I read what I wrote last night and didn't understand it.
It was a movie review. A terrible movie review, but nonetheless...
Yes, it was about I am Fourth in Line or I am Number Four or something like that. It had good guys who were handsome and likable and bad guys that wore black and were ugly and it started off pretty good and kind of descended into a bunch of fight scenes between aliens and I really don't want to talk about it this morning.You gave it a 67.5 out of 104.
I may have overrated it. But my concern this morning is that I am being sucked into a technological morass. It is because people keep giving me things.
Oh, that sounds horrible.
Look, I have a digital camera and a digital video recorder. Right off the bat I was skirting the edge. Then I upgraded my $18 flip cell phone to at $49 cell phone which has one of those itsy bitsy keyboards on the bottom and takes horrible pictures. And I learned how to text (you can see where I started sinking) and learned that some people forgot how to speak on phones and only responded to texts. That is where I drew the line. I had sunk in the digital quicksand up to my waist and needed pull myself out.Whew! Sounds like you were being whipped down into a dizzying cauldron that...
Wicky Ficky?
Wi Fi. Try to keep up. So I took it to work figuring that I could tap into the electronic ether there....but it was proprietary and wouldn't let me in. Well, I wasn't about to install that WiFi stuff in my house because I didn't want all those strange tech molecules floating through my air. So, after fourteen seconds deliberation, I realized that my son has everything techy. So I loaned him my Kindle to play with for a weekend and he downloaded some free books onto it.
Have you read them?
No. I have too many flesh and blood books laying around to read. But I'll try it some day. The point is that I am being sucked deeper and deeper by doing nothing. It gets worse.
I feel so sorry for you.
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| 'Whispers' by Travis Erwin |
A book?
It was a book he had written. He is an author, after all. You see I have started reading a wonderful blog by Wendy Russ called On the Front Porch and she interviewed Travis and was giving away his book to three people that commented and out of the thousands I was picked because she recognized by verve and magnificent contributions to the arts, science and...
She drew your name out of a hat.
You are missing the point here. I now have a fancier cell phone, a digital video and a Kindle and a gift book for my Kindle that I can't download. I think I am going to have to loan my Kindle to my son again.
But, it doesn't stop there.
Oh.
We will pray for you. You are now chest deep in the technological quicksand.
I don't want to talk about it -- it makes me dizzy.
Did you notice that I deleted that Follower Section from my blog?
Huh? Jerry, this is getting a bit long already...
It all seemed a little silly to me. It was like bragging or something and it bugged me. So I deleted it. It was kind of like that Friends thing on FaceBook which was stupid. When I got up to 800 friends on FaceBook -- and I never even wrote in the damn thing -- I decided that this makes the concept of friends meaningless and deleted my FaceBook account, which wasn't easy let me tell you.
You are a little viscous deleting things right and left.
You know the Bible says that when you get a sty in the moat pluck your eyes out. Or something like that.
I think you failed the Biblical scholar test.
But I am adaptable. You know, blog people actually make comments in response to comments on their blogs. I kind of figured this was a sneaky way of making their comment count high.....you know, you would show 50 comments when actually 40 of them were written by you.
But then I read that this is not only an acceptable but recommended practice. It is a nice thing to do.
So you are...
That's right. Starting with this blog I am going to comment to commenters. It is a bit of a problem though because I have to think of something to say. If a someone comments "Interesting", what do I say? "Your comment was interesting too". And it may be time consuming. But I'll give it a shot.
This missive has wandered all over the place.
That is your fault. If you would stop making stupid comments I could end this thing.
But...
Sshhh
You are such a hoot! I love reading your blog, even if it's your random thought processes :) As for the tech-y quicksand... well if your kids are going to give you that stuff, they should at least make it more user friendly for you! ;) Anyway, I hope you have a fantastic week Jerry, free of tech-y headaches and suction! :)
ReplyDeleteAdrielleroyale: User friendly? My kids think I am a dinosaur and want to drag me kicking and screaming into their world....then guffaw as I struggle to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteYou are always the first one to comment, which makes me feel all warm and squishy inside. You will note that with this comment to your comment I have magically doubled my comment count. Hmmmm -- maybe something to this.
Well, Jerry, I am never one to stand back in the face of progress so I will write this to add to your comment count. Funny, as always.
ReplyDeleteI write all my comments back to commenters in one comment a couple of days later. That way I don't inadvertantly make my comment count sky high when its really all just me talking. But I hardly ever go back and read blog owner's comments on my comments. That just takes too much time.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. You're so entertaining. Even when you're just talking to yourself.
♥Spot
Interesting . . . .
ReplyDeleteSorry; couldn't help myself!
ReplyDeleteIs it considered a nice thing to do to go back and comment on comments? Errr, cause I never do....BUT I do respond to comments via email, if I have access to the commenter's email.....this blog etiquette gets so confusing!
You read what you wrote last night and didn't understand it. This, I found fascinating. Didn't understand it like you had four glasses of wine before you wrote it? (I do that.) Or didn't understand it like you were in an incompatible mindset when you wrote it with when you read it? (I do that too.) Or... what, exactly?
