Technology impacts our lives in ways we don’t often think about, stuff happens and technology is there to remedy the situation. Years later similar stuff happens and there’s a completely new technology that’s better than the last. For better or worse, technology moves forward making our lives better.
I was laying on a doctor’s exam table last week and became part of a conversation about a vein in my leg that had been surgically removed about 21 years ago. In those days it was common practice to strip whole veins for minor issues with the belief a new vein would replace the old. Around the same time, new technology had been developed and widely accepted which would have limited the amount of removed vein.
Had I been able to schedule my medical issue later in life this new technology would have been in practice and my outcome would have been different. Doctors would have fully adopted the new Doppler ultrasound that may have pinpointed the failed portion of my vein. I would have healed faster and would have had minimal complications from large amounts of tissue removal.
21 years ago we didn’t have cell phones so a phone call meant waiting until we got home. I remember calling my parents from my living room just after finding out I needed surgery. As I recall, I waited until they were both home before springing the news on them. My ex-wife and I kept the lines open in case either one tried to call us.
Rather than wait until a convenient time like the last go-around, I pushed a button on my dashboard which connected me to my parents. There was no waiting (which for me means forgetting) so I was able to give them all the details. Had I not been able to reach them at home, the call would have most likely been forwarded to both of their cell phones.
Thankfully I was able to make the call using the hands-free feature because I missed an accident by inches. A car in front of mine stopped suddenly resulting in a flash of brake lights that was missed by the driver in front of me causing a minor accident. Had I not had antilock brakes my car would have been part of that accident.
After getting home from the doctor’s office I popped a bag of popcorn in the microwave and pushed the popcorn button. After about two minutes my popcorn was finished almost perfectly with few remaining kernels. Not bad for a cheap oven I picked up last month to replace a ten year old microwave.
My last microwave wasted a lot of popcorn because it cooked at full power for a preset time. Last month I would have punched in 2:15 and waited for it to be done. Most of the time my popcorn came out burnt or tasting funny because it overcooked. I can’t believe the amount of money I’ve saved by not burning full bags of corn.
After a day of disappointments all I wanted to do was relax with my bag of popcorn and watch a movie. Rather than television, I use an on-demand movie service which allows me to view my choice of movies or television. That night I was forced to make a decision between pausing the movie or muting my cell phone. I chose to mute my phone so I could enjoy my movie and popcorn and forget about the day.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)