I remember when..............
When I was a boy we had a phone. My kids have never seen a phone like the one that we had. First, it is important to remember that in our house we had ONE phone. The phone was black. As I recall, at that time, black was the only color available for phones. But maybe not, maybe ours was just black. To use this phone you had to "DIAL" the number. Yes, you placed your finger into the correct hole, and you "dialed" or turned the dial all the way to the right until you hit the stop and then you released it. You had to dial seven numbers in order to connect with anyone. If the number you were dialing was not a local number, then you simply dialed "zero" for the operator.
Well, time brings progress. When I was an older teen, our phone changed. Now we still had the same phone number, but now our phone had buttons that you pressed. Our phone system was not very up-to-date, so you had to move a switch on it from "tone" to "pulse". When you pressed a number, if you were holding the handset to your ear you could hear it dialing. Within time however, even our phone system updated and we too had tone dialing. Man, as soon as you finished pressing the last number of the person you were calling, you were immediately connected.............just like that. Ahh, the miracles of modern technology.
When I was around age 20, I made this huge purchase. I bought a cordless phone. That's right. A totally new concept. A phone without a chord. I could place a call and walk around all over the house. Heck, I could even go outside, as long as I didn't walk too far, and still stay connected on the phone. I couldn't imagine at that time that technology could ever improve on this.... a phone that worked seeminly by magic. You just had to remember to place the phone on its craddle when you wasn't using it to keep the batteries charged. But all in all, this was absolutely amazing.
Then again, over time, technology just got better and better. Soon there was these very cool things called beepers. Someone could dail a number and your beeper, a little thing about the size of a pack of cigarettes would beep. But these were only for the very wealthy; people like doctors. Because you had to have someone that you had to call to find out who you needed to call. That wasn't a problem though, pay phones were plentiful, and it only cost a dime to call your paging service. I never had a beeper. I'm not a doctor. It wasn't long though until technology improved yet again, and along came digital papers. Someone could call your pager number, however now on your beeper there was this tiny little screen. And on the screen would be displayed the number to which you needed to call once you found a pay phone.
After this was voice pagers. Someone could call your number and leave a message. Your pager would beep, and you would press a button, and BAM, the next thing you heard was the message of the person that had left you a message. You could actually hear their message. WOW !!! This was waaay cool. I still wasn't a doctor, but I had a voice pager. My wife was the biggest user of my voice pager................. There I would be, working with someone on something really important and suddenly my pager would go off. I would reach down, press the button, and hear the crucial message that she just had to leave......................."Honey, we are out of bread. Please stop and get some on your way home.....and oh yeah, I need some pantyhose." As I remember, the service was around $30 per month, and each message cost an additional 2 cents or something like that. Yep, I had arrived, I had a pager.
Time of course has a way of making current technology look archaic. Somewhere around 1987 or 1988 I joined the ranks of those that had a mobile phone. That's right, a phone that you could have in your car. Except, I was way to cool to be limited to having to be in my home or in my car to make a call, oh no, I had to have a portable mobile phone. It was beauty. Phone, battery, and case combined was about the size of a medium ladies purse. But boy was I cool !!! All that I had to do to make a call was open it up, place the antenna pointing up, press the numbers, then press send, and BAM, I was talking..............just like that ! Again, my memory is somewhat clouded, but I think I paid $28.00 per month plus something like 35 cents per minute for that service.
Time again replaced what seemed to be space age in concept and design, and it was not long before cell phones were the size of a credit card, and everyone and their brother had one. Then came smart phones. Cell phones that also had the internet (we haven't even talked about that). A cell phone that you could not only talk on, but also connect to the internet on.
Heck, I haven't even mentioned texting...................
Now here I sit in my apartment. Beside me are my landline phone, my personal cell phone, my work cell phone, and on my lap is my laptop. I am one connected man.
Technology has taken an amazing concept, the phone, and it has developed into a marval of modern technology. Our phones are miniture computers, word processors, mini-televisions; they seem to do it all. And you know what I just did?
I just added Google Talk to my laptop. Yep, now I can make phone calls to any phone in the world right from my laptop............. What was I thinking? Maybe I needed to call someone and just to make sure it would not be a problem, I added the capability on my laptop to make phone calls. Oh yeah, I needed that !!!
