Thing #10 : Tech blogging

Many people assume just because I'm enthusiastic about things technological, I must have all the cutting edge electro-goodies on the market.

This is not true. In some ways, I'm well behind the curve of the rest of society.

For instance, I do not have a cell phone, and have no plans to get one. When people ask me when I'll give in and join the rest of the human race, I tell them I'm waiting for one with a rotary dial. My home phone isn't even cordless. Friends gave me a Trac Phone for Xmas two years ago and I forgot to re-up the minutes at the end of the first month, and haven't missed it. I'm not even sure when the damn thing is.

I don't feel the need to be reached every minute of the day. I think folks who have to be "connected" to others are afraid to be on their own, to their detriment. Most cellphone conversations I've witnessed consist of one person giving someone else a GPS status report, along the lines of "Hi, hon. Yeah, I'm at the library." Not life-or-death info. I guess I agree with this guy.

I've got dial-up internet here, too. I can't download anything, and waiting for a images to load gives me enough time to take a bathroom break and go fix myself a sammich, but that's OK. I can do this stuff at the library if I need to. No game systems here, either, unless you count the Sega Genesis buried in the closet under the stairs. I play games on my PC, which actually has a larger screen than my TV. No sense getting a Wii for a 13" television.

I can live without all this crap. The one doodad I can't live without is my 30GB video iPod (no, I don't want an iPhone). I use it all day long. In the car, before I even buckle the seat belt or turn the ignition, I've got the iPod plugged in and queued up. I use it as a flash drive at work, and at lunch I'm usually watching something on the video, like a movie or an episode of Flight of the Conchords, Firefly or Dead Like Me. Then I'll take a walk and listen to the various podcasts I subscribe to, like Filmspotting, Answer Bitch or The Splendid Table. I can also play a round of Yahtzee or Texas Hold 'Em if I have time to kill.

The primary reason I don't have much of the standard electronic life accessories is this: I'm poor. This crap costs money, not just to buy the hardware, but for all the subscriptions you need to keep the things going. That's why I use most of the things we're presenting in the Tech Challenge: they're pretty much free, all you need is internet access.

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