A Tech Neophyte Gets an Education

Happy Thursday to all.

As I sit here in the local Starbucks with my ginormous 17 inch laptop, I feel like Godzilla among all the geeky tekkies here, working on their snazzy little netbooks. I've never been one to do anything small, so when it came time to purchase a laptop, I went for one of the big ones. It's a pain to schlep around, but it is a most impressive piece of machinery. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, I always say.

In my former life I was never a big fan of technology. A person of my generation remembers the days before the PC, when having a colour television in your home was a big deal. When I was a kid, we listened to records and 8 track tapes. As I grew older, we carried boom box radios in the street and made entire neighbourhoods listen to the music we blasted from them. We went to arcades lugging pockets full of quarters to play Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Pac Man. A bit later, we all got Sony Walkmans and became members of the work force, listening to our cassette tapes while commuting on buses, subways and commuter trains. And so it went...

Today, we pose, er, hang out, in places like Starbucks and outside of Apple stores in shopping malls, looking for all the world like serious brainiacs. Some of us are, but I'm just getting my feet wet. A year ago, I was making fun of the geeky tekkies and their laptops. Now, I've joined their minions. I've got my laptop, my Rocket Stick, my iPhone and my Venti hazelnut latte. I am one of them, and I am proud.

Over the course of the last decade, I've learned that all forms of education are beneficial, not just the kind you get in the classroom. I've had plenty of that kind of education, and it is invaluable. But, what you learn from living in the world and from the people you meet can help you tremendously. I am living proof of that.

Live, listen, and above all else, LEARN.

Nava