I went to see a comedian the other night, Louis C.K., and he had a good bit about things that we have today that we didn't have when we were kids. Of course, he added a lot of humor about our complaints about how awful we feel these things are and how we don't even consider the alternative, but lets list a few that he said plus a few of my own. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of things that are common now, that were rare or non-existent when I was little. I will say that my mother and step-father were not early adopters, so most technology that came about had a few years to improve before the Shrum/Miller household even thought about getting it. I'll use the VCR as an example. I was literally the last person I knew to get a VCR, and the only reason we got one was because my parents won one, somehow. If it hadn't been for that, we quite possible could have been the last family in the USA to get a VCR. Here we go:
Cell phones. Not only didn't they have cell phones when I was young, but we didn't even have a cordless phone in our house. I remember having that long, twisted cord that you had to limbo under or high jump over if someone was on the phone, and God forbid, not sitting right next to it.
Caller ID. Never heard of it, you had to answer the phone. On that note,
Answering machine. They may have been around, but we sure as hell didn't have one.
Speaker phone. We had this little brown box that you added to your phone line that made everyone sound like they were in a well. Not the best quality, but hey, we could all speak at the same time so it sounded like our whole family was yelling at grandma from the bottom of a well, probably scaring the hell out of her.
Remote control TV. Didn't have one. Do they even make TVs WITHOUT a remote anymore? Would you ever buy one, even if it was 50% cheaper. (No you can't get a universal remote later, it has no remote capability)
ATM's. How did we survive without these. The banks are open the oh so convenient same hours that you are at work, so you had to take a day off to do your banking back in the day, or stand in line on Saturday morning with everyone else. Now, you probably haven't been inside a bank in a long time, unless you were opening an account or dropping off your bucket of change. (Am I the only one that saves my coins in a container then hauls it in to see how much I have? It's like winning a small lottery, seldom happens, but its a nice surprise when it does.)
Video games. My friend got an Atari 2600 right after they came out and we were amazed at the graphics. Now that stuff looks like what you create when you are trying to learn programming. You get your little stick figure to jump and run in a straight line, you get an A in the class. Now, if your guy can't blink and have sex, you are just fooling yourself, F for you.
Satellite TV. Please, we didn't have cable until people in Siberia had it and they had to drill into the tundra to run it, so satellite wasn't in my family's realm, but it wasn't in anyone elses either. If you were around, I'm sure you remember the "remote control" that was a box with 10 or 12 buttons on it and a dial on one side so you could change the levels and actually have 3 tiers of channels. And just for good measure, you had a really long cord on that thing, just to be sure that if you ran in between the TV and the "remote," you would catch that cord on your foot and rocket the box across the room. Lost a dog or two with that one. Plus, of those three tiers of channels, there were only channels on two tiers and most of the buttons just let you watch static. I spent half my junior high life trying to see a boob on HBO, which we never had. I spent my summers at my dad's in TN, who had HBO, and would stay awake for days at a time trying to catch up on my "porn" when I first went to see him. Now, the same stuff I sleep deprived myself to see on HBO, is prime time material, a bit tame. Once satellite TV came out, you had to have a dish the size of a Volkswagen put in your yard to get it.
Those are the big ones that I came up with over my lunch hour today, I'm sure I'll think of more.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Book and soapbox
I just finished off a book about the Sierra Madre mountains located in northern Mexico. The book was "Into the lawless heart of the Sierra Madre, God's middle finger." The writter travels through this area which is known for its violence and lack of police, or at least a non corrupt police. The military is there patrolling, supposedly trying to rid the area of the main crop, drugs, but along with the police, turn out to be just as involved in the trade as the "farmers." It's really interesting and the troubles often parallel the troubles in Juarez. The author had this to say about the not so long ago release of hundreds of corrupt police officers in Juarez.
"Shorn of their badges and released from their web of patronage that kept them answerable for their actions, the corrupt, predatory cops were not enrolling in architecture schools or starting up Internet cafes. They were plying the only trades they knew-extortion, theft, assassination, kidnapping, drug trafficking-with an even greater ferocity and ruthlessness than before."
