Gadgets and Me.......

My first two automobiles were a Corvair and a Pinto.  Back then, cars were purchased by paying the "base price" for the pure vanilla version, and then adding extras like power windows, door locks, radio, air conditioning, etc. 

Back then, I didn't think I could afford any extras, so I leaned across the front seat to open the other windows and unlock the doors; sang to myself in lieu of listening to real music; and sweated up a storm as I motored in the summer months.

Eventually, of course, I caught up with everyone else and began enjoying the modern creature comforts of a happy motorist.

Then, when CB radios became all the rage, I was the last in my group of friends to get one.  I guess I submitted to peer pressure because I was the butt of many a joke for not being up-to-date.  As it turned out, I got rid of the thing after only a few "good buddies" and "10-4s".  The CB radio craze turned out to be a fad.  Good riddance. 

My reluctance to be up-to-date helped me avoid the rush to get a pager.  Back in the 1980s and early 90s, it seemed everyone had one of those thingies hangin' from their belt---except me.  Frankly, I was in sales and didn't WANT anyone to be able to access me. 

Yes, before I could be pressured into getting a pager, cell phones came along.  I was the last to get one of those, also---I couldn't afford one.  It cost something like $.20 a minute, and God forbid I should get into a long conversation.

Of course, nowadays, you can't live without one, and I have the latest and greatest model that does everything except digest my food.  But oh my!---remember those early models?  They were about the size of a quart bottle of milk and about as heavy, too.

I was also last in my group to get a large screen TV.  I'm glad I waited on that one, because by the time I got one earlier this year, the prices had come down and the quality had gone up.  So, you see, there can be something said for being slow to change.

English humorist and poet Alexander Pope once said "Be not the first to try the new; nor the last to lay the old aside."

Good advice, I'd say.