In the Beginning

Well, now that technology has advanced to such a level that people really needn't talk in person... and in the interest of protecting folks from the dangers of swine flu, I have finally created a blog.

I know that this medium is "sooooo 2003", but I kind of like it. I mean, I have so many random thoughts that go through my head on a daily basis that this will serve as a free form of therapy for me.

Before I get started there are some ground rules. I type things as I would say them. There's liable to be all sorts of grammatical and spelling errors on here... just deal with it.

This blog thing got me thinking about technology and what not. I can still remember the days of "party lines"... no... not the 900 number variety you see advertised on late night TV amidst the Jerry Springer show and ads for Girls Gone Wild (really... where are these girls' parents?). I mean the old fashioned party lines, where several homeowners shared a phone line.

I remember when I was 6 or so, we would pick up my Nanny's phone and listen to the other old women in the neighborhood gossip... They'd hear us and start cussing at us but they always accused us of being someone named Harlen. I have NO idea who Harlen was, but I bet he never understood why so many old women from Waldron, Arkansas were being so mean to him.

Now days, we have things like Facebook and Twitter. The people who invented these seemingly simple services are rolling in money now. That got me thinking. I would like to meld the new with the old. Maybe bring the phone back into play.

OK, so you know how Twitter is like a really short line to tell people what you're doing? I'm going to start a new service where you can dial all your friend's numbers at one time... sort of an updated party line. But here's the catch... the call can only last like 15 seconds... I mean, people are busy.... so you just have time to quickly shout something like "I'M WALKING THE DOG!!!' or "IT'S NOT MY BABY!!!" ... you know, simple things really. Then the phone cuts off. I'm thinking of calling it Phwitter or maybe Twone Call.... it's still a work in progress but you get the idea.

I guess I just miss the days of actual human interaction. When people would get dressed up and drive over to spend the afternoon with family. There would always be a tray of cookies or maybe a nice bundt cake... and a percolator full of coffee, which would be served in brightly colored melamine cups.

Now days, if family shows up at your door your more likely to be like "crap, is the garage door up or down?" Do they know I'm here? I'll just be really quiet until they leave." Then, once they're gone... you slap yourself when you realize you could have saved the postage on that Mother's Day card if you'd just have handed it to your mom before she drove off.

Maybe I'm just projecting on that last one... but my point is that Technology should be used to IMPROVE our connections... not replace them.