My Shrinking World

Yikes!!!  My world has shrunk!

With the advent of the internet back in 1950, one would think that I would be totally ensconsed in all sorts of internet-driven applications.  But, that is not so.  I had a very slow introduction to it starting at work just before the 1990s began.  I got my first computer around 2001.  And that computer was a used computer that Trevor set up for me.  It had two separate drives and I only had access to one of them.  The capacity of it was about 400MB.  Being a pack rat, you can only imagine how quickly I filled the hard drive.  At first Trevor assumed that I was so non- computer savy and wouldn't be able to do much on my own.  But, to my surprise (and his) I found that I became pretty conversant with it in a short while.  Of course, there still was a lot of mystery connected to the workings of it and of the internet.

So when that computer croaked (still have the cpu in my living room) he gave me another one.  That one also croaked.  Actually, I believe Trevor was the culprit to its decease.  He kept undoing my security settings and allowing cookies to be accepted and a big bad Trojan virus attacked it.  That cpu is also in my living room, stacked on top of the 400MB cpu.

Then he gave me his old lovely little Thinkpad laptop.  I kept that one for a long while.  I loved it.  But, then something happened to the fan and it would not start up.  Try and try as I might, I was not successful.  Finally, I brought it down to Best Buy, and bought a service contract only to find that they would not be able to start it up either because fixing the fan would not be worth the cost.  Meanwhile, I had been holding on (as a backup laptop) a newly reconditioned little $200 Dell laptop that Melissa had gifted me with (250MB, I think).  So, I paid to have my multitude of data transferred to the little Dell.  Well, transferring all my data to the Dell already took up a lot of space, but so be it.  

The little Dell worked for quite a while.  But, as I'm prone to hoarding all, it was soon filled to capacity.  You could almost hear the poor little machine groan every time I required it to perform some function.  Finally, I started to get a lot of "fatal errors" -- you know....when your screen goes totally blue with the scary message of the fatal error and the warning that data is going to be dumped.  I became savy enough to buy a recover disc and get it back to working.  This happened twice and I recovered it.  But then, I made the mistake of moving that disc from the laptop and the problem returned and would not allow itself to fix itself.  

Well, off to Best Buy once again.  Unfortunately, the earlier Best Buy contract had expired and I  had to launch into a new contract.  So, the result was that they could not get it started and the recover discs that I had purchased through Amazon were pirate discs (according to Best Buy) which they were disallowed from using.  So, I had to contact Dell and get their recover disc.  They were quite competent in doing this for me.  I was pleasantly surprised.  But, bottom line, Best Buy was not able to get my laptop started up.  So, once again, they had to transfer the bulk of my data, which included the data transferred from earlier laptop and two cpus to my newly requisitioned Fantom external drive (1T).  This was a harder task this time, since they could not start up my Dell.  Once this was completed, they contacted me and told me that I could come down and pick up the Dell and the Fantom.  As I was finishing up the paper work at the counter, with my dead Dell and my new Fantom, my Dell started up on its own.  The sales clerk asked, "did that just start up?"  I said, "yep."  An HP with 550 MB.  Woo hoo!!!  Only degative thing was it had Windows 8 installed on it (a software that can give you nightmares).

Well, the before-mentioned progression brought me into 2013.  But let me regress a bit.  I have never liked talking on the phone.  I also did not like having the "free" functions that the NY Telephone added to my phone service -- that being call waiting and caller ID.  I called them and asked them to remove the call waiting and leave the caller ID.  This cost me, and instead of telling them to lave both (which were free), I asked for just the caller ID (for a nominal fee).  Don't ask.  Sometimes my mind works in very strange ways.  I then found a lovely little Panasonic answering machine that would pick up my messages, forward my messages when I was elsewhere, allow you to monitor the sounds in your apartment remotely (very helpful if you had some type of construction being done in your apartment), have numerous outgoing message capabilities, and allow you to turn the speaker on and automatically ring a number repeatedly at intervals for 30 minutes until that number was available.   It also had tape cassettes that you could pop in and/or remove and save.  God I loved that machine!!  Then AT&T took over (or was it Verizon?).  All those lovely little functions were overriden by the new telephone service.   There really should be a law against this.   So, I had to buy another answering machine when my Panasonic failed and I was never able to find another machine that I liked as much.  I also moved into the digital machines which had such awful sound capabilities.  Trevor would verbally abuse all the answer machines I bought (of course).  Then when I moved to Astoria in 2008, I broke down and asked Verizon to include call-waiting and caller ID.  Of course, it was no longer free.  So now, I don't answer any phone calls unless I recognize the numbers.

I have never wanted a cell phone for numerous reasons.  I don't want whatever emissions I might be affected by from them, nor do I want to walk around with a cell phone at my ear all the time.  If I'm out, I'm out.  Isn't that what answering machines are for?  So, I have never gotten one, despite all the harassment, insults, whining, etc., from my friends and family.  Perhaps 10 years ago, my partner at work gifted me with a Ipod Nano and about 7 years ago with a Kindle.  They were lovely, but I never started using them.  

Then perhaps four years ago, Trevor moved to Peekskill.  He decided to have a Loft Warming rooftop party and asked that I and four other musicians from Paddy's perform as many songs as we wanted.  Oh, we were all so excited about it and spent extra time getting together and rehearsing the songs.  I told Trevor that it would be nice to have a recorder and started bringing my tape recorder with me (not digital -- it had a cassette).  He said he had an old iphone which wasn't working properly any longer that had a recording device on it.  He decided to give it to me.  Then he went one step further and configured it to connect to wifi and receive texts (through Google) and e-mail.  But, it had no cell phone service.  So now, if I was anywhere near a free wifi connection, I was able to text and receive e-mails.  It was great.  

This little iphone, which I call my fake cell phone, served me well all over Spain in 2013.  It's how I e-mailed photos, read e-mails, and sent texts.  It's great.  But, I haven't purchased the hot spot package, so many times I am unable to use it (to the consternation of others.  But what??  Hey!!  I'm happy).  Then, about 2 or 3 years ago, I decided to register my Kindle and start using it.  I love it.  Although, I still love the feel of a book in my hands, and the ability to go to my bookcase and select a book.  But, for a pack rat like me, it's a godsend.  And, as recently as last week (Nov. 2013) I configured my ipod and googled how to put music on it and operate it.  So, I believe I "almost" have all my former gifts in use at this time.  Not all, but almost.  Still have a couple more to bring out.  I do still have my instamatic cameras and a bunch of rolls of film (still undeveloped).  But, I don't even know whether these films are too old at this point, or whether they can be developed.  I don't even know how to use the new film technology at drug stores for film developing.  I guess that should be my next project before the film is definitely too old.

At the beginning of this year I became a Premier Member of Amazon.  At first, I only knew that this would give me the benefit of free shipping on most of my purchases.  Months went by before Janice alerted me to the fact that I could watch free films.  She assumed that I was in the 21st Century and knew about this.  I did not.  I, purely by accident, finally realized what Janice was talking about (i.e. streaming).

So, although I have progressed into the 21st Century and have started to span out and use my former electronic gifts, I find that my world is getting smaller.  I never use the phone now.  I text or e-mail family and friends.  I haven't turned on the TV in about 6 to 8 months.  I watch all my films on my PC, either through Amazon, or Crackle.com, or the like.  So, basically, I could live in a  little cocoon in my 6x6 office space.  

I also talk to all my five attorneys via e-mail (mostly, anyway).  So, basically, I got my wish.  I never want to talk on the phone.  And now, I can just e-mail people at whatever hour is convenient to me.  

Maybe I should sublet the rest of my apartment.  ???