Welcome to 2012. The last time I started a blog it was perhaps 2004 or 2005. I was using FrontPage for the first time. I struggled through that and stuck with it for several years. Over time my website was starting to look dated but I didn’t really make efforts to update its look because I was no longer the single-person with endless free time (one has no idea how much time one has until 2 children enter the picture and become time-Hoovers). Then unfortunately my domain name renewal lapsed and some squatters took away my domain identity. Curses, you URL pirates!

So after a few months of absence from the blog-world, I have a shiny, new domain name and have decided to use WordPress to manage my new site. It is indeed a brave, new world for me. So in between working full-time and raising 2 little monsters (sorry, I meant to say wonderful children), I am slowly learning WordPress. My plans are to migrate old content over but I’m having issues doing basic things like changing the header image so you shouldn’t hold your breath if you’re looking for any previous postings.

I’ll be honest. I feel like a techno-dinosaur. And not the swift, quick, efficient Velociraptor variety. More like the slow-moving, dim-witted Brachiosaurus variety (or in my day, we called that type of dinosaur a Brontosaurus). Seriously. I feel feeble with technology lately, and I’m not just talking about updating my website.

When I got my first Smartphone I made sure it had a slide-out QWERTY keyboard because I did not feel comfortable with those ridiculously tiny, sensitive touchpad keyboards. I don’t know how those teens can type so quickly on their iPhones. I would be all swollen thumbs and atrocious spelling errors. We also recently got a new cable-PVR system at home and the interface is so different from our previous system. It took me awhile to get comfortable with it and familiar with the new navigation screens that for the first few months I felt like smashing our LCD TV with the club-like remote. But now I’m able to locate my cooking shows, HBO series and “30 Rock” so all is right in the world. For now.

Oh, and my household recently got an iPad. It’s the first Apple product I have ever owned. And as a lifetime PC user, I have to admit that it is different enough to trip me up once in awhile (“How do I copy and paste?” I could be hear yelling lately to no one in particular from my living room). I am just so happy that I am still more adept at using my tablet than my 5-year old. But I know my days of being more technically-superior than her are seriously numbered.

So this brings me to my main point of today’s entry. I am still somewhat techno-savvy. I can learn any new household technology that is thrown at me, assuming I’m given a reasonable amount of time to experiment with it. And I believe I am of that final generation that appreciates technology and doesn’t just take it for granted. I saw it all unfold in front of my eyes. Using music as an example, I grew up listening to LPs then graduated to taping songs off the radio. Then came CDs and I have many fond memories shopping for music at A&B, Sam the Record Man, HMV, and Virgin Megastore. And now of course I can get any song, any album from the comfort of my home (with my handy iPad). But I appreciate the fact that it wasn’t always this way and I couldn’t always just get whatever music I wanted. My children, on the other hand, will grow up expecting to have any music at their fingertips and the MP3 files (or streamed radio stations) will be disposable for them, whereas I treasured those precious tapes, CDs and LPs and treated them with care because they costed money and were breakable.

I still embrace technology and value it. But at what point (if any) will I just fall behind with the times and refuse to learn about new gadgets? When if ever will I be like my elderly mother who needs me to set up her new phone and answering machine and walk her through the basic functions (“Just teach me how to retrieve a message, I don’t need to know how to personalize ringtones for everyone!”)?

I think the answer is never. I think I’ll just be comfortable enough that I’ll always be willing to adapt new technologies. And I’m happy with that. However, if there comes a day when we all drill holes in our heads and plug connectors straight into our grey matter, well then – you’ll just have to see what I have to say then.