Shakespeare Tells the Story of Microsoft's Origin

 I had this idea. I want to use generative AI (ChatGPT) to tell the story of Microsoft in Albuquerque but in the style of William Shakespeare. 

My wife and I were talking about his work. Sadly, I'm not as familiar with his work than she is, but what I have experienced, I can appreciate. 

I think the old language is fascinating. I watched a part of a PBS documentary and some folks who study language were interview and said that the speech sounded like what a character pirate accent would sound like. 

When I think of Shakespeare, I also think about what it would have been like in that time. 16th and 17th century England. I'm more so transported to imagining what the theaters and people watching the plays were like than the plays themself. But, that's probably because I haven't read much of them. 

Maybe I'll try to change that for me. 

Anyway, here's the generative AI story of the origin of Microsoft in Albuquerque in the style of William Shakespeare. 

Act I: The Exodus from Albuquerque

Upon January's dawn, in Seventy-Nine of the year of our Lord,

Bill Gates and Paul Allen, bound by a technological cord,

Forsake Albuquerque's desert domain,

To Bellevue, they journeyed, Seattle's reign.

Four years prior, in the bosom of New Mexico's sun,

A fledgling software company had begun,

In the Old Bank Building, Bellevue's heart,

Microsoft's genesis, a prelude to its art.

Act II: The Altair's Call

Ere the move to the Pacific Northwest,

Microsoft's roots were in Altair's quest,

A computer, small and revolutionary,

Altair 8800, a beacon in the vast prairie.

A rectangle of gray metal, devoid of grace,

Yet in its core, potential to embrace.

A language it lacked, a call for aid,

Gates and Allen, their destiny laid.

In Cambridge, amidst ivy-clad halls,

Gates and Allen answered Altair's calls.

BASIC, the language, their pledge they made,

A journey begun, a pact unswayed.

Eight weeks' labor, night and day,

Allen to Albuquerque, the code's display.

"Print 2 + 2," the program's dance,

A symphony of bytes, a serendipitous chance.

Act III: The Albuquerque Sojourn

In Albuquerque's embrace, Allen took root,

Vice-president of software, in a quest to commute.

Gates, Harvard's scholar, joined the endeavor,

A partnership forged, bound forever.

Microsoft, or Micro-Soft, in its infancy,

Gates and Allen, architects of this symphony.

Ownership divided, a pact decreed,

Gates, 60 percent, Allen, 40 indeed.

In Sundowner's abode and cafe's delight,

The duo toiled, day and night.

A Porsche for Gates, a chariot of speed,

In the Albuquerque night, his thoughts to feed.

A Porsche's roar, a dance with the sand,

Gates' mugshot etched in the law's stern hand.

In these desert nights, dreams did conspire,

Microsoft's legend, kindled in fire.

Act IV: The Pact Unraveled

MITS, the ally, turned adversarial gaze,

Exclusive rights, Altair's code to praise.

Dispute arose, a legal fray,

In '77, the partnership gave way.

Arbitration's judgment, Microsoft's decree,

BASIC unleashed, the code set free.

The exit from Albuquerque, a path paved,

Microsoft's destiny, in Seattle's shade.

Act V: The Ascent in Bellevue

To Seattle's bosom, Microsoft flew,

Bellevue's Old Bank Building, their office anew.

Gates, the orchestrator, Ballmer joined the dance,

In Bellevue's embrace, a fledgling's chance.

The Northrup Way, a humble abode,

Microsoft's presence in Bellevue bestowed.

Ballmer, the mailman, in a change of scene,

Delivered mail, a transition serene.

In the Old Bank's shadow, Microsoft grew,

From the eighth floor to Northrup, the journey true.

The Standard in microcomputers, the pledge,

In Bellevue's precincts, a company on edge.

Epilogue: Legacy Unfolds

The Albuquerque chapter, a distant tale,

Microsoft's growth, an unyielding gale.

From Altair's inception to Bellevue's rise,

A saga scripted in technological skies.

In Time's embrace, Gates' face aglow,

A fortune sizzling, a Seattle show.

Albuquerque's past, a mere memory,

In Redmond's haven, Microsoft's legacy.

Images generated by Bing AI of the original crew walking around ABQ but in the style of 16th century English art. 

Source: Rousso, Nick. “Microsoft moves from New Mexico to Bellevue on January 1, 1979.” HistoryLink.org, History Ink, 30 Dec. 2020, [https://www.historylink.org/File/21161].

