technology?

1979 I was a freshman in high school, the big thing among the smart kids was computers, some sort of newfangled fancy calculator. Some company was selling kits with which you could build your own. All you had to do was learn a language. I believe it was basic, or was it fortran? Anyway after several mildly frustrating hours I lost interest and went back to a novel called "the river why" . So while Greg and John and Kevin and others were building HAL and playing chess I ignored computers and I may have hurt their feelings because to this day they are still rude to me.
  A friend of mine is almost jealous of SIRI(?) her husband always asks nicely and says thank you. SIRI's response?? Just doing my job Bill.