How Long Before I am Obsolete?

"New technology is useful, but it's inefficient and ugly; it knows it'll be obsolete by lunchtime tomorrow, so it has no incentive to be anything else."
~ Tom Holt

"The sage belongs to the same obsolete repertory as the virtuous maiden and the enlightened monarch." ~ Mason Cooley

"We will all, someday, experience death, and become obsolete as a dead leaf falling from a tree, crushed by passersby to ashes underlying the earth." ~ Kim Elizabeth


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Sunday Seven – Episode 247


THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:

Name seven items you own that many might consider obsolete these days.

This question is not hard for people my age to answer.. we have seen many things become obsolete in our lifetime.. from private telephone lines to Segway Scooters we have also seen many new and delightful inventions in our lifetime...

1~Cd's.. With new technology Cd's will soon follow the path of so many other music delivery programs ... with the ability to download any song instantly and with the new fangled devices that hold millions of songs.. why would we want to carry around a case full of silly disk?.. I remember listening to records.. I still have a few of them.. then 8 tracks.. I remember the first one I bought for myself.. it was Pink Floyd~ the wall.. then were cassettes.. and next were the Cd's.. I have a large collection of Cd's but honestly I find it easier to just download what I want to hear and play it from my desktop computer.. I haven't learned to use the newest ipod devices yet but I'm sure I will eventually catch up with the times.. I have been told that old Cd's make colorful mobiles or wind chimes if you add some bells.. Maybe I'll give that a try...

2~ VHS Movies~ These may already be obsolete.. I have a gazillion of them.. all of the Disney ones and many many of the ninja fighting/ martial arts... My children all had their own VCR.. each had their own movies.. We even own a VHS movie camera and Dave loved filming the children and any family event.. I'm pretty sure I can't make any thing with all these tapes.. I hate to throw them away bit last time I checked locally we couldn't even find a VCR to buy...

3~ Checks~ I rarely write checks.. I do have a checking account but only to pay the one or two bills that I have to mail in.. I went shopping a few weeks ago and was surprised when the lady slid my check through a new machine and then handed it right back to me along with a slip of paper to sign.. I first thought it had been denied and I knew how much money I had in the bank.. no way I would write a check that wouldn't be covered anyway... The cashier and the other patrons in line laughed at me.. the young man with his cheeks pierced that was right behind me made this suggestion.. " Granny catch up wid it.. git yoseff a card.. them paper checks is slow.."
I was almost ashamed to be so old and slow.. not to mention ignorant...

4~ Books~ I LOVE to read.. I always have a book laying somewhere close.. one in the bathroom.. a few near the bed.. reading relaxes me and helps me to go to sleep at night.. I have just learned of a new technology that allows you to carry around a device and download anything at all that you want to read.. no trips to the library or bookstore.. just plug in to the world wide web and choose a new book.. This new reading device is called a kindel and my oldest son says they are great! Somehow I wonder what will I do with the piles and piles of books that I already own..

5~ Blind Dates or dates at all for that matter ~ when I was a teen.. Jimmy, Reuben and I hid under the porch and waited to see what the boy coming to pick Trudy up would look like.. She had a blind Date.. I had asked how he would be able to drive and why would a blind man go to the movies but Jimmy had explained everything to us younger ones.. he said that the boy had a friend that had a date with Trudy's friend.. or in this case our cousin.. and that they had all decided that Trudy would date this "jar head" since neither of them had a date that night.. these days you don't have to bother with anyone setting you up for a date.. there are web sights where you can browse and shop for a significant other till you find exactly what you think you want.. you can dress up and have your photo made to entice the best man or woman out there.. you can even tell little white lies about yourself.. you can talk in instant message and decide rather the person is right for you or not.. I figure if you "date" someone every single night on-line you will be way to busy to bother with meeting anyone new.. I'm pretty sure it would take a lifetime to browse all of the social networks.. you can know them intimately before you ever set eyes on them in the real world.. maybe you will decide to forgo meeting them altogether..