ReplyDeleteAnd more importantly, are you aware that when you delete posts, people who use "Google Reader" (whatever that is) can still see the deleted post? (I didn't know this until a few days ago when someone commented on a post I thought I had erased.)
Next, that movie you reviewed, I saw it and I hated it too. Glad we agree on that so I do not have to convince you that you are wrong. I still think you need a regular section for your movie reviews. So far you are never wrong.
You know I am almost afraid to buy any of the new techno-gadgets as I am fearing they will be obsolete before the batteries die in them.
ReplyDeleteI had a CD player which is now obsolete due to the i-pod. The i-phone I have is now dead because I use my i-Pad instead. Netflix is now streaming videos so I'm wondering how long before DVD's are obsolete. I can read books apparently on a i-Pad with the Kindle app so I don't need to buy one of those.
I wonder how long it will be before music, movies and books are programmed directly into our brains?
Catalyst: Some embrace it all with verve and excitement, then there are other old coots that stubbornly dip and dodge trying to ignore and escape. I fear I lean more toward the latter.
ReplyDeleteSpot: I think the thing about commenting on comments is a notion that one builds communities -- at least that is what someone said. Just what we need, more damn segments in society. I like the explanation that it is just a nice thing to do. I agree...one rebounding note to handle multiple comments works.
Gigi: I thought your comment was interesting...the second one, not the first. Blogging has etiquette? You offer a personal touch -- who can argue with that?
Mischief with the Eye: It happens. I will write and immediately wander off the trail and the next thing I know I am three states away without a clue of how to get back. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it is just dumb. I got the dumb one.
Google scares me. In fact I would switch to something else if it wasn't so confusing and time consuming. I only have a finite capacity to learn new things and that limit is fast approaching.
My problem with movie reviews is that, except in rare cases, pretty much forget what I watch within a couple of days. I am just not enthralled with movies, or stars. I consider movies near the bottom of the list as an art form. But....but...I actually think attempting to do movie reviews might be fun and maybe someday...
Robert: I was upset when CD's came out because I had built a nifty collection of cartridge-taped music. To me though, having an I-Pod brings up visions of walking around zombie-like with ear buds jammed in me ears. To me this seems like listening to music has become a replacement for background chatter, which makes me shudder. Now you tell me the I-Pod is old technology. I am not even trying to keep up.
Very funny! I loved how you ended it..."That is your fault. If you would stop making stupid comments" I was cracking up at that point.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is moving so fast that I'm starting to find it hard to keep up. I'm feeling left behind! Maybe this is how my grandparents felt when I talked about the computer. What goes around, comes around.
I do wonder how the "youth of today" are going to cope when the juice runs out and its back to carving things into rock if you want it written down.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to watch the speed that technology is advancing - is it me, or is it advancing quicker and quicker, or am i just regressing slowly?
Douglas Adams said that "anything invented before you are born is in the natural order of things, anything invented between then and about the age of 35 is a new and exciting gadget: anything invented much after that is Against God And Must Be Stopped!"
From a two-holer to this is very drole. I just loved this style you chose to explore the techy world and how it's being pushed your way. And the fun related to bloggers. Oh my I just chuckled a lot.
ReplyDeleteRiter: The technology treadmill. And I'm not sure any of these new toys improves my life at all.
ReplyDeletePixie UnFeeder: Yeah, the gap just keeps getting wider. In my case, I regress and technology keeps speeding up and....I don't want to talk about it any more. I love the Adams quote.
KleinsteMotte: I had trouble in school trying to write a thesis...my mind kept wanting to wander off onto more interesting subjects.
I'd throw you a lifeline, Jerry, but it's plugged into the surge protector at the moment....
ReplyDeletea/b
I have a new phone my son so thoughtfully chose, after the glass in my ancient razr fell out. I cannot answer the phone. I can however, retrieve messages. It rings just fine to the tune of a classical piano. It also roams the internet, but wonders never cease, it came with ANGRY BIRDS already installed. I play it a lot waiting for the message tone to ring.... It has also brought my son and I closer. We are having ANGRY BIRD tourneys.... waiting for my message tones to ring..... I have Wickkie-Fickkie for my E-Reader, but it won't connect to the book I am reading without an open internet line. Which I do not have here at the shore. I'm sorta tech-ed out now. *sigh*
ReplyDelete"Wicky Ficky"?
ReplyDeleteI have 227 friends on Facebook. Is friendship still meaningless? Siddhartha, would you care to field this one?
"Chest deep in technological quicksand." I think that sums it up. I can't talk, though, because I just got a new laptop with more storage space than all my previous laptops combined, and a smartphone with one of them fancy touchscreens (AND a pop-out keyboard).
I think I need to go live in a cave for a year.
I'm just checking to see if you really did leave response comments...Wow--you have tremendous follow-through!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm wondering if this is just a fluke...
Ashleigh - Darn. Why can't I come up with witty prose like that when I make comments.
ReplyDeleteEntre Nous - Why is it we spend more time fighting with our Just to do the simple stuff we used to do with no hassle?
Postman -- Good to see you around again. Yep -- I sometimes think that if we all retired to a cave for a year we would come to realize how little we really needed.
My Favorite Artist -- Yeah...it's probably a fluke.