Musings at Altitude

Every now and then I find myself thinking about “how things used to be”.  I think back to the 1980’s before cell phones.  I think back to the 1990’s before computers in every home.  I think back to the 1970’s and 1980’s where cameras still had film and you could have the printed photo come out the front of the camera or take the film to a store and wait days or even weeks to get photos back.  I think back to the rotary dial phones and how you could actually dial numbers by using the rocker handle of the handset like a morse code device.  I think back to 8 track tapes and cassettes, and I still remember fondly my very first truck with a cassette player in it.  I think back to turn tables and “record albums”.  I think back to actually writing checks for everything, and I think back to actually getting a real check as a pay check.  I think back to missing something on live TV and knowing I’d have to wait for news that evening or find a paper to read about it tomorrow morning. 

This morning,  as I look at my iPod, my Blackberry, my laptop, my desktop, my CD changer for my car, my on line bank account and my DVR, I realize I wouldn’t change a thing.  I get to listen to my favorite music anywhere I am for just about as long as I ever want to listen.  I can be reached at any moment just about anywhere in the world.  I can carry my office with me on my laptop anywhere I go, and I can edit and publish anything I want to now on my desktop, my laptop or my Blackberry.  I can check my finances and pay bills when I’m thousands of miles away, and I can record any event on the TV and watch it whenever I want to now (and even skip the commercials) or even find it any time I want on the internet in some form of playback.  And, I can get “I’m ok” text messages from any of my kids at any time of the day to include pictures of things they want me to see, so I no longer have any excuse for not staying connected (unless they or I don’t want to be).

In the last few months because of technology, we’ve seen 3-D ultrasounds of our granddaughter and soon to arrive grandson.  We’ve taken high resolution pictures and printed them within seconds.  We’ve connected with our now remotely connected daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter through web cams and held conference calls with family members.  My wife and her sisters play collaborative web based games just about every Sunday, and everyone seems to now be connected on Facebook.  We use debit cards everywhere and my wife no longer keeps a check register.  We order tickets for major events on line and print them at home (although last night my daughter wanted “real tickets” for her scrapbook, so we had to wait in line at “will call” for the hockey tickets).  And maybe most embarrassing of all, we text message each other from the basement to the top floor of the house and coordinate activities that way.

As I think back, it’s amazing to remember my Mom standing on the front porch screaming my name (my entire name!) when it was time to come home for dinner.  We certainly have come a long way!

PS. Even with all this technology, I had to run to the “curb store” and get a half gallon of milk for my coffee this morning.  Our half filled carton in the refrigerator had expired 2 days ago.  Some things may never change!