High Teching

THE FIRST TIME I dropped my cell phone in my coffee, I didn't know whether to shit, or go blind, as the saying goes. The lady at the dealership assured me that, yes, people bring in soaked phones all the time, they bring in more soaked cell phones before nine in the morning than I'm gonna see all day, they bring 'em in by the boatload. that comforted me; I had imagined myself the only high tech user on the planet dumb enough to drop one in one's coffee, let alone one's toilet. I finally decided to give up cell phones altogether about the time smart phones came out, I believe in 2007. I had dropped, lost, or drowned too many of the little buggers, and not being much of a phone person anyway, it simply wasn't, and still isn't worth it to maintain portability and pocket side internet service. Nothing against texting, you understand, it just aint me, so to speak. Cell phones, like ballet and sushi, are wonderful, but not my cup of tea. Six weeks ago I amazed myself by purchasing my first flat screen TV. I waited a month, got it out of the box, then put it right back in, which I took to be a definite indication of lack of interest. I haven't owned a TV in tens years, and haven't watched much, except a little new and sports, since the early seventies, when Gunsmoke went off the air. but now I'm going to jump in, full bore. I;m more of radio guy, NPR, but with one hundred and forty channels for thirty a month, and many of them sports, westerns, movies, and news, I figure I can't go wrong. Home internet service is the way to go, especially when one writes and publishes essays on one's own website, one grows tired of driving all over town, looking for free WiFi. And so I tell myself: Television is good. Smart phones are good. its all good. Machines are neutral, its just a matter of how we use our machines. Which is fine, as long as I don't get hooked on Facebook, Twitter, Gunsmoke, or, heaven forbid, reality TV.