6~ cameras that use film ~ from the time Grandma Morris gave me her old Brownie Hawk Eye I was in love with photo's.. I have had almost all of the latest camera's through the years.. I still have many of them on a shelf in our bedroom.. Dave and I search yard sales and antique stores for old cameras.. lately though I mostly use a digital camera and come home and plug it in to my computer and load the photo's straight into folders for use on the web.. after all you have to have decent photos for Facebook.. Myspace and all the other social networks that you might visit... Not to mention illustrations for my blog.. I can make a picture and in just a few minutes share the moment with all of my family and friends anywhere in the world.. No need for sending film away to the Jack Rabbit developers that Daddy used when we were children.. I remember the old black and whites prints coming in the mail and we would gather to pass them around... laughing and joking about the images we had waited two weeks to see...

7~undivided attention ~ I love to talk.. but when I speak I want to be listened to and looked at.. I have been more than a little upset by the technology that allows people to half listen to me while they text.. tweet or twitter someone else.. It is as if what I have to say is only half important or maybe less than that.. I have seen Cooper get so many messages at once that I would be hopelessly lost.. I don't text very well.. and I don't bother with the tweet and twittering.. . I won't text or talk while I drive and hate for anyone else to.. I want to be heard and seen.. all by myself.. not as part of a circle of friends all at once.. Maybe I am selfish.. I guess there will be a social network soon that will allow me to think I am getting undivided attention.. I guess I'll have to wait for that... Maybe then I will feel a tiny bit important and not quiet so obsolete....

Thanks for stopping by my blog.. Have a wonderful night!
Patsy

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July Night

princess fears old mud
brave bullfrogs bellow duets
a white star glitters

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
7-1-2010

Seven is Not Nearly Enough!

"Pick a box. Its contents will help you on your way." ~ Super Mario Bro 3

"You spoony bard!" ~ Final Fantasy II

" Most people think Time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. They are wrong. Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none that you have ever heard." ~ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time


Each week Sunday Seven and Patrick asks us a question and we can answer either on his comment section or on our own blog and then leaving a link in the comments.. This week google turned one of it's doodles into an interactive game board.. You could play pac man in the doodle with the arrow keys.. That was to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the video game pac man..

The question of the week is..

Name your seven all-time favorite video games.

#1~ Ms. Pac Man
#2~ Pit Falls.. the atari version and the playstation2 version
#3~ Final Fantasy~ I love them all..
#4~ Qubert
#5~Centipede
#6~ The Sims Games
#7~ Anything Mario...

Let me tell you... seven is not nearly enough... 700 would only be a start... I love video games.. I love to play them when I can.. I also love to watch the children play them.. I know you are probably thinking that I raised a bunch of couch potato video game playing fatties.. you would be wrong.. All of the children swam and skated and rode bikes.. they played sports and took part in scout activities.. they fished and climbed trees.. they had loads and loads of chores to do and were responsible for their own pets.. But when the day was done and everyone was inside and bathed and ready to relax we rarely turned the TV on.. we might watch a movie if it was something new and sometimes we might even watch an old favorite.. But almost every night for at least a little while we played video games.. we competed for the high score. I had a book where high scores were kept.. It was a big deal to get a new Highest score.. If you were lucky and I had a few bucks a new high score might even mean Ice cream for everyone! My children and the neighborhood children and cousins and friends all tried to get their name in the high score book...

I bought an Atari for Anthony the first year they came out... I remember playing it hidden in my bedroom before he even got it from Santa.. He got pacman and Ms. Pacman that year too.. I am pretty sure he also got frogger and pit falls... we thought those games were overpriced.. Little did we know what the games of the future were going to cost us..

We have had a few different game systems.. Atari then Sega and Nintendo.. then the first Playstation and the games were so great.. It was right about then that I fell in love with the Final Fantasy games.. It was like living a secret life.. I have never watched TV very much and why would anyone want to when they could decide what the little people on the screen would do?..
You could decide who they would talk to and what they would wear and which weapon they would use..

We had driving games and would race.. we had games where we could build villages and cities and rule the world.. we had Mario in every version they made and all of the Final Fantasy games as soon as they came out.. The big thing in our house right now even though I personally don't play it are the Guitar games.. Dave and Cooper both play those.. Cooper also plays something that is both online and through his game system... I only know that it requires Internet access and the ability to curse... I have heard curses in all dialects erupting from his room.. I still love the sims.. and really like all the role playing games.... I play games mostly on-line now.. What better way to start the day than with the local news.. a cup of hot coffee.. and a dose of pacman? Have a great day!
Patsy