I recently overheard...

...my daughter tell someone that I was "computer savvy". I never knew that before. I was certainly a little late coming to the computer world...I had heard about them but until my brother amazed me with his home PC, I never saw the practical applications for such a thing. I still had 8-tracks and had just given in and purchased a microwave oven. They had been around for over 20 years before I broke down and got myself one of those boxy little counter-top necessities.

I still don't have a cell phone and I'll be damned if I'm going to cave this time. God forbid I become one of those people standing in the middle of Wal-mart talking to myself before I'm 70. It's easy to go without a cell phone, but it isn't easy to kick a habit so I think I'll continue confounding everyone I meet and refuse politely every time one of my kids try to give me one. As long as my phone is tethered to a wall in my kitchen and sans answering machine, people can still wonder where I've gone or if I even knew that they called. People with cell phones make conscious decisions not to accept calls and I like to keep people guessing.

I have no MP3 thingies so my daughter's crappy car radio is an issue. The rotten radio stations alone should be reason enough to warrant a conversion on my part but I fear that with every golden oldie I download, the chances of losing that sucker will increase exponentially. So, I drive in silence and enjoy it...proof positive that I am old.

Along with cell phones and convenient music, I have chosen to avoid:

1. Counter-top appliances that require a "drip" pan
2. Removal of pubic hair
3. Sam's Club sized cleaning supplies
4. Televisions that hang on a wall, are bigger than my dresser or require more than one remote control
5. Lite beer, low fat ice cream or low carb ANYTHING
6. Tramp stamps
7. Instant messaging in any form
8. Hair spray with glitter
9. Products that say "Green" without a Jolly Giant and a Niblet on the label
10. Annoying gadgets that are supposed to make it easier to clean a kitchen floor

I have succumbed to microwave ovens, my computer and lip liner...that's it. Other than those 3 things, my world is pretty much the same as it was in 1976 and I like it that way. I only got the computer for the word processor...if I didn't enjoy writing, I still wouldn't have one. And, if it wasn't for one dreary January afternoon when I learned about blogs, I wouldn't know how to go online. Everything I know about computers, I figured out because I needed to do something with a blog. And now...years later, I am "computer savvy". Cool beans.

Every so often I find something that makes it easier to do things blog-related. The web-cam was one such discovery. I think I've had another blog/computer epiphany...this thing has been extremely convenient:

http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html

It captures whatever is on your screen and saves it in a file. Even I can find a file and open it. It's just another newfangled contraption that I use in my efforts to appear "computer savvy".

I think I'm more Internet savvy than anything else, I can find anything I need online from the episode of Gilligan's Island where they made cars that they never used again to how much anti-freeze it takes to off a cheating husband. I can find songs that I haven't heard in 40 years, men who will mow a lawn for no good reason whatsoever and pictures of the house in which I lived as a 6 year old. If I were a psycho, I could cyber-stalk the mean kid in 8th grade who offered me a nickle after I became a woman in Algebra class.

Yep...I like my computer. It may not grill a grease free burger, but it certainly has it's relevance in my life.

:)