Technology Found Me

It finally happened. I went out and bought my first computer of my own volition. I set it up and tinkered with the applications. Then I placed my first call on it to Ben.

The new computer is an iphone. Ben, my honey who brazenly told an acquaintance that he didn't need anything more than his iphone and his girlfriend, finally tempted me into the flock. The recent "upgrade" of the iphone left last years model obsolete, so I rushed out to buy one for less than $100.

I justified it as a homeschooling expense, and it appears to be working. We moved our campus to the coast Friday and Saturday. I had my handy cell (i) phone in case of emergencies. When we arrived and unpacked, Trinidad went straight to the creek to hunt crayfish. Sam and I played cards at creekside, and I turned the iphone onto a recording of Billie Holiday's "Night and Day" that I am learning to sing for Market next month. Over and over, my tiny "transistor radio" played a soft accompaniment to Sam and I giggling and stealing each other's cards. Then Trinidad turned up with crayfish and freshwater clams. "Are these clams edible, Mom? Why don't you Google it?" he asked.

Trinidad knows that I use the internet extensively as a resource. If I want to know which part of the herb to harvest and when, how to kill a chicken humanely (paradoxical phrasing, hm?), or whether to be concerned about the leakage of peach juice in the canning process, I fire up the web.

Now I have it creekside. After procuring reassurance that he had, in fact, caught dinner, we took some pictures (iphone) of the critters as Sam grappled with them fearlessly. We could have emailed the photos to my mom, but I don't have the account set up for it yet. We downloaded (for free) an application that shows us what the constellations are in our night sky by the iphone's location, and if I forget which direction is north (how embarrassing), there is a compass application, too. In the morning, we checked the weather and tides online, then headed to the beach to tidepool. If I need a gas station, there is an application that tells me where I can find one within three miles and the directions to get there. Not that I typically do need gas (my bike is decked out and well-worn), but even hanging close to home is going to be easier with internet support.

Dude. I can even place a call on it.

The only thing I have to hang up is my pride in roughing it.

Where's the hook?