SATURDAY STORY - DANIEL JACKSON - PART NINE

 SAT-STORY-APR15 - DAN JACKSON #9

On Saturday I write fiction (and I’m going to keep trying until I get it right).  

When he was 14 Daniel Jackson made a personal computer in his parent's basement.  Soon others wanted a computer and Daniel started to make more.  Eventually, this became the DJ Computer Company.  Dan is now 18 and has just finished his first semester at Purdue University.  DJ Computers is very successful.  

I (Karen White) have ideas for this story.  We’ll have some romance, some problems, some intrigue, and some twists and turns (shouldn’t a story have some dead ends and plot changes?)

So, today, the rest of Daniel Jackson’s first year (and second semester) at Purdue.

**********

Over Christmas/Semester break, Dan spent some time at DJ Computers including time with the executive board and in the research and development group.  Uncle Steve (the CEO) and Sam Siner (manager of the research and development department) wanted Dan to take a new DJ laptop computer back to Purdue and Sam would ship him updates for him to test.  Dan would become a “Beta” tester.  Dan asked if he could give his current computer to his roommate Karl Sieverding, and give another DJ Computer to his girlfriend, Linda Watson.  (As if the company he founded could say ‘no’ to the founder!!!).  Steve Jackson, Dan’s uncle, and CEO of DJ Computers found two printers he gave to Dan.  Dan was going to give his computer and printer to Karl, and then a new printer with the new computer to Linda, and then a new printer for his use.  

He called Karl to tell him that he was going to get a computer, and Karl was ecstatic.  Likewise, he called Linda.  Over Christmas, her parents had gotten her a new DJ Computer, but Dan twisted her arm as he was going to bring a new faster, and more powerful computer back for her.  Her brother was a senior in high school and he would get the DJ Computer that her parents had gotten her.

Dan was experimenting with the DJ (Data Junction) package from DJ Computers.  It was an e-mail package still in more of a beta release.  He loved the idea of being able to almost instantly send and receive messages.  

Finally, Sunday, January 13, 1985, came.  Will, Beth, and Dan loaded things into Mom’s Astro Van.  It should have been an easy move, but with two new computers (his laptop and one for Linda) the car was packed.  Grandma Jackson also baked cookies for Dan to share with his friends.  Like at Thanksgiving, Dan was one of the first back into Hawkins Hall. 

He put his clothes away and then started setting up the new laptop.  It wasn’t something that could sit in his lap for a long time but could be carried around and set up on a table.  It had a small screen but it was portable.  He could take the computer to the library with him to take notes.  WordPerfect had an APA reference built-in function for his academic papers.  

For the second semester, he had College Physics II - and again it was with Dr. Gary Bunce - and Linda Watson was in that class too.  He had the next Calculus course (and Karl Sieverding was in this section as well).  He got into Sanjay Modi’s Electronic Circuits I class, Freshman Composition II (and he managed to get into Dr. Augusta Nelson’s section), and MacroEconomics.

And like the fall semester, he used his copy of Lotus 1-2-3 to set up a study schedule.  At least two hours of studying for each hour in class.  He had a great start, but he didn’t want to slip in this his second semester.

*****

Karl Sieverding arrived about 5:00.  For the next hour or so, Dan and Karl set up the computer that had been Dan’s for Karl’s use.  

Linda Watson arrived at about 7:00.  Linda knocked on Dan and Karl’s door on her first trip upstairs to her room.  Dan and Karl then carried the new computer for Linda to her room, while her parents Bonnie and Bruce Watson brought up the things she brought back to school.  Then Bonnie and Bruce took Dan, Karl, and Linda to Steak and Shake for a malt before they headed back to Huntington Indiana.

Karl went back to his room and Dan went to Linda’s room to help set up the new DJ Computer.  It had the new ‘386 chip and was faster than Dan’s old computer (that now belonged to Karl).  Linda’s roommate Emily Galpin wasn’t back again, so with the door just an inch ajar, the two locked lips and made out.   Dan was getting better at this, fondled Linda’s breasts, and rubbed her hoo-ha through her panties.  Linda was panting for more when they heard Emily in the hallway and quickly stopped and tried to look casual.  Dan was pretty sure that Emily figured out that the two of them were making out, but it seemed if you know where to look, when you have a huge group of college-aged students you could see couples making out.

*****

Monday was classes, and Karl and Dan went to Calculus III - differential equations.  There was a different professor, one with a heavy Indian accent.  It would be interesting.  

The physics lecture was at 11:00.  Dan looked around the class and recognized most of the students from the first semester of College Physics with Calculus.  Dr. Bunce started where they had left off last semester and they were flying.

Dr. Nelson welcomed students to Freshman Composition II and gave a smile to Dan as he left. 

Dr. Sanjay Modi started by getting some basic information from his students and then went into binary math.  They did a worksheet on binary, octal, and hexadecimal.  Dan was glad he knew most of it.  Yes, he had built computers now for four years, but the actual circuits were already on the motherboards and he was looking forward to building their own ANN, OR, NAND, NOR, and other circuits.  

*****

Dan had given a talk in his Introduction to Business Class on the last day of the Fall Semester and was open about being Dan Jackson of DJ Computers.  Students would say “Hi Dan” as he walked by and Dan wasn’t sure who was somebody he knew or should know or just a random student who knew who he was.  He did make a point of smiling and saying “hi” back.  (After all, it was good for his business).  

