July 3, 2014

Learning New Things

July 3, 2014

It seems that all throughout life we are faced with learning new things.  Some are fun, some are scary, and some are difficult.  It seems that Ron and I stay behind in learning the new technology things - gadgets, "apps", and new ways of communicating.  I remember when I got him his first cell phone where you had a full keyboard for texting.  I needed a new phone and wanted one that made texting easy.  Ron needed a new phone but was not interested in shopping for one.  The account was in my name anyway, so he said "Handle it."  I came back with Blackberry phones for both of us.  I thought he would throw it in the trash before I got him settled into using it.  He did not want to have to learn a new phone.  His old, simple flip phone was fine for him.  Now, I find him texting all the time.  As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, he was texting friends and family about the progress of the Cochlear activation and had done the same of the day of the Cochlear Implant surgery.

Why do we fight so against "progress" sometimes?  I guess sometimes it is because we don't see it as progress.  These days we see photos of teens and young adults all with heads bent down as they walk along texting to their friends and meanwhile, they ignore talking to the person beside them.  I like texting.  I feel I can text my kids with a message any time of the day and they are not being interrupted by a phone call and can look at the text when they have time.

That blue cloud is the logo from the Skype account in my Kindle Fire HD. 

Tonight we ventured into a new area that many of you already use.  SKYPE.  We have tried it a couple of times to be ready for tonight, but it is all new to us and we are still learning what to do and when to do it.  Stephen had set up for us to do a special Skype tonight and with just a few minor technical difficulties, we were able to take care of it.  Fun times!  If my grandchildren lived halfway across the country, I am sure I would use it.  I think Diana's niece and nephew are too old to think this is a fun way to talk to this "Grandma".  I would like to use it as my source for phone calls so that I would have facial expressions and lip reading to help me on the phone.  I don't really think that I lip read, but the audiologist says I do more of it than I realize.  She may be right.

There are so many areas of technology that are making our lives easier.  I think of the young men who are in the service and deployed around the world and how much better they can communicate with their families than the men in earlier wars who might wait weeks and even months for letters from home.  I love being able to use my cell phone to talk to my children who are scattered for a flat monthly rate and not to be watching the clock through a phone call thinking about how much money it is costing me.  I just need the rest of the family to jump on the Skype bandwagon.

Today at the office was a little quiet.  I guess everyone was getting ready for the holiday tomorrow.  It will be nice to have a long weekend.  I worked some on my files.  There seems to always be a stack of things to be filed.  Ron was out a good bit of the day on jobs and a trip to his mom's.  His mom's regular house keeper/helper is on vacation with her son, but the house keeper's sister is taking care of Margaret and staying at her house.  Ron said they were having a good time as Margaret was teaching the woman some of her needlework skills.  What a nice arrangement!  Margaret loves to teach those skills!

At work I was again able to have a nice long conversation with a customer.  I had been missing that even before I went deaf.  My hearing had been so bad that I avoided trying to start up a conversation with anyone I didn't know well, who would understand when I couldn't hear them. This lady today talked and talked, not letting me get a word in edgewise.  It was funny though, she kept bragging about being 74 years old.  I didn't tell her that my 91 year old mother looked a lot better than she did. 

After work we came home and had an all American supper, in honor of the holiday weekend, we had hot dogs!  Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July tomorrow.