Connected

I don't know what triggered this memory...

Oh, I remember now. I was walking down the stairs in my office building and noticed some holes drilled in the cinderblock where network wires were threaded through. It looks like an afterthought, probably because it was. I imagine the building I'm in was built before the wide usage of the internet.

...just got lost in looking at satellite Timelapse images on google earth... 

It was. Looks to be built in the mid 80s or so. 

So, back to my memory. I was a senior in high school and I was outside of Mr. Ruben's class. (He was the "cool" teacher.) He taught civics and a few history classes--upperclassmen. He had a computer in his classroom, and it was connected to the internet. 

This sounds very boring to people today. Like, so what? But for my generation, this was a big deal. My generation is very unique, we were in high school at the end of one era, and graduated at the beginning of another. 

My freshman year I took typing. We didn't learn to type on a computer, we learned on typewriters. (Are there even typing classes in school anymore?) I think I read a tweet or a thread a while back, too, reminding people from my generation that you don't have to place two spaces after a period anymore. I think there were a few other rules we learned in typing class. 

So yeah, internet connected to a computer in a classroom was a big deal. Mr. Ruben would let us browse the internet if we got out work done. Of course, there were no website controls, or if there were, they were very primitive. I know this because if there were content controls on our network, stickdeath.com was not on the list of blocked sites. It should have been. Very violent ways for stick figures to die using flash animation was the theme of this website. And we'd watch those videos and either Mr. Ruben didn't notice, or he wanted to keep the status of "cool" teacher. 

Back to my memory, though. Seeing the holes drilled into the cinderblock reminded me of crews wiring network cables through my school in my junior year. At the time, I had no idea how significant this event was. Before the cables existed, my school had no internet connection. Now, it does. 

I was just appreciating the gravity of that event. 

Encyclopedias

 Encyclopedias. People of my generation and before may remember these. A collection of books with information complied on certain topics. Encyclopedia Britanica was the best, apparently. The other two publishers I knew of were Funk & Wagnalls and World Book. 

World Book, as I remember it, was most commonly found in the library of your school. This was the book you reached for if you wanted to start a research project--you wanted to know about a president, a continent, a country, an animal--you name it, the World Book probably had a quick bite of information about the topic you wanted to learn more about. 

Britanica seemed to be a bit more acadmic than the World Book, and sometimes I'd see it in the school library, but I would gravitate to the World Book. The information was more accessable for me. The font, as I remember it, was more Times New Roman-y, smaller font, the pages seemed to be of higher quality, the binding was a nicer quality. 

Doesn't matter, I guess. I didn't go to the Britanica. My go-to were the World Book at school and Funk & Wagnalls when I was at my Grandpa's house. My grandpa had two sets of Funk & Wagnalls. Maybe he had World Book too. I don't remember. 

My Grandpa didn't have a computer, or a TV most of my childhood, he didn't even have a phone, but he had plenty to do at his house. He had this brown 70's style carpet in his living room, a record player on a stand (also very 70s), and booksheves full of encyclopedia volumes and atlases. 

This was my favorite thing to do as a child. I would lay on his 70s style brown carpet and pick a letter from his encyclopedias and just learn. I would start with some nugget of curiosity my grandpa would give me, and then go from there. 

One time, he told me that Mexico City was the biggest city in the world. I had to know more. I don't remember the events exactly, but I'm sure I want to the "M" volume and began to read up on the city. This is where my facination with populations of cities began. To read that Mexico City had millions of inhabitants blew my mind. Then I looked at the photos and the maps included. I'm sure my next action was to then look at a city map. 

I could spend hours just looking at the map, imagining what it was like to live in the same place with millions of other people. And that's what I did. 

Today, that curiosity is still there. It's muffled a bit by my responsibilities. I have to work. I bring my curiosity to work, but I can't sit at my desk and imagine cities while browsing Wikipedia. (or can i?). Wikipedia is great, though. 

I did have an interesting memory come to me. There used to be a Furr's grocery store in downtown Santa Fe. My grandpa would take me there occasionally, and an endcap of one of the ailes had a display of the newest Funk & Waggnalls encyclopedias. My grandpa would take me there and we would by each book individually. The books would be in his collection, but of course I could read through them any time I wanted. 

I Don't Know Spanish

 I don't know Spanish. 

