Who do I still think I am??

This one's about the catch-all catch-up.

30DBC PROMPT: "Smartphones."

What's up y'all? Well, I've done it. Not even five entries into this blog and I've managed to lose an entire entry. 95% of the way done and I lost the whole thing because Windows decided it wanted to refresh every damn tab that I had open.

So much for being in a good mood today.

Normally I'd just be WTeffin' up and down Port Watson Street about my misfortune. I don't even remember everything I wrote. And I know I had this exchange the other day with an esteemed colleague regarding how we write, and using Wordpad versus just bangin' away in the WDC text box. I hate to admit it, but he was right. I should've used Wordpad.

Anyway, two good prompts today from the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  and the "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum" . I don't often agree with one word prompts, but for my sanity's sake I'll take it today.

I miss my smartphone. More specifically, my Blackberry. Here's a simple point/counterpoint, or at least a snapshot of my cellular phone usage now (which has changed drastically in the last two years): I charged my no-nothing Samsung piece of crap phone last night for the first time in two or three weeks. Awesome battery life, you might say. Nae, say I, because I've barely turned the thing on over the same period of time.

No Tweeting in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. No checking Facebook while waiting in line. No hearing of the "ding" when I have a new email. Nothing. Just calls and texts. Not even a camera, let alone internet. It's almost pointless, since I don't make or answer phone calls anyway.

It's crazy to see not only how dependent we are on our smartphones, but how loyal we are to them as well. Once we find something we like, we stick to it because we don't like change. Apple users are Apple-driven. Android users have apps for everything. And the 10 other people in the world like me who love Blackberry will never give them up, even if it's been a good year and a half since developers came out with a decent app for Blackberry.

And don't think I don't see all you people out there, waving your iPhones trying to get some face time with me so you can flaunt your precious Siri in front of me. I know you're twitching, dying to ask me why I have yet to convert. Well, I'll tell you why...it's really simple. When Apple comes out with a 160GB (that's 160...a 16 with a zero at the end) iPhone, and I can afford it, I'll consider it. I had a 120GB iPod once with over 14,000 songs on it (that was stolen during the great outdoor nap/electronics thievery fiasco of last summer), so what was the point of having another device that wouldn't do what I wanted it to do? When Apple can handle my music collection, I'll see about getting an iPhone.

I had a Windows phone once...one of the last pre-Android models, with an awesome web browser. Blogging from it was great...it interfaced beautifully with WDC. That was about the only plus that phone had. I upgraded to the Blackberry flip phone because I got a great deal from the provider I was using at the time, and it was a nice phone (even if the browser kinda sucked). After that, I switched providers to get an even better deal, and got a better Blackberry flip phone with unlimited text, data, calling, and all that fun stuff. I hate touch screen phones, and flip phones prevent against butt-dialing, the bane of all mobile technology. If you've never answered a butt-dialed call, I'm convinced you're living in a third world nation. Plus, I already had the Blackberry software with my contacts and info installed on my computer. There was a seamless transition from previous phone to better phone with just an update on the operating system.

I'm sure I made other points about smartphones. They're handy and helpful. They're distracting and dangerous. But to someone like me, who barely has use for communication most of the time, it really doesn't matter. Gimme two soup cans and a string and I'll still find a way to get a giggle outta ya somehow. And if you do try to call me, make sure you leave a message. If I actually check them, I'll call you back when I feel like it.

BCF PROMPT: "Which are more important in the world: writers and thinkers or scientists and inventors?"

Prompts. It seems like when it rains, it pours. Sometimes, we go through a string of mediocre, frozen sugar-water popsicle prompts, and then it's all-you-can-eat soft serve with every imaginable topping for a short spell. This week must be the Ben & Jerry's world tour (and I don't eat very much ice cream, but this is my absolute favorite if you must know: http://www.theicecreaminformant.com/2012/09/review-ben-jerrys-chubby-hubby.html) of prompts.

This line of questioning can be filed among existential lines of thinking. Like "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" or "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around, does it make a sound?". What makes a better hamburger, the beef patty or the bun? So many times, you can look at these kinds of thoughts and justify an answer, one way or the other.

Then I come along to throw a stick in your bicycle tire.

See, in my world, there's a place for both. You can't have one group without the other. Neither side is successful without the others' contributions. Most scientists and inventors started out with dreams and ideas...they were writers and thinkers who became doers with the right means. And some of the best writers and thinkers wouldn't have been able to see their dreams become reality without the mental mechanics of the scientists and inventors.

Indulge me if you will, please. Writers put thoughts down into something tangible that can be studied and is unlike that of an average person. Science is a written knowledge of proven ideas and theories about why certain things are the way they are. Inventors take both what is written and what is known, and use their creativity to fill in the gaps with what is needed to bridge dreams with reality. It's really simple if you think about it...all four words can almost be interchangeable, if only metaphorically and if you allow yourself to see it as such. Each one plays an important role; without any one of the four components as a part of a larger process, nothing in the last 100, 200 or 500 years would have changed to make the world a better (or more convenient) place.

