Surrounded by Technology

Sitting at my desk I look over at my 'short stack' of technolgoy -- cell phone at the base, cell modem sitting on that, and my Bluetooth hands-free sitting on top of that like a big berry on top of a couple small, square, blackened pancakes.

It's gotten to the point that I had to buy a USB hub for my nightstand just to use as a charger. I can plug four devices into it, which is getting to be too few. I got Markie a Fuelband (I didn't think she wanted one, but that's what I get for having a Y chromosome). I plug in both our FuelBands, my cellphone, and (when I remember) my Bluetooth. That's four right there, and that doesn't count if I need to charge my Kindle or my cell modem. But I have a couple more chargers plugged into the extension cord.

So now I go to sleep with the glow of little LEDs telling me that they're sipping power. It's like going to sleep on the bridge of the Enterprise without all the sound effects. Markie's phone charges on her nightstand, the logo on the TV never really turns off with the glow of the Vizio badge floating on the wall, and the cable box and DVD player have a couple lights that never turn off -- fortunately nothing blinks, but I wake up in the middle of the night to a constellation of LEDs.

I'm also finding my collection of technology that I drag around with me on a daily basis is growing. When I grab my briefcase I have my laptop, kindle, cell phone, cell modem, bluetooth, and I'm usually wearing my Nike Fuelband. I often think of those sci-fi movies where the army is trying to figure out the odd devices their uninvited guest was carrying.

Then I have my headphones and my headset for my laptop (I do a lot of calls online, and the blue tooth just wasn't doing it but I need decent headphones to overcome the background roar on an airplane so I carry all three). I have a USB charger and a USB cable so I can charge my devices, and of course, the power supply for my laptop. I also carry an audio cable around so that if I'm in a hotel and want to listen to music from my phone so I can plug into the radio or the TV in the room.

The thing is, I don't think much about how much computerized tech I carry around. I find myself more amazed by the fact that I live in a world where I can have fresh raspberries in February, or that I can get up in the morning in Oregon and be at work in Palo Alto by 9. I'm amazed that clean water comes out of my tap -- and the dirty water disappears down the drain.

Powerlines overhead, water and sewage underground, bridges across the river, dams that keep those rivers from flooding, paved roads, streetlights, polyurethane soles on our shoes, heck, shoes that fit…

The few trinkets of a technological age that I carry around are interesting, but it's not like I haven't been surrounded by technology my whole life.