a wiper's tale . . .

Wow! I'm finally here!  Word-to-Go on my Blackberry Curve!  Never mind that I've owned this phone almost two years now and never checked out Documents-to-Go until today. And then there was the deal that my "included" version did not offer the "create a new file" option--which meant downloading a 30-day trial of the "premium" version and then rebooting the phone and . . .

Why now?  That is an even wilder personal technology tale!  I'm sitting in the waiting room of my car dealership, where I've spent three of the last four Saturday mornings also. The first visit was routine--oil change, tire rotating/balancing, and, by the way, could you replace my wiper blades?  I'm so trusting/oblivious/naive. Did I think to check the wiper blades when leaving?  No!!

It was only after running several errands on my way home that afternoon that I noticed that one wiper blade had gone AWOL. Where and how?  Who knew?  I found another open dealership that afternoon (mine had closed for the weekend) and had the blade replaced--with a mismatched clone--only to discover that the passenger wiper arm had also lost its connectivity, was out of commission, KAPUT.

Two weeks and many rainy days later, back at the dealership. Almost three hours later came the verdict that a part, not in stock, had to be ordered. OK . . .

After several email tussles over my needing to have the repair done on a Saturday, I was back last Saturday, armed with my  iPad, a book to read, papers to grade...  Two hours later came the verdict that the wrong part had been ordered and that the repair would take more time than their Saturday hours would allow. They'd work out a rental car for me though. What about bringing it in this morning (yes, a Saturday), picking up a rental, and then doing the swap-out, hopefully, after work on Monday?  Sure...  Not much of a rental car user or fan but, considering the alternatives ...

Did I mention that this was a warranty-covered repair?  Or that the part needed was out-of-stock statewide and had to be shipped from Texas?

So I was here bright and early this morning. Sent to the waiting room while they called the rental car place. I had read/deleted most of the 100+ unopened emails on my phone when they came with today's new scenario. Not a rental car to be found in the area!!!  But they had a technician on duty today who could replace my wiper transmission in maybe an hour or so?  Was I OK with waiting on that?

Needless to say, I had not come equipped, today, with iPad and a book to read and papers to grade. But I'm resourceful, if nothing else. I should have "killed" most of my hour's wait time by now. I'll email this story to myself so that it'll be ready to copy and paste into a blog entry once I'm home again.

I really should upgrade my phone, shouldn't I?

Followup: the repair took two hours so I consumed a cup of Starbucks cocoa and read some mindless magazines to fill the last hour.  Tested the wipers BEFORE leaving this time :-) Still mismatched, but HEY, they both work!!!  I can live with that . . .

personal technology:Kindle 2 is too two to ignore???

I'm loving it!

OK, so I'm the book woman . . . Every gift to a family member has "a book" at the top of the guesswhatitis response list. The youngest grandbaby is vocal about her expectation that I arrive on her doorstep with books in my bag, every time, without fail. The second oldest said to me, just before Christmas, "Nonny, you won't believe this but there's this book I want . . ."

A Kindle was on my Christmas list but not under the tree. My children laughed at me. How could I--the catalyst for their own paper and ink book addictions, the very reason none of us has bookshelves enough, ever--want to read on a technothingamabob? a Kindle?

They were right. That part of who I am is imprinted in indelible inks on the pages where they keep their mother's perpetual profile. But some things change. Even mothers change. Even mothers old enough to be comfortably set in their ways change.

I ordered my own Kindle the day I discovered that generation 2 had arrived. I figured, backordered as it had been and still was, my Kindle would arrive with spring, or later. I was wrong. It arrived last week.

At the moment, the Kindle is charging--for the third time. I've bought three books, finished reading The Graveyard Book, am now somewhere in chapter 3 of By a Slow River (have ordered the print version too, but in the original French :).

Of all the personal technology that has come my way in this last year or years, this was the most natural transition from old ways to new.

It could be that being a book woman transcends physical form and substance.

It could be that being a book woman is all about having access--anywhere, anytime, any book--at my fingertips.

Could it be that both the book and the woman understand that change is the flip side of survive?

Or . . . could it be that, together, we're saving a tree or two or three???

what became of the inquiry

I didn't know what I didn't know.
It's that simple.

I figure it will take this year and more to bring my 1980s-90s digital settler self into the 21st century.

