#givethanks - Tuesday, November 22, 2022 I’m thankful for Technology

 

#givethanks - Tuesday, November 22, 2022        I’m thankful for Technology

 

This post is going to be late, since it is now 12:02 AM on Wednesday 11/23/2002.  But since I’ve got an idea of what I’m going to write about each day during #givethanks week (a.k.a. Thanksgiving week), I’ll keep this entry as Tuesday.

OK, let me admit it up front…  I love technology; I am a techno-nerd.  That isn’t a derogatory appellation, in fact it is like a badge of honor…  I am trying to maintain my nerd status now that I’m in retirement (these past 3 years).  It’s not easy doing so, since I don’t have hands on much, but I still try to get exposed to new things regularly.  Thank goodness for the internet, even though you have to take what you learn there with a grain of salt.  Anyway, I love my computer with two monitors, graphics card, and sufficient memory.  It is like driving a sports car in the etherworld of networks and computers!

There have been so many technology advances in my lifetime.  As a boy, we had a party-line telephone.  We had to listen for our ring to answer a call that was for our family.  If you needed to make a phone call, you had to pick up the handset receiver and listen to see if the party line was being used by a neighbor.  If not, the operator came on and asked, “What number, please”.  Now we don’t have a landline phone, we carry our own cell phones and phone calls are now mostly text messages.  The communication used otherwise usually is email, which we also get on our cell phones.  And if you want to talk to someone face-to -face, you set up a facetime, Zoom, or other video conferencing app on your phone. 

Cars have changed drastically through advances in technology.  Every car now has multiple computer processers on-board, monitoring fuel/air mixtures, tire pressure, and a myriad of other stats in the vehicle.  Cars can now stay in the lane themselves – the driver has the option of letting the car do the tedious work of steering at times and if the drive wants to change lanes, the driver has to wrest the control back to do it!  In my youth, I could change the fuel pump, replace spark plugs, even replaced the clutch on a car.  Nowadays if you don’t have the computer that talks to the car you’re out of luck.  But all these technology changes have made driving less of a chore or challenge and easier to do (and more expensive to fix).

Computers have changed a lot too…  more memory, more disk space, faster processors, more compact.  In my college days my notetaking was all by hand, but today I take my laptop so I can keep notes online.  Registration for school used to be a hassle…  go to each professor or teacher and get a card from them.  Now everything is done online.  In the old days if you took math, geometry, algebra, and other advanced math classes you were weird.  Now to get a decent job in technology roles, all these classes are essential.

I guess I’m becoming an old guy – the guy who reminisces about the old days and tries to look cool while setting up a home storage area network…  Yep, that’s me!