Living Proof

When I was around 18 years old, I wrote a book. It was a fictional love story about two women who were just coming out of the closet. It was also in one of those black and white composition notebooks - handwritten. Can you even remember the last time you wrote something at great length with a pen and paper? It's kind of sad today and I know I'm totally guilty of it too, but we are all microblogging and shortening great stories into 140 characters or less.  We're posting our deepest thoughts and adventures onto Facebook with only photos and a few words. We're downloading ebooks and not holding a printed out paperback or hardcover book and reading it from front to back, getting lost in every single word. There's a movie for every book and it's quite rare to hear, "the book was better" these days because nobody reads anymore. And if they do, it's the electronic version - which is fine. But hold up… Technology has advanced, so to keep up, we a...

Remember when Facebook first emerged? Practically everyone searched for their old friends from high school and then added them as a "friend". Whether they hadn't seen each other in one year or twenty years, it didn't matter. It was good to electronically catch up. Then there are some people who are still somewhat stuck in the past, whereas they expect to just hop into your life 'just like that' --- and while it may be a treat for you, it may not be an option for everyone. I have had the pleasure (and I mean that sincerely) of meeting up with old high school friends a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I also plan to continue to meet up with them when it's convenient for all of us. But what about people who want to connect with those who don't have the desire to reconnect? That's a touchy situation, because say in that person's mind - you were their absolute best friend in the world while you thought nothing of ...

It’s amazing how much we rely on the internet these days. Even for me to write a blog post takes a bit of research, depending on what subject matter I’m talking about. Whether minimal to extreme internet surfing, from the correct spelling of certain names to the correct information given by news sources, the internet has taken a whole new meaning of “instant information” at the tip of our fingers. I’m sitting here in my office without any internet connection. We’re having quite the storm here in New York, which brought down a few trees around the area. When I came home to open up my laptop, I realized I had no connection whatsoever. I picked up my phone, which happens to also be connected to the internet --- nothing. Even our phones are relying on the internet. I quickly shuffled over to my BlackBerry to frantically dial customer service. “The technician will be there tomorrow between 10am - 2pm ma’am.” Although this wasn’t the answer I wanted, it was the only solution I was going t...

The world of technology has wreaked havoc on my poor parents. They’ve gone from rotary telephones, to cordless phones, touch dial with an answering machine attached. Voice mail would be another challenge to tackle and we’re just not there yet. On a previous post, I’ve mentioned how my mother would call me up and ask if I could bring her my “blacktop”. “ What ma?” “Bring the blacktop over.” “What do you mean?” “I need to look up a certain product for the pool and none of the stores have it.” “Oh, you mean my laptop!” Fine. I bring over my laptop and she makes this comment that I shouldn’t meet people on that “intercom”. “The what?” “Don’t you be meeting people on that intercom!” “You mean, the internet, ma?” “Yeah, whatever it is.” When I used to work for a telecommunications company in their call center, I remember senior citizens calling in, asking for technical help with getting onto the internet. “Well, my son just bought me this thing here that goes on my computer and I don’t know ...