You can’t function comfortably without succumbing to the technological advances of our society. I finally updated my webpage (www.charlieprofit.com). It was nagging and nagging at me. I would spend hours just staring at the screen, wondering what kind of image I wanted to project. Finally, after stumbling across “Blogger.com” where I submit my blogs to be posted, I found the image I wanted. It only took a few hours to get every page in line.



Blog. There’s a fairly ‘new to the mainstream’ concept. I’ve known about blogs for probably 2 or 3 years. I’ve always thought, “someday” I’ll earn how to “blog”, when I have the time. Well, as technology continued to move full speed ahead, I had to try to catch up. I was getting emails left and right about “blogs”. And since I am in the Communication field, I should blog too. The hold up for me is that, when I write, I can write for hours. Same thing with reading. If I actually allow myself to slip away to Barnes and Noble or Borders…well, I basically get lost. Not lost as in I can’t find my way, but lost, oh where to begin.



I’m on a tangent. Back to blogging and technology.



Keeping up with technology. A novel idea. Impossible to do. I don’t even think the “geeks and nerds” (said in an admirable tone) can keep up with themselves. The geeks and nerds we knew in school, have truely become the Cool Guys/Gals. Maybe geeks and nerds should now be capitalized, to show an unsaid form of respect: Geeks and Nerds. They are changing the virtual landscape.



I read, almost daily, about various programs that are supposed to make life easier, more managable. I end up spending more time reading about all these advancements, yet don’t have the money or the time to put them to work for me. PDA’s, palm pilots, cell phones…ipods, mp3 players, tiffs gifs and jpegs.



I downloaded a neat program called “EasyGen” (www.easygen.com). It’s a cool program that’s supposed to make web design simpler. My learning curve is WAY off. By the time I learn it, they will have 6 or 7 upgrades with newer and cooler features that I probably thought of while I was burning brain cells trying to make the program work for me. I’ll let you know how it goes.



I like technologically advanced toys. I have email accessiblilty from my cell phone. At one point, I could even access my email right off my desk top! My pc didn’t like the program though. The computer kept crashing…and if the computer isn’t functional, neither was accessing my desk top from my cell phone.



The other day, I must have spent over an hour reviewing rate plans for my cell phone. Mind boggling. I was being lured by the Black Berry. But alas, it’s not in my budget …. yet. I remember telling my mom when I was only 9 that one day people will be able to talk on their phones while driving their cars. I don’t know why I told her that. It was just a fleeting thought. And now, we can communicate with almost anyone almost anywhere and at anytime. Although, I’ve learned, sometimes you have to turn the toys off.



What’s cool about all this technology, is that you can have an RSS or Atom Feed to your desktop that will alert you when I’ve updated my blog. Learn about RSS and Atom feeds at www.feedburner.com. Another thing that I find fascinating is that I can post to my blog directly through email. And since I have email on my cell phone, I can post to my blog anywhere I have cell service! That’s Cool. Is there anything we CAN’T do with email?



I wanted to start a blog to put my thoughts down. To have a record off what goes through the vast land of space between my ears. As I’ve mentioned, I do have a radio show. I host a talk show on WXCT AM 990 in Hartford, Connecticut. Doing the radio show is cool, because as the thoughts come, you just say them. Of course you need to have some kind of format to keep your thoughts in order, and to keep your listeners listening. Have you ever been conversing with someone who goes from topic to topic with in seconds? Difficult to stay attuned.



Blogging is a little different. While I aspire to keep my thoughts that I express on my radio show coherant, there’s more of an excuse, if you stray. When you write, there isn’t much of an excuse, except that maybe you write like you talk. But then, people find it hard to follow you. I am basically writing as the thoughts come, as if I am talking. Boy, I don’t know how long I would last in radio if I only talked 30 words per minute! (If you are a comedian, you can steal my joke, just give me credit).



Technolgy is changing the way we live and the way we think. If you can get by without email, without a cell phone and without downloads, I commend you. I am finding that in this age of technology, I can’t function without being attuned to the latest trends, and the latest technology fads of our culture; but are they really just fads? And I may not have the latest toys, but I like to know what’s out there. I think to myself that if I could just have this or have that, that my life would be more manageable, I’d get more done and make more money because I was more efficient. Would that be true though? Or would there just be that much more to do, to learn, to implement.



There’s no getting around this technology. I remember NOT having cable TV as a kid. HBO was for rich people. I remember NOT having the internet. You had to do your research at the library. I remember having to wait til I got home to call my friends, because we didn’t have cell phones. Have you noticed it’s harder and harder to find pay phones these days? These Wi Fi Hot Spots are about as common today as Pay Phones were in the 70’s!



Here’s a side note to the discussion about technology. Did you know that in Hong Kong you can buy a soda pop from a vending machine using your cell phone to pay the tab! And look at these picture phones. Almost every memory can now be documented so you will never forget.



There’s alot I look forward to writing about. And as time marches on, I’ll be trying to find the better, more efficient way to do things so I can spend more time writing.



What really is interesting: Our kids will grow up never knowing what life was like without the internet, they’ll never know what it was like to NOT know what a CD is, and they probably won’t remember gas at prices less than $2.00 per gallon!



Tomorrow’s Topic: I dunno yet…maybe politics, maybe health.