Having Trouble Cutting the Cord

My wife, Maria, was packing for an extended visit with our kids in Appleton. She commented that she was packing more cords for her electronic toys than she was clothing. As much as both of us have tried to simplify our lives by getting rid of things that we thought wanted, but turn out to be baggage rather than benefits in our lives, it seems that we continue to experiment.

Not that all things are failures. I can remember when digital cameras began to become main stream. I had a couple of spirited discussions with my son Todd, who like me, was dedicated “wet film” photographer. In the early days, the quality was not in the finished product. It was good enough for record photo’s (family memory records), but totally inadequate for travel, and wall art work. My bag, I still have it, was about ten to fifteen pounds of bodies, lenses and other accessories. Now I carry a 5 meg Samsung digital and when I learn to use all of its capabilities, I will be able to do more with it than I could with my old bag full of tricks. This is due in no small part to the ability to manipulate the end product with Photoshop, but the down side is the USB cord that I need to download the product to the computer.

Maria and I both carry notebooks. No, to be clear Maria carried a Day-Timer, a sensible loose leaf bound notebook that fit her needs. I’m addicted to notebooks. I juggle placing my thoughts and observations in two sizes of Moleskins, an 8 ½ by 11 loose leaf spiral and two note programs on the computer. I also have three hardbound blank page books that I take on trips that chronicle in no particular order notes I take on trips. But like I say I have a problem walking past notebooks on the shelf of any store.

We now both carry PDA’s. Maria got hers first and convinced me that it would work for me. The decision has worked out well for both of us. We don’t worry about missing appointments. I can find phone numbers and addresses. But there is a recharge cord and the inevitable USB cord so that we can sync the PDA with our calendar and address books on our computer.

There are the cords for the MP3 player and the mobile phones. I have an AlphaSmart word processor that thankfully runs on AAA batteries so I only need the “fire wire” to download the product into MS Word. All in all, I think our life is simpler that it was a few years ago. Some may argue rightfully that all of this is part of the new complexity of the digital age. I have no nostalgia for the past, but than I like playing with these things too. It might be clouding my judgment as to their value.