I think I should. I grew up around a little bit of Spanish. My grandpa (who lived next door), and my tio, who also lived next door, and my other neighbor, Tony, and my grandpa's cousin, who also lived next door--all spoke Spanish. 

I guess I should explain what "next door" is in Santa Fe. We all kind of lived "next door". I grew up in an old part of Santa Fe. I mean, I suppose all of Santa Fe is an old part. 

*Rabbit Hole* now I want to know when the houses I lived in were built. I won't do that now. 

Okay, so I grew up close to the intersection of Guadalupe and Agua Fria. There's no rhyme or reason to the neighborhood design. Houses just went up where they went up. 

I mean, check out this image from Google Earth. Not sure if it illustrates my point very well, but it's a cool image either way. What I'm trying to say is that this area more than likely predated cars. I really don't know, but I could look at a historical map. 

Okay, had to look it up. Here's a website I found in a quick google search. 

https://nmplates.com/FirstAutomobile.htm

Sweet images. Looks like cars were in New Mexico around 1905.

https://www.historicsantafe.org/maps

This rabbit hole I did go in. Maps. 

Officially my favorite map. 

So, yeah. My neighborhood predated cars. 

What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Spanish. I remember talking a bit of Spanish to my Tio and to Tony. It consisted of only, a "Hi, Tony. Como estas?" and he'd respond with "Muy bien, usted?". Same with Tio. 

And my grandpa didn't speak Spanish to me, but he would sing Spanish. He was a musician, and he loved mariachi music. I would watch him practice on his vihuela and he would sing. He would also play his harp (that he made) and sing songs. I'd watch him play and sing in Spanish. Some of my favorite memories. 

And now that I'm getting older, I'm coming to appreciate where I came from more. I'm sad that my generation lost the language, but I'm hoping to bring it back a bit. I'm doing some Duolingo lessons, and I'm learning a bit. Maybe I can encourage my kids to learn Spanish, too.

I Forgot My First Grade Teacher's Name

 Today I'm forcing myself to write. 

I had some time to think about a memory I wanted to talk about. 

Sometimes, it's easy for me to get caught up in whatever is going on in my life at the time. These days my mind is racing. Racing all the time, and not really on anything important. Maybe this is what they call "overthinking"? 

Either way, even now. I'm trying to relax my brain so I can retell this story.

...

...

...

First grade. I don't remember much from first grade. I went to Alvord Elementary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school's closed now. But I have some memories of the school. Apparently very few from first grade. 

Here's a memory from first grade that stands out. I remember our first grade teacher giving us an assignment to bring our teeth that we lost to school. I remember we placed all of our lost teeth in small, clear plastic cups, and we filled these small cups with Coke and watched the teeth decay over the next couple of days. 

How did this work? Or is my memory twisted? I don't think everyone in the class lost their teeth at the same time. And what about the tooth fairy? Was this a sacrifice our teacher had us do in the name of science and dental hygiene knowledge? So many questions...

This stands out to me, though. This memory never left me. And from then forward, I knew that soda's had a negative impact on my teeth. I guess it's worked, too. I've never had a cavity in my life. 

I think the next lesson was how to brush your teeth. I remember the graphic that was shared on patters to use to brush your teeth. There were little kids doing cartwheels and this directed us to brush our teeth in a circular pattern. 

The other memory I have of first grade was of me presenting something to the class that I thought was interesting. I talked about the Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth. I found out somewhere that the T-Rex could open its mouth up to three feet. At the time, I was three feet tall. So I made this connection and it blew my little first grade mind. So, this is what I shared. 

This is all I remember about first grade. I don't even remember my first grade teacher's name.

Now that I think about it, I don't remember my fourth grade teacher's name either. 

I remember what my fourth grade teacher looked like, but my first grade teacher--she's just gone from my memory. I don't remember what she looked like. 

Okay... I just remembered the name of my fourth grade teacher. Her name was Ms. Booth. She was from Missouri, or somewhere in the midwest. First grade is still gone. 

Here's a cool image I found from another blog of the angle a T-Rex was capable of opening its mouth.   http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-wide-could-t-rex-open-its-mouth.html

Have you ever seen those videos of seagulls eating large mammals, or a pelican eating a pigeon? I picture the T-Rex swallowing whole prey that seems like it should be too large to eat. 

My friend Michael got an eraser stuck in his nose. Later that year we burned a Zozobra

When I was in kindergarten, my friend Michael got a pencil eraser stuck up his nose. 

