Keeping Up With Techies

Life has changed so much since I was an ankle biter. 

I have to keep adapting to new things. I guess the minute you stop adapting you start down the long miserable path to slothful decrepitude. Don't wanna go there. 

I'm not a digital native by any stretch of the imagination. There were no personal computers when I was growing up and I learned to type on a Remmington manual typewriter. I’ve had to learn plenty of different systems since I first poked my toe in the digital waters.  I've worked with an IBM Selectric, a CPT 8000, a Wang, an IBM PC Jr, WordStar, Word Perfect, Word, Lotus, Excel, Pages and many more. 

Technology has produced many changes in the way we live our lives. A change in technology needs a change in approach.  Let's take shopping for instance. 

Some retail dinosaurs that didn't see the technology comet slinging on across the sky.  They're struggling to survive.  

Macy's is floundering. JC Penney's stock price has plummeted. Sears, once a retail giant, is closing stores and burning through cash trying to adapt to how people shop today.

We buy much more online now. I've become more comfortable buying things online now than I have been. I'm getting there. I'd not call myself an early adopter but we do more that involves the internet every day. We buy everything from clothes, furniture, groceries and, for me painting supplies all off the inter-web or as some of our friends call it T’internet.

We stream television programs online and we get to skip commercials. To me, watching advertisements is like dragging your bare knuckles over a sharp cheese grater then asking for some lemon and salt to soothe your wounds. Can I hit my finger with a hammer again, please?!

Technology has changed our lives in many ways.  

Some changes are good. Some of them aren't so good. 

I used to get the random spammy letter through the letterbox (chain mail, advertisements, investment fraud). Now, I can't tell you how many times I’ve inherited millions of dollars from some kindly old lady who calls me endearing terms like, my love, my dearest one and on and on. 

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) creeping into our lives too.  It can be helpful but to me, it's truly creepy. AI giveth with one hand (Alexa, what's the weather today? Raining, look outside you blithering idiot!), and AI taketh with the other (Sorry, Scott, we no longer need your services, we've got an app for that now). I've heard Alexa listens to you even when she's not engaged. 

The internet has disintermediated galleries as the main venue to buy and sell art. There are many people out there making quite a good living without having gallery representation. Having your work physically available to view and buy is good, but the internet has really opened up fantastic ways to sell artwork.  Saatchi Art, eBay, Etsy, Redbubble, Society 6, and DeviantArt are all great places to display and sell your work. And there are more.  

I plan on opening a shop to sell my original artwork. Unfortunately, I think I need a good kick in the pants to do that. Anybody got a boot?

Life feels so much different today than it did when I was growing up.

Overall, I am so happy with my life, I could jump out of my skin and dance a jig. I'd need to be out of my skin, because, in my skin, I neither have the coordination nor do I have the rhythm to perform such a jig.

I think of where I've been and the opportunities and challenges ahead and find it daunting but exciting too. 

I'm enjoying the English countryside. I painted this a little while back. It reminds me of our lovely walks here.

Until next week, I wish you peace. 

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