When I was 19, my Daddy passed away. The year was 1977. He never even saw a cell phone. If he needed to talk to someone he would go and see them. Of course, he did use the phone too, but my point is that he used the best form of communication possible. He looked at them while he talked to them. Imagine that.
...................Anyway
My phone has the internet, and my computer can make phone calls. Technology marches on.
Hey, if you get bored, just give me a call.............
Later.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Time
Sunday April 18, 2010; 8:00 pm
Time.
Time is measured in its smallest unit as seconds. Then comes minutes, hours, days, weeks……. We all pretty much know this. Something else we are all intimately familiar with is that time cannot be stopped. No matter what we might try, time moves on with or without us. To borrow a very over-used statement, time is what it is, and we cannot change it.
One of my favorite, if not my very favorite singer/songwriters is James Taylor. He wrote and recorded some great songs back in my high school and college days. One of his songs begins with the line “The Secret of Life is enjoying the passage of time”….. Never has there been a truer statement. Have you ever wondered why it is that we get so caught up in the everyday details of what we do? Yes, yes, I know that we must pay attention to details when we are at work. I know that we must pay attention to details when we are driving. When we are preparing our dinner, we really need to pay attention to what we are doing, or we might add a tablespoon of salt when what we wanted was a tablespoon of sugar. Trust me you don’t want to make that mistake. But what I am talking about is that we sometimes allow our self to become so engrossed in the details of what we are doing that we fail to really see what it is that we are doing. You know, the “can’t see the forest for the tress” syndrome.
Today I did something so simple. I had lunch with my daughter. So many times in the past we have enjoyed a meal together just her and me. Sometimes it has been something I would make, and other times, as today, a nice meal in a restaurant. No, she’s not a ‘little girl’ anymore. But at the same time, she remains my little girl. She’s 18 years old now. But we drove together up to one of our favorite restaurants in the entire world. Yes, really, in the entire world. We drove up to McCaysville, Georgia; or maybe it is Copperhill, Tennessee, but we went up there. It’s about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Canton where she lives.
We talked about dogs. We talked about boyfriends. We talked about Mom and Dad. We talked about Grandma and Grandpa, Granny and Papa. We talked about things that have absolutely no relevance at all. We just talked. We laughed some. I don’t think we cried any, but there may have been a moment or two that both of us fought back some tears, and most definitely, there were a couple of moments that voices became shaky and words did not come out so easy. But we just talked.
She had her ‘Tropical Chicken’, and I had my ‘Enchiladas Especial’. We ate too many chips and salsa. We thoroughly enjoyed our self. And then when we left, we each blamed the other for making us eat all that food. Yeah, it was all real good. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, El Rio. And yes, we really did drive all the way up to McCaysville to do it. Now, could we have enjoyed some good Mexican food somewhere closer to Canton? Most definitely. Could we have enjoyed Mexican food as good as that somewhere closer to Canton? Probably not, at least not in our opinion, El Rio is simply the best. You have to ask yourself this though, did we intend to have lunch up there in order to spend the extra time together driving, talking, and enjoying each others’ company? Actually, no we didn’t. We wanted El Rio. So that’s where we went. But here is the thing.
We made the TIME to do what we wanted. We didn’t settle for less than what we wanted because I needed to do this, or she needed to do that. We just did what we wanted, and a very good side affect of doing that was the time it took to do it. When I left her house, I wondered to myself how many times in the past I had been guilty of running to Applebee’s or Dos Margaritas because they are so close and after all, we could save all that time by going there versus somewhere else that we both really liked. I don’t know the answer to that question, but sadly, I am certain that I have done it.
But today anyway, we did what we wanted. I got to spend about 4 hours with my little girl, and it was good. I left my apartment in Atlanta at 10 this morning. I got back at about 5 this afternoon. Could I have better used that time in some other way? Actually, I don’t think that is even remotely possible. It was time well spent in the best possible manner.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time………………….
Time.
Time.
Time is measured in its smallest unit as seconds. Then comes minutes, hours, days, weeks……. We all pretty much know this. Something else we are all intimately familiar with is that time cannot be stopped. No matter what we might try, time moves on with or without us. To borrow a very over-used statement, time is what it is, and we cannot change it.