This seems to be the story all over Mexico and it's sad that, for the most part, most of these problems are actually our fault (America that is). I hate when people blame America for everything that is wrong in the world and I by no means think that we are ALL to blame for the mess in Mexico, but if we didn't have such an appetite for drugs, there wouldn't be a need for the drugs to move through the border towns that are now overwhelmed with violence. The main spots for the violence are in cities just across the US/Mexico border, places like Juarez, Tijuana, Nogales and others. If we could get ourselves under control, the demand would dry up and the maybe the violence would lessen. I know, it ain't going to happen and that it is much more complicated than that, so that means we need to realize that we have some responsibility for it. If you are going to be part of the problem, be part of the solution. I know our government is giving money to the Mexican government, not sure that is the answer, but training people to fight the battles in their own land hasn't really work for us in the past either. There are so many cases where we trained a country's army to fight an aggressor, only to then have then turn that knowledge against us or the very people we trained them to protect. That has happened in the middle east and there was actually an elite force in Mexico that the US trained, that now works for the drug cartels, nice. I have no idea what the answer is, I just know it's sad to see innocent people suffer, in a country where it was all ready hard to just get by. Even when we have hardships here in the US, there are places to get help. Not always enough, but better than nothing like so many other parts of the world. As I do research for my Africa trip and dive into the whole AIDs thing, I'm amazed at how little help people got from their governments, especially at the beginning of the outbreak. Of course, most of these countries have nothing to give their people, so it wasn't like they were holding back, but there are also a lot of cases of corrupt governments that keep the wealth within the government and never let it filter down to the people. There are countries with great wealth, in diamonds or other natural resources, that just doesn't seem to be used to help its people. The world has been woken up to the tragedy in Africa, mostly from celebrities who go there and come back with their public service announcements, but there is still work to be done. I'm excited to be part of the solution, as small as it may be. I'll now step off of my soapbox and tell you, the book I mentioned at the beginning of this post, really good if you have a heart for the area, it's people or strange travel stories. I have several more books on the way, I love Amazon.com. One is on Africa, one on Juarez and one by Bill Bryson, one of my favorite authors. Doesn't hurt that he is an Iowa boy:) I almost always buy my books, which may seem like a waste to some, but it is so hard for me to read a book from the library. One, I can't dog ear the pages and highlight parts I like. Two, I can't read it in the alotted time period. I have to renew it 2 times on line and then take the book in to renew it again. I'm a little embarrased at the amount of time it takes me to read a book, but I try to cram it in over lunch at work, which gets interuppted everyday. Third, since I read while I eat, my books usually end up with food stains. The WDM Public library doesn't want to know that I had soup on page 43 and a ham sandwich on page 213.
"Shorn of their badges and released from their web of patronage that kept them answerable for their actions, the corrupt, predatory cops were not enrolling in architecture schools or starting up Internet cafes. They were plying the only trades they knew-extortion, theft, assassination, kidnapping, drug trafficking-with an even greater ferocity and ruthlessness than before."
This seems to be the story all over Mexico and it's sad that, for the most part, most of these problems are actually our fault (America that is). I hate when people blame America for everything that is wrong in the world and I by no means think that we are ALL to blame for the mess in Mexico, but if we didn't have such an appetite for drugs, there wouldn't be a need for the drugs to move through the border towns that are now overwhelmed with violence. The main spots for the violence are in cities just across the US/Mexico border, places like Juarez, Tijuana, Nogales and others. If we could get ourselves under control, the demand would dry up and the maybe the violence would lessen. I know, it ain't going to happen and that it is much more complicated than that, so that means we need to realize that we have some responsibility for it. If you are going to be part of the problem, be part of the solution. I know our government is giving money to the Mexican government, not sure that is the answer, but training people to fight the battles in their own land hasn't really work for us in the past either. There are so many cases where we trained a country's army to fight an aggressor, only to then have then turn that knowledge against us or the very people we trained them to protect. That has happened in the middle east and there was actually an elite force in Mexico that the US trained, that now works for the drug cartels, nice. I have no idea what the answer is, I just know it's sad to see innocent people suffer, in a country where it was all ready hard to just get by. Even when we have hardships here in the US, there are places to get help. Not always enough, but better than nothing like so many other parts of the world. As I do research for my Africa trip and dive into the whole AIDs thing, I'm amazed at how little help people got from their governments, especially at the beginning of the outbreak. Of course, most of these countries have nothing to give their people, so it wasn't like they were holding back, but there are also a lot of cases of corrupt governments that keep the wealth within the government and never let it filter down to the people. There are countries with great wealth, in diamonds or other natural resources, that just doesn't seem to be used to help its people. The world has been woken up to the tragedy in Africa, mostly from celebrities who go there and come back with their public service announcements, but there is still work to be done. I'm excited to be part of the solution, as small as it may be. I'll now step off of my soapbox and tell you, the book I mentioned at the beginning of this post, really good if you have a heart for the area, it's people or strange travel stories. I have several more books on the way, I love Amazon.com. One is on Africa, one on Juarez and one by Bill Bryson, one of my favorite authors. Doesn't hurt that he is an Iowa boy:) I almost always buy my books, which may seem like a waste to some, but it is so hard for me to read a book from the library. One, I can't dog ear the pages and highlight parts I like. Two, I can't read it in the alotted time period. I have to renew it 2 times on line and then take the book in to renew it again. I'm a little embarrased at the amount of time it takes me to read a book, but I try to cram it in over lunch at work, which gets interuppted everyday. Third, since I read while I eat, my books usually end up with food stains. The WDM Public library doesn't want to know that I had soup on page 43 and a ham sandwich on page 213.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Neat app.
