Changes in technology

Even though tomorrow is technically the first day of autumn, it's lookin' mighty "fall-ish" out there now. I've got sprinklers hooked up in both the front and back lawns but I'll most likely put them away this weekend.  I had moved all the fans to the garage a week ago and then had to retrieve a couple back as mother nature tried to make up her mind.  This morning I put them in the back bedroom but I'm sure they'll get moved to the garage this week.

I'm reading "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed in bed at night and "Dark Star" (about Roy Orbison) in my recliner during the day. Both are quite good.  I've been transcribing diary notes off and on, and  I'm glad I decided to omit all references to body pain, the weather, chores, errands, and who I was pissed off at that day.  Yep! I'll have several years' worth of diaries transcribed in no time at all.

I got a birthday package in the mail yesterday but promised Mary I wouldn't open it until tomorrow. I did open the card, though...and laughed.  She had written "Happy 69th"  (heh heh heh!)  She told me later that Andy remarked that he couldn't believe the things Mary and I discussed sometimes as he would NEVER think of saying something like that to his mother!  I mentioned the card to Jenni this morning when she dropped off the dog and she chuckled and told me a story about a girl friend of hers who used to be a bingo calller. She said it took her years to NOT LAUGH when O-69 popped up.

My mute button is sure getting a lot of use lately.  I'm especially weary of the ads for both sides that are running for governor, but especially Jay Inslee's.  I'm also sick and tired of hearing about the mother who is glad her lesbian daughter will have a happy life after "she lays her head down for the last time." 

I can't believe the air time the latest phone is getting.  People sleeping on the sidewalk to get their hands on a new device reminds me of people who speed up when they know the road is changing from two to one lane and they MUST be in front!  I've got a smart phone (thanks to Mary and Andy) and there are days that I wonder if I will ever be the master of it.  Mary plans a trip over this direction next month so I'm writing down all the things I need a lesson with.  Stuff like putting my picture up so it appears to other people when I call them, and making the dang device NOT CHIME when it's updating or telling me I have a message, and how to take and post a picture immediately to Facebook or my Picasa album.

I haven't really mastered texting yet (and don't really care to) but it is annoying when I call a place and have to choose a number depending on what service I want.....and then discover my screen has gone black so I have to touch another button to bring it back and then another button to get the keypad.  I know it's a fast changing world but when your brain cells are aging, it's hard to keep up.  I must admit, however, that it is fascinating to see the technology when I think back to how phones were when I was 9 years old.

When I look around my house and make a note of everything that is different from my days as a child, it's a reminder of just how fast our world is moving.This room alone....color tv, remote, laptop, computer, flatscreen monitor, printer, mouse, wi-fi device, cable box, cd player, cassette player, ipod with earplugs, battery operated ten-key, digital camera, police scanner, wood tv trays, floor pad, and even my coffee cup---a mug with a Port Townsend scene.

Yvonne is having a realtor's open house on Sunday so she has to leave for a few hours. I'm picking her up and we'll tootle around town to see the sights and take pictures. Might take a drive out to Salt Creek and see what the beach is like there.  And maybe we'll go to Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. Was playing with the idea of taking in a matinee as I'd like to see the Meryl Streep & Tommy Lee Jones flick but I'm sure it will be out on video in no time-- just like that Judi Dench film is now that I never made it to the theatres to see.

Mary told me I needed to give Sons of Anarchy another chance because their opening season show was just to grab ratings and they've calmed down.  I did tape it the other night thinking I would watch it once more so I'll give it a look-see today.  I watched Crocodile Dundee last night on AMC and they had little notes at the bottom of the screen throughout the movie talking about the region, the actors, how Austrailia and the world took to the film, etc.  Very interesting.  I may tune in again to movies where they give you inside data.

A couple nights ago I watched this movie called "The Last House on the Left."  OMG!  It was sooooo violent.  Kind of like a horror movie only (and this is the sad part) realistic because it could happen. Especially in our world today.  It was a remake of a 1972 flick (I'd seen that one too and remembered it because it was such a scary concept).  The mother in this latest movie has a part on the TV show 'Parenthood' and one of the bad guys is a star on 'Breaking Bad.'  It was unsettling but I couldn't turn it off.

Hmmm...it does look like drizzle out my window.  I'm wondering if that haze will disappear by this afternoon. I'm betting not. Well, time to get busy.  Here's a song by the Bee Gees that I enjoy...