Evolving and Reflecting

I opened an email from AAA today.  It was the quarterly newsletter - the one I used to receive via snail mail.  The one that, upon arrival, went straight to the bathroom for later perusal. As I looked at the PDF, with options to save to my desktop, I began to realize that changes are creeping into my life whether I want them or not.

Now as many of you know (as I delude myself into thinking that "many" people still read this), I'm not technophobic - far from it. And as someone who embraces technology, I've been looking at adding a tablet to my arsenal of stuff - primarily for the train ride on my new commute.  But this AAA thing has opened my eyes to the fact that reading as I know it is about to change.

I'm sure as hell not taking a laptop into the restroom - that would be kinda weird.  But if I can no longer have my customary reading materiel where I'd like it, perhaps I need this tablet for more things than I originally thought.  And this isn't a post about reading on the can, though the old newspaper under the arm is a time honored tradition passed down from fathers to sons for generations.

With that in mind, I wonder what my dad would think of all of this.  This past Monday would have been his 89th birthday.  Technology was never something dad was able to fully embrace, as I've mentioned before. He lived in a world where the VCR always flashed "12:00."  I can't begin to imagine him trying to navigate online banking and billing, or having to look things up on the Internet instead of just calling the company and asking a helpful customer service person the question. Reading the newspaper from a tablet? Pshaw!

Dad was a people person. He hated those voice prompt systems, possibly as much or more than I do. I think he genuinely enjoyed talking to some of these CSRs on the phone. It gave him contact with the world in a comfortable way...not like all that newfangledcomputertechnologycrap.

I'm guessing that if he were here, he'd look at it all, shake his head and smile, and then fall asleep while I was answering whatever he had just asked.

Happy belated Birthday Oldtimer, I miss ya!