Technology's Great and It Sucks- Did I Just Write Suck?!!

I just realized I have been blogging for almost 3 years! That makes me kind of tech-saavy and cool, no? Actually no, not really. I did it originally not because I love new technology but because I was asked to and I kind of like to write. My Mother will tell you I don't like to write, like letters or cards, but I like to type and so I like to blog. I am also good with email, I text here and there, and I don't remember life much before the Internet. How did I EVER cook anything or go on vacation or get anywhere without the Internet? I also enjoy a good session of Wii Fit. Mostly because I love seeing what the Mii's we've created are doing in each game.

But I am not a huge fan of ALL things technology. I don't need the latest gadgets to make my life complete and run smoothly. I have an ipod, but it's not a new one- its the 4th generation? Or the 2nd? I don't know which one for sure. It's purple and plays music while I work out. We have a cheap but workable laptop at home that is *gasp* wireless...but that progress happened in our house only in the past 6 months and I still feel wonder every time I unplug it from the charger/cord thing and take it with me to the bathroom. Yes I do that. My husband won a Kindle in an online giveaway and when it came via UPS I had to look up on the Internet to see what a Kindle even was. We use it here and there but I still like real books a lot more.

I have a cell phone but I don't take it everywhere and I don't check it constantly. I might have when I first got one 10 years ago, but not anymore. It is more of an annoyance than anything. If I forget it at home I feel somehow more free. Our kids don't have cell phones. Not even the teenagers. I know, criminal. But no one is going to convince me that kids NEED cell phones. All of us over 25 survived our childhoods without cell phones, and not only did we survive, I think we were better off. Seeing little kids playing hide and seek or swinging on a swing while texting (I've seen both) is so sad. Watching teens (and younger) looking at their phones 90% of the time instead of actually looking at and communicating with the people actually there with them, is also sad. My husband and I (and thank goodness my ex-husband too) want our kids to have something different. Real conversations, the ability to communicate without just rotflmao. Same goes for the adults- we aren't on our phones all the time, ignoring our kids or their activities while we text, talk, check email, and whatever else people do that I don't really care to know about.

So technology has its place and makes life easier, but I think it can go too far and in some cases, it has- especially with the effect on our kids- and that sucks.

No Longer in the Paper, But Free

I think there might be a few people that have followed my blog and I am hoping they don't stop even though I have been inconsistent. Our local paper used to print my blog from time to time, which was nice and kept me current. Now they are not so local and they don't print my blog anymore so I've fallen off my routine of writing. But not having the newspaper print my blog gives me some freedom to wander from my normal format and write on other things. Not to say I won't write about nature still, but I would like to expand Notes on Nature to include other topics of (my and hopefully some of yours) interest. I think most anything can be related to nature, even human stuff even though we tend to think we aren't part of nature (which is why I believe we allow ourselves to mess the earth up so well).

I would like to write about kids and other family relationships and friends and work and general observations about life. I hope I'm not boring, but I'm not particularly worried about that either because I write to purge all the stuff in my brain, not to really please other people, although I hope that is a happy by-product. See you soon!