My formative years were spent watching television on one of
the basic three channels – ABC, CBS, or NBC.
Of course we had access to PBS, but they only had weird shows that no
one watched.
This was a time when there were only 48 states, people rode
in their cars without seatbelts, and gluten products were not Satan-like
evil. Not much later, new, cutting edge
shows appeared on the small screen to give the television its nickname “boob
tube.”
TVs themselves changed from black and white to color,
too. This breakthrough caused a hubbub
that garnered new, innovative programs that would take advantage of shows in
“living color.”
Some of the early TV shows included ones titled such as My
Mother the Car, about a guy’s deceased mother, reincarnated as a 1928 Porter
touring car.
Another was Sea Hunt that explored the underwater world
newly opened-up by the commercial marketing of the SCUBA device. Poor Mike Nelson, the title character, had
his hands full with so many dirtbags stealing lobsters and searching for
treasure; I’m surprised he lasted that long without a heart attack from stress.
Let us not forget Gilligan’s Island ,
centered around an inept first mate and six other castaways who survive a
shipwreck and try to make good with what little they had on the island on which
they crashed. Misadventures abounded
with Gilligan as the hapless S.S. Minnow crew member who ruined everything each
week.
But, then there was the show, The Second Hundred Years. This show was a about a guy who was frozen in
suspended animation while gold panning in Alaska
That is the way I felt just recently when my sainted wife
and I traded up from coal-powered cell phone to new smart phones.
I considered myself tech-savvy until I got this
technological wonder in my grubby hands.
It has everything I need to conduct my life – and more.
Instant access to weather, shopping, sports scores, is
amazing. Apps for businesses, locating
police radar, and finding rest stops is awesome. And the voice-recognition system with Siri at
the helm proves invaluable, daily.
I needed to take a class on how to use this device, although
I used every type of telephone imaginable on all systems including candlestick
phones and party lines. This thing is
advanced.
Since I always enjoyed technology, I welcomed this device
and wanted to enter the communications world of the 21st
century. Not realizing how far behind
the curve I was, I am still learning about this electronic wonder. My sainted wife, not so much.
But not wanting to wind up as a character in The Second
Hundred Years, I am trying. Not wanting
to be likened to Gilligan, I am also trying to be cautious and prudent.
I now see how advanced things are and desperately want to
keep up. Now I need to purge my 8-track
tapes.
