Living in the Future, pt 1

Do you ever sit back from whatever you're doing at a particular moment in time and observe what you were doing? You know, from a perspective removed from the here and now? Like some outside observer looking in on your own life? Every once in a while I do and it sort of amazes me, not what I'm doing, but the things themselves.

Looking at the gadgets around me, I find it really staggering that my phone probably has more computing power than my PC ten years ago (I may still have that PC!). For that matter, I remember how cool I thought it was to get my first cellular phone. Do you know what it could do? It could make phone calls! ::gasp:: Come to think of it, I think it also made the opposite ear warm with its radio emissions and could sterilize a rabbit at ten yards! (I know, I know, cheap jokes.) What else is around me? Hmm...

This laptop I am working on is pushing 18 months old and people usually remark "that's a big laptop" in shock upon seeing it. I smile and assure them "it's not just a laptop, it's a desktop replacement. This thing's got horsepower, a BluRay and a widescreen!" They just look at me and say "Oh." before finding somewhere else to be. While they may not be impressed, I sure as hell am. I can watch a 1080p movie while on a trip. I can crunch some numbers in seriously big spreadsheets. I can render fractal graphics and export animated video sequences in moments. Just try to do that in a few hours with your ol' Pentium... 486... 386... 286... XT/AT. XT/AT? Whoa! That's a blast from the past. Heck, my XT/AT had an actual selector switch to run in accellerated mode. You think I ever turn that switch off? You're right. I never did. NEH-EH-VUR! Oh... speaking of that XT/AT, I upgraded the video card in that sucker eventually, so I could display multiple shades of green! In hindsight, I think it was just dithering... like I am now... back to my point. Living in the future is so freakin' cool.

I have an iPad to my left, opposite my Windows Phone 7 HTC phone to the right of my laptop. I enjoy using the iPad as a reading platform, and plan to make better use of some new(-ish) apps. Yet, even as a glorified book and/or newspaper, it's great. Plus, if I get too tired to really focus on something and viola, I can zoom in for a closer look. (ewe, I feel that creeping on.). The phone is pretty good as a phone, but the other functions seem somewhat hobbled when compared to my "old" HTC Tilt2 Windows 6.5 phone. Even so, both devices provide me with access to enormous amounts of information and data. Data that I can't live without. At least, I think I can't live without it.

In contrast, my upbringing was grounded in some basic tenets that many people my age probably didn't get to experience. For starters "my upbrining was grounded" is a somewhat humorous choice of words... mostly due to my idiocy combined with somewhat strict parents. (I digress. Again.) I learned some valuable hands on skills from my parents and both sets of grandparents. Basic carpentry, woodworking, metalworking, machining, cooking, camping, drafting, and other hands-on skills. Hah! Hands-on. I had a vivid memory this morning of splitting wood with a sledgehammer and steel splitting wedges! It's not the work that shapes the boy into a man, it's the endless frustrations experienced while splitting eucalyptus firewood. (Eucalyptus is a pain in the ass to split.) I still lean back on some of those skills as a bit of therapy. A cathartic release. Also, when I'm done using whatever skill I have engaged on a project, there's usually something tangible to show for it. I can look at the bench seat to my left and know I built it with my own hands... and some power tools.

Spending my days working within the digital realm is a little less rewarding. Sure, I take pride in the work I (and my team) generate, but when the computer is turned off, or I'm talking to someone less technologically inclined, the accomplishments amount to little more than an oversized paperweight, some cheap parlour tricks, or a punchline to a weak joke. Yet I stubbornly keep at it because I love working in the Information Technology realm. Working in the brewing industry makes it that much better.

Having grown up in the '70s and '80s, I grew up around home computers, and as an adult, it seems that my life around computers makes dealing with today's technology that much more like second-nature. I "ask" it for something and I get what I wanted.

Now if I can only remember where I put it.

* This entry ended up being more negative that I was intending when I started, but I am going to let it stand. Perhaps, when I get around to writing "pt 2", I can steer the story back into a positive light. For now, it stands as is.

** Also, this was written as I really started to fade towards sleep... must go now... zzzz.