Ubiquity in My Town (with apologies to J. Joyce)

When I recently called my cell phone service provider to renew my service plan and see what deals they had, I was surprised to learn that my tenure of 7 years with the company was considered a long time in the cell phone business. Thus, to keep my business, they decided to give me a wildly reduced data plan and a brand new free Smartphone.

I declined.

“Why”, several of my friends asked me “would you turn down a free Blackberry?” I could have said: “Been There. Done That.” But I didn’t.

Yes, in my prior job, I was a member of the Crackberry Nation, reading a book with one hand and pulling a Blackberry off the holder on my belt every time it buzzed with a new message with the other. In retrospect, I have to give a lot of credit to Nobel Laureate Ivan Petrovich Pavlov who became somewhat of a household name in the 20th Century by using a bell to cause dogs to salivate because they thought they were going to be fed through the process of conditioning.

I have to think that Pavlov is having the last laugh, thanks to Research In Motion – the creator of the ubiquitous Blackberry – Steve Jobs – the peddler of the iPhone – and the many other companies that produce the so-called SmartPhones.

Heck, for three weeks after I gave up my blackberry I found my hand moving to the spot on my belt where my Blackberry used to be. Pavlov would have been proud. He would have also been proud of the woman I sat next to at a recent seminar I attended. Her Blackberry was on silent mode and she kept it in her bag which sat at her feet. That did not stop her, though, from taking her Blackberry out of her bag and checking it every sixty to ninety seconds and then putting it back in her bag. She never responded to anyone. She just reached into her bag, took out the Blackberry, looked at it and put it back in the bag. Over and Over and Over. And Over.

I, for one, cannot understand the constant need to be connected. Before my dad retired in 1988, odds were that when you called our house, Mom would answer the phone. To dad, when the phone rang at work there was a problem. Therefore, one way to avoid problems at home was to avoid answering the phone.

I am just old enough – 49 – to remember working in a company before fax machines were prevalent. In those days, if I got an inquiry on a case I was handling, it would come via a typewritten memo dated two or eve, god forbid three days before. I would immediately prepare my typewritten response, throwing it into a blue envelope and placing it in the interoffice mail bin and then forget about it. Maybe I would get a response, maybe I satisfied all queries. But I knew that I had at least seven days before I needed to deal with the issue again.

What a relief.

David Pogue, the Technology writer for the New York Times wrote the following:

When you whip out a BlackBerry or a Treo in public, what does it say about you? You might think that it says: “I’m an important person who can’t afford to be out of touch. I can do e-mail all day long, and I’ll never miss that critical deal.” But people around you might be thinking, “Look at that huge, clunky phone,” or “Man, I’d hate to see your monthly bill,” or even, “If you whip out that infernal machine at the dinner table one more time, I’m filing for divorce.”

Nowadays, whether I am commuting in the morning or the afternoon it seems like I am the only person without a Blackberry. Maybe it’s just me but when I get home and check my personal email, I have about twenty e-mails which are disposed of in about six minutes, if that long. I don’t think I have ever had an email that was so time sensitive that I missed out on something because I did not get to my email until I got home at night. How did we exist as a nation without our Blackberries?

Marcus Aurelius wrote some 1,850 years ago: “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”

I cannot think of better words to describe the nation we have become. We no longer take the time to sit back and smell the roses. In fact, does anyone below the age of forty even use that phrase anymore? Everything today has been made to be about instant gratification and the Blackberry is one of most ubiquitous symbols that epitomize instant gratification.

When my friends asked me “Why would you turn down a free Blackberry?, ” I could only respond with “If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge as well?”

I have to thank my Mom for that answer. I think she figured out what was important in life a long time ago. In between answering phone calls.

Sarah Palin: "Blame Bush for John McCain Losing the Election"

Oh, there is so much to say in counterpoint and I do not know where to start.

So I won't.

maybe this is why tony Soprano stayed so big

from CNN

Mafia suspect arrested during liposuction

So police in Italy posing as visitors to a hospital arrested 27 year old mafioso Domenico Magnoli who had just come out of anesthesia for liposuction on his thighs and tummy.

The police carried flowers and candy pretending to be patients. They did not, however, take off their uniforms so it was lucky that Magnoli was still groggy.

Since he was a fugitive this writer wonders why he wasn't in the clinic for face-altering surgery.

But fame has a price, right?

Proud To Be An American

Just ten years ago, in June 1998, James Byrd Jr., an African American, was dragged to his death by three white men in Texas. Worse, the three assholes who perpetrated this heinous crime dumped Byrd’s mutilated remains in a black cemetery and then went to a barbecue.

I remember hearing about this when it happened and thinking “Man, is our country that shitty where someone can get dragged to his death merely because of the color of his skin?”

Hey, it was not the white Jewish liberal guilt that my mom always instilled in me – I have voted republican more times than my mom would like (not for Dubya, though) – but it was that I think that I have a semblance of decency in me so that I can look beyond the color of someone’s skin in judging them. I mean, let’s face it, there are assholes and idiots of all colors around not only this country but in this world.

The results of last night’s election doesn’t make me forget James Byrd but it makes me proud to be an American.

When Barack Obama made the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, I said to myself that this was a young man to watch (an aside – I am only two years older than him but he just seems younger).

It was expected when he declared his candidacy. I had hope back then but low expectations. Even before the economy went into the shitter the country wanted change; however, I did not think that the country would embrace Barack Obama.

What was unexpected was in January 2008 when “the black guy” trounced “the white lady” in the overwhelmingly white state of Iowa. Even cynics like me, who believe that all politics are the same, had to sit up and take notice.

As the divisive battle for the democratic nomination waged I remained amazed at Obama’s resiliency and his fortitude. His speech on race in March of this year won me over. His initial reluctance to give up his friend Jeremiah Wright gave way to a realization that his friend was wrong and he did not embrace what the man said. He even gave the man a chance to heal the wounds but the man became divisive.

In politics, I thought friends stay with friends by “spinning the truth”. Obama did not.

As Obama and Clinton fought on, my ceiling was set at the expectation of “how great would it be if we had our first African American presidential candidate.”

Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would be elected President. That was just too much to ask.

Now, I should point out that my choice for president was not made until after Labor Day.

I think John McCain is a decent and honorable man (and I hope Barack Obama asks him to be Secretary of State – I think his views ought to be listened to by an Obama administration).

But I could not vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin. People are going to pick over the bones of McCain’s campaign to see what caused him to lose – for me, that was the reason. And I think that her presence on the ticket created the month of negative campaigning that John McCain engaged in.

So I dug in and supported Obama – never expecting last night’s outcome.

I spoke to a friend of mine, an ardent McCain supporter (because of issues like homeland security and taxes, not race) who called me at 10 o’clock last night. And while he was ready to throw in the towel after the devastating loss in Ohio, he did say that this win was “a good one” for America.

Last night our President – elect, echoing my friend, said “This victory belongs to you.”

How right both Obama and my friend are.