January 1, 2011

1-1-11

I can remember watching science fiction TV show as a young teenager Space 1999 ... what worlds we'd thought we'd conquer before the end of the century.

As fast as technology was exploding, we, in our human imaginations, thought it would expand much faster ... and we, of coarse, having the power to creat such technology would also be able to control such technology.

I sit here, amazed at how life has changed in my 46 years on this earth.

I remember black and white TV ... I remember getting a color TV set and having the neighbors come to see it.
I remember the first tape recorder we had ... and what a treat it was ... we taped all our records onto tape so that we could listen to them and not worry about scratching them. (Ironic that CD's have brought us back to the days of scratching ... my very favorite song on my very favorite CD from my very favorite singer ... is scratched and unplayable :( .. a tad ironic)

I remember telling my sister, after she'd thrown a pillow at me and I missed something 'important' on Gilligan's Island (the nerve huh?) that we should have a TV that rewinds, fast forwards, allows us to see what we missed and not have to watch commercials. She told me I was crazy. I was 10. In less than 10 years my father had a VCR ...

I remember calling home one day after school to see if I could go to Jennifer's house ..and no one was home, yet the phone was answered! My step mother's voice said "You have reached the Mills Residence, please leave your name and number and we will get back to you as soon as we possibly can"
I freaked
I handed the phone to Jennifer
Jennifer said "this is Peggi. I'm going to Jennifer's. I'll be home before 5"
I got home and promptly grounded for 'lying' because I was too scared to talk to this machine. As most will tell you, I still hate to leave messages.

Not too long after that, I came home to my dad and step mother playing with this funny box on the counter. It took about a min to bring water to a fast/hard boil.

For the next 3 weeks, every meal we ate was microwaved. I still will not cook meat (rarely even defrost it) in the microwave.

My mom didn't get one until after my step father died in 1979. She used his life insurance to buy it and I always related the 2 in my mind. I refused to get a microwave ... till I had a baby and realized that life just could be easier without it having any weird meaning attached to it. Now, my microwaves are a daily part of my life ..but they have a bad habit of crashing on either christmas or Thanksgiving.
we call it the Eagler Curse ... either someone gets sick on a holiday or the microwave goes out. The microwave spent the week before Christmas acting funny, so we thought it was going to be the microwave ... I got the flu instead. I hate the flu, but honestly, it's cheaper.

I was a telephone teen. My step dad used to tell me that a potato was growing in there and we'd never know it because the phone was attached. (don't ask, I never did figure the logic out in that one). Shortly after he died a sales man showed up on our doorstep and changed my teenage years.
No more getting grounded for being on the phone longer than I was allowed. We had 30 min on, 30 min off rule (plus had to share with sister) so that parents could get through at some point. They didn't care if we stayed on all the evening if we left 30 min segments so they could get through. I had a bad habit of 2 hours on, 10 min off ... got me grounded frequently!
The salesman offered something called "call waiting" .. no more not getting through and I was able to keep the phone on my ear from the time I got home from school till I went to bed ....except for the times my sister punched me to force me off so she could make a call.

My sophomore year in high school a new elective was offered. There were those in the community that thought the school was nuts for providing it. Computer programming. TI 994A's were the computers ... and it seems that no one was really interested out side of the school. Computers ... in the house? Sure, why would anyone even NEED it?

10 years later we were discussing the oncoming world changing World Wide Web ... the internet highway that would change the world ...and how it has!

Computer speed, wifi, lap tops, phone computers ... streaming movies to our TV sets ... Wii ... video games ... and most importantly (said tongue in cheek , I assure you)
Blogging and Twitter!

through blogging I've poured out my heart
shared my poetry
told funny stories
told heartbreaking stories
Ranted
Raved
Relented
Wrote a novel w/NaNoWriMo
Shared my struggles with bad habits
shared my conquests
Shared my journey
Shared my progress
Shared my failures
Shared my HEART

It's a new year ..what technology will we see that we only saw in Sci Fi movies? what technology will be abused (texting was great till people started dying in car crashes and teens being victimized by sexting ..and not even knowing their being vicitmized ..what will psychologists be saying in 30 years over that current trend and it's fall out?)

I keep trying to decide if I'm going to blog more consistently or just stop. Stopping, is'nt likely, it's too handy of an outlet for the writer in me. I do think that I figured out that I think every post Must be profound ... and I'm not sure that is is a must. Maybe I just should work on writing a bit each day ... Doogie Howser style if necessary

January 1, 2011 ... I thought about what all I have to say today. I learned that sometimes saying a little is better than saying a lot or nothing at all.

(after thought here ...Was Doogie Howswer the world first blogger?).