Wonder Butter™ Beginnings - Part 5 - Getting Computer Time

After pushing through all the obstacles and hurdles to finally make it to the library each and every time, we still had another challenge to face . . . . getting computer time! Each person that visited the library (and had a valid Muskogee Public Library card), was allowed two (2) one-hour sessions on the computers, per day. There were only a small handful of computers available to the public, and several of those were usually out-of-service on  any given day. Other home school students, college students, researchers, genealogists, etc, seemed to always have all the computers already occupied each time we arrived.

Once in awhile we would get lucky and get a computer immediately. We usually; however, had to go with the other option .... advance sign up for the next available computer. Sometimes that meant a wait of maybe only a few minutes, but other times, it meant a much longer wait, such as two hours!

That didn't mean you always got the computer you signed up for for both one hour sessions, either.  Sometimes you could register for the same computer for both sessions, but usually you had to sign up on one computer for one session, then another for the next session. Each one hour session was signed up for separately and the computer system assigned the computer numbers (each computer was numbered). This meant that after you got your notebooks, books, pens, pencils, and all your research supplies all spread out and was going really good by the end of that first hour, you had to scoop it all up when the timer on your computer ran out, get up, and move to another computer where you had to try to remember where you were at and start all over. You had to move your belongings and materials quickly, because someone else was usually waiting for the computer that your time just ran out on.  All this while also trying to contain two hyper, special needs, home-schooled children in a quiet library and keep them on task with their school work..  But I was determined. None of those hassles were going to stop me from getting my research done so that I could develop my first skin cream.

Thank you for stopping in and Stay Tuned for Part 6 where I discuss how we occupied our time during those long waits for a computer session.  Have a great day!