I am sitting on a Concord Trailways bus heading down to Portland to catch the plane that will take me to Indiana, where I will attend my father's funeral. I think it's very fitting that this should be the first time I am using something as amazing as completely wireless technology--thanks to my Verizon Wireless handy dandy USB adaptor, which is allowing me complete access to the internet world and beyond. He had finally gotten on board with email as of last year, and decided he loved it. Thanks to Alex and me convincing/hounding/pestering him for years, he had finally given in, gotten a computer, and thought it was wonderful. He'd be absolutely fascinated with this, and would wonder when "computer genius Alex" would improve upon it.
I thought my first computer "way back" in 1998 was a true miracle. Dial up so you can access the world??? Amazing!!! Of course, you couldn't use the phone at the same time, but that was ok. Who called all that much? Well, after a while, that got to be a pain, plus the world wide spider's web of information was exponentially growing, while my cranky old desktop was getting slower and couldn't keep up with al the new innovations. Anyone remember floppy disks? No? My point exactly.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I kept hearing about the wonderful things people were doing with computers, but I just couldn't seem to have all those wonderful experiences. At the same time, Alex was becoming more and more adept at these things, and the more he researched the more he learned that the world was just waiting to happen....but not with a dinosaur of a computer like mine. He introduced me to a word that struck fear in my heart and laughter in my veins---laptop. Why would I want to give up all the "horsepower" of a new desktop, which were also so much cheaper, for a portable device which I wouldn't use all that much anyway; AND I just had to laugh at the thought of ever becoming so attached to a piece of computerized machinery that I couldn't justify spending a few hundred dollars more. He rightfully sneered at me and continued to extoll the virtues of "the portable computer". I rightfully continued to ignore him, blissfully researching the new and improved desk top computer that would grace my desk.
Then, he and I were selected to travel to Scotland with our Wing's Civil Air Patrol. Scotland???? How incredibly exciting!!!! The history, the beauty, the millions of pictures I could take with my brand new digital camera my cousin had gotten for me. Uh oh. That was my achille's heel, and Alex knew it. What would I do with all the pictures once my camera card was full? Wouldn't it be nice to send pictures back to Katie while we were still over there? There's so much you can do on a laptop!! You know, the kid had a point.....I was done. No more arguing. Of course, the final blow to my know-it-all-ego came when he pointed out that for years I had disdainfully disregarded any notion of owning a digital camera. Never wanted one, and couldn't see why people would give up film when they could have digital. Blah, blah, blah. Then, in the spring of '05, my cousin Sandy gave me my first digital camera. I was hooked. No going back. Technology in a hand-held box. Awesome. I LOVED my digital camera. It went everywhere with me, and taking pictures is a passion of mine. So, the digital camera started my descent into Pixel Land, and it's been a wonderful, joyous ride ever since. Needless to say, my laptop was bought and delivered about a month or so before we flew over to Scotland. What an incredible decision!!! Loved it!!! We used it constantly over there. Amazing.
The next new and improved idea from Alex was wireless. No more phone lines. The wireless router was the way to go. (somehow between all this, the broadband experience was brought into the house, so we didn't have to share the phone line anymore, but that just kind of "happened" and I don't remember exactly how.) Ahhhhh..... the wireless time. New and exciting time for our computers. So nice not to have any wires hooked up. Last year, I bought a wireless printer. Amazing. Love it!!!!
Now, I am traveling down the highway, hooked up to the Internet (thank you ARPA Net; Air Force), definitely wireless, but plugged into technology in a big way. Next time Alex says he has a great idea about what we should do relating to computers, I'm just going to tell him to do it, then let me know. I'm sure I'll be happy with his decision.....even if I go unwillingly at first.
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