Technologically Advanced

I have always considered myself somewhat technologically advanced. I didn't understand why my grandmother had such trouble with email, or why my mom could not set up her Ipod. Lately though, I have noticed that I am not quite as advanced as I would like to believe. I recently got the "Droid" from Verizon. I was going back and forth between the Droid (similar to an Iphone) and a Blackberry. As the salesman was explaining the features of both, it became clear that I did not need the Blackberry as they are to keep you informed and focused within your business. Don't think I need that working at the restaurant.

So, Mike got me the Droid for Christmas. I basically handed it over to him to set up and then played with the things I knew how to do. I think I have only learned about 5% of what the phone actually does, but all I need is the ability to call people, text and send emails. All the other "apps" I have no need for. Nor do I need to be able to play air hockey on my phone, but Mike apparently does.

Getting to the point of this blog....yesterday I went to babysit my favorite kids, Jack and Jane. Jane was headed to a doctor's appointment, so it was just little man and me for a few hours. The last time I babysat him was 7 months ago. He is now 16 months, walking. pointing and grunting. When I arrived, Jack was still asleep so I got comfortable on the couch with a book. His mom had informed me that he was not feeling well and would probably sleep the entire time she was gone. 30 minutes later I heard him mumbling and moving around.

I went into the nursery to get him and we ate some fruit chews and cheetos while he woke up. (Don't judge.) We hung out for a little while before he decided to turn a movie on. He knew exactly how to go up to the television and push the power button. This should have been my first clue. As I was fumbling with the remote trying to get to the DVD setting, he sat patiently waiting. Poor little man. As the youngest, (and unable to talk) he gets no say in the movies that the kids watch. We watched the Disney Princess Sing a Long several times.

We played peek a boo, and walked up and down the stairs about five times before I realized that he didn't want to play downstairs. The playing WAS the stairs. I nixed that game. I had my purse sitting on the couch and he went right into it. All the kids I have babysat seem to love going through purses. The first thing little man grabbed was the phone. It was locked, but since it is a touch screen, after several attempts, he had it open. I didn't see anything really wrong with this - how much could he really hurt the phone? Aside from a booger I had to wipe off the front, everything was fine.

When the mom and little girl got home I got in my car and started driving home. I started to call Mike to see what he wanted for dinner and was met with a robotic voice informing me: "Warning: You are in airplane mode. No calls may be made in this mode." What?? As I drove and started pushing buttons (I know, it's not safe -I watched that Oprah) I could not figure out what in the world this little guy had figured out that I could not. FINALLY after about five minutes of pushing random buttons, I made it into the "airplane mode area" and was able to disable that function. I went to the grocery store, ate dinner and went to bed. The only thing I found odd was that I was not receiving any texts or alerts that I had emails. I attributed it to the fact that I am just not that popular and went to bed.

This morning I woke up and noted that, according to my phone, I still did not have any emails. I always get a report from Robin at CNN telling me the top stories of the day. I realized that I probably had not offended Robin and something was again off with my phone. So I played around with it until I found another secret compartment that turns off any access to the internet. Ok - no problem. Everything was fixed. But wait - why do I just have a list of names in my contact sheet rather than a list of names and numbers? I don't know what happened, how it happened or what little man pushed, but I have lost all my phone numbers. Every single one, except, and this is interesting, the name and number of the minister we are using for our wedding. Is that some odd game from above? I don't know. All I know is I cannot call you. I cannot text you. If you are interested in communicating with me, please email me your phone number! blackburn.jb@gmail.com

The final lesson: Don't underestimate a 16 month old!!