One of my favorite, if not my very favorite singer/songwriters is James Taylor. He wrote and recorded some great songs back in my high school and college days. One of his songs begins with the line “The Secret of Life is enjoying the passage of time”….. Never has there been a truer statement. Have you ever wondered why it is that we get so caught up in the everyday details of what we do? Yes, yes, I know that we must pay attention to details when we are at work. I know that we must pay attention to details when we are driving. When we are preparing our dinner, we really need to pay attention to what we are doing, or we might add a tablespoon of salt when what we wanted was a tablespoon of sugar. Trust me you don’t want to make that mistake. But what I am talking about is that we sometimes allow our self to become so engrossed in the details of what we are doing that we fail to really see what it is that we are doing. You know, the “can’t see the forest for the tress” syndrome.
Today I did something so simple. I had lunch with my daughter. So many times in the past we have enjoyed a meal together just her and me. Sometimes it has been something I would make, and other times, as today, a nice meal in a restaurant. No, she’s not a ‘little girl’ anymore. But at the same time, she remains my little girl. She’s 18 years old now. But we drove together up to one of our favorite restaurants in the entire world. Yes, really, in the entire world. We drove up to McCaysville, Georgia; or maybe it is Copperhill, Tennessee, but we went up there. It’s about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Canton where she lives.
We talked about dogs. We talked about boyfriends. We talked about Mom and Dad. We talked about Grandma and Grandpa, Granny and Papa. We talked about things that have absolutely no relevance at all. We just talked. We laughed some. I don’t think we cried any, but there may have been a moment or two that both of us fought back some tears, and most definitely, there were a couple of moments that voices became shaky and words did not come out so easy. But we just talked.
She had her ‘Tropical Chicken’, and I had my ‘Enchiladas Especial’. We ate too many chips and salsa. We thoroughly enjoyed our self. And then when we left, we each blamed the other for making us eat all that food. Yeah, it was all real good. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, El Rio. And yes, we really did drive all the way up to McCaysville to do it. Now, could we have enjoyed some good Mexican food somewhere closer to Canton? Most definitely. Could we have enjoyed Mexican food as good as that somewhere closer to Canton? Probably not, at least not in our opinion, El Rio is simply the best. You have to ask yourself this though, did we intend to have lunch up there in order to spend the extra time together driving, talking, and enjoying each others’ company? Actually, no we didn’t. We wanted El Rio. So that’s where we went. But here is the thing.
We made the TIME to do what we wanted. We didn’t settle for less than what we wanted because I needed to do this, or she needed to do that. We just did what we wanted, and a very good side affect of doing that was the time it took to do it. When I left her house, I wondered to myself how many times in the past I had been guilty of running to Applebee’s or Dos Margaritas because they are so close and after all, we could save all that time by going there versus somewhere else that we both really liked. I don’t know the answer to that question, but sadly, I am certain that I have done it.
But today anyway, we did what we wanted. I got to spend about 4 hours with my little girl, and it was good. I left my apartment in Atlanta at 10 this morning. I got back at about 5 this afternoon. Could I have better used that time in some other way? Actually, I don’t think that is even remotely possible. It was time well spent in the best possible manner.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time………………….
Time.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
I remember when
Thursday January 21, 2010
I remember when……………..
Food was something that you not only ate, but something from which memories were made.
When I was a little boy, I’m not sure of my age then, but I was small, no older than 5 or 6 I would guess, I saw Momma come from the house carrying a brown paper bag (what we called a poke), and head down towards the road behind the house. There was a weed, or what I thought was a weed that grew on the fence line down there, and she picked some of those weeds and put them in the poke. Early that same evening we ate some of the best something I can recall ever eating at that time in my life. There was some really tasty meat, some beans or maybe it was blackeye peas, and this other something that was dark green. I remember being told that I had to eat some of all of it, even the green stuff. The meat it turns out was chicken, however it was baked, and not fried. I thought then that the only way a person ate chicken was fried chicken. And the green stuff, (poke salad), turns out it was pretty doggone good. And the beans, or blackeyes, or field peas, or whatever it was also was very good. I’m sure that there was either biscuits or cornbread or maybe even both. But what I remember most was that all of it was just real good, I mean really good.
