The Three-Year-Old Tech Wizard

The Life of the Tech Wizard

Hello! My name is Daniel Blanc. I am a 10th grader attending LACES. I have a very long history with computers. My first encounter with computers was when I was 3 years old. But more on that later. As far as the courses I have taken at LACES that pertain to computers go, I have taken Mr. Merriman's Introduction to Computers when I was in 7th grade. I already knew a lot of the stuff that he taught, however some of the information that he taught I had never known before and was actually quite useful. One of the biggest things I got out of that class was learning to type efficiently. Before that class I was touch typing and it was very time-consuming & inefficient. I am extremely happy that I can now type the correct way and it is thanks to that class. In 8th grade I took Robotics with Ms. Kutner. I already had prior experience with the robots that she was teaching us with so the class was easy & fun. And now here I am, in 10th grade, making my own website. I couldn't be more excited!

How the Tech Wizard Came to Be

My first encounter with a computer was when I was 3 years old. I couldn't even talk at that age! I was at my grandparent's house and was watching my grandfather use his computer (the now old but still well remembered Windows XP). I was fascinated that he could move a "magical object" and it could control what was on the screen. So when he got up to use the restroom I sat on the chair, and started playing around with it. Obviously I did not accomplish much as I was only 3 and was just pressing random buttons on the keyboard and the mouse. When he got out of the restroom he was a bit upset that I was messing around with it but was also glad to see that I was using a computer more or less. As time passed my grandpa and my dad taught me new things about how to use computers and by the time I was 5 years old, I could use a computer with ease. I was even sometimes showing my whole family how to use a computer if they ever had any problems. A quick fun fact: before I started using a computer for the first time, I was in love with the flower Box screensaver; I would watch it for hours sometimes. To this day I still have it as my screensaver on Windows 10!

The Entertainment of the Tech Wizard

Everyone needs some kind of thing to do for fun. And so as a result I started playing video games when I was bored and my family was too busy to take me somewhere. I started playing Mario video games. My first ever Mario video game was Mario Kart which is a racing game with all the characters from the Mario franchise. It has a lot of extras that you wouldn't find in a regular racing video game such as items that can give you some powers which is what made the game really fun. I played this game on a home console called Wii which was revolutionary at the time for its motion control remote. I later started playing more video games on the go on my Nintendo DS and also picked up more Mario games that weren't necessarily just Mario Kart including Mario's most popular video game that changed the video game industry when it came out, the 2-dimensional "side-scroller". I really enjoyed playing all the Mario games. Despite the fact that I am getting more & more busy with school work I still find time to play Mario games.

Awesome Windows Versions That I've Used

• Windows XP
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10

Most Sold Nintendo Games

1. Wii Sports (82.78 million copies sold)
2. Pokémon Series (59.52 million copies sold)
3. Wii Fit (43.79 million copies sold)
4. Super Mario Bros. (40.23 million copies sold)
5. Mario Kart Wii (36.75 million copies sold)

Reasons Why People Play Video Games

• Video games are fun
• To escape from reality and be put into a fictional world
• To pass the time
  1. Because there is nothing else to do
  2. It is too late to go somewhere with friends or family
• Simply because they want to

© Daniel Blanc 2016