“I like stepping into the future. Therefore, I look for doorknobs.”
The sun was shining earlier but has since disappeared. I don’t really care. A cloudy day seems to be the norm. Sunny days are anomalies. It is also really cold, but March on Cape Cod is seldom warm. When I went to get the papers, I stood a while at the front garden. The crocus (or croci if I use my Latin) are fully bloomed and so beautiful. The yellow even brightens a day like today.
I am amazed by how quickly the world has changed. I used to be content with a flickering black and white TV, even for cartoons. Now I have this big HD television and am even thinking of upgrading. My typewriter is in the cellar. It was a high school graduation present from my parents. I was then and still am the worst typist. Wite-Out was my friend as was that white tape you typed over to correct the errors. Now my computer makes corrections, most of the time without my help. I don’t chop onions. My food processor does that. I have three different size processors. I use the smallest one for when I need a tablespoon of something chopped. The microwave cooks dinner in minutes. I use my oven for storage. I do use it other times to bake, but the last time I did I burned a box of crackers I forgot was in there. I have a blender and an immerser. The only machine I don’t have is a can opener. I still use a hand opener. I used to sleep downstairs on the couch in the summer with the back door open. Upstairs was too hot. Then I got an air-conditioner for my bedroom and sometimes I’d stay in the cool all afternoon. Now my whole house is air-conditioned. I remember Sunday drives with all six of us crammed in the car and all the windows opened, but it was still hot and sticky. I sometimes got car sick. Who’d blame me? The car air-conditioner solved that problem. No more encyclopedias. We can just Google anything and get more answers than we imagined existed. My first transistor radio was big, but every year radios got smaller. I had a cassette recorder with me in Ghana. The last time I went I brought my iPod with I don’t know how many songs. My iPad came with me also and was my source for books and amusement. My Instamatic took pretty good pictures back in 1969, but my parents had to send me film as none could be had in Ghana, and I had to send it to them to be processed. In two years I took 290 slides. On my last visit, using my digital camera, I took over 400 pictures in three weeks.
When I was a kid, dreaming of the future, I figured by now, like the Jetsons, we’d have cars which can fly. I expected to be anywhere in the world in a short time, but it still takes 10 1/2 hours to get to Ghana. I want to be beamed, here one minute and there the next. Maybe a bit of cryonic sleep will preserve me until then, but wait! We don’t have cryonic sleep yet.
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This entry was posted on March 16, 2013 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: clothes, Clouds, cold, computers, digitial cameras, flying cars, future, iPads, iPods, modern machines, simple life
Both comments and pings are currently closed.24 Comments on ““I like stepping into the future. Therefore, I look for doorknobs.””
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
March 16, 2013 at 12:17 pm
One thing that did come from the future then and is well abound today are cell phones. Remember Dick Tracy’s wrist watch phone. We now havw have cell phones that are small & portable. Matter of fact a couple of years ago Japan made an actual cell phone as a wrist watch you wore. I don’t think it made it over here to the USA or caught on
March 16, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Bubba,
I didn’t even think about phones. We started with a party line and a clunky phone, streamlined it and worked up to a cell for a lot of years. My first portable car phone was in a huge case.
I remember that wrist watch phone and maxwell Smart’s shoe phone.
March 16, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Today’s entry made me think of this:
March 16, 2013 at 12:52 pm
im6,
That’s a great song. I liked Leroy Anderson, especially The Syncopated Clock.
March 16, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Changes in technology was the main topic at lunch yesterday starting with the black and white television and the constant adjustment to stabilize or sharpen the picture. For us the wonders of color came through rental in the early 70s and not through ownership.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is how quickly we adapt our lives to new products and then how fast we dump them and move on. The cassette, the mini disc, the VCR, fax, the list is endless. Today our lives are distorted by instant access and communication products, generally offered by Apple. And how much do I love to push a button and see my sister in London on FaceTime on my iPad.
But perhaps not everything changes. “Here I am, not quite dying” sings David Bowie and the CD The Next Day, which has been hidden for two years is as wonderful as the new Eels is disappointing. Age of voice and reflection of time passed permeates the album. David Bowie has rarely disappointed, and this is something special.
BBC America is giving us England playing Wales. JPR Williams was my all time favorite rugby player
March 16, 2013 at 3:30 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Rabbit ears did help clear the picture and aluminum foil helped the rabbit ears!
It’s true. We embrace the newest technology then trash it. I have so many VCR movies. I think FaceTime and Skype are amazing. I met a volunteer in Ghana who walks to her family face to face every week.
The Boston Globe gave a rousing review to The Next Day. I’ll order it on my next AmEx month.
I know nothing about rugby.
March 16, 2013 at 3:50 pm
We discussed the pleasures of foil. Our aerials were in the attic which helped some but the station always needed tweaking.
As rugby was not in your world I did send you a photo of the Number 1 NFL Draft pick 2013 and 2028….That Prince !
March 16, 2013 at 3:56 pm
MDH,
When we moved to the Cape, our antenna was on the roof. No more foil!
I love The Prince and the whole stance and the look on his face.
