Technology is a wonderful thing.....

I sent my nephew, Peter, a text message wishing him a Happy Birthday yesterday (one day late) and received one back from him this morning. You might wonder why it took him so long - well he is in Paris, France!!!!! We "instant messaged" each other for a few minutes - quite AMAZING.

Back in the olden days, if you went out of the country, or even to California, the only way to communicate was by regular telephone, postcard or letter. Pictures were taken and hopefully developed when you returned home. Peter is posting to his blog - pictures and things he is doing - as they happen!

On Saturday, I am presenting a workshop at our Stake RS conference - titled "Digital Detachment" - focusing on not becoming so dependent on digital devices that we become detached from our families, God, etc. Annie helped me with a power point presentation for the class - we did it at her house - she emailed it to me at home and work - and it is now ready for Saturday - which will be shown via a laptop/projector to the women of the stake. I don't own a laptop - so I am borrowing Judy's.

When I was in Public Accounting, I bought the latest and greatest Compaq "portable" computer. It was the size of a medium sized suitcase and probably weighed about 25 pounds - the screen was smaller than an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. I lugged it everywhere I went - I think it cost about $4,500 - and I was able to recoup my cost by billing the hourly usage to clients.

Annie found a picture of me with a "walkman" on my head - quite different than an IPOD!
I remember the first time I used the Internet - I couldn't live without it today.
The first cell phone I had was the size of a regular home phone.
When I started work at PYG in 2002 - they were still using a dot matrix printer.
In 1975, the mortgage company I worked for had a computer - which filled an entire room and read information from little paper cards.

Yes Technology is a wonderful thing - it's hard to keep up - but it is worth the try - and yes I guess I need the workshop - because I am guilty of "Digital Attachment"!