On a recent trip to Pennsylvania with my dad, he marveled at all the gizmos, devices and whatchamathingys I had at my disposal.  Because I travel so much, I am always wired for sound, figuratively and literally.  For instance, I don’t go anywhere without my GPS.  My dad was impressed at the ease and simplicity of using a Garmin.  “Well, that’s pretty cool,” he said.  And I have to admit, when I stopped and thought about it, he was absolutely right.  This teeny device not only gets you from point A to point B, it knows the most efficient route and how to get you back on track if you miss a turn.

I had to laugh when my dad asked, “Why does it keep saying ‘recalculating'”?  I explained that’s what happens when my driving didn’t jive with the prescribed directions.  He was even more impressed when I switched the announcer to a gal with an Australian accent.  (That didn’t last long though.  She was butchering all the weird Amish towns I was driving through.)

Ten minutes before we left for our trip, I finally broke down and bought a smart phone.  I had resisted it simply because I didn’t want to be 100% connected to the outside world.  My phone has more bells and whistles than I’ll ever need/want/use.   I turned off half the applications on my phone the day I got it.  I’ll guarantee you I’ll never check The Wall Street Journal, sports scores or the stock market.

At last check, I’ve got a new Bluetooth, a Sprint wireless card, an iTouch and several other necessary evils to keep me fully functioning in life.  I hate it.  The only saving grace in all this is when I wrote about our trip (while still ON our trip) and immediately posted it to the blogosphere.  It was the first my dad finally got to see me in action.  I think he was impressed.  Or appalled.  Or maybe a little of both.  It’s a very gray area.

Next time I’m home, I’m going to introduce him to Angry Birds.  It’s all downhill after that.