“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
I found Estero Llano State Park in Welasco, Texas, the old-fashioned-way, with a map. I'm not sure how the anhinga found its way here. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
I was in Dallas, returning from taking my daughter to work so I could use her car for the day. All I had to do to get back home was follow the GPS map installed on the dashboard of her Toyota Highlander.
But I decided I wanted to get a different view of the map. Silly me. As I’m sure you have already guessed, I pressed the wrong button and lost everything on the screen — and couldn’t get it back.
Because I had depended solely on the GPS to get me from one place to the next, I was confusingly lost with morning rush-hour traffic zooming all around me.
I was fortunate that I eventually came to a landmark I recognized and, although it took an extra 40 minutes, I did eventually get back to my daughter’s house.
I then used a map, and my own handcrafted cheat-sheet of right and left turns, to complete the day’s errands and to find my place back to pick up my daughter from work later that day.
The truth is that I’ve had to be pulled, while screaming, into most technological changes. I was one of the last to finally get a cell phone, and it was only this past Christmas, and only because it was a gift from my son, that I got a “smart” phone.
On the other hand, I was one of the first to get a home computer. After using one at work to write my newspaper stories, I found using a typewriter for my personal writings impossible.
Without GPS, Monarch butterflies, like this one I found at Quintana Neotropic Bird Sanctuary on Texas' Gulf Coast, migrate annually between Mexico and Canada, although it may take three generations to complete the journey. -- Photo by Pat Bean
My first computer didn’t even have a hard drive. Everything ran from floppy disks. And the word-processing program on it came with a black screen and green type, or you could make the type orange.
Today, I can’t imagine life without my computer and the Internet. Such a thought sounds barbaric.
Ditto life without my Kindle, which was also a gift and which I’ve now had for a year. I thought I would miss the feel of a real book in my hand, but I haven’t. I think the fact I can be reading almost any book I want almost instantly is a miracle – well until I discover how much I’ve spent at Amazon each month.
I still haven’t got a GPS, however. My canine traveling companion, Maggie, and I still use maps, albeit it computer ones, to find our way across the country. It seems a GPS might be as difficult for me to use as an electric can opener, which is why I still use a manual one.
But I’ve got a Twitter account, maggieandpat. And when I announced it, my oldest granddaughter laughed and said: “Who would have thought it would take my Nana to make me get a Twitter account?”
Her comment made this wandering/wondering old broad feel young – well at least until a pain in one of my joints announced a change in the weather.
Bean’s Pat: Vimeo: My Friend Maia by Julie Warr http://vimeo.com/31733784 A video to inspire all us old broads, and perhaps those still young among us, too.
I’m with you on most technology. Can’t get the swing of it except for my computer, of course, and phone. The rest remains a mystery.
My first encounter with computers was 1967/68 in senior math class. We had a remote terminal hooked up to the behemoth at Dartmouth College. Had to write our own programs in Basic. Then in college it was punch cards. My husband, who is totally blind, is much more techie than I am. I’m happy to have real books around me. Yes, they take up a lot of space, but you don’t have to recharge the batteries or update the software. Somehow I comprehend things better if I am reading a printed page than an electronic one. We have a cell phone for emergency use because I’m on the road late at night. Now I’ve gotten rid of the cable TV and don’t care too much for the social networks out there. We do have a GPS (works for car or pedestrian), but most of the time the directions are just plain wrong so we don’t use it that much. Guess I’m just an old faht!! And happy to be so!
I worked on my very first computer when I was a reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. You had eight lines in which you could make corrections and then no more. The first week I typed up my stories on the typewriter and then copied them onto the computer. I soon realized I was wasting time and the computer, well except when it’s not working, has been my friend. Glad you’re happy you old broad. I usually save the old fart tagline for the guys.
Love your story about the GPS. I went to Maine with my friends who brought a GPS. I did all the driving and fought using the GPS. After spending the first week being lost in Boston, Maine, Canada and Bar Harbor I learned to respect the GPs the last 4 days. What memories…
I’m so glad you took that trip. Memories are great things, better than any other souvenir.
Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com
I am with you on avoiding gadgets when possible. My computer= my lifeline, but ask me to take a road trip and I’m going to crack out the old atlas every time. I like to see the whole route, plan it myself, and know what to expect between here and there. If we aren’t paying attention to where we are going or how we’re getting there…that just doesn’t seem like it will end well.