I'm not sure if he was my friend. Maybe a friend as a kindergartener looks at friends. In kindergarten, everyone in your class is "friend". As we get older, that's when we start to exclude people from our group. But in kindergarten... all the kids are friends. 

But Michael got an eraser stuck in his nose, and I was worried for him. I remember the room. It was bright. The windows were tall and the blinds were open. The room was flooded with sunshine. Sunshine, and the sobbing of Michael. 

I don't remember much of the details. I think the teacher (or one of the teachers, we had two) tried to retrieve the eraser. Now that I think about it, I wonder if them trying to get the eraser made it worse. I wouldn't know. Just seems like that would be the case. All I know is they couldn't get it, and a little later, Michael's mom came to pick him up. I don't remember the next day, I don't remember if I asked him if he was okay. He was okay, because I know he was in classes with me after that. 

A memory I'll never forget. Seared on my brain. 

This makes me think of other things within that class. I think that same year our class made an adobe house. Someone came to our school and taught us the techniques of making the bricks and stacking them. We got a little muddy, but it was very fun, as I recall. 

That same year also (and subsequent years) we burned a small Zozobra. It was so normal to me then, but now I look back and realize how strange this is. The janitor would construct it and do the burning. I don't remember any safety protocols in place. We were at a safe distance, I think. But there wasn't a firetruck close by in the event a stray ember caught our school on fire. 

It was awesome. I became very interested in the burning of Zozobra. I would draw Zozobra when I wasn't drawing dinosaurs. And then... I started to want to burn my own Zozobra. I started making them out of paper and popsicle sticks. One day, my wish came true. I found a lighter and went to the back of my house and burned my Zozobra. Wasn't the best idea. I remember getting in trouble for playing with a lighter. I could've burned my house down. Thankfully adobe houses don't seem to be very flammable from the outside. 

So yeah... no more home brewed Zozobras. We were close enough to Fort Marcy Park, though, that I could hear him moaning as he was burned every September. I think one year we even saw some of the flames in the distance. We definitely saw the fireworks after. 

Zozobra is coming up and I still enjoy it. Maybe I'll post some photos. Maybe not. Probably not. I'll forget. 

Here's some photos I took last year. 

TI-108

 Is it okay if I jump around a little bit? 

Not physically, even thought I have enough energy this morning it would probably do me well. 

I'm talking jump around chronologically. I know you knew. 

Fast forward to the 6th grade. They handed us all calculators in math class. I thought they were so cool. This little device could take the input I gave it by pressing on the buttons and that was then displayed on the little LCD display. Then I could tell it to add something, subtract, divide--even square root! I think kids were more easily amused, or impressed back then. Or maybe it was just me. 

Okay, memories are coming back even as I type this. I remember the squishyness of the keys. I remember thinking those keys were a solid, high quality plastic. They had little bumps on the keys. But, the thing I thought was the coolest feature about this little device, was the little black square in the upper left below the display. The little solar panel. Is it called a panel? Whatever. What I found out as I messed around with this calculator is that it didn't require a battery to operate. It worked off of the power of light. Not even sunlight, but the light from the lights above my head in the classroom. 

I remember placing my finger over the little solar panel and I would watch it dim. Then I would uncover the little panel and watch it come back to life. This was kind of mind-blowing to me. How on Earth does this work? How does an electronic device get electricity from light? Who cares about math! How does this thing work. (I bet that explanation involves some math).

Fast forward again to today. Surprise, I still think solar panels are super cool. When I see a house with solar panels, or a parking lot that has a shade canopy that also has solar panels on it, I am just pleased. 

I want to see rooftops of business and government buildings covered in solar panels. Parking lots. Parking lots are the worst. They are often empty. They exist for the possibility that someone may need to leave their car there for a moment.

I haven't researched this in depth. I mean, I want to. I might later. But for now, what I would venture to guess is that parking lots in Albuquerque generate a lot of heat. Would a parking lot with a shade canopy that has solar panels also generate... generate is the wrong term. Radiate. Would it radiate heat like a parking lot? It's black. It absorbs the heat. (I made a podcast about this.) I need to listen to my podcast again to find out. But, will it make a city hotter? Hotter than maybe a roof that is white and reflective? A lot of the buildings in downtown Albuquerque are white. 

