Techno Stuff I Don't Have

I am not technologically savvy. I am still trying to figure out how blog on my Smith Corona typewriter.

It amazes me all the techno stuff that is out there, and I have very little. Following is a list of the techno stuff (at least the stuff that I am aware of) that I don't have:

• I-Pod (or any such MP3 player); I do have a cassette tape walkman with an AM/FM radio.
• GPS device; I use the old fashion GPS device--it's called a Rand McNally Atlas.
• Digital TV; I do have two converter boxes so I can continue to melt my brain after the big digital conversion.
• PDA (or Palm Pilot); I have never been very good with paper organizers, so why bother?
• Bluetooth; it sounds painful, I prefer white teeth. Seriously though, I do know what bluetooth is. I have an "ear-bud" for my cell phone, but it doesn't fit my ear.
• Cell phone add-ons; I don't text message (I fail to see how this is more efficient than actually talking). I don't have Internet access or e-mail on my phone.
• Cable/satellite TV; see above.
• Digital camcorder; the tape one broke. My digital camera does have a video feature.
• Facebook/MySpace; several people have requested that I join, but I don't see the point. I have never been very social, but cyber-socialization seems impersonal. (I do have this blog, which about 1-2 people read.)
  

Maybe I am stuck in the late 1990s (is Clinton still president?), or maybe I am getting old.

I Guess People Fall For This Stuff

Lately, I have been getting hit with more spam e-mail. It is everything from fancy watches/jewelry to male enhancement products to other garbage. I guess that these companies send out these e-mails because people respond to them. Why? Why would anyone respond to them?

It's like telemarketing. Telemarketers call hocking their wares like street vendors in third world countries. Do people actually buy from them? They must because they keep calling.

I cannot think of anything I would buy from a telemarketer or e-mail spammer.

If you buy junk from them, please quit, so they won't bug me.

This Amazes Me

Perhaps I am a little late to the new wave of technology, but I am amazed. For my 20th Century European History class, we have to do research on a sub-topic (mine is anti-Semitism). We are to look at secondary sources--academic articles and monographs--but no primary sources--archival material, etc. I have managed to compile a long list, which I am trimming down to the assigned number of sources.

That is not what amazes me. The thing that amazes me is that I have not set foot in a library anywhere to do this project. I have not been to the university library, the public library or any other library. I have done all the research on-line. I have downloaded numerous articles, or had them e-mailed to me via inter-library loan. Both of the monographs that I am considering are available on-line through the university library's collaboration with NetLibrary.

Like I said, perhaps I am late to the party, but it amazes me. When I was an undergraduate, I practically lived in the school library.