Discover Smith Mountain Lake
SUMMER 2015
7
6
I’m at that awkward age.
I’m young enough to appreciate and use technology, but
not young enough to embrace it as fully as I might.
For example, I can build you a complete computer out of
new parts, spare parts, or whatever I can salvage from
derelict machines. I can solve tricky hardware and software
problems, set up a network, and teach you how to use all
kinds of software to do amazing things.
I have a smart phone, a tablet, a few laptops, and several
desktop computers.
When I need to remember something, I instinctively reach
for pen and paper. I’m just plain wired that way.
As a child, I always dreamed of the kinds of technology
that is literally in all of our hands now. My wildest
fantasies included being able to record TV shows and
watch them whenever I wanted to… to make actual video
recordings of events in my life, or even to make my own
movies, with sound even.
I still smart when I remember what I paid for my first VCR.
I’ve paid a lot less for some of the cars I’ve owned. Now,
you can’t even give them away.
When I owned a VCR (in fact, I owned several over time), I
was one of the few whose VCR displayed the correct time. I
could configure your TV and VCR with your cable signal, so
that you could watch one show while recording another. I
could play them like Jascha Heifetz on a Stradivarius.
Although I could do all these things, I still arranged my
schedule so that I could watch my favorite programs
when they came on. I never watched one program while
recording another. If I did think of recording a show,
I never seemed to find time to sit down and watch it.
Instead, I remained a slave to the schedule.
I thought I would finally get more comfortable with these
advantages when it came to baseball. I was an avid fan,
and not always able to watch the games. So, I began to
record them. This did not work out as planned; by the
time I would get a chance to park myself in the recliner to
watch the game, I likely had already heard the final score
and highlights of the game from one source or another.
I certainly did not want to invest the time in watching a
game that I knew my team had lost… and even watching a
victory unfold was anticlimactic.
Soon, we had the excitement of being able to own a video
camera that would record on tape, or camcorder. Wow…
another of my fantasies had come to life! Again, they were
pricey, but imagine the possibilities! I never did make a
movie with either of the two that I owned… but we did
manage to get some nice footage of our son in his early
years. My elder daughter recorded a movie over that tape…
a movie that we happened to already own.
I shudder to think of what I paid for those first two
cameras… which both recorded on tape, and neither of
which would bring 50 cents on e-bay.
Today, I can take movies on my i-phone or my i-pad. Other
than a few cat videos, I have yet to do so. My computer can
do awesome video editing. I’ll have to look into that one
day.
Speaking of the i-phone, I’ve had a cell phone now for
almost 20 years… but I always use the land line. I hate
using the cell, perhaps because I value my alone time so
much. I usually don’t answer it.
One day, I received a phone call from the company that
streams our radio station online. He very excitedly told me
that I had won a Kindle Fire in a contest. I didn’t have the
heart to tell him that when I find a book or manual online
that I want to read or keep for reference, I print it out.
I used the Kindle Fire in the WSLK on-air studio… to keep
track of listener birthdays on Facebook. For me, this was a
huge step. Several months later, it crashed, with no hope of
recovery. I don’t miss it.
Lately, I have discovered Netflix. My TV viewing habits
being what they had become, it interested me. I rarely find
anything really worth watching when I choose to watch TV,
so I became fascinated, not only with watching on demand,
but in “binge watching”.
Thanks to a number of different satellite TV channels, I
became enamored of the concept of watching several episodes
of the same TV show in a row. Although I am familiar with
many popular TV shows from recent years, I’ve only seen them
in reruns. I really got away from the whole TV schedule thing,
so these channels allowed me to get acquainted with popular
shows that I’d never had the time to watch. What’s more, I
didn’t have to wait a week for the next episode; I could watch
several episodes right in a row.
Imagine my delight at being able to sit down at my computer
or even my TV now, and watch as many episodes of my
favorite shows as I wanted to, when I wanted to. I don’t always
remember that I can do it; that’s the thing.
Several recent shows, such as Breaking Bad, MadMen, and The
Walking Dead initially failed to pique my interest. Besides,
they weren’t usually on when I wanted to watch TV. I became
interested in all of them after hearing reviews from friends
and relatives, and eventually binge watched all three, to my
thorough enjoyment.
The word “binge” is a good one, because the shows can be
addictive. After years of freedom, I find that once more, I can
easily become enslaved by my TV.
One thing that disturbs me is that shows that are still airing
new episodes don’t let you watch the new episodes until they
are a year or so old. I’ve yet to finish catching up with MadMen
and The Walking Dead. I figure that they want me to watch
the current episodes, which by the way you can watch on
demand… but I can’t stand to watch Episode 7 of a season in
which I have yet to see Episode 1. It sort of ruins it for me.
I really should write to the producers and explain that to them.
Let me get a pencil…
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