#293: My Later-Life Life-Changers (Part III)

Sigh.

Look at this miserable list of current innovations.  No variety at all, unless I were to include "Clothing with a touch of  Spandex" or the "Miracle bra".

Now it is all technology all the time, and it is all getting more challenging.  Say goodbye to gizmos that have one off/on switch.  If it can't be explained with a 40 page booklet, what good can it be?    Still, this is the future, it is not going away, so we might as well grit our teeth and shake hands with our inner techie.

I'm still on a learning curve with some of the following.  But I readily admit that they have enhanced my later life in many ways.

The techo-tsunami begins with the purchase of a Kaypro "portable" (so called because it wasn't bolted to the table). 

1. Email -- I was giving this a whirl back in 1984 when we bought our first computer, a Kaypro.   It all felt so cutting edge.   
2. Word processing -- I quickly learned to love writing/correcting/blocking and copying/spell checking, etc.  Oooh, Spell Check!  *Swoon*
3. The Internet -- Give me Google!  Our venerable dictionary and desk encyclopedia were quickly retired; now we check everything on an iTouch and we are plotting the purchase of an iPad.  Our brains are probably scrambled by wifi, but we don't care.
4. Digital Camera --light weight, easy to use, easy to upload.  Now I actually use a camera!
5. Cell Phone -- I admit to a love-hate relationship with my cell phone because I don't use half its features.  I don't text.  I don't take pictures. I have to look up my own CP number.  But when I do need it, I am so glad it's there.  
6. GPS-- I am the reason we own a Garmin GPS.  It saves pulling into service stations all the time to ask directions.   
7. Kindle e-reader. -- How could I not love packing as many-books-as-my-heart-desires into one little tablet?   And--major advantage-- I can adjust the print size.

That's as good as it gets.  If if claimed to love three more digital do-dads, I'd be lying, The computer revolution has run me over and now I'm lying here exhausted, waiting for the next wave. 

Don't get me wrong.  I am committed, but I'm also older.  I need to save my strength for the next big techno-thingamajig, because it will arrive any day, and there will be another damned manual waiting for my attention.

Off/On.  Open/Shut.  So simple.  PEZ was onto a good thing.