| Mrs. Murfreesboro: Modern conveniences spoil us – OK! |
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By: JEANNE BRAGG, Post Columnist
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Posted: Sunday, May 24, 2009 8:41 am
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We are a nation of spoiled people.
I came to that conclusion yesterday when I noticed my newspaper wrapped up in a pink plastic wrapper to keep it from getting wet. I remember Daddy (and Tommy) drying newspapers draped over chairs just so they could read the ball game scores.
Now ball game scores can be retrieved immediately – any mobile phone or PDA (personal digital assistant) can bring you up to date if you’re so inclined. One night as we walked the streets of Manhattan my son-in-law Chris kept repeating into his phone: “Sports. College Football. Tennessee.” That happened numerous times until the final (overtime) score was posted.
Want something to eat? If you have a few dollars in your pocket, you can drive down any major thoroughfare and get something hearty (McDonald’s always has some kind of sandwich on their dollar menu) at any time of the day ... on up until midnight.
My husband Tommy still tells stories of his family driving to Nashville (on the old Nashville highway, not the interstate) to eat Sunday lunch at Shoney’s.
I remember when restaurants closed at 2 and if you were hungry at 2:10 you were out of luck. Not any more. Now many of them are open virtually from morning until night. And not only do they do the cooking for us but they hand it to us as we drive by a window. Does it get any more convenient?
iPhones and iTouches (an iPhone without the telephone component) can virtually give stock quotes, predict the weather for the next few days and retrieve your e-mail with the touch of a button.
Tommy gave me an iPhone when it first came out and I hated it for a year. It took that long for me to learn how to use it. But I love it now, mainly because of the map feature.
When I was in New York, I could type in an address (retrieved by sending a text from said phone to Google), and the phone would pinpoint where I was standing (via satellite) and plot the directions to the location I was looking for via bus, car or walking.
Now I don’t think I could ever be without it.
Need a recipe for chicken croquettes? I searched for one this morning, pulling out four cookbooks with only one “hit.” I then went to the computer and typed in “chicken croquettes.” I had numerous recipes within seconds, each rated by cooks who gave it thumbs up or thumbs down and added hints of their own.
If you’re a sewing enthusiast (I am) you can buy a machine that will let you determine whether you end a seam with the needle in an up position or a down position. And if you can afford it, you can buy a machine that will sense whether the fabric you’re getting ready to monogram is crooked or not ... it won’t sew if it’s a little off-kilter.
Another of my being spoiled favorites is a global positioning system (GPS). For $150 and up you can buy a device for your vehicle that will determine the exact position of any location you want to find. We bought a used car that had this function built in, and the first time we used it, it blew our minds. It got us to our destination in minutes.
If technology has come this far since I’ve been alive, I can only image the future ahead for our children.
Talk about spoiled!
I personally am going to love every minute of it.
‘Til next week. |
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