******

On the first Saturday night of the second semester, the Electronic Sciences Student Association was having another party at the Izaak Walton Clubhouse.  Karl was going, Linda wanted to go and several on his floor were going.  Dan was willing to go again.

The club was packed.  Seemingly some high school kids heard about it, and the hired off-duty police were swamped when checking names and Purdue IDs.  Some of the Purdue students had gotten a headstart on drinking and were pretty drunk already. The bus to the location was jammed full and then a couple of the bus vomited. The bus smelled of beer, vomit, and sweaty bodies. It was a cold night, and the line to get in was about 400 students long and the facility couldn’t hold that many.  So, unfortunately, the bus that Dan, Linda, and Karl were on, turned around and took students back to campus.  Or really, it was fortunate that they went back to campus as the West Lafayette police descended and checked real IDs.  Several students were hauled off to the police department.  

By the time the party should have been rocking, it was shut down. The bus back to campus couldn't make the round trip fast enough, and some students stupidly decided they could walk back to campus four miles away.  But walking in the ten degrees in the evening was a nightmare. The Lafayette Journal & Courier had reporters there as did the campus newspaper, Purdue Exponent.  The Electronic Sciences Student Association was fined and barred from any social events for the rest of the year and was barely allowed to continue as a campus organization.  

*****

Thus started Dan’s social life for the second semester.

In the second week of the semester, the spring rush started for campus sororities and fraternities.  And, it seemed as if every organization wanted to have the famous Dan Jackson as a member.  Sigma Phi Epsilon (or SigEp) seemed to present the most positive approach to Dan.  On campus it was known as the ‘academic fraternity’ and Dan had gotten a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) in his first semester and seemed like a good candidate.  Karl was looking at Sigma Nu as four of the brothers were from Muncie and they seemed interested in him.  Even Linda was looking at Delta Delta Delta (or Tri-Delt) sorority.  

Dan hadn’t been very social in high school but was finding that college life was much better than high school in many ways.  Maybe the most important way was that Dan wasn’t working 20 hours a week for DJ Computers and was 3 hours away from home. He could live it up a little!!

*****

Fraternities once had a reputation for hazing - making their pledges swallow goldfish, eat whole onions, or even worse things.  But by 1985, campuses and fraternities had cleaned up their act.  Yes, there were social events, but there were philanthropy events and campus service.  

Dan did go to rush events with three of the groups but did join SigEp.  The pledges became good friends as they distributed food in the West Lafayette community for Meals on Wheels, and helped with the community Alzheimer’s Walk event.  

And, Dan did become more social.  At least twice a month there was some kind of social event - like dances at the SigEp house (with one of the brothers being the disk jockey (DJ)).  And, with most of the events, there were beer kegs; if a brother wanted hard liquor, they could bring that too.  Dan learned to drink beer but kept it in moderation. 

Meanwhile, Linda joined Tri-Delt and sororities and did more philanthropic events - reading to first graders in a literacy program, bringing middle school girls to the Purdue Women’s basketball games and cheering with them; and being big sisters to the same middle school girls (from a low income, integrated school.  

*****

Dr. Sanjay Modi twisted Dan’s arm and Dan became a member of the electronic circuitry research and development lab.  He got paid minimum wage for ten hours a week working in the advanced circuit lab.  Some of their projects involved networking computer labs together, rolling out campus-wide email, and working with some handicapped students with eye-movement controls for input to computers.  

Dan enjoyed the last project.  There were about ten severely handicapped students in the program, and by focusing cameras and sensors on the eyes of those students, they could capture something akin to typing.  So, if a handicapped student looked at an H, then an E, L, L, and O the monitor would display HELLO.  It might take 10 minutes for such a student to enter a paragraph, but if their hands were not adapted to using a keyboard, this was a way to communicate.  

*****

He shared some of the ideas with the research and development group at DJ Computers and DJ Computers worked out an arrangement to give the Purdue handicapped lab some equipment and to use the techniques that Purdue developed.  

*****

He had slacked off some from his two hours of study for every hour in class.  He did still have another calculus book and another physics book and still did every problem set in the regular textbook and in the additional textbook.  He still used the English tutors in the library and was progressing nicely in Freshman Composition II with Dr. Nelson.  

The biggest academic challenge was understanding Dr. Yang in MacroEconomics.  Where he had enjoyed MicroEconomics with supply and demand, Macro Econ was a different topic.  They covered bigger economic systems, communism, capitalism, fascism, and other governmental policies.  They covered ways governments obtained money, income tax, sales tax, property tax, inheritance, and other taxes.  

But, Dr. Yang was soft-spoken and even though Dan sat in the front row, it was still hard to hear and understand Dr. Yang.  As a non-native speaker of English and with a heavy Chinese accent, Dr. Yang was erudite but difficult.  

*****

Just after midterm grades, Dan had As in all of his classes except Macro Economics where he was a low B or B minus grade.  

He asked for and got permission to tape-record Dr. Yang’s lectures and he listened to the lectures over and over to develop his understanding.

*****

And, he was getting more visible on campus.  The student entrepreneurship club had him speak.  He spoke to the West Lafayette Rotary and Kiwanis clubs (Dr. Bunce was in Kiwanis and brought Dan as a speaker).  

*****

END OF EPISODE #9.

I am running out of time this week.  This week was a bit boring.  I had other ideas but not the time to write them up.

But,
LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN WHITE, ©, APRIL 15, 2023