The next day I remember getting me a brown paper bag and off outside I went. I didn’t know what to get, so I just picked anything green and put it in that bag. I knew only one thing, I wanted another dinner like the one we had the day before. And if my Momma could pick green stuff from outside and come up with that dinner then she should be able to do the same thing with whatever I put in my poke right? Makes perfect sense to a 5 or
6 year old county bumpkin little boy. As it turns out, clover, tall grass, and broadleaf weeds can’t necessarily be eaten. Thus begin my learning of food. And at the same time, my understanding of how that food also makes memories. I’m 52 years old now, and I’ve never forgotten that meal or the laugh of my Momma when I handed her that bag of weeds and told her I wanted something like what we had the night before.
My daughter loves for her Dad to cook for her sometimes, and I do. She loves it when I fry chicken and make gravy and biscuits. There have been times that all I would cook is just the chicken, gravy and biscuits and call it a meal. I remember once her staying with me the entire time that I was cooking. When it came time to make the gravy I started sort of playing a little bit and acting like a cooking show host. I was explaining every step of the way what I was doing and how to do it. I had taken some of the grease from the chicken and I put flour in it. I started explaining that to make good cream gravy that you first had to make a good rue. I remember stirring the flour and grease together and pointing out how pasty it should get. When the rue was just right, I reached for the milk and slowly started pouring it in, holding back just slightly waiting to see how it would thicken up. If it is too thick of course, you just pour in a little more milk. Well the gravy turned out perfect, the biscuits came from the oven just as the last chicken was finished frying, and we plated our food up and gorged our self on fried chicken, gravy and biscuits.
Now she couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7 years old at that time. But very recently (she’s 18 now), we were getting ready to eat a family dinner at my sisters’ house and something was said about gravy. I spoke up and said something about Ashley knowing how to make gravy, that I had showed her once. Then I looked at her and said “right?” She smiled and answered, “yes, I do, you have to make a good rue first”. And as simple a thing as that was, I smiled real big because I knew that those few minutes spent with her that day was also a memory that we had made together that she will keep all of her life. Turns out now that I know the gravy wasn’t the best thing we made that day, instead it was the memory of the time we spent making it.
So grab that kid or grandkid or your spouse or your best friend. And don’t go out to eat.
Instead run to the kitchen. Make something. Make anything. But remember that what you’re making more than anything else is a memory…………..
Chicken soup for the soul………….
More to come………
Gary
I remember when……………..
Food was something that you not only ate, but something from which memories were made.
When I was a little boy, I’m not sure of my age then, but I was small, no older than 5 or 6 I would guess, I saw Momma come from the house carrying a brown paper bag (what we called a poke), and head down towards the road behind the house. There was a weed, or what I thought was a weed that grew on the fence line down there, and she picked some of those weeds and put them in the poke. Early that same evening we ate some of the best something I can recall ever eating at that time in my life. There was some really tasty meat, some beans or maybe it was blackeye peas, and this other something that was dark green. I remember being told that I had to eat some of all of it, even the green stuff. The meat it turns out was chicken, however it was baked, and not fried. I thought then that the only way a person ate chicken was fried chicken. And the green stuff, (poke salad), turns out it was pretty doggone good. And the beans, or blackeyes, or field peas, or whatever it was also was very good. I’m sure that there was either biscuits or cornbread or maybe even both. But what I remember most was that all of it was just real good, I mean really good.
The next day I remember getting me a brown paper bag and off outside I went. I didn’t know what to get, so I just picked anything green and put it in that bag. I knew only one thing, I wanted another dinner like the one we had the day before. And if my Momma could pick green stuff from outside and come up with that dinner then she should be able to do the same thing with whatever I put in my poke right? Makes perfect sense to a 5 or
6 year old county bumpkin little boy. As it turns out, clover, tall grass, and broadleaf weeds can’t necessarily be eaten. Thus begin my learning of food. And at the same time, my understanding of how that food also makes memories. I’m 52 years old now, and I’ve never forgotten that meal or the laugh of my Momma when I handed her that bag of weeds and told her I wanted something like what we had the night before.
