Thank You Smart People
For Inventing Really Great Stuff
My car
issues Saturday caused me to miss golf practice, cost a few dollars, and stole
several hours of my life I won’t ever get back.
http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2016/08/stuck-on-road.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FetXBu+%28Cranky+old+man%29
On the plus side there was appreciation for today’s technology.
http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2016/08/stuck-on-road.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FetXBu+%28Cranky+old+man%29
On the plus side there was appreciation for today’s technology.
Yes, getting
stuck with a car that won’t run is annoying, but at least I was able to call my
wife right away to let her know. Then I
was able to call AAA for a tow, and they kept me in touch with where the driver
was by text.
Cell phones
are really great.
AAA
immediately knew where I was from my cell GPS and sent a tow truck to me. The tow truck operator found me right away
because GPS gave him directions and then gave directions to the service area to
drop off the car.
GPS is
really great.
The tow truck
rolled my car up on a flat bed and it was secured by chains and tie-downs in
minutes.
Tow trucks
are really great.
It was 95
degrees on Saturday and I was sweating like a pig waiting for the tow. When the tow arrived, the driver handed me an
ice cold bottle of water from a cooler on his truck.
Coolers and
ice cold water are really great. (So was the tow driver)
On the ride
to the service station the truck was pumping cold air which felt really good.
Air
conditioners in cars are really great.
The driver
also had Caribbean music blasting over his sound system.
OK, for me
not so great, but for the driver really great.
When the car
was fixed I didn’t have to stop for cash, I paid by swiping a card.
Bank cards
are really great.
So on a day
that was disrupted by a shift cable, it could have been much worse without:
Cell phones,
GPS, Tow trucks, Ice water, air conditioning, music and bank card technology.
Forty years
ago I would have been on and off a pay phone about a dozen times, the tow
driver would have had a difficult time finding me and the drop off station, my
car would have been dangerously dragged off on two wheels and held up by a hook,
I would have been dying of thirst and sweating like crazy, and I would have had
to stop at a bank to get cash to pay for the fix…oh wait, the banks were
closed.
Forty years
ago I’d have really been screwed.
Modern technology is great, but I will be forever grateful to the person who once had a bright idea and gave us "The Hot Shower" mmmm, bliss
ReplyDeleteShout out to Ben Franklin and his kite! I struggle when the electricity goes off. Because I can't use that really great stuff.
ReplyDeleteThose inventions are great. I can tell you first hand that inside flushing toilets are a definite upgrade over outhouses where getting stung on the butt was not uncommon:)
ReplyDeleteyup, we've come a long way. glad you had a good tow driver.
ReplyDeleteYep, modern technology is great. The only fly in the ointment is if it has a hiccup, we're lost. Fortunately that is very rare.
ReplyDeleteI was scheduled to fly home with my two grandchildren Monday, August 8.
ReplyDeleteYes, on Delta. I was not loving modern technology so much for a while.
It just gets better and better.
ReplyDeleteI can't keep up with progress, sometimes, but I appreciate all the things that make life easier... that is until they go wrong!
ReplyDeleteIsn't the progress amazing? I always think about how brave my parents were traveling across the U.S. and Europe (military) just without cell phones alone. I suspect this is why common sense and problem solving has all but disappeared. We don't find ourselves in situations that require us to think quite as much. To problem solve. I really liked this post. These are things I think about all the time. So happy technology was here to help you. :)
ReplyDeleteI like how you gleaned all the good stuff that interrupted your day. Life happens when you're planning other stuff.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. ☺
Oh, I hear ya, Joe. Whenever I ride by bike out in the countryside these days, I have my cell phone with me. And I've had a few (thankfully, VERY few) occasions when I was glad I did, and I could call Jenn to come retrieve me from 20 miles out in the corn fields. I don't even remember what I did before cell phones. Knocked on doors to use somebody's phone, I guess. . .
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, this summer has been a good one for appreciating A/C in my car. . .
Sometimes I think we are a slave to technology, but it sure is nice when we need it, isn't it?
ReplyDeletebetty
Technology is great but I cant understand with all the new technology why a denist still has to use a drill and plyers.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Nothing like a flood and not having phones to make you appreciate all those things.
ReplyDeleteTrue, true, but 40 years ago that part might have been more secure if indeed was necessary. Or perhaps you could have spotted the problem and fixed it yourself. Cars used to be more 'hands on' back then.
ReplyDeleteYou received terrific service, the opposite of my recent post.
ReplyDeleteIt turned from a bad day into a not so bad day, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm all for the good new days!
ReplyDeleteAnd if it were a realllllllly long time ago, your horse would have keeled over and you would have had to walk the rest of the way home...and so would all those in the covered wagon. Yep, these times we live in might be a bit screwed, but you can't complain about all the modern advances!
ReplyDelete