YDR Insider

Part of the USA Today Network

Sometimes you have to use old technology

Here’s Rick Lee using what he calls a “typewriter.” Reporters can’t always be Digital First.

Court reporter Rick Lee is pretty old.

So old that he has boots that were made before I was born.

He likes to remind me of that from time to time.

But Rick really showed his age on Thursday when he, nor anyone else in the newsroom, could figure out how to print addresses onto envelopes. And then he saw it: the typewriter.

He giggled like a little girl and pulled the dusty cover from the top before having someone help him plug it in (again, he’s old and can’t get on the floor).

He pulled up a chair and began to type.

Just like in the old days — when journalists could smoke at their desks and sip directly from a bottle of bourbon.

That’s how Rick tells it, anyway.

The sound of the heavy keys echoed against the usually quiet sounds of typing. And then he was done.

One envelope.

We’re told it was a very important letter.

(And Rick Lee might be old, but he knows humor when he sees it.)