My daughter loves for her Dad to cook for her sometimes, and I do. She loves it when I fry chicken and make gravy and biscuits. There have been times that all I would cook is just the chicken, gravy and biscuits and call it a meal. I remember once her staying with me the entire time that I was cooking. When it came time to make the gravy I started sort of playing a little bit and acting like a cooking show host. I was explaining every step of the way what I was doing and how to do it. I had taken some of the grease from the chicken and I put flour in it. I started explaining that to make good cream gravy that you first had to make a good rue. I remember stirring the flour and grease together and pointing out how pasty it should get. When the rue was just right, I reached for the milk and slowly started pouring it in, holding back just slightly waiting to see how it would thicken up. If it is too thick of course, you just pour in a little more milk. Well the gravy turned out perfect, the biscuits came from the oven just as the last chicken was finished frying, and we plated our food up and gorged our self on fried chicken, gravy and biscuits.
Now she couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7 years old at that time. But very recently (she’s 18 now), we were getting ready to eat a family dinner at my sisters’ house and something was said about gravy. I spoke up and said something about Ashley knowing how to make gravy, that I had showed her once. Then I looked at her and said “right?” She smiled and answered, “yes, I do, you have to make a good rue first”. And as simple a thing as that was, I smiled real big because I knew that those few minutes spent with her that day was also a memory that we had made together that she will keep all of her life. Turns out now that I know the gravy wasn’t the best thing we made that day, instead it was the memory of the time we spent making it.
So grab that kid or grandkid or your spouse or your best friend. And don’t go out to eat.
Instead run to the kitchen. Make something. Make anything. But remember that what you’re making more than anything else is a memory…………..
Chicken soup for the soul………….
More to come………
Gary
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The People Speak
Tuesday January 19, 2010
I wish to call upon and quote directly from one of the single most important documents that are the very foundation of our country and remain today just as true and as pertinent as it was at its original inception. From The Declaration of Independence delivered in the Congress of the United States on July 4, 1776, I quote the following:
“......We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security……”
Today, WE THE PEOPLE have once again spoken. Their voice I hope is heard loud and clear. Their message, I hope delivered in a concise manner and understood by all elected officials that WE THE PEOPLE can and will exercise our right and obligation to replace those that do not best represent the people that ultimately put them into their honored position.
WE THE PEOPLE have spoken loudly and clearly in the State of Massachusetts. They send a message to President Barrack Obama that his socialist agenda is not received well even in what is the most liberal state in the union behind only California. I hope that all of our elected leaders heed well the message being sent.
Recently, WE THE PEOPLE spoke similarly in New Jersey. Their voice was heard in Virginia, as well as in Pennsylvania. WE THE PEOPLE have spoken clearly and concisely and yet it seems that President Obama and his socialist regime does not hear the message being sent. I hope that with this victory today that he and the people in his administration sit up and take notice. We can and we will exercise our right and obligation to replace those that fail to represent the people that place them there.
More to come………
Gary
I wish to call upon and quote directly from one of the single most important documents that are the very foundation of our country and remain today just as true and as pertinent as it was at its original inception. From The Declaration of Independence delivered in the Congress of the United States on July 4, 1776, I quote the following:
“......We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security……”
Today, WE THE PEOPLE have once again spoken. Their voice I hope is heard loud and clear. Their message, I hope delivered in a concise manner and understood by all elected officials that WE THE PEOPLE can and will exercise our right and obligation to replace those that do not best represent the people that ultimately put them into their honored position.
WE THE PEOPLE have spoken loudly and clearly in the State of Massachusetts. They send a message to President Barrack Obama that his socialist agenda is not received well even in what is the most liberal state in the union behind only California. I hope that all of our elected leaders heed well the message being sent.
Recently, WE THE PEOPLE spoke similarly in New Jersey. Their voice was heard in Virginia, as well as in Pennsylvania. WE THE PEOPLE have spoken clearly and concisely and yet it seems that President Obama and his socialist regime does not hear the message being sent. I hope that with this victory today that he and the people in his administration sit up and take notice. We can and we will exercise our right and obligation to replace those that fail to represent the people that place them there.
More to come………
Gary
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)