I had a item on my Christmas list this year that I thought I wanted, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work out for me.
You're going to laugh at this, but what I wanted was some form of electronic reader. I wasn't sure if it would work out because I'm not really a techy type person. As odd as this may sound I don't like much of our modern tech orientated culture. Sure I got a cell phone back in the 90's, they were discontinuing my beeper service. I still don't own a smart phone. I know the time is coming, and I'm going to lose, but I'm fighting text messaging too.
Under the Christmas tree this year I discovered a Kindle and a gift card to Amazon. I absolutely love it. It has great access to media stuff like music and movies. As part of that I can now listen to several specialty programs that I enjoy, for free. What I'm really loving is the books.
I've loved books since I was a little boy. As an adult its hard to get the time to read. Now thanks to my Kindle I can read almost anywhere. A lot of the books you can get are cheap for download, but there are a lot of them that are free too. It's awesome. It's almost like having a library at your finger tips.
So what am I doing with my modern technology toy? I'm learning about ancient cultures and language. That's right I'm a disgustingly antiquated old fart who loves the fact that I can now highlight terms and get an instant encyclopedic answer to almost anything I don't understand, without ever leaving the page I'm reading.
How are colleges and universities staying in business? I can do a study that would have taken me a week back in college in an evening. A few hours of free time now yields me new insights into topics that I've been eager to learn about for years. I almost think that if this type of technology had been around when I was 12 (and I had the gumption to do the work) that I could have earned a PHD by the time I was 16.
Mrs. Ipsa did good this year.
My daughter and I talked about this very subject when she was here over the Christmas holiday last week. She and I both love books, we love holding them in our hands and savoring the reading enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteBut she did say that one thing good about this tech is that you can access a book anywhere, and not have to deal with carrying the book around with you. I suspect that you will probably find that to be your greatest enjoyment with this kindle of yours. Because your free moments don't necessarily happen when you are at home with your bookshelves.
I find nothing wrong with being old school. I find myself wondering constantly, while being bombarded with the rudeness of other people's phone calls, how did we as a society survive up to now without all this take along techie stuff?
Your wife did indeed do very well as Mrs. Santa this year.