March 16, 2013 at 4:17 pm
The Prince is due over shortly and will be going to Chapel and then it’s a sleep over. We are planning pancakes for breakfast for the 2028 number 1 draft pick in to the NFL.
March 16, 2013 at 4:25 pm
MDH,
Pancakes must be part of the Sunday ritual. I remember a picture of The Prince with an empty plate where there were once pancakes.
March 16, 2013 at 4:43 pm
The Prince can eat and he loves pancakes. Uncle Eric is 6’8″ and you can see how big the Prince is at the ripe old age of six.
March 16, 2013 at 5:08 pm
MDH,
The Prince is on his way!!
March 16, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Here at the Trnoto Airport it is around freezing wth snow flurries. I am on my way home to warmer temperatures.
The future is totally unpredictable and still amazing. Who in the 1960s would have tight that we would have PCs or iPads. The Star Treck communicator, ala cell phone, is now a small computer. Thank goodness the sky’s are not filled with flying cars, what a disaster that would be. I am jealous of my kids who will live in a future that non of us today can predict. George Eastman, of Eastman Kodak, was wrong. He commited suicide in the 1940s and left a note saying that everything had been invented and there was nothing else to live for. He is noe flipping over in his grave 🙂
March 16, 2013 at 3:29 pm
Bob,
It is really cold here too. I just put on socks as my slippers weren’t enough.
You are so right. In the early 60′s I thought my transistor radio was a major technological advance. I remember those pads they used on Stargate Atlantis and wishing I had one. Now I do!
I think the same thing, envy for those who will live so much longer. My nephew’s 6 year old son only knows a computer, a DVD player and a iPhone and can use all of them.
Poor did Eastman miss out!
March 16, 2013 at 2:24 pm
There’s no use in having an AC in our homes since the summer is short and cool most of the time, those few days we have any kind of warm summer is worth a few nights of little sleep 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have a micro but rarely use it, mostly I heat up milk in it so I can make cocoa 🙂 Most parts of the year I use my fire heated stove and since it’s already hot I might as well cook on it.
But I have to admit that I’d rather be without a tv than having a black and white one 🙂 🙂 and it’s so much easier with photography now days even if I do miss my old Minolta.
We’ve had a springwinter day once again and I’ve enjoyed it fully 🙂 It will be much the same tomorrow so I think I’ll have a small picnic by the big stone in the cow pasture. Next week will be cold and snowy again and spring won’t show up for long. But over 100 cranes has arrived to the frozen lake now 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 16, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Christer,
You need lots of heat with the long winter you have. Here, in August, it gets pretty hot and, worst than that, humid.
I heat up or cook a lot of stuff in the microwave: my leftovers, hot milk, soups and popcorn.
The black and white TV was a marvel when it first appeared. My mother told me her neighbors got the first one, and all the other neighbors brought chair and sat and watched.
It’s cold and a storm is on its way: could be snow or rain, they’re not sure yet.
March 16, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Wow, yes technology has changed so rapidly in my own life span. all I can say is I just wanted to put my 2 bytes in.( referring to computers) cant send the 2 cents :-):-)
March 16, 2013 at 4:26 pm
Morpfy,
It is so true that 2 cents worth is nothing now!
March 16, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Hi Kat,
Two things that should not be together in the same continuum: flying cars and Boston drivers. 🙂
I have a stove but do most of my cooking in the micro or the countertop oven (AKA glorified toaster oven). I have a spiffy flat screen TV and love it but I remember that I didn’t get a color TV until some time in the 80’s. The black and white worked fine so why bother getting a new one?
Today was knitting with the monthly knitters group so the day was warm and friendly regardless of how it was outside.
It wasn’t really too bad and I did see the sun through the windows.
Rocky was at doggy day care so he spent it outside playing with his friends. He’s unconscious on the couch right now. Tired pup.
Enjoy the evening.
March 16, 2013 at 8:03 pm
Hi Caryn,
I think it would be great fun! I always like a challenge.
My parents had a color TV in the late 60’s. I like it as I could watch Star Trek in color! I had a color TV when I moved into my house in the late 1970’s and got an HD set when my other one finally died, and that was 8 years ago.
My friend and I went to the Brewster Fish House for dinner. We celebrate each other’s birthday by treating the celebrant to dinner. We end up with bills close to $200 as we never go anywhere but the better restaurants.
A few cosmos and a coffee liquor finale means an early night for me!
Have a great rest of Saturday!!
March 17, 2013 at 2:16 am
Hi Kat,
Hope you’ve received the invitation – it went out at 2:15 a.m. (as I’m a night hawk.)
Marie
March 17, 2013 at 10:00 am
Hi Marie,
I just checked my mail and it is there. Once I post I’ll drop by to visit! Thanks!!
March 17, 2013 at 8:35 am
When I was a kid dreaming of the future, the most far-out thing I could imagine was a picture phone. We have it in Skype, Face Time, etc but it was then almost more than I could imagine. I also remember that I thought I would be really, really, really old by the year 2000.
March 17, 2013 at 10:02 am
Cuidado,
I thought we’d all be in space by the year 2000, but I am definitely blown away by how small all the electronics are. Those first computers took up a whole room. Skype et all is amazing to e as well. A real time conversation across the world!