Maybe by the Time I'm Eighty
Technology is really not my thing. I'm not a caveman; I can't live without my computer, and I can't remember how to function without a cell phone. But generally I have to be dragged into new tech stuff kicking and screaming. Remember my post a couple of years back about how I hated texting? I can't say I've grown to love texting, but I do it on a pretty regular basis now. I even occasionally abbreviate "morning" to "am" and very rarely I skip capitalizing something. (That's about as far as the grammar nazi will unbend though.) However, that has been pretty much it for my new technology forays. I'm still using my older desktop computer with Windows XP, my iPod is an ancient-of-days Nano, and my basic cell phone has been my faithful companion for so long that Verizon constantly begs me to get a new phone so I'll be under contract again. Terence's smartphone frustrates me if I have to borrow it, and not too long ago I swore off iPads after trying my mother's just one time. I was given a Nook e-reader back during my pregnancy when I was still pregnant with S and I still haven't done more than charge it up.
So you can imagine my response when my husband surprised me with a spur-of-the-moment technology gift this week. He'd gone and ordered me a bluetooth earpiece since I spend my life in the car. My sweet husband wants me to be able to talk without killing the entire family trying to answer my phone. It was a nice thought, but I was not gracious about it. He had to charge it up for me because I didn't even take it out of the packaging, telling him I'd get around to it later. Then today, just before I left to drive across the valley to pick up my packet for tomorrow's triathlon, he stopped me. "Take your earpiece!" he insisted. Wise advice, but I protested. I used every excuse in the book. "I don't have time to figure it out," "I don't know how to turn it on," "I can't fit it into my ears," etc. I groaned theatrically a lot.
"Now I know where the girls get it from," he said, exasperated. He's right; B and M are horribly stubborn about trying new things (especially B). I sounded just like them!
Finally, I relented, put the stupid thing in my ear, and tried to remind myself that this was a great idea and a sign that my husband loves me very much.
However, trouble ensued when I got lost on the way to packet pick up. I don't have a GPS (yeah, right) so I needed to call my mother. She has no problem adopting new technology and I knew she would be able to figure out where I needed to go in a second on her iPhone. So here it was, the first test of my bluetooth:
I dialed my mom and nothing happened. No sound in my ear.
Now I'm probably an idiot who just wasn't doing it right. But heading down the freeway on a rainy Friday afternoon (heavy traffic, anyone?) is not the time to worry about such things. I spent a frightful couple of minutes figuring out how to turn off the earpiece and then went on to make my call old school style.
Who knows what I did wrong? But chances are good that it might just take me months to actually start using the thing. Slow-to-adapt, indeed.
So you can imagine my response when my husband surprised me with a spur-of-the-moment technology gift this week. He'd gone and ordered me a bluetooth earpiece since I spend my life in the car. My sweet husband wants me to be able to talk without killing the entire family trying to answer my phone. It was a nice thought, but I was not gracious about it. He had to charge it up for me because I didn't even take it out of the packaging, telling him I'd get around to it later. Then today, just before I left to drive across the valley to pick up my packet for tomorrow's triathlon, he stopped me. "Take your earpiece!" he insisted. Wise advice, but I protested. I used every excuse in the book. "I don't have time to figure it out," "I don't know how to turn it on," "I can't fit it into my ears," etc. I groaned theatrically a lot.
"Now I know where the girls get it from," he said, exasperated. He's right; B and M are horribly stubborn about trying new things (especially B). I sounded just like them!
Finally, I relented, put the stupid thing in my ear, and tried to remind myself that this was a great idea and a sign that my husband loves me very much.
However, trouble ensued when I got lost on the way to packet pick up. I don't have a GPS (yeah, right) so I needed to call my mother. She has no problem adopting new technology and I knew she would be able to figure out where I needed to go in a second on her iPhone. So here it was, the first test of my bluetooth:
I dialed my mom and nothing happened. No sound in my ear.
Now I'm probably an idiot who just wasn't doing it right. But heading down the freeway on a rainy Friday afternoon (heavy traffic, anyone?) is not the time to worry about such things. I spent a frightful couple of minutes figuring out how to turn off the earpiece and then went on to make my call old school style.
Who knows what I did wrong? But chances are good that it might just take me months to actually start using the thing. Slow-to-adapt, indeed.
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