Anyway, that's one question. But parking lots. They're already black mostly. Some are concrete, but the rest are asphalt. Imagine if your parking lot was shaded everywhere you go. It seems like a win-win to me. Cars are cooler. Electricity is generated. 

Did I remember this?

 Early memories. 

I've got a few memories from early childhood. Some I wonder are even real memories. I grew up in downtown Santa Fe. It doesn't rain much here. Still I have some memories of rain. I have a memory of saturated colors on top of a gloomy, gray background. I have memories of galoshes. It's even weird that I remember that name. Galoshes is not a word that many New Mexicans use, I don't think. I also don't think many New Mexicans own galoshes. They don't really need them. 

But I have a memory of them. (I should ask my mom, now that I'm thinking about it. I'll ask her if she remembers buying me some.) I remember putting them on. The color, I think was yellow. I remember vividly that they had metal latches. And I remember going outside in the rain. 

It's probably a real memory. It just feels maybe made up just because of where I grew up and what I was doing. What the weather was doing. 

As an adult, I now can pay more attention to weather patters. I do pay more attention. I think I pay attention because the weather affects me a great deal, and in New Mexico I know it doesn't rain that much. If I bought galoshes today, it would be a pretty silly purchase. It hasn't rained much at all this year. I wouldn't have used them at all this year. I suppose a child might find more use for galoshes. Children are looking for puddles to jump in. Most adults don't. 

That's my memory for today. Galoshes. 

Side note: I did end up eventually living in a place, very briefly, that did require galoshes. I realized it later, after the rainy season ended. That place is Portland, Oregon. I moved there in November 2020 and moved away in May of 2021. I wanted it to work out, it just didn't. Turns out family supports are super important when you have kids. 

But staying on track, galoshes would have been very useful. I remember taking a few hikes with the family in that fall and into the spring. I noticed a lot of people wore, what I can maybe call galoshes. The look like this: 

Yeah, who wouldn't thought you'd need rain boots in a city that receives 5-6 inches of rain per month in the winter. The answer to that question is "everyone but me". I wore my vans and running shoes and my feet suffered as a result. 

Here are some images I could find that kind of resemble my memory of the galoshes I had as a kid. Maybe they were yellow? I'm not sure. I do remember... or maybe I should say "remember" them having a metal latch, or actually a few metal straps in the front. I don't know, maybe I made it all up. 

For comparison, here's the weather chart from Wikipedia for both Santa Fe and Portland. (By the way, these weather charts, or climate chart I should say, are some of my favorite things. I absolutely love these charts.)

My Story

 I had this idea. I've updated this blog off and on for some time now. Mostly off in recent years. I think I want to be more consistent. Do people still read blogs? Probably not, but that's okay. I just like the physical feelings of tapping my fingers on my keyboard and the brain activity and emotional feelings I get of getting my thoughts out. Writing is fun. (especially on the keyboard of this 2016 MacBook Pro I picked up on eBay.)

So, my thought. My thought was to share some of my story. My story seems to be something that I only know. Sure there are some people that know bits and pieces of "my story". But for the most part I keep to myself. ... wait, is that true? ... I have a podcast or three. I write in this blog. I tweet and thread and insta and facebook. Maybe that's false. Anyway, there are some things I keep to myself, and there's other things -------- I'm getting into the weeds. 

I want to tell a story. I don't know who's going to read it. I kind of don't care if anyone reads it. That's been my philosophy with this blog since the start. 

So, here we go. 

I think I want to just get my memories down in writing. I'll start with childhood, but maybe I'll jump around in time. And maybe that memory will get me off on a tangent and I can share my opinion on something. Sound okay? Okay. Glad it sounds good to you. 

And because apparently I'm obsessed with weather data, here's a link I found with weather data in the city I was born in and in the year I was born. 

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/santa-fe/year-1983

And here's a website that has aerial photos of Santa Fe. I might be in some of these photos. 

https://aerialarchives.photoshelter.com/gallery/Santa-Fe-Aerial-Photographs/G0000Ad.60CfEhnU/

Google Bard and Chat GPT and Bing Had a Conversation.

 I got access to the preview of Bard and I thought it would be fun to ask (make?😬) them talk to eachother. 

Here it is...

And then ChatGPT started talking really slowly and timed out twice. I gave up. 

Maybe Bing will have more luck?

Dead end. I will ask Bard to initiate the conversation. 

And this continued until I had no more prompts left with Bing. Next time I’ll be more creative with my initial prompt.