Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for September 29, 2024

Aaaah! It’s the horrible skreek-squooper! Come to skreek-squoop all my organs out! I’m totally not making this up!

Oh, false alarm. Just some squeaky rain boots.

I remember “You’ve got mail!”

The dread cry of 14400 Baud!

When your modem sacrificed itself to the internet……

I miss the sound of my modem negotiating. It was comforting.

Hey, beat going out in the snow to the computing center to enter your project. That Apple IIc was wonderful.

I started using the Internet when I was about 12. That was in the mid-90s and I thought it was the coolest thing ever even though it was so primitive then. I remember dial-up very well.

Even now when I dial some business’ number I get the modem one and hear the familiar noise!

That sound is burned into my memory. Along with AOL’s “Welcome. You’ve got mail!” Of course it still beat a dial tone and a busy signal.

I have “dial-up” as a ringtone on my phone… for suspected fraud or spam…

AOL disc

I think I still have my old US Robotics modem somewhere. Mind you, I have an even older Pace Linnet somewhere too!

AOL is still around. I’m assuming it no longer uses the phone dial-up, but I occasionally see someone who lists it for their e-mail address.