A Drive worth taking...

Going Old School

Today Phoenix was drenched with clouds and cool weather. It is snowing up north and the weather here has dipped into the 60’s. A perfect day for a perfect drive. So where do I go, but to my favorite spot, due west on Olive to the White Tanks. I had some time to think and today I’m going old school.

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It is possible to get too much of something?  I remember back in the day (60’s), all I had in my pocket growing up was 50cents, a stick of gum and maybe 4 or 5 marbles to shoot with. No computer, no cell phone, no radio, no life… or was it? (I used to walk to school too, and my kids don’t believe me).

Last night the wife and I went to the mall to just kill some time and enjoy the evening. It didn’t bother me that every other person was either talking or texting on their phone. It didn’t bother me that I was on the web walking around while my wife window shopped. It didn’t bother me when we decided to eat and we both instinctively put our phones within reach, just in case we got that call or needed to text someone. I swear, some people are like walking zombies with head sets on or walking textoids robots.

Well for some reason it bothers me today. It’s like I have my phone in one hand and my life in the other. What has become of me. What! I can’t go an entire two hours shopping with the wife without my phone in hand. She plays games, I surf the web, she has Groupon, I have forums, she has, I have, she has, I have… enough already. Just think about it. I mean really think. I did it before, can I do it again?

I remember when the first 5 lb. brick of a cell phone came out. I was a young sales rep with Chevron and couldn’t wait for my new toy. It was huge, with the antenna maybe 12 inches long. Hell, my first laptop probably weighed in at 10 lbs. That is when all this started. I was a changed man, changed forever and trapped in the tech world of gadgets and toys.

This week I bought the new Iphone 4s, it has a program called Siri that does your every beckoned command.  (It would be nice to finally be able to boss someone else around in my life, it hasn't worked at all with my wife). Well Siri has been having some problems of late not connecting to its server and is not working at 100%. This is driving me crazy, that I can’t tell it to dial a number, I can’t ask it to schedule an appointment, I can’t tell it to check the weather today. What it comes down to is, “I can’t get the information I need fast enough, I need it now”

This is what I’m talking about. I have become so used to having certain things in my life that made things easier to do like the cell phone, that I have forgotten a very important point in all this. That the personal element, that face to face contact will always out weigh the phone call or text message. What has happened to the personal side of life?

Once I gave Siri an order and I accidentally said “thank you”. Her (yes it’s a gals voice) response was “I don’t understand, please explain”. And that’s it. The whole pickle. It was a personal thing that the machine could not do or understand. A personal touch, a meaningful jesture, old school.

Now I’m not saying there is no place in today’s world for the super cell phone or notebook or computer tablet. I’m just saying to take a few minutes of your day and just be “old school”. Write a personal note, walk up that extra flight of stairs to say hello, should I say open that door for your women, okay I won’t J. 

This week I’m going to try to be a little more personal in the things I do, with those I come in contact with and especially with those I love. Thanks for listening.

Aloha,

Pete