Liz likes to label this laddie a Luddite.
Au contraire, Ms Arden. We didn’t and frankly still don’t need a microwave oven but I knew I wanted a computer at home since I traded my first box of punch cards for a banner.
I may have been the last kid on the block with a kitchen nuke but I had the first personal computer. See, I’m an early adopter when it suits my purpose. And I lust for a twin-post lift.
I love tools which is the primary reason I have a barn. It has a wall roughly down the middle with a big bay that takes up the entire east half of the building. That main work space has shelving and a welding station on one side and shelving and cabinets on the other with room to work on two cars or to build one 30′ boat in the middle. The other side of the wall has three rooms: a wood shop with table saw and a radial arm saw with a 14 foot feed table; a middle “assembly room” with two workbenches, my rolling tool chest, and lots of drawers and shelves and cabinets; and the “clean room” where I originally built engines but that now is the final resting place for 286, 386, 486, and Pentium-based computers.
I even have a 22′ bridge crane.
That makes me more gadget junkie or tool boy.
Tools separate us from other life forms (sorry, your remote control is not a tool). I don’t care if orangutans can Skype with other orangutans over iPads, I can do it better.
I don’t own an iPad or other tablet (yet) but I did replace my third Palm Pilot with a first generation iPod touch a couple-three years ago. I loved that Palm because it did absolutely everything I wanted a PDA to do. The Tungsten series was Palm’s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs. It had a decent color screen, enough storage for my stuff, and would sync with my computer with no more effort than plopping it in a charging cradle. And an app called Documents-to-Go could do almost anything in a business doc I can do on the desktop. Did I mention that my Palm did absolutely everything I wanted a PDA to do?
Except work with Windows 7.
Or play music.
So I “upgraded” to an iPod. iTunes more-or-less runs in Windows 7. Docs-to-Go didn’t work in my iPod’s older IOS but I found a workaround. I could sync my business files and shopping list via Dropbox and open them with an app called Plain Text. And its podcasts single-handedly changed the way I listen to the radio.
I can’t always have the tools I want so I found a lot of workarounds. I have, for example, several floor jacks.
Anyway, Ms. Arden has heard me gunching about how the old IOS couldn’t run this app and couldn’t do that. Heck, it couldn’t even Skype. She thought I needed a new one.
“Get it! Get it! Geddit!”
I hadn’t paid much attention to the ads. Oh sure, Steve Jobs would come out on stage every so often and extol all the gee whiz stuff but I didn’t much care. After all, it’s just an iPod, right?
Well, no. iTunes Terms and Conditions have changed since I accepted them 4 hours ago.
The new one supports 802.11n and syncs by WiFi.
It has Nike+ support built in.
Oh. Never mind. I wear Reeboks. When I wear shoes.
It syncs calendars and contacts with Microsoft Exchange over the air.
I hadn’t really paid attention to the fact that this thing has cameras. I shot video of the concert last night. That blew me away.
It has bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB, as well as the usual apps (a browser, email, iTunes, Photos, Maps, Calendar, calculator, and Contacts). And it runs Docs-to-Go and the new Words with Friends. And there’s a feature called Find My iPod touch…
“You really like that iPod, don’t you?” Ms. Arden asked this morning.
Rufus just bought one, too.
Speaking of tools, I also bought a new chainsaw last week. Ethanol-based gas has eaten my “real” saw so I slapped myself a couple of times and ordered an electric. It makes 4 horsepower, needs a 10 gauge extension cord, and has an 18″ bar. I pretty much have to take the tractor to anywhere I need to cut trees so I can run the chainsaw off the generator.
Unfortunately, the Estimated Arrival Date is now Aug. 28 – 30 which means I could chew down the trees faster.
Maybe I could just talk SWMBO into that twin-post-lift in the meantime.
Three weeks ago I was at a gun shop, and a hunter showed up asking about some scope rings for his cross-bow. Those are part of the attaching bracket that holds the scope in place. He said he saw some online that he liked and wanted to buy get them quick by shopping retail. But, he couldn’t find the ones he saw online, and he didn’t remember the nomenclature.
As I watched, he said he would go online and get the parts number. Then he pulled out his cellphone — or what I thought was his cellphone — and started pushing buttons and looking at the tiny screen. After a few minutes he told the clerk what the number was, and they had it in stock.
I never bothered to ask what the handheld gadget was called because it would not have registered with me anyway. But needless to say, I was impressed that he could do things with that tiny gizmo that takes all my concentration here on my laptop.
But, lest you think I AM a complete klutz, I do own a kitchen microwave; and I can operate it at lightening speed for preparation of all kinds of culinary delights. In fact, a few days ago I turned a box of frozen egg rolls into the best TV snack a man could wish for. And just this morning I heated up yesterday’s coffee and a creamy sweet roll for Mrs George’s breakfast.
Try that on your 20-foot bridge crane.
— George
That Rufus is such a copycat!
So when are you going to get a provider that lets you run something a bit more up to date than this instantiation of WordPress, hmmm? I think Moses was blogging with this version.
Listen you young whippersnapper, I wrat my first blog on papyrus. It flowed through the Innert00bs perfectly well and I see no reason to change now!
I probably should snaggle that undersea photo for my FB cover, though.
Gekko wrat: “Moses was blogging with this version.”
And even later, Daniel(OT, KJV) wrote (Daniel 5: 25-28)
“And this waw the writing that was witten: ME’-NE, MENE, TE-KEL, U-PHAR’-SIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing. ME’-NE: God hath numbered thy kindogm and finished it.
TE’KEL, Thou are weighed in the balances and found wanting. PE’-RES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
BTW, the Medes and Persians are the latter day Iraquis, Iranians and other Muslims who inhabit the land.
Isn’t this an interesting message?
— George