Saturday This and That

Last night as I was walking down the subway stairs, a woman in front stopped dead in her tracks, took out her cell phone, made a call, and just stood there, chatting away.  Meanwhile, the man behind her and myself were almost tripping over each other to avoid ramming into her...and I have no idea about the person behind me. Just picture the driver slamming on his breaks and causing a chain reaction.  When you think of it, had someone been coming down behind me at a fast pace, we all could have gone down. I just can't understand the logic of doing something like that. I mean, you are only a few feet from the bottom of the stairs.  You can't wait a few feet to make your call?  You have to make everyone else go around you?  And this is not the first time this has happened. It happens all the time. The use of cell phones has caused an entirely new epidemic of rudeness. 

Gosh, and then there are the bleep bleeps or whatever you call them. They are so darned annoying. I don't like putting my personal stuff out there for the entire world to hear, and I don't feel like hearing anyone else's either. Who cares what you did today or that so and so is mad at you.  That's your business, not mine.  Do me a favor and keep it to yourself. And let's not forget those who have to give a tally of where they are..."I'm at Smith Street now.  Okay, just passed 9th Street...and so on."  The conductor fills us in on this information.  I don't need you to tell me, too.  Ah, the dark side of technology.

I've had a rough month here with technology.  It all began when my old wall phone finally gave up. Hubby went out and bought one of those new wireless models.  Well, by the time I learned how to work it, my phone service started going in and out.  Then, a few days later, I was sitting and watching the season finale of Covert Affairs and 20 minutes before it ended, my television screen went blank...and stayed blank.  Well, when I got up the next day, it was on so I let it go.  The next night, I was watching the season finale of Dark Blue, and you guessed it.  Fifteen minutes before it ended the screen went blank.  This entailed a call to the cable service who advised me they couldn't send a man until Friday.  "Not good enough", I say. "I am paying good money for this service.  I want money taken off the bill."  "No problem."  they say, "just call us after the man leaves and we'll credit you."  "Yeah, right,"  I tell myself.  "that's if you can get through."

The next day I go to work, and my work computer goes down. Okay, so they supposedly fix it, but it's still acting up.  Then, Friday rolls around, and I've got the cable man at my house (my son taking care of that), and I'm on the phone dealing with the Help Desk to fix my office computer...both at the same time.  Work computer repaired....cable messed up.  They have to dig up the streets which will be Monday before it is repaired. 

 
Monday I am at work and my son calls with even worse news.  Now, not only is my cable down, but so is my home internet.  "What?"  I scream.  "No, it cannot be."  Much as it bothers me to be without cable, it's unbearable to have no internet.  At work, I found myself staring at a blank computer...wondering what all you guys were doing, wondering what I am missing.  Praise be, by the time I got home, all was well...cable on, internet on...no more problems...

That is, until I get home last night and want to heat up my food.  Now, my microwave has died.  "What next?"  I cry out.  "What is the Universe trying to tell me?"  Have I become far too reliant on technological devices?...that it is time to get my butt off the sofa and do something?  Go someplace?  Yes, I am reliant on these devices, but  I am far from alone. From the home appliances we use, to the cars we drive, and computers we use for our work...all the way down to the manufacturing of the food we eat, there is hardly a device that we own and use that does not have technology in it or has been made without using technology. Though in this sense, technology has not literally taken control over society, but rather we have come to place technology as a central role in our lives and we have become reliant on it.  Perhaps the Universe is trying to say that it is time that we return to Nature.