 |
| Aztec Hotel in Monrovia, California |
Friends and neighbors, we are only at mid week and I have already had several days of grand adventures, ample opportunity to appreciate the medicinal properties of a good beer, and have even had a voyage or two into the unknown.
In the modern era, insatiably curious and technologically impaired equals easily frustrated. Dominating my ongoing struggle to at least have the most basic of technological relevance was a battle with chimps, Mail Chimp to be precise. A business associate who is far more tech savvy than I am had recently suggested streamlining operations with the establishment of an account that would allow me to provide followers (hereafter known as subscribers) with the restaurant and motel recommendations, travel tips, updates on my travel schedule and appearances, book reviews, blog postings, and similar materials that followers expect from Jim Hinckley’s America in a more efficient manner.
In the right hand column you will see the results of about six hours of work. You can know, theoretically, subscribe for regular updates from Jim Hinckley’s America.
To date I have been able to embed the form in the blog and Facebook page. Next, learning how to use the latest addition to my promotional toolbox.
I am enamored with modern technology. I find it to be an endless source of interest. I also find it frustrating beyond measure and somewhat unnerving.
This has been a theme of numerous blog posts and rants over the years. Simply put, I am not really sure just how much of an improvement smart phones, GPS units in cars, zip files, Mail Chimps, email, and related items really area.
I had purchased a Ford brand new in 1930, the car may have lacked a wide array of what we deem to be necessities today, but it was possible to repair absolutely anything on that care with basic knowledge, a bit of common sense, and a hand full of tools.
Even today, if I owned that same Ford, most parts are readily available and at a cost that is less than half of the price of components for cars made in this century. I would also be able to avoid the added expense of labor.
Consider this, if I had learned the rudimentary skills to keep that car running in 1930, I could have opened a garage, applied those very same skills to my daily job, and made a pretty good living with the same tools for the next forty years.
Today we are locked into a never ending learning curve that consumes an inordinate amount of time, as well as the high cost of unprecedented obsolescence minutes within purchase. Skill sets learned a mere five years ago, many of which were acquired through student loans that are still being paid, are as antiquated as a buggy makers.
Please, do not misunderstand. These are the best of times. They are, however, the worst of times.
Still, there are times, especially after a day of battling chimps, that I close my eyes and try to imagine how much simpler things were when it was possible to patch a tire along the road, and stop at a definitely non generic place such as the Aztec Hotel in Monrovia for a cold one.
Speaking of a cold one…
