Technology

Technology....where were we before...?

So, I was reading a blog post from a friend who currently lives in Japan. She wrote about "firsts" in technology and then gave some questions for friends to answer on their blogs. I thought they were some great and fun questions and wanted to answer a few of them AND challenge any of you fellow blog readers to do the same. (Here are some questions that my friend Emily put on her blog...I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge).

What kind of phone did you grow up with in your home? It was a tan phone on the wall of the kitchen. It had a very long cord so that my mom could travel a pretty long distance and still talk to her sisters or mother on the phone. I do remember the cord getting wound up and Mom un-curling it because she couldn't get as far as she wanted to when the cord was wound up. A crazy story I about answering the phone was that we were all sitting down for dinner one night and before we started with a prayer, the phone rang. I ran and answered the phone with "Our Dear Heavenly Father...Oops...Hello?"

Another story I have about phones before cell phones is that my mom and her sister's used the phone as a baby monitor. Let me explain....my mom and her sisters were next door neighbors while we (my brothers and sister and cousins) were growing up. If one of them had to run to the store and the baby had just fallen asleep, they would load up all the other kids and leave the baby at home. Before leaving, they would call another sister and leave the phone next to the baby's room. And then, if the baby woke up and started crying, you could hear it on the phone and run next door and get the baby. This was before "minutes" and you could leave the phone off the hook when talking to someone else or setting it down to hear a baby cry. (I hope I explained this and you understand...I struggle explaining things in words without my hands present to show you what I mean).

What was your first memory of the Internet? I honestly don't remember thinking about this. I remember seeing a five year old using the Internet and thinking how crazy that little kids could also use the Internet.
What was one of the first sites you remember visiting? Can't remember.

Do you remember the first time you heard about cell phones/car phones/ or "video" phones? Again, I have nothing.

Have you ever owned a tape deck? Boom Box? Walk-Man? Disc-Man? I have to say that I listened to tapes but really wasn't into popular music, which means I don't like 80's music, and and not all that familiar with it or 90's music. I did listen to some 20's music and 50's-70's. I didn't really fit in with my peers and my music choices.

What was the first CD you owned or purchased? What did you play it on? Again...I have no idea. I do, however, recall my first book that I purchased as a teenager. It was three books under one cover by Gerald Lund. The three books were One in Thine Hand, Leverage Point, and The Alliance. (I was more into books than CD's).

How old were you when you got your first cell phone? I was 28 years old. After I married SM, he decided I needed a cell phone so that I could call him or he could call me. I don't think I was holding out on getting a cell phone, I just really didn't need one...but in 2004 I got my first cell phone.

How old were you when you got your first email account? I got my first email account when I came home from serving a mission to Chile. It was really weird because before I left on my mission, the Internet wasn't really part of my life at all and then a year and half later, I get home from Chile and everyone has email, everyone has this new technology that I'd never heard about. I remember going out on a date and my date pulls this thing called a "palm pilot" from his pocket. I had no idea what he had and asked him to explain what it was...it was such a foreign concept. What happened to the day planner? Another story I have to tell about email is that one day I was at work and I emailed a friend (Chelsea) and almost immediately I got a response from her. I realized that she was online and we began to chat back and forth over email. I thought is was so cool that we were talking over the computer. And now we have web messenger and web cams so that we can talk AND SEE people in different places. I LOVE IT! And I do use it often since I live away from my family and cannot visit them unless I fly out there or they fly out here.

How old were you when you started blogging? Well, I can't recall the answer to this one...I should just go back in my blogging history and see but I seem to recall posting pictures from Hawaii as my first posts and so that was two and a half years ago. A story I have about blogging was that I was interested in blogging but afraid to start and so my sister-in-law and brother set up this blog, called me up and told me how to log on and how to post and then bequeathed this blog to me. I'm glad for their help!

What is your craziest technology related memory? I have shared a few already but one thing that I like about technology today is that you can still do things "old-fashioned." My mom writes lists down all over her house so she can remember to do everything she wants to get done, but the most important things she writes on her hand so that it's right there and won't get lost. Now, it does get washed off but she'll either re-write it down on her hand or have already completed that important thing. She calls this her "palm pilot." Hee, hee, hee.

Well, that's it for today! Hope to read some fun stories on other blogs about Technology!