So I exchanged my public inquiry focus to something I can do, in part, in my sleep: the impact of summer reading and, the flip side, what impacts the summer reading experience.

My inquiry into digeracy (I want to be one of the digerati in my next life)--newly freed of APA-formatted review of the literature due in December and planning the study (due in writing in April, presented in May) before embarking on the quest (like when have I ever done anything in someone else's prescribed sequence?)--has taken on a life of its own! Co-teaching a technology course (what a wonderfully inquiring group of adult learners this class is!) has given me the purpose I needed (and the excuse) to delve into new technologies I could only namedrop a few weeks ago.

So I may blog about those experiences here--and the professional readings (yes, I'm doing that with a passion) too. A travel log of sorts . . .

This week's celebration . . . Did you know that PowerPoint presentations can be saved as a series of pictures? Which means digital story telling (mastering [I thought] Photo Story was last year's triumph ) can indeed require some digital story reading ;-) Can't wait to play with that!

More to come . . .

personal technology update 1: the car

I finally did use that rear window wiper one dewy morning last week--without reverting to the print manual. Just punched a button with a promising symbol and got lucky! But it's the old technology that has me puzzled.

Thanks to emerging technologies, I get car diagnostics via email every month. Each month, noticing the tires had lost yet another psi, I've resolved to find or buy a tire gauge and maybe replace my ancient tire pump.

A couple of weeks ago, one of those dashboard lights came on and stayed on for a while before giving up on my paying appropriate attention. I was paying attention. After two days in the depths of the manual, I learned the universal (?) symbol for low tire pressure--which I will remember more for its location on the dash of this car than I will for its shape (so much for the universal concept :-/ ).

Last weekend my son, with his also ancient pump (but it did have a gauge!), helped me get the tires back up to standard--or so we thought. The monthly diagnostics, received on a Thursday, look not unlike last Saturday's readings. Delayed email? Leaky valve stems?

So I've done some upgrading. Tomorrow my 3K-miles-driven all-but-new car goes in for its first factory recall service--a possible power steering fluid leak which would, by the way, explain the way it complains when I back out of the driveway and head out in the mornings . . . With the price of gas, there's much to be said for one-stop shopping. I added getting the tires checked out to my personal technology recall list for tomorrow. I scheduled both appointments online . . .

BTW, I do now own a high-tech tire gauge that can be programmed to remember different settings for front and rear tires--serious technological overkill since 30 psi all around is easy enough for my brain to hold onto for now (kind of like the home thermostat I've never programmed beyond the 68-degree heating and 78-degree cooling absolutes). The new pump--a leaner and meaner version (but hopefully with some ooomph!)--also has a gauge. Both tire gauge and pump are still in the box/shrinkwrap/house . . .

Guess I should be grateful for the 3-month break from automotive repair waiting rooms. . . This one has popcorn (can't eat any until my current dental adventure is finished [hoping for Thanksgiving . . .]) and wi-fi (but I'm opting to spend my time with something of substance, of paper and ink).

In some, maybe many, ways, I'm a digital settler. It's good for the resume, for job security, for exercising the brain. But on my own time? Very much the immigrant, delighting in my native language and culture in the quiet spaces I call home.

Honoring UAF93 . . .

Click on the link above . . .

inquiry 2008-09

Experimenting again . . .

My "other" blog was birthed as an attempt to use a blog as the vehicle for presenting a multigenre project for a writing course I was taking. Multigenre naturally evolved into multimedia, something I could not have accomplished by pen(cil) and paper alone. The funny thing was how long it took me to realize that my blog could not be an exact replica of the pieces I had already crafted--first in my writer's notebook and then in Word. One entry is a scan--just had to bring Contrails across the digital divide. But, over time, I have grown very comfortable with the blog, with its limitations and its possibilities.

And now . . .

I used to think best on paper, with pencil in hand. There are still moments . . . when, convert that I've become, I still revert.

But it seems practical, this next year, as I focus on what it means to be digitally literate as a reader and a writer, that I do my thinking here, in this digital world.

To that end, I will post my professional readings (both summaries and reactions) and the progress of my inquiry (at present still groping for the question) here in my virtual sandbox.

Tracking my thinking . . .

Going public . . .

Ouch!