Around 1986, while in dry dock, I had to sleep on board a fishing boat in Kewalo Basin – smelling the aku factory make cat food 24/7 – while my boss stayed in a luxury hotel. Feeling guilty, he dragged me down to Radio Shack.

Since I could only watch TV on his 15-inch set, he recommended that I buy the new Tandy TRS-80 computer to keep me occupied. I did, and after figuring out how to connect to it to his TV, and write my own programs then save them on a tape recorder, I became addicted.

A year later, I started working at The Shack selling Tandy computers and teaching classes. While teaching classes, I was constantly interrupted by the manager, who ran on the side a babysitting service and enjoyed chasing scared, screaming kids around the store with a five-foot, blown-up, ugly dinosaur. At the same time, our other salesman was selling firearms out of the back room, with people walking in and leaving stiff-legged – like the character Chester from “Gun Smoke,” only with a rifle barrel sticking out from their pants leg.

That’s when I decided to go rogue and start my own business. At that time Microsoft was coming out with Windows 3.5, and I loaded it up on my new Tandy 3000.

A few years later, my friend John McManus, who owned the Lahaina Fish Company, changed my life. Becoming frustrated with his black Apple laptop, he gave it to me. After learning OS 9.1, I started my own company, Mauisoft. It’s been almost 27 years that I’ve been repairing computers, having spent 13 years of it installing Road Runner with Oceanic Time Warner.

I’ve been advertising in the Lahaina News for almost 20 years, so maybe Mark the editor will give me a gold computer if and when I retire.

Ok, let’s finish out with the secret of touching your newer iPhone screen. Try force-touching the phone icon, and your favorites will pop up. Now press down on the camera icon, and a menu will pop up where you can choose selfie, video or photo. Press on calendars, and you can quickly add an event. In mail, quickly write or read an e-mail. So, by touching the icon lightly, a normal menu pops up; but by pressing harder, a shortcut menu pops up. Give it a try.

Send your computer-related questions to mauimist8669@yahoo.com.