The Case of the Missing Checks

I just emailed the Newark Star Ledger suggesting they look into the case of the missing checks. Seems we are not the only ones who have trouble with technology today.

Here's the story. In late January my wife completed the registration renewal form for her car and sent it in with her check for the proper amount to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. Well, it's a month later and we still haven't received the renewed registration.

Being concerned, she called Trenton and was steered to a department called Correction and Data Base. Notice a whole department for correcting their data base. Turns out they really need it.

A nice woman there told my wife that there was "a problem" with checks received in late January. "When were you going to tell us this," my wife asked. "We're not," said the nice woman. "So how do I get my registration renewed?" my wife asked. "Fax us a copy of your check, front and back," the lady answered.

So we will do this. But, we wonder, how many other people are unaware their checks went missing? And whatever happened to those missing checks? The dog ate them?

Ironically, not too long ago, I received a one-year extention on my auto inspection sticker. Didn't even ask for it and didn't know I was eligible for it.

Motor Vehicle works in mysterious ways its public to confuse.

Headline: "Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter"

Let 'em drift, I say. More room on the internet for folks like me who blog because it's fun. The headline is on a story in today's New York Times. It describes exactly why I don't Facebook, Twit or otherwise keep my friends and family up to date on my every activity.

First of all, its none of their business. If I want them to know something important I'll tell them directly rather than involve the entire digital world.

I also blog rather than use other social networks because:

1. I write for myself. But if you can identify with me I hope you find my observations interesting or amusing.  
2. I am not too busy to write more than 140 characters and I'm not dismayed by a lack of followers. (However, you are more than welcome to join me.)
3. I decided early on NOT to engage in the usual political rants tempting as that may be. Why be just another crank when you can aim your crankiness to the technology I find overwhelming.

I'm encouraged by the comments in the Times' story by Lee Rainie, director of the Inernet and American Life Project, who says "the act of telling your story and sharing part of your life with somebody is alive and well--even more so than at the dawn of blogging."

And here is the nub of the story from my viewpoint. As the Times writes: "While the younger generation is losing interest in blogging, people approaching middle age and older are sticking with it." The story then cites statistics showing increased blogging in all age groups from 34-45-year-olds, 46-55- year-olds and 65-73-year-olds.  (Disclosure: I am off their charts but still actively blogging, at least for now.)

A 72-year-old retiree from California said it best in the Times' story: "I'd rather spend my time writing up a blog analysis than a whole bunch of short paragraphs...I don't need to tell people I'm going to the grocery store."

And guess what my wife was doing while I was reading this story this morning. She was WRITING A LETTER. You know, with pen, ink, paper and words, one letter at a time until they made complete sentences. It also required an envelope and a stamp, and will be delivered by the Post Office. Remarkable.

We really are from another world.

Digital Enough?

As much as I'm dazzled by the wonders of the techno-age there are a couple of things I do like and use. Email, for instance. I don't need to broadcast my doings every moment of the day, a la twitterers, but I do find email a convenient way to communicate with friends and family when necessary or desirable.

Strike, necessary. For that there's always the telephone or even the cell phone, another device I find handy.

Now that we've recovered from the jet lag left by our return from Israel, I downloaded the photos we took of our children, grand-children and great-grand-children to my PC and emailed selected shots to stateside relatives.

They were nice enough to email back that they received the photos and liked them a lot. Very satisfying for all parties.

So there you have it. I communicate casually by email, I use a cell phone and transfer digital photos to my PC. I email them directly to friends and relatives. I even have an iPod which I listen to when working out at the gym.

I can't say how much further I'm willing or able to plunge into the digital world. But I'll keep an open mind.

Never say never.

  

The Drawer

Ever go looking for something and find everything but? Today was one of those days and, boy, did I throw out stuff.

I was looking for a golf cleat wrench which I know I have. I just can't remember where it is. So I started looking in several drawers where I thought it might be. Naturally, it wasn't in any of them.

But I did find and got rid of a bunch of loose shoelaces, a stack of old golf score cards from places I played, visited and never played but kept as souvenirs, two combination locks I no longer remember or have the combinations to, dried up tubes of glue and other assorted odds and ends.

Some stuff actually worth saving got moved to the basement and one drawer got dusted and washed down. Then all its contents were replaced to wait for the next time I'm looking for something that isn't there.

The hunt is still on for the cleat wrench and who knows what else will end up in the trash bin in the process.

Stay tuned.

Apps Amok

Yesterday I ended my blog with the suggestion that today's gizmos would be as outdated tomorrow as I am. Little did I know that this morning's paper would bring this headline: "Apple is weighing a cheaper iPhone."

Maybe there's a market for yet another version of the iPhone, but what blew me away was the suggestion of one analyst that Apple's new version of the iPhone would "have to be able to run the more than 300,000 apps available in the App Store."

Three hundred thousand apps? On one device? Really?

Would someone really download all 300,000 apps to this smaller, cheaper iPhone? I get sensory overload just thinking about it.

The question in my mind is are we creating increasingly complex technology because we can or because there really is a need for it?

How many apps does a person use in a day? Datebook, calendar, music, photos, all are being marketed as must-haves on this little device. If you are glued to your smart phone all day long when do you take time to think? Or smell the roses?

No wonder so many people are stressed out. They're too plugged in.

Date Day

My wife and I went on a date today. We do that sometimes just to remember...well, just to remember.

What was the occasion? Our son had given us a gift certificate to a nice restaurant on the Jersey shore and today we decided to use it. The weather was nice for a change, sunny, not too cold, perfect for a drive south on the Garden State Parkway. Which is why I'm writing this.

Here we were, two people of a certain age, tooling down the parkway just to the right of the outside lane, i.e., the passing lane, cruise control set at a tad over the speed limit of 65 mph. And cars are whizzing past us on the left AND on the right. I felt like a rock in the middle of a mountain stream.

What's your hurry, buddy, I asked ? Why don't you leave earlier to make sure you get to wherever you're going in one piece? Of course, only my wife could hear me. Because traffic was relatively light we were spared the reckless zig-zaggers who dart from lane to lane.

We arrived at the restaurant and returned home safely after a delightful lunch and a brief walk on the boardwalk, shortened by a rising ocean chill.

We're glad we're out of the rat race, no longer multi-tasking or compelled to acquire the latest communications gizmo with all its apps. By tomorrow, today's gizmos will be as outdated as we are.

We like it this way. We can date when we want to and enjoy lunch at our leisure.

Very nice.

Jet Lag

We got home about 6 a.m. Friday morning after an 11-and-a-half hour flight from Israel. I actually slept a bit on the flight home so I wasn't entirely zonked on arrival.


And the next morning I was able to play some competitive tennis for an hour. The crash came Saturday afternoon and into Sunday and part of Monday.

Jet lag is real. My legs and ankles swell and it takes a few days for them to return to normal. The head is a different story. It keep asking “what time is it?” When going from west to east it isn't so bad. The trick there is just go with whatever time it is when you arrive.

Traveling east to west is a different story. It takes me days to orient myself to eastern standard time when I've been seven hours ahead of it for 10 days. But I'm back now and can say we had a wonderful time with the family, particularly the grand-children and the great-grand-children.

We were doted on and catered to and we made sure that each of the children had quality time with us. They liked that and so did we.

Now it's back to emailing and phoning to cover the six-thousand mile gap.

Oh, in case you were wondering, we watched CNN's “All Cairo All The Time” coverage of the Egyptian revolution and followed the Israeli newspaper coverage as well. We did not see or feel any obvious concern by people we met in our travels. Israelis seemed to be watchful but taking events in their stride.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.