Again, I know I made better points originally before the refresh button on the cloud somehow turned my long babbling into a blank screen, but I have one more anecdote I'd like to share along the lines of this particular prompt. It reminds me of something I wrote several years ago about my youngest brother. I hadn't seen him in awhile, so we made plans to get together and meet up one day when I got out of work. He lived on the opposite side of town, about a 45 minute walk away, and my store was about ten minutes from my house, but the store was the best meet-up spot in-between. Bro Mike skateboarded the entire way, even though the weather was crappy outside. He did it because he loved it and he wanted to hang out with me, even though I wasn't a big skater and I was 14 years older than him. It was then that I realized if you do what you love, no matter what, you'll always be happy. "Skateboards and Notebooks (for Mike)" 

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I (like many of you, I'm sure) live in and grew up in an amazingly exponential generation when it comes to communication. When I was a kid we had a rotary (dial) telephone. Then it was touch-tone. Answering machines with cassettes came along...then the cassettes got smaller. Eventually we put cordless phones in every room in the house, and everybody's pocket has a cell phone. Personally, I haven't had a land-line phone in at least 10 years. There's no longer a point (except for natural disasters, but even then there are work-arounds). As quickly as it seems this feature of communication became popular, so has it become obsolete.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

Like I said earlier about prompts, I missed a good one this weekend in the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" : "Write a letter to a teacher who gave you a hard time in high school or grade school." I'm not gonna write a letter, but I'll say this: I was probably the only kid in the 6th grade "Gifted & Talented" program to feel like he was in danger of failing that year. I didn't get good grades, and my teacher knew I could do better, which is probably why she didn't like me...and she wasn't even supposed to be my teacher! I started out lucky that year...I got the "cool" teacher everyone wanted, but after a week or two it was determined that classes were too big, so they created another class and pulled a handful of kids from each room to go to the new teacher's class. And wow...she was the meanest, coldest, nastiest woman. She made people openly and legitimately wonder why she chose teaching as her profession. I can still feel the roll of her eyes whenever I had a little sense of pride over getting a good grade, because she felt I should always have good grades. Her sense of sense was palpable like that, because she knew also who shouldn't get good grades and wasn't surprised. Her classroom is the only one I can remember exactly, because it was the only one that never changed throughout the course of the year. And that was over 25 years ago! I ran into her a few years back, while I was still working at Walgreens. I might not have recognized her, but her (lack of) hairdo hadn't changed and I saw her name on her credit card. Still as mean and curmudgeonly as ever...and she was old when I was a student! I was surprised she was even still alive (I know that sounds mean, but you don't know this woman the way I did). I think she made me write the definitions for both "homework" and "quiet" each well over a thousand times...if fingers have a certain amount of miles in them they're good for writing with over a hand's course of a lifetime, it's her fault I've needed new ones for a long time.

And then there's this one, which I'll touch briefly on: "Tell us about the last book you read (Why did you choose it? Would you recommend it?)." I read in spurts. I don't read often, but when I do I read in bunches. I think over the winter the last book I read was Neil Young's biography. It was a new release and I was curious about his life story. As it turns out, it wasn't interesting at all. I love a lot of his work as a musician, but many chapters read like a long commercial for some of his other projects and interests. It wasn't even close to anything a rock 'n roll icon's life would be like. What I'm supposed to be reading now is Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl. My therapist recommended it, but I haven't made enough time to want to get myself past the introduction yet. And it's due back at the library on July 1st...I've already renewed it once. I better get going on that.

5 for 5 PowerAde is on sale at CVS this week... buy five 32oz bottles for $5, and you get a $2 coupon off your next purchase. It was so hot yesterday I drank four bottles (or more than twice what I usually take in). Yes, it's that hot.

Have you seen this month's issue of the "Invalid Item" ? According to the editor, it's got a little something for everyone who's ever written or read a blog in their lifetime. Plus, this month's editor is a dashing chap...he's a Leo, likes long walks (when his ankle can handle them), and is world-renown for his unrenowned-ness. Please do give the newsletter a once- or twice-over!

And I must offer a very special thank you to Princess Megan Snow Rose for the brand new WDC Blogging merit badge! Not only is it a very cool honor, but it's about time Blogging got its own bit of recognition on WDC apart from "journaling". It means great strides have been made for our community, and it's another step in the right direction for the engagement of bloggers.

Alright, now that I feel like I've typed two (or is it six...I've lost count) full entries, I'm heading out for the day. Gonna catch up on some reading here and maybe get some decent sleep (and that's been an issue for another time y'all). Peace, like Ma Bell I got the ill communication, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!