar printout usually laden with errors. Lots of time spent desk-checking, going over cards. Because of the setup and the time involved, the keypunch/window room was a sort of social center. After some initial struggles, I sort of got the hang of things, to the point where people would ask for help. I didn't think anything of offering the help. One day a girl said 'Let me buy you lunch, as thanks.' She had other plans romance-wise, but we were friends for years, and it was the first time I even had an inkling that being a geek didn't have to mean a life alone.