One of the new applications I have on my new iPod touch is a countdown. You put in dates that you need to remember and it tells you how many days until that date. I entered July 3rd, which is when I leave for Africa. Marcy was checking out the App and added our anniversary. She left off her birthday, which seemed odd to me, but maybe she is getting old enough that she doesn't want to celebrate it anymore:) I'll let you know the count down every now and again. I was amazed that when I put the date in, it said 124 days until I leave. Man that is coming up quick. Are you ready Chad?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Definition of irony
Regardless of your view or opinion of global warming, read the below caption and then look at the picture. I haven't laughed that hard, well, since last Thursday night when I saw Louis C.K. at the Funnybone.
Owen Burke, left, and Ephrata Wood, hold on to a tarp to drape around a stage they are installing during a windy snow storm outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Monday, March 2, 2009. The men were installing the stage for a global warming rally of college students happening later in the day.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Owen Burke, left, and Ephrata Wood, hold on to a tarp to drape around a stage they are installing during a windy snow storm outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Monday, March 2, 2009. The men were installing the stage for a global warming rally of college students happening later in the day.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Misc.
Here are a few things that don't deserve a whole entry on their own.
I passed a guy on the Interstate who was brushing his teeth at 70 miles an hour. Why you would attempt to brush and drive, I don't know. Still doesn't top the lady I saw eating a bowl of cereal while driving. She was holding the bowl on top of the steering wheel and working the spoon with the other. I wanted to follow her so I could see if she pulled it off for the whole bowl, but alas, I went to work instead.
As a kid, I liked the band Queen, but don't remember knowing that the lead singer was gay. Now I know and watched an old music video, "Another one bites the dust," and I wondered why I never questioned it. In the video, he is the most stereotypical gay man I've ever seen.
I saw Nights in Rodanthe, WOW, is that a chick flick. I fell asleep for a bit at the beginning, but woke up to finish it off. Guys, watch it with your woman to make her happy, but drink a Jolt before you do.
I bought a iPod touch and love it. Just doing my part to try and pull us out of the recession. I heard on the news last night that a company here in Des Moines that laid off 100 people in Nov. do to the economy, is bringing them back on Monday. I'm really happy for those 100 and hope this is a sign of the near future.
I was filling my car with gas the other day and a guy that was driving a cargo van, sitting 15 feet away from me, started squirting fluid on his windshield to clean it. The pump was so strong, he was hitting me with the fluid, which sucked because I was getting wet and it was about 12 degrees.
I just saw a commercial for a "flexible bonding agent" that you are supposed to use to mend torn fabric. It's called Mighty Mendit and I want to see if that works. I can't believe you can "bond" fabric with this stuff. Let me know if the temptation gets to you and you buy some.
I passed a guy on the Interstate who was brushing his teeth at 70 miles an hour. Why you would attempt to brush and drive, I don't know. Still doesn't top the lady I saw eating a bowl of cereal while driving. She was holding the bowl on top of the steering wheel and working the spoon with the other. I wanted to follow her so I could see if she pulled it off for the whole bowl, but alas, I went to work instead.
As a kid, I liked the band Queen, but don't remember knowing that the lead singer was gay. Now I know and watched an old music video, "Another one bites the dust," and I wondered why I never questioned it. In the video, he is the most stereotypical gay man I've ever seen.
I saw Nights in Rodanthe, WOW, is that a chick flick. I fell asleep for a bit at the beginning, but woke up to finish it off. Guys, watch it with your woman to make her happy, but drink a Jolt before you do.
I bought a iPod touch and love it. Just doing my part to try and pull us out of the recession. I heard on the news last night that a company here in Des Moines that laid off 100 people in Nov. do to the economy, is bringing them back on Monday. I'm really happy for those 100 and hope this is a sign of the near future.
I was filling my car with gas the other day and a guy that was driving a cargo van, sitting 15 feet away from me, started squirting fluid on his windshield to clean it. The pump was so strong, he was hitting me with the fluid, which sucked because I was getting wet and it was about 12 degrees.
I just saw a commercial for a "flexible bonding agent" that you are supposed to use to mend torn fabric. It's called Mighty Mendit and I want to see if that works. I can't believe you can "bond" fabric with this stuff. Let me know if the temptation gets to you and you buy some.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
WOW!!!!
As you can see below, I held a test this morning. What was I testing? I sent an email from my iPod touch directly to my blog. Why you might ask? So I can post from Africa, of course. As long as I can figure out how to connect with the WiFi, you will see short posts from Africa. Aren't you lucky, you can read my crap while I'm half way around the world. Yea for you!
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