Friday, September 16, 2011

Has the Technology Parade Passed Me By?

Of books & e-readers...
An interesting thing happened the other morning while I was waiting for service on my trusty Ford Ranger. As is my habit, I take a book to read. The service place is a small, one-man operation and the office/waiting room has two chairs. Very seldom are both chairs filled at the same time. Shortly after I'd settled into one chair, another customer--a lady--came in, said a few words to Tom, the owner/mechanic, and took the other chair. She mumbled that she would slide her chair over a little so we wouldn't be too crowded, which she did, and I returned to my reading. It was then that I noticed that she also had a "book," albeit one of those electronic e-readers, Nooks, Kindles, or whatever. I imagined that this scene, if anyone were to observe the two of us, was one of those "old with the new" kind of image She with her iPad, I with my book! I don't know if I made an obvious show of things when I turned each page in my book, but I thought about it anyway. I think I was trying to send a message that books are still wonderful to have in your hands and no electronic gimmickry will ever replace that sensation! OK, it wasn't that big of a deal while I waited for the oil change, but it got me to thinking about things once again.

What the heck is Blu-Ray, anyway?
I don't really know why this even occurred to me right at that moment. Perhaps its a conglomeration of things that have been on my mind regarding technology the last few years. I'm realizing now that I am getting left farther and farther behind in the parade of current media. After all, I still don't send or receive text messages. Our DVD/VHS player, hooked up to our 47-inch TV, still functions. But it isn't Blu-Ray compatible, as I learned from one of the young, hip house guests that was here last weekend. What exactly does that mean to me? Nothing much, other than I'll have to be careful when renting, borrowing, or purchasing a DVD movie--something I do very seldom. And we haven't been to a movie, in a movie theatre, in at least two years. I always say that I'll see the movie once it's out in DVD. There have been countless movies I've yet to see because I haven't seen them in their first-run showings or bothered to rent them when they're in the stores. I suppose they just haven't been all that important to me as I find other things to amuse me in my retirement years!


Buttered popcorn?
Just this morning, Carolyn mentioned that she had a coupon for free or reduced prices on popcorn and soft drinks at one of the local movie houses. We both agreed that it would be good--and fun--to start taking in some good movies once again--perhaps an afternoon showing. But I said that was all well and good, but I don't particularly care for movie popcorn because they tend to put that butter stuff all over it, making my hands gooey and messy for the duration of the show. I guess you could say that I'm even lagging behind in the standard way to enjoy popcorn. However, the real way that I enjoy popcorn is to have lots of it burnt-- blackened--if you will, but that's a whole different story.


Being "that guy"
Suffice it to say that I am not priding myself on becoming "that guy," the fuddy-duddy who is locked into the past and has no compunction for not trying new things, but I simply wish that the parade would slow down just enough for me to learn and use the technology which was "cutting edge, state-of-the art" not so long ago. At least burn my popcorn!


Travel along this road is always interesting...MLA

1 comment:

  1. I successfully resisted my wife's first suggestion at the purchase of a Kindle but now I want one.

    I am frankly getting bummed out at all the rehashed stuff being offered up by the publishing old timers these days. Yeah, I may be crazy but everything I read like thrillers, spy novels, sci-fi, and general fiction is increasingly similar. In fact I've lost most interest in sci-fi because its becoming a cesspool of mediocre ideas involving video game and superhero novelizations. Yeah, exceptions exist but I have to look very hard to find them.

    eReaders seem to offer a wealth of unknown authors and fresh ideas.

    Which brings me to my second reason for increased interest, as someone who hopes one day to be good enough to be classified as a hack writer the new companies selling eBooks seem to offer my only chance at getting published.

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